Detroit is once again betting on the car industry to rescue it

But the Motor City’s health will depend on more than motor cars

2K1523M Detroit, United States Of America. 14th Sep, 2022. Detroit, United States of America. 14 September, 2022. U.S President Joe Biden, prepares to get into a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 during a visit to the 2022 North American International Auto Show at Huntington Place Convention Center, September 14, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. Credit: Adam Schultz/White House Photo/Alamy Live News

Sep 19th 2022|Detroit

Journalists visiting Detroit on September 14th and 15th were given two quite different views of its future. On the 14th, the opening day of the first North American International Auto Show to be hosted in Detroit since 2019, they watched through a window as Joe Biden clambered into a new bright-orange petrol-powered Chevrolet Corvette, and later drove an electric Cadillac suv across the floor. In a speech that followed, the president, a self-professed “car guy”, drew a direct link between cars and prosperity. “American manufacturing is back. Detroit is back. America’s back,” he declared.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Revving up”