Jaguar Land Rover won't exhibit in Detroit

Detroit Auto Show attendees hoping to gawk at the latest sheetmetal from British luxury stalwarts Jaguar and Land Rover will be disappointed to learn that the marques will not be displaying at Cobo Hall this January. Instead, the pair will concentrate on showing their wares at India's New Delhi Auto Expo, whose dates overlap that of the North American International Auto Show.
Stuart Schorr, JLR's Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, tells Autoblog:

Jaguar Land Rover recognizes the Detroit Show is a world class exhibition, but for 2012 we will not exhibit there. This decision was driven by the fact that since our newest concept vehicles were featured at the Frankfurt show and will be featured at the upcoming Los Angeles Show, we decided to show them next in the Delhi Show in January as part of our effort to build our brands in this growing market. Therefore, without anything new to show in Detroit this year, we felt it most efficient to not participate in the show.

The switch makes some sense, as not only is staging auto show displays a particularly costly and time-intensive endeavor, the change also reflects India's growing importance as a global automotive market. Perhaps not coincidentally, Jaguar Land Rover has been under Indian ownership since Tata Motors purchased the brands from the Ford Motor Company back in 2008.

It is not immediately clear if the brands will return for the 2013 NAIAS.