Ever since Carl Benz figured out how to build a functioning internal combustion engine, engineers have looking for ways to make the automobile just a little bit better.  Electric headlights, the self-starter, the automatic transmission, the V-8 engine, all helped transform personal transportation, making the automobile just a little bit safer, easier-and more fun-to drive.  And for the better part of a century, automotive engineers from around the world have come to Detroit to discuss those and other breakthroughs each year at the annual Congress of the Society of
Automotive Engineers.

Known inside the business as SAE Week, or even just SAE, the gathering actual consists of several concurrent functions.  There's the scholarly side, where some of the latest engineering breakthroughs will be revealed and discussed.  But for many of the show's 50,000 attendees, the big draw is the product exhibition, which this year takes over most of Detroit's
million-square-foot Cobo Center exhibition hall during the Congress's four-day run, from March 5-8.  

Normally, this exhibition serves as a sort of "who's who" of automotive suppliers," a place where the industry's biggest names will show off their latest wares, and try to book orders from the world's automakers.  But a growing list of the biggest partsmakers, including Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. and Lear Corp., have decided the event's high costs are no longer
justified.  And with the industry slipping towards a recession, many observers fear the Congress as a whole could become a shell of its former self over the next couple years.

It's certainly true that exhibiting at SAE is no bargain, with some companies spending as much as $1 million on their booths.  "Like any good marketer, we evaluate our programs and resources because we want to get the most bang for the buck," says Joanne Burns, Delphi's director of marketing, explaining the decision to pull out.  "We want to be in events that give us the best chance to sharpen our image," she notes, and generate sales. Once upon a time, nothing could deliver nearly as much bang for the buck, but many participants insist the payoff has started to wane.  "We did an unscientific survey and found most of the people coming through were either our competitors, or people trying to sell to us," admits Tom MacDonald, Vice President of Public Affairs at The Budd Co., which also has pulled out of the Congress's big exhibition.  

More and more, the industry's so-called Tier-1 suppliers are finding it easier to communicate directly with their customers, rather than on the floor of a noisy trade show.  "We take the same format we'd use at SAE, but go directly to our customers' locations and set up for a day or two," explains Jeff Klei, vice president of sales and marketing for the German tiremaker,
Continental.  These private events offer another advantage, keeping nosy competitors away from your latest and greatest technology.

Other suppliers, such as ArvinMeritor, are giving serious thought to pulling out of the SAE Congress next year, and if the economy doesn't rebound by then, an increased exodus seems hard to avoid.  So why don't SAE officials seem especially worried?  For this year's show, at least, there were more than enough companies on the waiting list to more than make up the space freed by companies like Delphi and Lear.  These include some sizable new participants, including Microsoft.  The Redmond, WA, software giant hopes to become a powerhouse in in-car electronics, especially the emerging field of Telematics.  And it's serving as primary sponsor for the SAE exhibition's Automotive Technology Showcase.  

Meanwhile, players like Delphi and Lear are still sending some of their representatives to the technical side of SAE Week, and insist they are still loyal members of the learned trade organization.

Perhaps, but it's clear that if the World Congress is to survive, it will be under more pressure to adapt than at any time since it began in 1912.