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| Then and now, the Chicago Auto Show in 1935 and 2009. |
History of the CATA. Founded in 1904, the Chicago Automobile Trade Association is the oldest and largest new-car dealership association in the nation. Today, it lists nearly 500 new-car dealers as members.
Mission of the CATA.
For more than a century, the CATA has stood for high principles of business. Its basic tenets remain as steadfast today as they were a hundred years ago: Promoting honesty and dependability in business operations; Employing truth and accuracy in dealer advertising; Standing by guarantees; Improving business methods and ethics and keeping competition fair so that dealers and the public are well-served; and Refraining from practices detrimental to the industry or contrary to the public interest. Currently, CATA dealerships employ more than 50,000 people in Chicagoland. Over the past century, these locally based small businesses have provided good paying jobs for their employees, who, in turn, contribute to their communities. The CATA’s commitment to excellence in automotive retailing remains its core value and will remain so through the next century.
Chicago Auto Show.
First staged in 1901, the Chicago Auto Show is the largest auto show in North America and has been held more times than any other auto exposition on the continent. This year marks the 101th edition of the show.
Since 1935, the CATA has had the honor of presenting the the Chicago show. Over the years it has grown with the city moving from the Colisium to the International Ampatheater to the original McCormick Place and then to the current McCormick Place. Today, the show occupies two exibition halls with nearly 1.3 million square feet of exibition space.
The CATA’s generosity and commitment to the community is shown not only at the Chicago Auto Show’s “First Look for Charity” where this year almost $2 million was raised in one night for local beneficiaries, but throughout the year in countless episodes of humanitarianism and community involvement.
