History of the CATA
Founded in 1904, the Chicago Automobile Trade Association is on of the nation's oldest and largest metropolitan new-car dealer associations. Today, it lists 400+ 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 20,000 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 in the world. 2019 will mark the 111th edition of the show.
Since 1935, the CATA has had the honor of presenting the Chicago show. Over the years it has grown with the city moving from the Coliseum to the International Amphitheatre to the original McCormick Place and then to the current McCormick Place. Today, the show occupies two exhibition halls with more than 1 million square feet of exhibition 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 last year more than $2.6 million was raised in one night for local beneficiaries, but throughout the year in countless episodes of humanitarianism and community involvement.