The 2021 North American Commercial Vehicle Show will be postponed, organizers announced on May 4.

The third outing for the bi-annual show originally was scheduled for Sept. 28-30 at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center.

Registered exhibitors were informed of the postponement earlier through a letter from the joint owners of the biennial event, Newcom Media and Hannover Fairs USA.

The NACV Show will be rescheduled. Organizers plan to share more information regarding future plans in July 2021.

The decision was made after discussion with both manufacturers and fleets, who cited the lingering effects of COVID-19 on willingness to travel and attend large gatherings. The growing number of events competing with one another in the fall of 2021 also factored into the decision.

“Each organization and individual attendee has made choices over the past months, based on a variety of factors, health and safety being the most pressing,” explained Ed Nichols, vice president of Hannover Fairs USA. “While many exhibitors demonstrate commitment to the show and vaccination rates continue to rise, our research shows that the trucking industry will not be ready to attend large events like they traditionally have this fall.”

“While we are disappointed that we cannot produce the NACV show this year, we are eager to start working on the future event, focusing on reconnecting the trucking industry and delivering value to our customers,” said Joe Glionna, president of Newcom Media.

One of the events that was scheduled to take place at the NACV show was the culmination of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency's Run on Less - Electric, a three-week demonstration project showcasing Class 3 through 8 battery-electric commercial vehicles operating in real-world fleet operations. We asked NACFE head Mike Roeth about what the cancellation would mean for the event. The Run will happen as planned, he said, but with a larger presence at ACT Expo where the event kicks off. Key learnings from the Run will be shared during the American Trucking Associations' Management Conference and Exhibition in October. 

"We will also be leading discussions at TMC Cleveland, SAE Comvec, NYC Climate Week and MOVE Austin, all in September. All great places for our message."

NACV: An Evolving Event

Organizers already were making improvements to the event based on feedback from exhibitors and attendees at the last NACV Show in 2019, including a shorter event and more educational sessions.

NACV was conceived as a counterpart to the bi-annual IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Hannover, Germany, put on by Hannover Fairs USA parent company Deutsche Messe. It would be held in alternating years. The IAA event did not happen last fall as scheduled, either, due to the pandemic.

Hannover Fairs USA teamed up with Newcom Business Media, the organizer of the Canadian-based Truck World and ExpoCam trade shows, through the North American Commercial Vehicle Show Partnership.

When NACV was first announced in 2016, Glionna told HDT, the idea was to “become a show where attendees want to fly in from all corners of the country and continent to see. Most shows, including [Newcom's] in Toronto and Montreal, draw from a tight geographic area, no more than 150 miles. We intend to create a show worth flying to. Hannover's experience in Germany and China proves that shows can attract thousands of out-of-towners."

Editor's note: Updated 10:30 EDT 5/4 to add information on Run on Less.