It’s only September, but the Miami Auto Show is already here

The 46th annual Miami International Auto Show cruises into the Miami Beach Convention Center Saturday, offering a peek into the latest models two months earlier than in prior years.

The scheduling move from the typical November show ensures that the show features the latest models, said Rick Baker, auto show manager.

“In recent years, auto manufactures have asked that our show move earlier so as to guarantee that we would receive the newest and most talked about autos,” Baker said. “With the multimillion-dollar renovation of the Miami Beach Convention Center now underway, it was the right time to move the show’s dates.”

The show, which runs through Sept. 18, will feature a collection of new 2017 and 2018 cars. Major announcements are expected from Nissan, Genesis, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Fiat and Alfa Romeo, including the global debut of new SUV and sedan models.

Longtime exhibitions will stick around this year, including the Topless in Miami exhibit of convertible models and the Million Dollar Alley six-figure gala, with cars by Bugatti, Pagani, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Overall sales in the automobile industry dropped 4 percent to 1.5 million vehicles in August, according to Autodata Corp., suggesting that 2016 will not top last year’s record sales of 17.5 million new vehicles. The industry has seen six straight years of growth that experts expect will soon start to plateau.

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "It’s only September, but the Miami Auto Show is already here."