It all began when Mercedes-Benz announced it wouldn't be attending the 2019 Detroit Auto Show. Rivals Audi and BMW soon made the same announcement. This trend of major automakers bailing out on auto shows continues with the upcoming 2018 Paris Motor Show. Ford, Infiniti, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Opel, Subaru, Volkswagen and Volvo will not be attending. But what about BMW? There were some reports claiming it too will drop out of Paris this October, but BMW has yet to make an official announcement.

We reached out to BMW USA, and product and technology communications manager Alex Schmuck has confirmed BMW will very much be at the City of Lights. "We will be there (Paris) for sure and (we) have a world premiere scheduled for the show," Schmuck told us. What will that world premiere be? Chances are it'll be the all-new X5 SUV. We previously thought it'd be the new 3 Series, but that may debut the following month at Los Angeles instead. Schmuck also specifically told us that LA "is going to be very big for us in November with a lot of new products."

We'll be more than satisfied if the fourth-generation X5 premiers in October and the seventh-generation 3 Series the following month (along with other mystery models). Instead of having a display at Detroit in January, BMW will likely be at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas the week before. CES has become something of a rival to the Detroit Auto Show as it attracts more and more automakers seeking to reveal new mobile-related technologies. It's not cheap (or particularly easy) to cover two major shows that are just one week apart. But first things first on the calendar. BMW will officially be at Paris, no question about it.