PREMIUM RIDES FLOCK TOGETHER

High-end brands of a feather are sticking together at this year’s auto show.

Unlike previous years, when the premium brands were scattered around, there’s now no need to go great distances to hunt down luxury vehicles, since they’re all corralled in one location.

“We’re experimenting with a new layout,” explained Jason Campbell, general manager of the Canadian International Auto Show.

At past shows, visitors interested in seeing cars with higher-end badges like Audi, Cadillac, Infiniti and Jaguar had to bounce between various locations throughout the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

But this year, you can find those brands on the 800 level of the south building, right next to the display areas for BMW, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, MercedesBenz and Porsche.

“The exception was Acura, as they chose to stay next to Honda in the north building, which is where another premium brand, Volvo, is also situated this year,” said Campbell.

The layout was changed at the request of the carmakers, who wanted to be positioned next to their direct competitors, said Campbell.

“We’re not really promoting it as specifi- cally a premium hall, but we are trialing it to see how the traffic flow responds. Obviously, we’ve got a convention centre with eight different levels, which presents challenges in terms of moving people from one area to another.

“We want to make sure we have it right before we go to a full-on approach potentially for 2017, and the south hall was the most likely place we could use to experiment with the setup,” he said, adding that a decision on future layouts will be made after getting feedback from the manufacturers and visitors.

Campbell said he’s confident people attending the show will welcome the arrangement, especially those coming with the goal of checking out specific types or classes of vehicles.

“You can see one premium brand and walk across the aisles and see eight different ones, all within half an hour.”

Clustering similar brands is a trend that has been used at auto shows around the globe in recent years and the Toronto show organizers figured it was worth giving it a try.

“We also like to give the show a slightly different feel every year by improving the experience for everyone, rather than presenting the same thing over and over again,” Campbell said. “And it will really make it convenient for people who come to shop around for a new premium vehicle.”