LA Auto Show
Displays at California event will transfer well to Vancouver’s new auto show venue in March, organizer says
Andrew McCredie wasn’t the only B. C. participant during last week’s press days at the L. A. Auto Show, which featured the debut of the Ford Transit Connect wagon ( at right).
Among the hundreds of accredited journalists descending on the sprawling Los Angeles Convention Center during last week’s press days was the man behind Vancouver’s annual auto show.
And while Paul McGeachie is the first to admit the LA Auto Show — celebrating its 105th year — is bigger and attracts larger crowds than Vancouver’s show — turning 93 in March — he did see many similarities.
For one, with the Vancouver International Auto Show ( VIAS) setting up shop in 2013 for at least a half- decade run at the waterfront convention centre after years at BC Place, what the executive director of the New Car Dealers of BC saw in terms of displays on the L. A. Convention Center floor will transfer well into Vancouver’s convention centre.
“Given the similarities in the convention centres, from the right angle we can make the Vancouver displays look very much like the ones in L. A.,” McGeachie said earlier this week after returning from his SoCal fact- finding mission.
He cited the fact that both convention centres provide low enough ceilings so that all the overhead lights can be suspended from the ceiling, as opposed to in BC Place where lighting truss work was supported by large pillars and scaffolding anchored on the show floor.
“So you inherently end up with a much more open and flowing floor space, and much better overall sightlines,” he said of the convention centre model.
In addition, in all likelihood the displays he saw in L. A. will be used by their respective manufacturers during Vancouver’s show.
“Very often what we see in L. A. is by and large what we’re going to see here,” McGeachie explained. “They’ll typically change the kits over every couple or three years.”
He also suspects the overall vibe put forth by the manufacturers in L. A. will remain until the Vancouver show.
“What I really liked about it was the ( manufacturer’s) sense of optimism, which will have a trickle- down effect on our show,” he said.
But just as there are similarities between the shows, there are differences.
McGeachie noted that the two shows are inherently different in that L. A., which traditionally kicks off the auto show season, is one of a handful of “branding shows,” meaning manufacturers’ displays and presentations are geared more to major over- arching themes aimed squarely at industry players — their competitors, the media — as opposed to consumers. He added that Detroit and Toronto also fall into this category.
“They are not really dealerdriven shows,” he explained. “In L. A., it’s all about, say, Hondaland, where with our show its more about pushing consumers to our local dealers.”
So, in essence, L. A. is more trade show where Vancouver is a hybrid of trade show and consumer show.
McGeachie didn’t stay on for one of the public days in L. A., but he’s interested to know how much financing and qualifying takes place at the individual manufacturer displays. At the Vancouver show, he said, that is an integral role the manufacturers play.
In addition to moving into the convention centre on a permanent basis, the VIAS is now officially being promoted by Tourism Vancouver as a destination event, something McGeachie sees as a big deal for the show.
“In my time here the show has never been that well publicized,” he said of the partnership, adding he believes it will help attract people from the Interior and the Island to come to downtown Vancouver to take in the show as part of a weekend getaway.
Said McGeachie: “Many auto shows have evolved to the point they are woven into the fabric of the cities, and are big events on the tourism calendar.”
Another evolution in this year’s show is a sit- down dinner during the Gala Night that kicks off the show, something McGeachie says no show that he is aware of holds such an event.
“So we’ll have the two- hour preview for guests on the main showroom floor, then go upstairs in the convention centre for dinner and live entertainment.”
Again, the convention centre locale lends itself to such events, where such a dinner would not be logistically possible at BC Place, unless you held it in the press box.
What he’d really like to see is a group such as the Automotive Dealers Association of Canada hold their annual event concurrently with the Vancouver show, creating a sort of critical mass around the show.
For more information about the 2013 Vancouver International Auto Show, which runs March 26- 31, 2013, visit www.vancouverinternationalautoshow.com