Gala preview honoured dealer salespeople of the year
It’s a great sign when the public takes to a major automotive event. And that appears to be the case with the Vancouver International Auto Show (VIAS), hosted by the New Car Dealers Association (NCDABC) of B.C. at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Although overall attendance between March 25-30 saw an increase of five per cent over 2013 (84,506), the Saturday saw record numbers of people coming through the doors and multiple return visitors during the course of the week — a healthy sign that the love affair with the automobile remains very much alive and well, both on the lower mainland and beyond.
VIAS Executive Director Paul McGeachie says that attendees described this year’s show akin to “a rock concert. It was off the hook.”
McGeachie says that since last year’s event, planning and design has enabled some significant changes to be made. Vehicles can now be placed in the ballroom, yielding an additional 60,000 square feet of capacity for the show. This also enabled a far more dramatic lobby display, which this year, showcased the entire history of the Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit. “We were able to include versions of each generation of the car and it really transformed it.”
Attendance was notably higher this year
In fact, McGeachie says the entire show appeared to take on a different persona, leading many to draw direct comparisons to industry staples like the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) in Detroit and the LA Auto Show.
According to McGeachie, an online push to promote VIAS through a portal in which visitors could receive special deals for events and attractions in the Vancouver area during show week, has been an effective marketing tool in promoting not only the show but the city in general.
The fact that an increasing number of OEMs are using the show as a venue for product training and the popularity of NCDA’s eVo 2.0 digital dealer conference this year indicate that industry as well as public attendance continue to increase.
Planning is already under way for next year’s event and McGeachie says that “guests can expect an even bigger industry showcase in 2015.”
Blair Qualey, President of NCDABC, also says that signifying the show’s growing stature is the fact that the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) has announced that its Green Car of the Year Award will be moving permanently to the West Coast as of next year. “The folks at AJAC agreed that [due to the climate, interest in EVs and infrastructure] B.C. represents an ideal market for this award.”
