Canadians arrived in full force on March 10 for the start of the 2022 NADA Show, which runs through to March 13 in Las Vegas.
John Peron, Managing Director for Hunter Engineering, which designs and builds automotive service equipment (now for 75 years), told Canadian auto dealer he was pleasantly surprised by the strong contingent of Canadians aboard his flight.
This is the first NADA show since 2020 in which attendees are able to view all the exhibits in person. Last year’s event was virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 show is being billed as the automotive event of the year. Included in the package for attendees was a sports-themed event the evening of March 10 at Allegiant Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Las Vegas Raiders, topped by a free concert by multi Grammy Award-winning rock band Train.
“We always try to schedule meetings (for NADA) with customers and partners in late December, and the vast majority—even up to a month ago—didn’t know if they were coming, and registration was down,” said Peron. “Our organization planned really well for this show, but because registration was down, we reduced some of the manpower.”
He said people were a little apprehensive about attending the show, due to uncertainty around COVID-19, but over the course of the last six weeks “a lot of things have changed.”
Canadians, he said, just got out of lockdown less than six weeks ago and are likely eager to attend the show.
