AIMS: Luxury brands shun mo-show – again

BMW and Audi will headline a long list of automotive absentees at this year’s AIMS, the Australian International Motor Show. And Ford will drastically cut back its floor space at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre for the October 18-28 event.

Also among the long list of AIMS no-shows this year will be premium brands Rolls-Royce, Mini, Bentley and Alfa Romeo, French brands Renault and Citroen, Italy’s Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat, North America’s Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and Tesla, China’s Great Wall and Chery, plus Volvo, Lotus, SsangYong and Mahindra.

A floor plan of the event released on July 17 confirms only around half of the 50-odd automotive brands currently represented in Australia will be present at the nation’s largest motor show, despite the running of a single annual event that has alternated between Sydney and Melbourne for two years.

Although there could be some minor additions, locked in for this year are 25 brands including Toyota, Holden/HSV, Ford/FPV, Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Skoda, Porsche, Lexus, Subaru, Honda, Suzuki, Isuzu Ute, Peugeot, Proton, Opel, Jaguar, Land Rover, Infiniti and Lamborghini.

The surprise absence of Audi from its hometown motor show this year comes despite the German brand’s participation in a Mercedes-Benz-led boycott of the 2008 event on the grounds of cost, which resulted in the Sydney show’s cancellation in 2009 and the establishment of jointly promoted alternating shows from 2010.

Audi said it would not attend the 2012 AIMS due to major new additions to its sponsorship strategy - including the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Film Festivals – and indicated the move did not reflect a long-term motor show strategy for the Volkswagen-owned luxury brand.

“We have made the decision not to attend in 2012 as we have made significant investments in other areas of our business this year including our major new sponsorship strategy, and we felt these investments were more critical to achieving our business goals,” said Audi Australia General Manager Corporate Communications, Anna Burgdorf.

“The decision doesn’t reflect on a general strategy not to attend motor shows, however, it was the right business decision for 2012.”

After staging a minimalist presence at last year’s AIMS in Melbourne, where it displayed only the i8 plug-in supercar concept on a relatively small 264-metre stand, BMW will also be absent from Darling Harbour this year.

“We are sorry not to be at the Sydney Motor Show but have had to redirect our marketing investment this year into activities with a more national focus,” said BMW Group Australia Head of Corporate Communications, Piers Scott.

Mr Scott said the BMW Group’s AIMS no-show will include Rolls-Royce, which is handled by an independent Australian importer, and MINI, which has long shunned AIMS in favour of separate customer-focussed interactive events.

In contrast, high-profile German arch-rival Mercedes-Benz will stage its largest ever AIMS exhibition, with an 888 square-metre stand combining with a separate AMG stand for the first time to make it the third-largest exhibitor this year, and the biggest full-line importer.

Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific Senior Manager Corporate Communications, David McCarthy, seized the opportunity to underline his brand’s commitment to the show.

“We took a position that the Australian market was best served by one annual motor show - we now have that and it’s been successful,” he said.

“The punter has an expectation they’ll see everything from a $15,000 econobox to a million-dollar supercar, and that’s why we’ll have one of the biggest stands ever this year. That was our commitment and we stand by that commitment.

“It’s not called the Australian International Motor Show for nothing and I think it borders on being un-Australian to not be there.”

While all of the mainstream brands will be present, Ford will drastically downsize its presence – at least within the exhibition centre.

At just 484 square-metres, Ford and FPV will occupy about a third of the space bought by Toyota (1392m) and Holden, which will again combine with HSV for the biggest stand at 1513 square-metres – on top of a separate 450-metre stand for Opel.

However, carsales.com.au understands Ford will have a significant interactive outdoor presence – despite the fact it had the longest ‘dwell’ times (time spent on the Ford stand by show-goers) of any brand at last year’s AIMS in Melbourne, where Ford staged a highly interactive exhibit including a model racetrack.

“We’ve become known as developing dynamic and interesting show stands – for example, last year’s Melbourne show was acclaimed by show-goers and our Ford customers for the level of engagement,” said Ford Australia Brand Communications Manager, Neil McDonald.

“This year we are aiming to continue this level of excitement but we want to keep the experience a surprise for both show-goers and our customers. In essence, we’d like to tell our Ford fans to say ‘stay tuned’.”

Sydney’s last AIMS in 2010 attracted a larger audience than in 2009, but with just 139,000 visitors fell well short of the 193,755 people that attended last year’s AIMS in Melbourne and the 245,000 show-goers that witnessed the Sydney show in 2007, when Australia’s national motor show ranked among the top 10 in the world.

Some international motor shows have struggled to replicate their former glory in recent years, including the now-defunct British Motor Show and the downsized and rescheduled 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, but last year’s biannual Frankfurt Motor show still attracted some 928,000 people in 10 days and the 2010 Paris Motor Show drew no fewer than 1,263,500 show-goers in 16 days.

While floor space pricing has been reduced in an attempt to shore up a solid list of exhibitors at this year’s AIMS, the increasing costs of transporting, building, staffing and dismantling exhibits that meet the stringent corporate requirements of most car-makers have long eclipsed the cost of exhibition space. Total cost for a small AIMS stand is a minimum of $500,000.

Some industry experts told carsales.com.au that Sydney’s next two AIMS in 2014 and 2016 - which will relocate to Sydney Showgrounds at Homebush while the Darling Harbour precinct undergoes a three-year redevelopment – could attract even poorer car company patronage due to its distance from the CBD.

“Homebush move will be end of the show,” said one observer, who asked to remain nameless. “As it is the show is only viable during the week for people who come after work, and Homebush simply won’t attract enough foot traffic to make sense.”

Unlike previous years, no world premieres are due to be staged at this year’s AIMS, although Australian debuts will include Toyota’s new Corolla, Nissan’s born-again Pulsar and the all-new Mazda6.