AIMS: Melbourne motor show postponed

Regional super show to replace AIMS in the future?

The organisers of this year's Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) have issued a statement today, announcing that the 2013 event will not go ahead in Melbourne as originally planned.

In the release, event director Russ Tyrie acknowledged that the straitened global economy – particularly in Europe – had driven some car companies to reassess the return on investment to be had by attending the show.

“We have made the decision to not proceed with this year’s Show based on a consensus view of the Automotive Industry to focus limited marketing budgets in 2013 on firm specific activities rather than an industry based Motor Show," he said.

In other words, a core group of car companies in Australia told the show organisers they would not be attending this year's show, believing their money is better spent elsewhere. The fall-out has left insufficient revenue from leased floor space for the Melbourne show to be profitable.

"Things are tough, especially overseas where most of the parent head offices are located, and... many of those have taken a business decision that their money – this year – would be better spent on specific, brand promotions outside of the motor show..." explained Executive Director of the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC), David Purchase.

"Whether it's the right decision or the wrong decision is really beside the point; it's what they believe is appropriate. We really did have insufficient support... to run a motor show of the standard we have [previously] provided..."

In recent years car companies have claimed that sales and promotional activities that target existing and prospective buyers (opera tickets, invites to major sporting events and/or track days via direct marketing) provide better bang for the buck than a motor show. The difference is akin to smart bomb versus shotgun.

If the cancellation of the Melbourne show is a disappointment, there is at least a "silver lining", according to Purchase. The cancellation of the Melbourne show this year has prompted the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) – organising body for the Sydney-based AIMS – and the VACC – managing and promoting the Melbourne International Motor Show – to ramp up plans to introduce an Asia/Pacific motor show.

"This [cancellation] is what we believe is an isolated event; we do not believe that it's the end of motor shows by any stretch of the imagination," Purchase told motoring.com.au this afternoon.

"In fact, we're currently working on what we believe will be a bigger and better show in the future. What you'll see in the future is not an 'Australian International Motor Show, but an Asia/Pacific motor show.

"This particular new model... is not only coming to the fore because we've had to cancel, we've been thinking about this for a little while – [but] the cancellation of the motor show will just bring this forward.

"What we're looking at is an Asia/Pacific show that will have more Asian input and will also involve overseas conferences, workshops and think-tank activities that could involve the whole of the Exhibition Centre precinct."

Preliminary work has already begun, according to Purchase, although he would not reveal where negotiations had taken them and which parties in the region had been approached.

"We're in the process of establishing a working group that consists of VACC and indeed the management of the Exhibition Centre and hopefully representatives from government to work on this – what I might call the new motor show model."

Asked whether that signalled a parting of the ways for the two cities – and the joint venture partners – the head of VACC was unequivocal in his response.

"No not at all, in fact the joint venture between VACC and the FCAI will continue... and the new model has the full support of the FCAI.

"It doesn't mean the end of the two-city model at all. As far as we're concerned, this is a decision we've made for Melbourne in 2013. Whether we hold shows in Sydney or Melbourne in the future, that's always a decision based on the merits and all the surrounding circumstances at the time..."

The VACC boss was also certain that car companies will return to the fold.

"I have every confidence that the manufacturers will support what we've got in mind for the future. I have no doubt about that, actually."

No word on timeframe yet, according to Purchase, but "it won't be in the too-distant future..."

Against a backdrop of increasingly modern, widely publicised shows in other parts of the region – Tokyo principally, but with shows also in Beijing and Shanghai, to name two – an Australian motor show for the Asia/Pacific region will need to be something special just to keep up.

"If we're to keep motor shows in this country, then they're going to have to match it with the best overseas," says Purchase.

"If you look at the content of our shows and the way they're organised, they're as good as any overseas; what they're not is as big as overseas."

It's that very size – and population base to support such large motor shows – that makes the shows of Detroit, Tokyo, Geneva and Frankfurt less susceptible to the broader impact of economic downturns. That's a further point in favour of an Asia/Pacific show to succeed AIMS.

The VACC chief was unwilling to divulge which companies had pulled out of the Melbourne show, forcing the organisers' hand, but did sympathise with companies that had been prepared to front up for the show – companies like Mercedes-Benz.

The cancellation has been a bitter pill to swallow for David McCarthy, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications at Mercedes-Benz.

"What disappoints us is that we made a commitment to one show [a year], but obviously others are less committed," McCarthy told motoring.com.au this morning.

"We'd actually increased the size of our stand again this year," he explained, observing also that the importer had plans to bring out a number of special cars and provide previews of new models yet to be launched in the local market, including the small CLA sedan, which was tested by Australian journalists in France last week.

Some years ago, the prestige importer pulled out of the Melbourne show on the grounds that attending shows in both Sydney and Melbourne was a massive financial burden. Benz insisted that two major motor shows in a small market like Australia could not be justified. As a consequence of this revolt the FCAI and VACC joined forces in a two-city model of joint-venture co-operation.

But once that model was implemented, Mercedes-Benz made a firm commitment to attend each of the shows opening in Melbourne and Sydney on alternating years.

When asked whether Mercedes-Benz would wear any criticism for the cancellation of the Melbourne show – on the grounds of the importer's earlier demands – McCarthy was trenchant.

"Do we bear any responsibility for that? No, we do not," he said. "Our commitment was strong; we've always been an advocate for the show."

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AIMS: Melbourne motor show postponed

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