The Australian International Motor Show - Melbourne

The other day I went to the Australian International Motor Show to view the latest offerings from the main car manufacturers. The show is being held in the 30,000 sq metre exhibition space (ie. Jeff's Shed) as part of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Due to the massive area, it took my father-in-law and I about 4 hours to meander through the displays, thoughtfully comparing and contrasting the glistening concept models and generally dismissing anything with a cheap, plastic interior.

The latest offering from Nissan

This is the first time in two years that motor show has graced Melbourne with its presence and with all the marketing campaigns promoting the exhibition, one could be forgiven for thinking the show was an entertainment event. The reality though is that the show is a cleverly dressed up, glorified advertisement by the car manufacturers that Joe Public pays $20 for the privilege of viewing it. It is similar situation to casinos, where everything thinks that they are going there for a good night of entertainment, but in reality, they are donating their money to the casino while fancy lights and sounds placate the analytical mind.

It took quite a while to walk through all the different exhibits

From the outset, it was clear which manufacturers were there with the serious intention of wooing new customers while others appeared to be at the show due to backroom wrangling and desk pounding. The clear and undisputed manufacturer for best exhibit was Ford, who managed to turn their allocated floor space into a Science-Works meets school open day. In other words, the children get distracted by the crazy science demonstrations, while the parents engage in serious conversation with the adults. The end result: people who entered the Ford exhibit stayed longer.

Best Exhibit: Ford

By contrast the manufacturer with the most under-performing exhibit was Holden which clearly thought a couple of free posters and a few scattered vehicles would meet the minimum requirements. Either the GFC is still hurting GM or Holden Australia is feeling so comfortable with their market position that they thought a token effort was all that was warranted. 

This tiny Kumho Tyres stand got more interest than the Holden exhibit.

The why-did-you-bother award goes to Bentley, who provided three cars that were all roped off to the public. The only information provided for each car was an A4 printed sheet with five hastily typed facts, included price and maximum speed. While the prices were impressive, they clearly thought conveying their stuffy Britannica was the best advertising strategy to the predominately Caucasian male from the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

Bentley's token effort

The use of technology was fascinating with iPads being the flavour of the month. The tablet computers were used for information stands and for personal assistants to the sales staff. Interestingly, quite a few iPads were connected by 3G and loaded dynamic content from an external server into the custom sales app. This meant there was a fair delay while the vehicle price was matched to postcode of the user. This lack of responsiveness was disappointing and demonstrated that exhibitors may need to rethink their iPad strategy to ensure maximum effectiveness from the devices.

iPad's were used extensively to display car information

Lastly, it was difficult to miss the fact that manufacturers were tripping over themselves in an effort to display their green credentials. Any car manufacturer worth their salt had an electric car on offer with large charts showing the method of design and operation. Some vehicles on offer looked like they could have potential, while others were clearly there to balance out the other petrol guzzlers on display.

Did Lamborghini bother with any green-ness? No.