From the primary auto present in New York almost 121 years in the past, hundreds of thousands of American automobile buyers have flocked to their native automotive present every year to be awed by the newest and biggest the trade has to supply. From electrical headlights and heaters to four-wheel drive and front-wheel drive, auto exhibits are the locations many customers first see and expertise new physique types, automobile segments, facilities, options and technological developments.

From Volkswagen and Nissan to Toyota and Subaru, each new model coming into the U.S. market has leveraged auto exhibits to introduce themselves to a skeptical, resistant American public.

There’s a simple reply to why this method has been in place for the reason that inception of the horseless carriage. Merely put, auto exhibits — the trade’s largest experiential advertising possibility — work.

Earlier than COVID-19, a median 11 million People went to their native present yearly. Seven out of 10 have been available in the market for a brand new automobile. In a market of 14.5 million retail gross sales, it is a staggering share of the car-buying viewers strolling these present flooring.

Primarily based on 1000’s of surveys performed yearly with present attendees, the argument for auto exhibits solely will get stronger. A typical customer drives as much as an hour; pays for parking, present tickets and concessions; and spends 5 hours on the present flooring. That’s big dedication to attend what could possibly be thought of one very lengthy automotive business.

Because of their present experiences, a surprising 40 % of buyers add a number of manufacturers to their consideration record. And once they purchase, the present influences their buy selections — influencing as many consumers as digital does and having extra affect than different advertising choices within the toolbox.

So why, then, are some manufacturers opting out of exhibits?

Maybe the primary winds of change blew in January 1992, when Bob Lutz and Detroit Mayor Coleman Younger drove a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee by a window at Cobo Heart. The stunt, orchestrated by public relations whizzes, shocked journalists and was adopted by different wildly profitable Chrysler press occasions. The sport was on.

Aggressive manufacturers needed to increase the stakes. Shows turned more and more elaborate — and exceedingly costly — all to lure auto journalists to freshly expanded conference facilities and dazzling multimedia launch shows delivered by firm brass.

Then the crash of 2007-08 left monetary markets and the auto trade in ruins, and value chopping was a matter of life or demise. Because the world clawed out of recession, auto entrepreneurs have been confronted with twin realization in a brand new regular:

• Media consumption was shifting to digital, making the distribution of content material and messaging fast and cheap, and a circuit of journalists gathering in a single place much less needed.
• Exploded budgets led to reputable questions in regards to the worth equation of auto exhibits.

When administration requested what these {dollars} spent have been really yielding, the solutions usually got here within the type of media outcomes and lead generations, or spikes in auto show-driven dealership visitors.

With these forms of solutions, it may be simple to conclude that auto exhibits ought to be skipped by some manufacturers. As a result of if valued solely based mostly on the numbers of journalists accredited, what number of articles have been written or the gross sales leads generated, one may conclude that at current funding, auto exhibits ship subpar returns.

However all through most of their historical past, auto exhibits weren’t in regards to the media. They have been about offering customers a low-pressure, nice surroundings by which to the touch, scent, sit in and be taught in regards to the newest choices in a whole bunch of recent automobiles. About serving to clients down the trail from model consciousness to cross-consideration, purchasing, and finally, to their buy choice.

Each a part of this stays as true right this moment because it was greater than a century in the past.

There’s a robust argument to be made that auto exhibits can be much more crucial in coming years. The trade has to influence customers to purchase the battery-electric automobiles now churning out of factories.

A current J.D. Energy report reveals that the availability of BEVs at present outweighs purchaser acceptance for them — and much more provide is on the best way. That examine additionally states that BEV consideration goes up dramatically if customers turn into conversant in them, even by merely sitting or driving in a single.

In a contemporary world when dealerships more and more fall on the finish of the purchasing course of — if they aren’t prevented totally — the place can massive numbers of customers intimately expertise, be educated about and get snug with BEVs?

It’s nonetheless auto exhibits, the place customers have been unwaveringly alongside for the experience for 121 years — and counting.