Thumbs up for SA motoring spectacle

Virtually all visitors to the Johannesburg Motor Show - staged at Expo Centre in October - agreed it was a world class event, according to the results of research issued by the show organisers, SA Show Services.

The exact breakdown was 100% of the public day visitors and 98.4% of VIP guests.

The extravaganza also fared well in terms of value for money, with 98.3% of the public day visitors and 100% of the VIPs agreeing with this.

"We are impressed and delighted at this response," said Nico Vermeulen, director of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), which is a co-owner of the event with Expo Centre.

"Not only were all aspects of the show of a very high standard, but the composition of the 228102 people who came to Expo Centre over the 11-day period was close to our ideal target market in terms of demographics. We are also satisfied with the number of visitors, particularly as many other major events took place over the show period, not least of which was the rugby World Cup.

"Another accolade that has come the way of the show is the award from the Exhibition and Event Association of SA (EXSA) as the Best Exhibition of the Year in SA in 2011," Vermeulen said.

The research showed that people living in Pretoria and Centurion are the biggest exhibition-goers, making up 23.6% of the sample surveyed at the show. This region was followed by visitors from the East and West Rand, with 13.9% each.

Virtually all vehicle manufacturers and distributors in South Africa participated in the show. Their decision was fully justified in that all the people interviewed in the survey said just the fact that the companies had vehicles on display enhanced their brand image in the mind of the visitors.

The BMW and Mini products proved the most popular with visitors on the public days. They were the highlight of the show for 27.5% of the visitors. Two other German brands, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, were next most popular on 23.1% each. They were followed by Toyota/Lexus (13.9%), exotics (13.7%), Ford and Volkswagen (12.9%).

These rankings were in contrast to the list drawn up from surveying invited VIP guests. They rated the "total show" and "all new cars" as the biggest highlights, with 17.5% support from this group for these aspects of the show.