As the doors close at the British International Motor Show 2002, exhibitors have been totting up the new business generated at Britain’s biggest consumer exhibition
Record advance ticket sales showed the huge interest in this year’s Show. A massive 120,000 tickets were sold in advance and, once fully audited by independent audit bureau ABC, the number of visitors to the NEC is expected to have topped half a million.* And another half a million people worldwide have taken a virtual tour of the Show at www.motorshow.co.uk
Exhibitors and visitors are estimated to have added more than £30 million to the economy in the West Midlands, with 20,000 local people involved in staging the UK’s premier automotive showcase.
Car makers big and small have been filling order books as visitors took advantage of the discounts and special offers available.
MG Rover took orders worth more than £1 million on the first day alone, while TVR sold out six weeks’ production on the same day. Citroën reported that this year’s event had brought in a higher quality of visitor than at any other Motor Show, and Ford reported enquiries for three-door Fiesta, Focus RS and Street KA had reached record levels too.
British sports car manufacturer Noble, which showcased two new models, has taken orders for 40 of its cars, worth nearly £2 million, compared to nine cars at the last Show in 2000.
A1 Motor Stores, which hosted a live action stage show within a retail village of 1,300 square metres, was forced to order truck-loads of new stock, after a frantic first week of sales.
Motor Show Chief Executive Christopher Macgowan said, ‘This year we have seen the British International Motor Show confirmed as a key international event.
‘Visitors have poured through the doors of the NEC despite disruption to rail and roads caused by the bad weather. The Show has generated high levels of new business both in the West Midlands and for companies across the whole motor industry. And most importantly it has given the UK a chance to show the rest of the world what it is capable of.’
* The British International Motor Show is unique in requiring the attendance to be independently audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). The final attendance will be published once the figures have been scrutinised by ABC.
