The 2005 Commercial Vehicle Show and Automotive Trade Show was an outstanding success according to its organisers, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Provisional and un-audited figures show nearly 27,000 visitors over the three-day event at the NEC last week.
‘The CV Show and ATS is the most successful show of its type in Europe,’ said SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan. ‘Last week’s excellent event reinforced that market-leading position, delivering multi-million pound business opportunities to 632 exhibitors and thousands of trade visitors. We know that many exhibitors made good use of the opportunities we delivered and collectively announced billions of pounds worth of new business.’
The SMMT says exhibitors have consistently praised the running of the CV Show and ATS and were particularly pleased with the quality of the business visitors. Almost all say that visitor quality is more important than quantity.
Provisional figures suggest visitor numbers were up over 15 per cent on the longer term average for the show, despite a slight drop on last year’s record breaking event. ‘The small dip was in line with our expectations and mainly due to the show running during the school holidays, when a fair number of parents take a break,’ said Christopher Macgowan. ‘This means the new deal to put the event on at the NEC in the last week of April next year and in succeeding years should be even better for exhibitors, business visitors and the youngsters we hope will come to the Skills Centre.’
The SMMT ran the first UK Commercial Vehicle Show, at London’s Olympia in 1907 and has organised every one since. Last year, the SMMT took the initiative to add its Automotive Trade Show to the event, widening its appeal even more.
‘The CV Show’s success has increased each year under the guidance of our enormously experienced exhibition and PR teams,’ said Christopher Macgowan. ‘We’ve consistently delivered better value to exhibitors and visitors and it is no wonder that the event is now the biggest and most successful event of its type in Europe.’
The annual event was created five years ago by combining three complementary shows, one each from the SMMT, the RHA and the IRTE. Those three organisations formed the CV Show Partnership, which relies on the SMMT to organise the CV Show and ATS, delivering better value to exhibitors and visitors with a show that offers much more than the sum of its parts.
