2009 AutoRAI Netherlands Auto Show - A Different Set-up

By Henny Hemmes
Senior Editor
Amsterdam Bureau
The Auto Channel

AMSTERDAM, April 7, 2009. The 2009 AutoRAI, the auto show in The Netherlands that is organized every other year, opened its doors last week to close them again on Saturday night of April 11. While in the past, the show got some 500,000 visitors, there are doubts that it might not get more than 250,000 this time.

The reason is the new set up of the show. The concept has completely changed, since cars are no longer grouped by brand, but are exhibited in six so-called experience worlds. That means that models are next to those of other brands in their own market segment.

The reason is obvious: since the financial crisis hit the automotive sector by the end of last year, many Dutch distributors announced they would not to be able to join the show: BMW, Daihatsu, Ferrari, Fiat, Lancia, Honda, Mistsubisi Nissan, Renault, Dacia, Citroën, Peugeot, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Spyker and SsangYong. While Ford, Cadillac, Corvette, Hummer and Donkervoort by that time had not made up their mind.

All together those brands represented about 38 percent of total yearly sales in The Netherlands. In the old set up, the AmsterdamRAI would cost a distributor of the size of BMW some 1.5 million euro. As the show is not a sales show, those costs are mainly put on the budget for image building, marketing and public relations.

The organisation AmsterdamRAI went into emergency mode and launched the idea for the new set up. BMW decided to join as well as Ford, while the participation of the American GM brands remained uncertain because of the bad financial situation of Kroymans Corp., the Dutch based European import organisation for Cadillac, Corvette and Hummer. Kroymans filed for bankruptcy shortly before the show and consequently the brands were absent.

AmsterdamRAI hopes to have found a new formula that can be copied by other organisers of auto shows world wide. But much depends on the amount of visitors that the new set up draws. After the first six days of the Amsterdam show, only 120,000 were registered. With the Easter holidays coming up, this amount can hardly be doubled, let alone tripled during the last half of the show.

The AutoRAI has got huge credit by the media with extensive and extreme positive coverage in the last weeks before the start of the show.

The worlds in which the cars are exhibited are Famly & travel, Convertible, Luxury & sports, Adventure, City & Compact and Green innovations. The largest exhibition hall is the stage of a unique even know as AutoRai Life, with spectacular driving shows.

There are also special theme pavilions, for instance the Supercar Paddock of the prominent Dutch bi-weekly car magazine Autovisie, where visitors can see the stunning Nissan GT-R. The Panzer Pavilion of another magazine, has four special armoured cars on display, including the Mercedes-Benz of Helmut Kohl.

For children there is a Disney Pavilion, where young drivers can obtain their Duck City driving license. The 110 years of AutoRAI pavilion should draw lovers of vintage and classic cars. Last but not least, GoMotor in a brand new building will display a slew of new motorbikes. AmsterdamRAI has been inventive in setting up the floor by using nicely resprayed containers to mark the ‘worlds’. Exhibitors are not allowed to use video displays and other interactive/digital material.

On March 31, just before the official opening of the show, Fernand Molenschot, domain manager automotive of Amsterdam RAI , expected to welcome between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors.

Break-even would be at 270,000 visitors, while the loss would be 700,000 euro with 200,000 visitors. It now looks like the break-even point would be an achievement.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:April 12, 2009; Yesterday the show closed. I can add that it had only 220,000 visitors. That means they are at a loss and were not successful with the new set up. Or is it because people are not buying, who knows.

© HHR April 2009