THE NATION'S LARGEST AUTO SHOW WRAPS UP IN THE WINDY CITY

Despite one fewer public day, the Chicago Auto Show’s attendance grows 7 percent year-over year.

CHICAGO (Feb. 26, 2015) – The Chicago Auto Show concluded a successful nine-day run this past weekend, boasting a 7 percent increase in attendance compared to last year. With more than 1 million square feet of exhibit space, the Chicago Auto Show is the nation’s largest auto show. The show’s media preview this year hosted 18 world premieres including the introduction of the Kia Trail’ster concept as well as important consumer vehicles such as the Acura RDX, Chevrolet Equinox, Honda Pilot and Toyota Avalon.

“With so many attendees and so much room to spread out, the Chicago Auto Show is the nation’s consumer auto show,” said John Webb, 2015 Chicago Auto Show chairman. “That was in evidence with the large number of mainstream vehicles that made their world debut here this year.”

In addition to the RDX, Equinox, Pilot and Avalon, the 2015 Chicago Auto Show also saw world introductions of the Acura MDX, Chevrolet Silverado Custom and Midnight and Colorado GearOn, Ford Police Interceptor, Hyundai Elantra GT and Veloster Rally, Kia Trail’ster concept and Rio, Nissan 370Z Roadster NISMO concept and GT-R LM NISMO race car, Ram Laramie Limited and Toyota Camry and Corolla Special Editions.

Taking advantage of the large number of attendees, the Chicago Auto Show is also a leader in technology and social media activations. The show provided free Wi-Fi to all attendees, and the official Chicago Auto Show app had more than 33,000 downloads during the run of the show – easily doubling the number of downloads from a year ago. In addition, the app incorporated cutting-edge beacon technology designed to message attendees as they approached significant vehicles or sponsor-activation areas.

The Chicago Auto Show also continued to engage with its thousands of fans across social media. The show’s #CAS15, was a top trending hashtag on Twitter during the Media Preview and directly reached 30 million people totaling 22,500 tweets. Fans could also see their tweets and Instagram posts on a social media wall, a hub where the social media team also hosted a series of Twitter chats and blogger meet-ups throughout the show.

“Our social media strategy is simple: to encourage our thousands of fans and attendees to share their personal experiences of the nation’s largest auto show through comments, pictures and videos,” said Dave Sloan, Chicago Auto Show general manager. “The auto show is a perfect blend of old-school crowdsourcing combined with today’s technologies to exponentially increase the marketing reach of the show.”

Planning is already underway for the 108th Chicago Auto Show. The 2016 Chicago Auto Show will open to the public on Feb. 13 and run through Feb. 21. The media preview will be Feb. 11-12, 2016, and First Look for Charity will be Feb. 12, 2016.

For more information, please visit www.chicagoautoshow.com.

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About the Chicago Auto Show The Chicago Auto Show is the largest auto show on the continent, spanning more than 1 million square feet of production, concept, and exotic vehicle exhibit space. In addition to hosting multiple world and North America vehicle debuts, the Chicago Auto Show's First Look for Charity raises more than $2 million annually for 18 vital Chicago organizations in a single night. The 2015 public show will be February 14-22. For more information, visit ChicagoAutoShow.com or Facebook.com/ChicagoAutoShow.

About The Chicago Automobile Trade Association Founded in 1904, the Chicago Automobile Trade Association is the nation’s oldest and largest metropolitan dealer organization. It is comprised of more than 400 franchised new-car dealers and an additional 150 allied members. The group’s dealer members employ about 19,000 people in the metropolitan area. The association has produced the world famous Chicago Auto Show since 1935. For more information please visit CATA.info.

OICA-LOGO-130The 2015 Chicago Auto Show is officially sanctioned by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers. Founded in Paris in 1919, it is known as the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles.