San Jose Auto Show Record Traffic - People Still Love Cars

    SAN JOSE, Calif.--Jan. 15, 2002--Symbolizing the near record sales of new vehicles in Santa Clara County in the last quarter of 2001, the 2002 San Jose International Auto Show attracted 283,455 visitors to the San Jose Convention Center Jan. 9-13.
    The gate count for the eighth annual five-day exhibition of automotive options eclipsed the previous attendance mark by 26% and brought the show's eight year total to over 1.3 million visitors.
    "The success of this show is an accurate reflection of the prominence this market plays in the automotive industry," said Auto Show co-Chairman Mark Normandin, vice president of the Silicon Valley Auto Dealers Association.
    "Santa Clara County is one of the country's leading new car sales regions and the industry is anxious to learn of this area's response to the direction the manufacturers are taking."
    Presented by the Silicon Valley Auto Dealers Association and produced by Auto Dealer Shows Inc. of Playa del Rey, Calif., the San Jose show featured the display of over 400 new cars, light trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles. The throngs of attendees also got a glimpse of factory concept cars, including Ford's show-stopping Forty-Nine, and North American debuts from Infiniti, Volkswagen, Pontiac and Ford.
    Two of the factors Normandin cited as playing strong roles in the continuing growth of the show were the accessibility of advance ticket sales on the Internet and the industry's overall efforts to increase its presence within the Hispanic community.
    "We made advance tickets available through our website at sjautoshow.com," Normandin said. "That lessened the box office lines, especially on the weekend. In the week leading up to the show we had over 100,000 hits to that site."
    Normandin revealed that the show attracted an audience from throughout the Bay Area, with visitors from Marin to King City.
    "And I'm pleased to say that the automotive industry as a whole has recognized the buying strength of the Hispanic market here in the Silicon Valley and continues to take steps to gain accessibility to that demographic with an increase in bilingual factory representatives and sales material," Normandin added.
    The 72-member SVADA's Charity Preview Gala on Jan. 8 raised over $60,000 for eight local children's non-profit organizations.
    The ninth San Jose International Auto Show is scheduled Jan. 8-12, 2003 at the San Jose Convention Center.