2009 ajc autoshow sucked! (Atlanta: appointed, sales, home) - Georgia (GA) - City-Data Forum

SAAN · 03-21-2009, 09:39 PM

I went to the autoshow at gwcc and noticed how few cars there were this year. No Porche, Jaguar, Lamborgini, Maybach, and others too.

Even the cars that were there, were fewer to the point where the cars were more spread out just to fill up the empty space. It should not have cost $10 this year.

atlantagreg30127 · 03-21-2009, 10:15 PM

Does it really surprise you though? Considering car sales are down nearly 40% this year (on top of last years drop), I'm surprised they had a car show at all to be honest.

Even the Atlanta Home Show had fewer vendors. It used to be so large that the Springtime version of it had to be held at the World Congress Center, and the last couple of times it's been dwindling down to the point where it's at the smaller Galleria/Cobb location in Spring now.

Expect more of the same next year. It'll be a while before these types of shows get huge again.

Iconographer · 03-22-2009, 07:38 AM

I had the same impression...it was such a disappointment not to see the "high end" cars this year. In addition, the space had shrunk down to one exhibition hall (it's normally two).
Toyota and Honda seemed to be the busiest vendors on the floor. Most of the attention seemed to be focused on the hybrids, not the showy stuff. The Honda Fit appeared to be the star of the show; it's already caught on big time in Europe.

neil0311 · 03-22-2009, 08:10 AM

Ditto here. My 13 year old son was a bit disappointed. We went to the show last year at the GWCC, and we had been going to the NY show at the Javits center for the 5 years before we moved here. The Atlanta show last year was no where near as good as the NY show, and the show this year wasn't as good as last year's Atlanta show.

LD, did you mean the Honda Insight? They're bringing it back this year, and the other vehicle that drew my attention was the Town and Country range extended vehicle, which is a plug in electric/hybrid with a very small gas engine that is only there to recharge the batteries. Gets more than 100 miles per gallon, although no one calculates the raw energy used to generate the 110v AC used to charge the batteries. If you plug it in each night to your home electric, your electric bill will surely increase quite a bit.

Iconographer · 03-22-2009, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neil0311

Ditto here. My 13 year old son was a bit disappointed. We went to the show last year at the GWCC, and we had been going to the NY show at the Javits center for the 5 years before we moved here. The Atlanta show last year was no where near as good as the NY show, and the show this year wasn't as good as last year's Atlanta show.

LD, did you mean the Honda Insight? They're bringing it back this year, and the other vehicle that drew my attention was the Town and Country range extended vehicle, which is a plug in electric/hybrid with a very small gas engine that is only there to recharge the batteries. Gets more than 100 miles per gallon, although no one calculates the raw energy used to generate the 110v AC used to charge the batteries. If you plug it in each night to your home electric, your electric bill will surely increase quite a bit.

No, it was definitely the Fit...check out this rather bombastic ad for it.

2009 Honda Fit - The Official Honda Web Site

neil0311 · 03-22-2009, 09:42 AM

Yeah, that's just a bit over the top.

David Alleyne · 03-22-2009, 11:39 AM

I didn't have time to escape to 'Fit City' but that ad was great. To Fits converge at all that stuff, Honda did good.

George Chong · 03-22-2009, 02:23 PM

Agreed, the car show was not as "nice" as it has been in the previous years. I am sure all the manufacturers and dealers have been cutting back.

I especially missed seeing more concept cars.

IMO, It was still cheap entertainment.

SAAN · 03-23-2009, 10:26 AM

I can see how manufacturers and dealers have been cutting back, but if your the big 3 and in trouble, you need to put your best equipped models on the floor to make people want to buy them , not the basic models that make people yawn.

Even the 2010 Fusion Hybrid was locked and its Fords supposed savior car.

George Chong · 03-23-2009, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAAN

Even the 2010 Fusion Hybrid was locked and its Fords supposed savior car.

Yeah - what was up with that?

Previous year's they had the Volt on display. Not this year