An impressive 472,300 people visited the London motorshow over its 2 week running period, organisers said compared to 2006 with 415,000 visitors. The show, which took place at London’s ExCel centre for only the second time, welcomed 14% more visitors than in 2006.
Its interactive activities proved particularly popular, with 6000 people taking up Mazda’s Zoom-Zoom challenge and over 25,000 trying Land Rover’s Ultimate Experience. Although ExCel organisers originally set themselves a target of 500,000 visitors, the show is being seen as a success.
Kirsty Perkinson, show organiser said: “We had record numbers of people coming to the show, helped by the fantastic weather, the broad range of interactive activities on offer every day and the number of world premieres on display. Visitors, exhibitors and media have all given excellent feedback, citing the quality, variety and interactivity the show has to offer.”
London’s ExCel has a deal to host the motorshow until 2010, but some commentators have already expressed concern about the relatively low number of new car launches this year. However the organisers insist that according almost all the car makers that attended the show are reporting increased leads and more test-drive requests as a result of their stands.
However, despite the increase in numbers, London is still not in a position to compete against other major European car shows like the ones in Geneva, Paris or Frankfurt and even though this year’s event hosted several world premieres like the Vauxhall/Opel Insignia, Ford Focus RS, Honda OSM and Seat Ibiza SportCoupe, it's worrying that many major players like Audi, BMW, Porsche, Aston Martin and Rolls Royce chose not to participate.