Car Dealers Plow On With Their Big Show : Autos: Organizers express optimism despite the economic lag, and hope that the Gulf War doesn’t keep everyone glued to the tube.
There’s a war in the Persian Gulf and a recession at home. Ford and General Motors just reported huge quarterly losses, car sales continue to head in reverse and dealers are desperate to woo customers.
But the show must go on.
So on Saturday, the gates open for the annual Orange County Auto Show, a nine-day homage to the car.
Work began Wednesday as laborers erected four steel-framed, temporary buildings created especially for the show in the Anaheim Stadium parking lot.
On Thursday, workers began assembling the displays, moving the cars in and painstakingly polishing and buffing them to get ready for tonight’s charity event sponsored by the Newport/Balboa Rotary to raise funds for the Jim Everett Foundation and Wellness Society.
Doors open to the public at 11 a.m. Saturday and the show runs daily through Feb. 24.
In all, 33 manufacturers will be displaying more than 500 cars, vans and trucks, including previews of several 1992 models and a handful of futuristic-concept cars.
The Orange County Motor Car Dealers Assn., the show’s sponsor, is holding its collective breath, hoping that the Persian Gulf conflict doesn’t heat up and keep everyone at home watching the news, according to Barry Greenberg, the show’s publicist.
If that doesn’t happen, he said, organizers are optimistic that attendance will match last year’s record of 201,000.
Show manager Bill Schultz said that attendance at local auto shows has been good despite the stumbling economy and concerns about the Gulf War. The Long Beach Auto Show in November reported a 23% increase in ticket sales, while attendance at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January held steady.
“Shows like this are very valuable,” said John Campbell III, president of Campbell Automotive Group in Irvine, the holding company for a string of domestic and import auto dealerships.
“This is a good time for people to buy cars because dealers are not getting the showroom traffic we used to get. Sales are down and when that happens we end up with more inventory, so most of us are willing to deal, especially with customers who have good credit and can get financing,” he explained.
The value of an auto show can increase in bad times like these, Campbell said, “because it provides a place people can go to see a lot of cars all at once and stimulates interest in cars. We always see a surge of customers in our showrooms and an increase in sales during and just after the show.”
In addition to the major U.S. and Japanese auto makers’ displays, exhibitors at the show include Lotus and Aston Martin, Greenberg said.
Two Orange County-based auto importers, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America and Hyundai Motor America, will be displaying new 1992 models--Mitsubishi’s Diamante luxury sports sedan and Hyundai’s upscale Elantra sedan.
