Be prepared to walk.
The Chicago Auto Show finally has made good on plans to expand.
The 2005 edition of the show includes 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space in two halls–McCormick Place South and North.
“Expansion plans actually go back to the days when we held the show in the old McCormick Place along the lake,” said Jerry Cizek, president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, show sponsor.
That hall, now called the Lakeside Center, was destroyed by fire in 1967 shortly before the show. It reopened in 1971 to provide 640,000 square feet of exhibit space on two floors, but even at that it was not large enough to hold the exhibits, much less allow the visitors to see them comfortably.
“The old building was always cramped, and the main entrance actually was the basement or lower level,” Cizek said.
Some visitors even remained on one level or the other, never realizing there was more to the show.
In 1986 a North Hall opened on the west side of Lake Shore Drive. But it wasn’t until 1997, the year after the 840,000-square-foot South Hall opened, that the auto show moved across the street–and onto one level.
Even then, “we started asking how we could fill both of the halls with the show,” Cizek said.
The problem, however, was that McCormick Place books shows years in advance. The auto show could have expanded into the North Hall–every other year because another show had the hall on alternate ones. Industry growth was driving the expansion.
In the lakeside hall, the Big Four domestics–General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and American Motors– took up most of the upper level. Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Toyota, Honda and Nissan were crammed downstairs with a few pickups tucked among the numerous support pillars.
Since then, the number of automakers and their offerings from Japan, South Korea and Europe have increased. And trucks, in the form of pickups and sport-utility vehicles, have taken center stage.
“A couple of years ago Chrysler came to us and said the Chicagoland market is so big and so important that they wanted to do more at the Chicago show and asked if they could set up a test track so consumers could ride in the vehicles,” Cizek said. “But we didn’t have the space. So they set up a Jeep off-road course at the New York Auto Show [outside the building in a massive tent] last year, and it was a success. When we said we were going to add space in Chicago for ’05 they said `let’s do it [test track] in Chicago.’ “
On the test tracks–there are three in McCormick Place South–showgoers will ride with professional drivers as they put Jeeps, Dodges and Chryslers through their paces.
“Just looking at cars at auto shows has become yesterday’s news,” said George Murphy, senior vice president of global marketing for Chrysler Group.
“We’ve found that 60 percent of those who attend an auto show will be in the market for a new vehicle within six months.
“Seeing isn’t believing, experience is believing,” Murphy added. “When people get in and experience the product, the sales rate is high.”
The expansion creates two potential risks.
“Some people might get tired from all the walking but while they might get sore feet, they’ll get plenty of exercise,” joked Dave Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.
The other more real risk is that some people will tour the South Hall that’s housed the show since 1997 and not venture to the North Hall.
“There will be plenty of signage to make people aware of both halls, and each visitor will be given a map when they walk in to make them aware of both halls,” said Dave Sloan, executive vice president of the CATA.
Mike Spencer, spokesman for Acura, added:
“When the North Hall became available, the auto show people [CATA] said they needed a draw to get people into the North Hall so that visitors would want to see displays in both the North and South Halls and we volunteered.”
Though this disrupts a show set-up devised a few years ago in which the carmakers displayed their wares in “family” units, Honda and Acura, for example, Spencer doesn’t see that as a problem.
“Acura and Honda are separated at most auto shows, so it wasn’t a problem. We feel that people come to the show to see the cars and if you have a good product they’ll look for it and find it no matter where you put it,” Spencer said, noting that since many visitors compare Acura, Lexus and Infiniti against one another, having them near each other is a plus.
“Besides, now that the show has expanded, we can spread out our exhibits and the vehicles in our exhibits to make them easier for visitors to see and check out. In the past and at other shows, people are packed in like sardines in the exhibits and now they won’t be,” Spencer said.
Toyota and Lexus spokesman John McCandless agreed.
“On weekends there were times you couldn’t move in the exhibits and people had to wait in crowds to see the cars and sometimes they decided not to wait.
“Now visitors won’t have to wait. They’ll see the cars, be able to get in the cars and hear what we have to say about the cars in order to learn more about them, which they sometimes weren’t able to do before the expansion,” he said.
With 1.2 million square feet of space (840,000 in the South Hall and 369,000 in the adjacent North Hall), the expanded Chicago show ranks as the third largest in the world behind Frankfurt and Paris, Cizek said.
“There’s more than 100,000 square feet of additional space below the North Hall that could be used. We considered that space back in the ’80s when the North Hall opened, but at the time there were no escalators between the floors.
“And we still have the old hall along the Lake with 640,000 square feet of space that we could use if needed,” Cizek said.
“We’ll use the 2005 show as a learning experience as to what the manufacturers want and what they may dream up in the future.” Cizek said.
SEMA joins up, vendors shift space
New carmakers also considered
With the added space, many exhibitors are increasing the size of their displays or moving to a more central location. The souvenir, T-shirt and toy vendors, for example, are heading to the main floor in the North Hall from a corner on the second floor of the South.
Others are finding there’s room for them at the show for the first time.
New exhibitors include International Truck, Smart and Panoz. The Specialty Equipment Market Association is making its debut at a public venue.
SEMA is showing samples of vehicles its members, aftermarket part suppliers, voted the most “accessory friendly for consumers to customize” at last fall’s trade show.
Decked out versions of the winners, the Ford Mustang, Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Tahoe will be on display in Chicago.
Chrysler’s Mopar parts division also will be showing performance parts and accessories as well as a “project car” to put them to use.
Other such project vehicles can be seen at Mazda, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, BMW, Lexus, Scion, Land Rover and Subaru.
“I’d like to think that this expansion is just the beginning of expansion for the future,” said Jerry Cizek, chairman of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, show sponsor.
“There’s already talk about Renault and Peugeot coming back into the U.S. market and Malcolm Bricklin wanting to sell a vehicle made in China and wanting to exhibit at the auto show.”
— Jim Mateja
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How they stack up
CHICAGO AUTO SHOW
– Location: McCormick Place
– Space: 1.2 million square feet
– Vehicles: Nearly 1,000
– Attendance: 1.2 million (estimated)
– Show dates: Mid-February
DETROIT AUTO SHOW
– Location: Cobo Hall
– Space: 700,000 square feet
– Vehicles: More than 700
– Attendance: 800,000
– Show dates: Mid-January
LOS ANGELES AUTO SHOW
– Location: Los Angeles Convention Center
– Space: 760,000 square feet
– Vehicles: Slightly more than 1,000
– Attendance: 1 million
– Show dates: Early January
NEW YORK AUTO SHOW
– Location: Javits Center, Manhattan
– Space: 814,000 square feet
– Vehicles: Nearly 1,000
– Attendance: 1.3 million
– Show dates: Opens Good Friday
Source: Show organizers
