MotorWorld And The Australian Motoring Festival: Now 2 Motor Shows For Victoria

The happy state of Victoria has gone from being a ‘motor-show-free zone’, to now having two on offer for 2015. Its cup is surely running over.

In one corner is VACC and RACV’s Australian Motoring Festival, to be staged at the Showgrounds; in the other, the freshly announced MotorWorld Melbourne at Sandown Raceway.

And each within six months of the other: the Australian Motoring Festival in late March, MotorWorld Melbourne, the last week in November.

That’s going to make things interesting; it will have each going all-out to win the hearts and minds of Victorian families, car buyers and enthusiasts.

Perhaps more to the point, it is also going to have each going all-out to win over car, motorcycle, 4WD and lifestyle exhibitors and manufacturers.

Because you can’t run a show without exhibitors. And certainly not without exhibitors prepared to go to some considerable expense to be involved.

Which raises some interesting issues.

One of the key issues that undermined the viability of the Melbourne and Sydney Motor Shows was the cost to manufacturers of their involvement: the cost of bespoke displays, of expensive exhibition space, of staffing and of the logistics.

It was that cost, and declining attendances, that saw manufacturers withdraw support first from the Melbourne Show and then its Sydney counterpart.

In the end, too many manufacturers voted with their feet, choosing instead to stage their own roadshows and face-to-face consumer events.