Thoughts From the STL Auto Show

[Frisky Dingo]

Friday evening, I went to the show to check out some new metal and see people's impressions. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked- only about 1.5 hours. Here are some of my takes from it-

Starting with my own brand, VW's display was a joke. The cars looked great, and they had good variety of trims, but there were some glaring omissions. There was no Golf R on display. No Atlas or Tiguan. I obviously didn't expect to see any concepts like the I.D.s or anything, but the Tiguan and Atlas have already been revealed in their production guise. Not displaying your two newest offerings in the hottest market segment, at a show that is taking place in the winter with recent bad weather fresh on a lot of buyer's minds was an oversight of epic proportions. Such blunders really concern me. If something so simple, easy, and cheap could be ignored and taken advantage of, what difficult things are they missing?

That said, there were a lot of people looking at the VW products, and asking the reps ?'s, so that was a good sign.

BMW, Audi, and MB were all absent. This is really a slap in the face to a lot of prospective buyers. Lexus and Acura were there. As was Cadillac and Lincoln. But the G3 couldn't be bothered to show? Ridiculous. 

Acura had an NSX there. People were gawking around it. I'm not a big fan. It was my first time seeing one in person, and the car gets a major 'meh' from me.

Chevy had a new Equinox there. Looked quite good, but it was up on a stand where you couldn't get in it or anything. More stupidity. Chevy's display was pretty week overall. Not as many cars as I'd have expected. Nothing really standout.

Ford's was better. They had a load of cars, different trims and specs. The Focus ST was getting a ton of attention. As were the trucks.

Lincoln had several models. I sat in pretty much all of them. Left very unimpressed. The Continental, in particular, was underwhelming. They didn't have MSRP's, but I know the car I sat it was upwards of 75K, and it didn't feel like it at all. Fit and finish was a joke. Just plain cloth headliner. Knobs and other chrome trim felt and looked cheap. The places where wood, 'metal', and leather/other materials met weren't flush or had poor fitment. Car is a joke. It'd be nice for 60K, but pushing 80K? Lincoln done lost their damn minds.

 

 

I'll add more as I get time.

[ykX]

Interesting. Looking forward to more of your comments.

I think the reason some automakers are missing from some of the regional shows is because few of them are going simultaneously across the country.  Probably, they are saving money and resources by skipping some of them.

I live close enough to NYC so I think will go this year as well to NYIAS. 

[ccap41]

20 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

BMW, Audi, and MB were all absent. This is really a slap in the face to a lot of prospective buyers. Lexus and Acura were there. As was Cadillac and Lincoln. But the G3 couldn't be bothered to show? Ridiculous. 

They've never made the trip to STL from what I can remember. I like going but the STL show really is kind of a joke.. It's nice if you're the average Joe looking to car shop because you can sit in everything the average buyer will look at all under one roof but that's about it..

Last year there wasn't a GT350 but there was an RS.. That's how the STL auto show works. There also just isn't all that much room for more brands even if they wanted to attend.

[Frisky Dingo]

24 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

They've never made the trip to STL from what I can remember. I like going but the STL show really is kind of a joke.. It's nice if you're the average Joe looking to car shop because you can sit in everything the average buyer will look at all under one roof but that's about it..

Last year there wasn't a GT350 but there was an RS.. That's how the STL auto show works. There also just isn't all that much room for more brands even if they wanted to attend.

Please. There's so much space left over that BMW, Audi, MB, Bentley, Jaguar, Rolls, Lambo, McLaren, Porsche, Ferrari, all could have displays.

[ccap41]

51 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

Please. There's so much space left over that BMW, Audi, MB, Bentley, Jaguar, Rolls, Lambo, McLaren, Porsche, Ferrari, all could have displays.

So there was thousands of square feet not occupied by anything? I didn't go this year but I've never gone when there was empty space that could just fit 10 more manufacturers. Not at all.

Edited January 23, 2017 by ccap41

[Suaviloquent]

Recent autoshows have really been meh for a while. But that's the way it's going to be. Extravagance is a luxury the industry really cannot afford anymore....

 

[Frisky Dingo]

28 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

So there was thousands of square feet not occupied by anything? I didn't go this year but I've never gone when there was empty space that could just fit 10 more manufacturers. Not at all.

There's still so many sections that are closed off and not used. Hell, just the hall where the non-auto related vendors are at could hold a few more. Then then there's spot taken up by the old retirees and their Corvettes. That could hold another maker with ease. There's room.

[Frisky Dingo]

Saw the Alfa Guilia Quadrifoglio at the show. Car doesn't do much for me still. It was a rather nice color, but the car just doesn't have a cohesive design, imo.

 

A local dealer had the new Aston DB11. It looks better in person than photos, and it was attracting a lot of attention. I still like the current Vanquish better.

 

The new Pacifica I was rather impressed with. The loaded model I sat in had a beautiful interior, with great materials, design, and high fit/finish levels. ChryCo in their entirety had a great setup. Lots of models, different trims, a few Mopar builds. Probably the best display of the show. Good looking models of the human variety, too.

[G. David Felt]

Auto Show Models! 

[daves87rs]

Betting most of these places don't even bother with shows next year anyways

 

Know for a fact Ford is doing less shows this year and even less next year.....

[Frisky Dingo]

It's a shame, too.