It's starting tomorrow and runs through Sunday. As a car enthusiast, I should be excited, but I couldn't care less.

This show is becoming less relevant for the manufacturers that are there and more notable for those that don't bother to show up. Here's a list of brands that won't be there:

Audi
BMW
Ferrari (a stretch, I admit, since there's no dealer here)
Infiniti
Jaguar
Land Rover
Mercedes-Benz
Mini
Mitsubishi
Porsche
Saab (another stretch, since Saab is only selling existing inventory and not manufacturing cars while its future is doubtful)
Suzuki

You'll notice the vast majority of makes that won't be present are German luxury brands. Infiniti, the Japanese luxury division of Nissan, hasn't bothered to show up for the last couple of years either. Other manufacturers skipping the show have a small presence and market share anyway, like Suzuki and Mitsubishi, but I am dumbfounded by the number of manufacturers that skip the St. Louis Auto Show each year.

What's more irritating than the absence of the aforementioned manufacturers is the nonchalant attitude of the St. Louis Auto Dealers Association that is responsible for the show. They have been responsible for it becoming less of a manufacturer-driven event and more of a carnival that happens to have a few cars on display. When they moved the show a few years back to avoid the Super Bowl, they moved it to the same weekend as similar shows in Washington and Houston. So guess where the luxury makes would rather be...and guess why St. Louis has become a third-rate alternative that doesn't even get great support from the manufacturers that are there.

When I have contacted the SLADA about the obvious decline in the quality of the show, I have received indifferent responses. They know they are losing out to DC and Houston, and they couldn't care less. For this year's show, the new car displays are limited to the old Cervantes space, while the Edward Jones Dome plays host to an eco-car display, some drifting dude that spends more time driving sideways than forward, D-list actor appearances, and various carnival barkers.

In fairness, upscale brands are represented by St. Louis Motorsports, the local dealer for Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Lotus, Maserati, and Rolls Royce. But the "Million Dollar Mile" as it's branded quickly becomes overcrowded with hoosiers and poorly-dressed 16 year-olds drooling over the velvet ropes and onto the cars. I visit St. Louis Motorsports periodically for smaller shows and club gatherings, so I think I'll pass on their display here even though I'm glad they have a presence.

I'm only going this year to take my son. Otherwise I wouldn't bother. I'll be heading to Chicago next month to see what a real auto show looks like.

The Chicago Auto Show is absolutely worth the drive if you don't have time for Detroit. I have been attending for the past 8 years. You will never want to pay admission to the STL show again. While I like to blame the SLADA for the show's quality, I start to compare the venues (McCormick Place vs. America/Cervantes/Dome), and our space does not stack up to the competition. Yes, we could pack a LOT more auto show into our space, but it takes up more halls, and a Chicago or Detroit caliber show takes weeks to set up. I think it would be better for us to be scheduled between the Chicago and New York shows.

urbz wrote:The Chicago Auto Show is absolutely worth the drive if you don't have time for Detroit. I have been attending for the past 8 years. You will never want to pay admission to the STL show again. While I like to blame the SLADA for the show's quality, I start to compare the venues (McCormick Place vs. America/Cervantes/Dome), and our space does not stack up to the competition. Yes, we could pack a LOT more auto show into our space, but it takes up more halls, and a Chicago or Detroit caliber show takes weeks to set up. I think it would be better for us to be scheduled between the Chicago and New York shows.

I think SLADA's refusal to consider moving the date of the show is the biggest issue. A few years back, they moved the show so it would no longer coincide with the Super Bowl, as if there was any danger of the Rams finding their way back to it after the Greatest Show on Turf era ended.

Anyway, not long after that happened, the exodus of luxury manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Infiniti began. Makes with smaller market shares like Mini and Mitsubishi also vanished. Others, like Porsche, Jaguar, and Land Rover always had a limited presence at the show to begin with, so they also bothered not to show up.

When I contacted SLADA, I suggested moving the show date might convince these manufacturers to return. It isn't like there's a dearth of these vehicles around town. Ask Plaza, as they sell the first four brands I mentioned. So there is certainly a market for upscale cars in St. Louis, because St. Louis Motorsports sells cars that cost much more than those I mentioned, including Bentley, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Maserati, and Lotus, and they are a major show sponsor and feature a large exhibit (the Million Dollar Mile) each year.

I was told, however, the show was placed between the Detroit and Chicago shows because it "jump-started local car sales". I find that to be a bit odd, especially when Chicago has as many if not more model premieres than Detroit, which would allow even more upcoming models to be shown in St. Louis. I also know new car sales and new car registrations increase in the late summer months into early fall, as buyers take advantage of steeper discounts on cars as dealers anticipate the arrival of the new model year that begins each fall. Of course, I also remember the days when concept cars could be seen at our show, but that was many years ago. So, bottom line, SLADA doesn't see fit to worry about the date of the show or the absence of several upscale brands.

In fairness, however, I will say I enjoyed this year's show more than I expected. There were several Ride and Drive events, as Chrysler and its associated brands, General Motors, Kia, Subaru, and Toyota had several cars available for test drives around downtown. Because I drove multiple cars at each stop, I didn't get time to try Kia, Subaru, or Toyota products. I was, however, impressed with the GM and Chrysler products I drove. American cars have come a very long way in a rather short amount of time. Of course, the ones I liked the most had the most power, which also means they had the highest costs, the highest insurance rates, and the worst fuel mileage. Oh, and they were a bit beyond my budget. But if you saw an almost-middle-age bloke with a wide smile on his face in a Cadillac CTS-V downtown yesterday, it may have been me.

So I will give SLADA credit for adding features like this, because it's the first time the admission price felt "worth it" in the last 2-3 years. I still wish they would consider moving the show date, though, because I believe the missing brands would return if there wasn't overlap with Washington (DC), Houston, and Philadelphia auto shows, all of which attract all automakers.

I am a little late to chime in, but each year it seems the STL Auto Show keeps getting worse.

This year it seemed way smaller now that the automakers were consolidated into the old exhibition hall. As a car enthusiast I was disappointed that I did not see either the new Scion FR-S or Subaru BR-Z make an appearance at the auto show. This year I noticed there were less concept vehicles on display, not even the newly redesigned Acura RDX or Nissan Pathfinder was here either. The 2013 Ford Fusion, 2013 Lexus GS, 2013 Lincoln MKT, 2012 Scion IQ, and 2013 Chevy Spark were here, but those all will be arriving no later than late Summer. My friend went to the Washington DC Auto Show the same weekend and showed me the pictures he took at that show. Apparently, the DC Auto Show had all the cars I mentioned, plus vehicles like the Acura NSX, Chevy Code R130 concept and Lexus LF-LC concept to name a few. Pretty much what was shown at NAIAS was at the DC show.

Infiniti last made an appearance at the STL Auto Show in 2009, BMW was gone after 2009, Mercedes was gone after 2008 (I viewed pictures I took at previous STL Auto Show pictures as reference and citing). The million dollar mile redeems some of this, but the quality just still isn't as it was in years past. Those ride and drives help, but that isn't what I go to an auto show for. Also, there were these ladies at the exit with iPads taking surveys about the auto show. I did the quick survey and said the quality of the show has declined over the last 5 years, they need to bring back the quality, concept vehicles, and some of the luxury automakers and such. Hopefully, they listen to my feedback!

I think its best they move the date to right after the Chicago Auto Show, which I will be attending next weekend! This way when the NYC Auto Show comes in April STL will at least see some of what Chicago sees, here's hoping!

The ad campaign for the 2013 show is "500 cars and funnel cake." #sigh

Earlier (last year) complaints about lack of luxury car brands...

http://www.saintlouisautoshow.com/two-n ... rs-in-2013

Two New Manufacturers in 2013

The Auto Show is pleased to welcome two new manufacturers to the showroom floor this January! Audi and Infiniti will be appearing in all of their luxury prowess at the 2013 Saint Louis Auto Show brought to you by Bommarito Audi and Bommarito Infiniti!

Still going to Detroit this year. The ad that I just saw on Ch. 11 turned me off of the STL show for good.

I take it none of the driverless cars will be here? Also, would it help Missouri in anyway to be the next state to legalize driverless cars? (there's only 3 states so far) Maybe STLien can answer this

I went a couple of years ago to see the early Chevy Volt. The GM spokesperson said they only take it to the BIG shows. I am in the market now for a small SUV and I'm considering the 2013 Rav4 or the 2014 Subaru Forrester. Both go on sale in North America in a few weeks and were shown at the LA Auto show in November, but I bet neither will be on display at the St. Louis Auto show. Is it just a way to unload old inventory?

gary kreie wrote:I went a couple of years ago to see the early Chevy Volt. The GM spokesperson said they only take it to the BIG shows.

Chevy Volt at the 2011 Saint Louis Auto Show:



It was a part of a large 'electric city' display. Not only was it there, you could drive it; very slowly around a roughly 300 yard circle, but still. They also had a very rare Tesla Roadster there (Tesla does have staff in St. Louis; not sure if that influenced their decision to have a presence).

Now what St. Louis doesn't get any more are concept cars; at least not anything that hasn't been passed around the auto show circuit for a couple of years first. I'm not claiming the show is perfect, nor am I even trying to argue that it's gone down in quality. But The Volt has been there.

-RBB

Still, Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover, Porsche and Mini should be there. Unfortunately the local dealerships cannot justify the cost to exhibit.

rbb wrote:

gary kreie wrote:I went a couple of years ago to see the early Chevy Volt. The GM spokesperson said they only take it to the BIG shows.

Chevy Volt at the 2011 Saint Louis Auto Show:



It was a part of a large 'electric city' display. Not only was it there, you could drive it; very slowly around a roughly 300 yard circle, but still. They also had a very rare Tesla Roadster there (Tesla does have staff in St. Louis; not sure if that influenced their decision to have a presence).

Now what St. Louis doesn't get any more are concept cars; at least not anything that hasn't been passed around the auto show circuit for a couple of years first. I'm not claiming the show is perfect, nor am I even trying to argue that it's gone down in quality. But The Volt has been there.

-RBB

I should have said three years ago -- 2010. GM had already displayed the Volt at both the 2009 and 2010 Detroit Auto shows by the time of the 2010 St. Louis Auto show, so I just assumed it would be there in 2010.

http://www.treehugger.com/cars/2010-det ... -volt.html

Here is the "500 cars and funnel cake" commercial. YeeHaw

Prediction of the Day: Cities Will Soon Compete to Build Driverless Car Infrastructure

"No wonder, then, our correspondent found herself yesterday at a panel on driverless cars, which was so crowded that people were sitting on the floor. There, she heard an interesting prediction for the future of cities from Thomas J. Bamonte."

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/techno ... ture/4419/

moorlander wrote:Here is the "500 cars and funnel cake" commercial. YeeHaw

Did you attend this year? I think this auto show becomes worse and worse with each passing year. The only plus in my opinion was the return of Audi, which was made possible by Bommarito West County Audi, not Audi corporate. St. Louis Motorsports had a much larger area to display the exotic cars they sell, and that was kind of nice, but it wasn't a big deal to me because I attend Cars & Coffee events there several times a year and I can see their inventory whenever I'm at their showroom.

Even the manufacturers that show up don't always seem to give much of a sh_t, as they don't feature all of the cars in their lineups, they don't bring their top cars (no GT-R at the Nissan display, no LFA at Lexus, etc.), and they don't bring new cars and/or concepts from Detroit. I fully expected to see the 2014 Corvette there- why wouldn't Chevy bring it when they unveiled it at Detroit the week before?

Also, the lack of a coat check was a major irritation. I don't know whom to thank- the Convention and Visitors Commission or SLADA? It would have been really difficult to make room in the budget for a couple of minimum wage employees to check people's coats in at the main entrance- just as they've done every year for the last 30 years that I've attended this show. If a person checked in seven coats for one dollar each at seven dollars- that'd be a pretty low break-even point. A lot of people- not just me- seemed to be irritated by the lack of a coat check. Minor expense, major oversight...

Bottom line, SLADA is going to continue to give us a half-azz show until they move the date. Why not make it in late February after Chicago? As it stands now, our second-tier city has a third-rate auto show. But it's no surprise that our show is a shell of its former self, because here are the other shows that take place during the same time:

Detroit (North American International Auto Show)
Houston
Philadelphia
Washington, D.C.
Portland

Those commercials were incredibly hokey, but I suppose they were accurate. Come for the funnel cake! Uh, we have a few cars too!

threeonefour wrote:

moorlander wrote:Here is the "500 cars and funnel cake" commercial. YeeHaw

Did you attend this year? I think this auto show becomes worse and worse with each passing year. The only plus in my opinion was the return of Audi, which was made possible by Bommarito West County Audi, not Audi corporate. St. Louis Motorsports had a much larger area to display the exotic cars they sell, and that was kind of nice, but it wasn't a big deal to me because I attend Cars & Coffee events there several times a year and I can see their inventory whenever I'm at their showroom.

The return of Audi was nice to see, and Bommarito went big too with a beautiful R8 Spyder on display. That was getting all kinds of attention on Friday evening when I was there.

The St. Louis Motorsports exhibit was much better done than the roped-off 'Million Dollar Mile' of a couple of years ago that caused 30-minute waits to get in and see the cars. They had no Veryon this year, but had an ultra-rare Aston Marton Rapide and the flagship Vanquish on display, a Lamborghini Aventador, and a newly redesigned 2013 Mazerati GranTurismo Sport along with the usual cadre of Rolls Royces & Bentleys. They were the highlight of the show, IMO.

I was also impressed that Tesla saw fit to put two Model S's on display. Absolutely beautiful vehicles, and an impressive feat of engineering.

Even the manufacturers that show up don't always seem to give much of a sh_t, as they don't feature all of the cars in their lineups, they don't bring their top cars (no GT-R at the Nissan display, no LFA at Lexus, etc.), and they don't bring new cars and/or concepts from Detroit. I fully expected to see the 2014 Corvette there- why wouldn't Chevy bring it when they unveiled it at Detroit the week before?

Re: the production models; I spoke with one of the ladies (no, not one of the models paid to stand next to the car to make it look better) manning the Subaru section as to why they didn't have a WRX Hatchback on display & she said she travels to all the shows and the inventory of production vehicles at each manufacturer's display is provided by a local dealer. She assumed the dealer who provided the Subie's didn't have a WRX hatch to spare for the show. Bommarito Nissan does have a GT-R; don't know why they didn't send that. I doubt local Lexus dealers have any LF-A's to show.

As for the 2014 Corvette Stingray, it was out of town; it was at the Barret-Jackson auction after the Detroit show where the first production Stingray (or rather, the rights to buy it as none have been manufactured yet) was auctioned for $1.1M with the proceeds going to charity. From there it went to the West Coast for a spot on the Jay Leno's Garage series. Chevy wasn't just sitting on it because the St. Louis show wasn't worthy.

In fact, Chevy had on display a 2014 Malibu (first displayed at the 2012 New York Auto Show; not on sale until the spring) and a 2014 Silverado, which was in fact debuted at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. The GMC display had a 2014 Sierra on display too (also debuted the week before in Detroit). Buick had the new Encore (a small SUV also going on sale this spring) on a turntable. GM was the only manufacturer to have pre-production vehicles displayed.

Ford at least had a 'concept' "2013 Ford Talledega Fusion" on the floor, which was a production Fusion modified with the addition of an appearance package and performance upgrades by 'Classid Design Concepts'. The modified car was first displayed at the 2012 SEMA show last fall. They also had a number of other custom cars as well as an F250 Drag Racer.

Also, the lack of a coat check was a major irritation. I don't know whom to thank- the Convention and Visitors Commission or SLADA? It would have been really difficult to make room in the budget for a couple of minimum wage employees to check people's coats in at the main entrance- just as they've done every year for the last 30 years that I've attended this show. If a person checked in seven coats for one dollar each at seven dollars- that'd be a pretty low break-even point. A lot of people- not just me- seemed to be irritated by the lack of a coat check. Minor expense, major oversight...

Agreed there. They did reconfigure the setup this year, putting the main entrance to the show in the Exhibition Hall (Near the Washington Avenue entrance). The last several years attendees entered into the Dome. There was a coat-check by that entrance - don't know if there was a logistical reason why they couldn't set something up near the Wash Ave entrance or if it was a cost-saving measure. Either way I agree; that was disappointing.

Bottom line, SLADA is going to continue to give us a half-azz show until they move the date. Why not make it in late February after Chicago? As it stands now, our second-tier city has a third-rate auto show. But it's no surprise that our show is a shell of its former self, because here are the other shows that take place during the same time:

Detroit (North American International Auto Show)
Houston
Philadelphia
Washington, D.C.
Portland

Those commercials were incredibly hokey, but I suppose they were accurate. Come for the funnel cake! Uh, we have a few cars too!

Agree - making the show later may allow more concepts and pre-production vehicles to show up here.

-RBB

Alex Ihnen wrote:So how WERE the funnel cakes? (and thanks for a nice write-up)

Almost good enough to make me forget about the lack of concept or non-GM preproduction vehicles. Dee-lish.

-RBB

Alex Ihnen wrote:So how WERE the funnel cakes? (and thanks for a nice write-up)

That commercial reminded me of something from Tim and Eric's Awesome Show.

gary kreie wrote:

arch_genesis wrote:I take it none of the driverless cars will be here? Also, would it help Missouri in anyway to be the next state to legalize driverless cars? (there's only 3 states so far) Maybe STLien can answer this

I'm an advocate, follower, and blogger of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication now being tested in the US. (3000 cars in Ann Arbor in the US Safety Pilot Model Deployment). This relatively cheap technology will eliminate 80% of crashes, the US DOT projects, in the not too distant future. BTW, my 16-year-old daughter is taking the driving test Thursday.

Today I saw this nice graphic on the car of the future from Mashable:

http://mashable.com/2013/01/07/car-of-t ... fographic/

What has to happen for these cars to be manufactured in St. Louis? We've got an empty chrysler plant, enterprise rent-a-car is big enough to help with an initial roll-out, they could expand we-car, google has a working relationship with missouri (google-fiber), we've got tons of highway room.

I think driverless cars are going to be all the rage, I just wonder if we can cash in on it or get ahead of the curve. We could get back so much parking real-estate if we-car exploded in growth due to driverless cars. Or maybe they won't be anymore popular than taxis.

I attended and was happy to see the 2014 Subaru Forester (with Eyesight) that we could sit in and touch. The dealer said they had to plead with Subaru to bring it here instead of some show in Texas. Toyota had the new Rav4 but only on a rotating platform, so we couldn't really see it. Disappointing.

rbb wrote:The return of Audi was nice to see, and Bommarito went big too with a beautiful R8 Spyder on display. That was getting all kinds of attention on Friday evening when I was there.

The St. Louis Motorsports exhibit was much better done than the roped-off 'Million Dollar Mile' of a couple of years ago that caused 30-minute waits to get in and see the cars. They had no Veryon this year, but had an ultra-rare Aston Marton Rapide and the flagship Vanquish on display, a Lamborghini Aventador, and a newly redesigned 2013 Mazerati GranTurismo Sport along with the usual cadre of Rolls Royces & Bentleys. They were the highlight of the show, IMO.

I was also impressed that Tesla saw fit to put two Model S's on display. Absolutely beautiful vehicles, and an impressive feat of engineering.

Those were definitely the highlights. It was a smart move to move St. Louis Motorsports' display to a much larger space. And it was nice to see the return of Audi, but I read early reports that Infiniti would return as well, and that didn't happen, unfortunately.

Re: the production models; I spoke with one of the ladies (no, not one of the models paid to stand next to the car to make it look better) manning the Subaru section as to why they didn't have a WRX Hatchback on display & she said she travels to all the shows and the inventory of production vehicles at each manufacturer's display is provided by a local dealer. She assumed the dealer who provided the Subie's didn't have a WRX hatch to spare for the show. Bommarito Nissan does have a GT-R; don't know why they didn't send that. I doubt local Lexus dealers have any LF-A's to show.

I've heard the same thing, i.e., that local dealers provide the display cars. There hasn't been a Nissan GT-R at the local show for a couple of years now. I'm not sure why, because there are several GT-Rs around St. Louis, and Bommarito seems to have one in their inventory at any given time. I didn't expect to see the LFA this year because it was a limited production model at the end of the production run, and I don't think any were purchased locally. Lexus has had a picture of it on their display the last couple of years, though!

As for the 2014 Corvette Stingray, it was out of town; it was at the Barret-Jackson auction after the Detroit show where the first production Stingray (or rather, the rights to buy it as none have been manufactured yet) was auctioned for $1.1M with the proceeds going to charity. From there it went to the West Coast for a spot on the Jay Leno's Garage series. Chevy wasn't just sitting on it because the St. Louis show wasn't worthy.

Sounds like a timing issue. There are at least two prototypes on the auto show circuit based on the pictures I've seen- one is red and the other is gray. I wonder if the other auto shows had an unveiling since there were literally a half-dozen shows that coincided with the local show. At least General Motors had other production-ready 2014 models on display as you said.

Otherwise, I wish there was evidence that SLADA would actually take people's suggestions. Every time I've sent correspondence I've been under the impression that they didn't particularly care for constructive criticism. The coat check is a major oversight and seems like something that would be an easy fix for next year. The marketing was dreadfully hokey- I wonder who was in charge of that. The annex that connects the convention center to the dome always has a bunch of annoying carnival barkers and very little of what they're pushing is related to cars in my opinion. And most of all, I don't think they're ever going to truly improve the quality of the show (entice the manufacturers that currently skip the show to return, attract more pre-production and concept vehicles, etc.) without moving the show date beyond the Chicago show at least.

rbb wrote: I was also impressed that Tesla saw fit to put two Model S's on display. Absolutely beautiful vehicles, and an impressive feat of engineering.

For what it's worth, that was not Tesla who put the cars on display -- they were two privately-owned vehicles (the red one was mine) that were made available via members of the Gateway Electric Vehicle Club. I had a lot of fun showing it, and am pretty proud to show the future of automobiles.

FlasherZ wrote:

rbb wrote: I was also impressed that Tesla saw fit to put two Model S's on display. Absolutely beautiful vehicles, and an impressive feat of engineering.

For what it's worth, that was not Tesla who put the cars on display -- they were two privately-owned vehicles (the red one was mine) that were made available via members of the Gateway Electric Vehicle Club. I had a lot of fun showing it, and am pretty proud to show the future of automobiles.

Ah, that explains why they were pedestalled and not open. Thanks for that - didn't know those were privately owned. Consider me quite jealous, and thanks for sharing your vehicle with us.

-RBB