I was very disappointed that the Tampa Florida new car show last month did not have any MINI's present. I'm glad I left my 3yr old son home when I went, I would never have heard the end of it. Where da Coopers at Daddy? Anyone else seen MINI's missing from their local car shows? What's the politics behind this? Is it just my local dealer (Ferman) that decieded they didn't need the advertising because MINI's are selling faster than they can get them? Still, when I go to a new car show I expect to see all the latest new cars. period. :???:

 

I know at the Denver Auto Show the local dealership (Schomp MINI) was responsible for providing the MINIs for the event.

It is disappointing that MINIUSA appears to leave the smaller market car shows to the dealerships.

 

Same here, DiD. Last month at the Phoenix Auto Show, MINI North Scottsdale provided two MINIs and a salesperson. MINIUSA was no where to be found...

 

They were there......HIDDEN BEHIND THE LAND ROVERS

 

Yeah, it would be nice if MINIUSA cared enough about markets outside of L.A. and New York to put on an official MINIUSA presence at these shows.

 

Like Xanthus said, the Tampa show DID have new MINIs, Ferman MINI was upstairs behind the Land Rovers - kind of a crappy location but they were there & they even had a JCW on display. I was pretty disappointed in the show since Chrysler was the ONLY company who had a prototype car on display there. I was expecting to see the new Mustang, a cabrio MINI, and other to-be-released models, but overall it was just a giant new car lot and not really much of a "show."

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Agreed. Ferman BMW was doing that show. I wish they had been able to get a better spot and had more than 3 cars.

 

The worst is going to the shows to find no exotics and worn-out gingy prototypes on display that have been travelling the show circuit for more than 3 years

That was the experience at the "International" car show in Birmingham this year. I certainly would not have gone if it was only going to be a giant showroom for minivans.

At least the company I went with was nice

 

There were MINIs at the auto show in Boston. They were right next to the audis and near the bimmers. It was a good display. They had 5 MINIs and the large "MINI as a supermarket ride" display. They also had a vending machine that dispensed free MINI booklets

 

No way, are you sure they were their? I went on the afternoon of the first day (Thrusday) of the show and walked right thru and even looked at the Land Rovers. I walked thru virtually every inch of that place and the Program guide didn't have MINI listed either.... Can't believe I could have missed them....

:???:

 

I saw the display at the Boston show, and frankly I wouldn't know whether it was sponsored by MINIUSA or our two local dealers. But I'm guessing that maybe Boston qualifies as a market that MINIUSA wants to target...lots of 20-somethings with disposable income floating around here.

And that said, doesn't just about every city have an "international" car show nowadays? (Birmingham??? As in Alabama???) I always thought that the Boston show was a bit half-rate and basically a venue for dealers. It's no wonder then that most of these shows don't solicit major efforts from the manufacturers.

 

Come to Detroit in January. Admittedly, those are five words you rarely hear in the same sentence but we do host the biggest, bestest auto show in the whole wide world. You'll see every prototype available as well as a load of MINIs, Astons, Rovers, etc. Definitely worth the trip for you car fanatics.

 

I agree...if it's not Detroit, Frankfurt or Tokyo, you're not going to see all of the absolute cutting edge stuff. New York's OK, I've heard good things about LA. Not sure about Paris, etc...but I've been told that Detroit is worth thr trip if you're really into seeing something fantastic. I can't make it this year, but maybe next...

As for the "International" local auto shows...they're not a whole lot different that a trip to the local Carmax. I went to one in Hartford last year, and I think the only reason there were MINIs is that it was directly across the street from the dealership.

 

The Miami Auto Show last month had plenty. I think I coounted six including a JCW. Reps from MINIUSA were also on hand. They were plenty friendly and gave us the royal tour even though we already purchased our MCS three months before. There were a few reps from South Motors MINI as well.

Just to add to this. almost every car maker had a prototype or two on their stands. The Jeep prototype comes to mind as well as the Chrysler "woody" sixseater with a nice wood longboard (ugly front end, tho).
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