1/1
Swipe or click to see more
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Attendance at the 2016 First Hawaiian International Auto Show over the weekend was down 15 percent. A 2016 Mini Cooper was displayed with a drum set on it.
Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
Attendance fell 15 percent over the three-day First Hawaiian International Auto Show, and the culprit may have been the NCAA basketball tournament.
Dave Rolf, executive director of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, said auto show attendance was up 3 percent on the opening day Friday compared with the same day last year but overall was down 15 percent.
Rolf said the NCAA tournament appearances by the University of Hawaii women’s and men’s basketball teams on Saturday and Sunday may have kept car enthusiasts at home.
“When NCAA officials announced UH’s NCCA basketball tournament times and dates, it was anticipated that attendance for Saturday and Sunday would drop from the auto show attendance level reached last year,” Rolf said. “Of course, since so many of us in the auto industry love UH sports, it was a double treat to be at the First Hawaiian International Auto Show while checking in every few minutes to catch the score on the games. New car and truck technology and UH sports made for great conversation on the auto show floor.”
The men’s basketball team’s games began at 8 a.m. Friday — before the auto show started — and 1:10 p.m. Sunday, while the women’s game began at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The auto show hours were noon to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Motor Trend, which produces auto shows across the country, doesn’t report actual attendance, but does report the percentage increases or decreases over the previous year. Hawaii’s auto show has the second-highest crowd density per square foot per hour of all the Motor Trend shows, Rolf said.
The First Hawaiian auto show featured a 4-acre display of 350 new cars and trucks, including cars at the leading edge of the auto industry’s rapid move toward autonomous vehicles.
