MOTOR EXHIBITS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 November 1939, Page 6

MOTOR EXHIBITS

REMARKABLY FINE DISPLAYS AT EXHIBITION. MANY NOTABLE FEATURES. As greatly affected by war conditions as any other industry in New Zealand are the motor-car production and selling organisations so that their showing at the Centennial Exhibition, Wellington, is particularly fine in view of the adverse circumstances surrounding their trade.

Exhibits on a scale never before planned by private enterprise in an exhibition in New Zealand are arranged in the vast Motors and Transportation Court in one’ of the south exhibition halls. Some appreciation of the remarkably lavish spending in this section may be had from the fact that one stand alone cost more than £7OOO to erect. This stand is staffed with 24 attendants, all in special uniforms, and including three hostesses —a feature entirely new to New Zealand and based on the excellent programmes generally carried out in American and Continental fairs.

One firm has brought to New Zealand a specialist in motor-car exhibits. who has had experience at seven international fairs including the New York World Fair and the Golden Gate Exposition at San Francisco. This expert says that, considering the size of New Zealand, the Centennial Exhibition is, in proportion, ahead of the standard set by the New York Fair and the San Francisco Exposition. One of the motor firm exhibits is built in the form of a three-level totally enclosed court with 10,000 square feet of floor space. The stand has been designed not only as a display unit for the firm's products, but as a social lounge with wash-rooms for men and women and an elevated lounge 120 feet long. The lounge stands above floor level and is reached by two curved ramps. Once seated, visitors to this display will be able to rest there and bo entertained by moving pictures telling the story of motor-car production by the firm’s particular methods. At its entrance is a 35-foot tower of light built as a fountain.

Concentration is made on manufacturing methods rather than showroom appeal, and although complete cars will be on di;',play no direct salesmanship is to be employed. The firm responsible for this amazing exhibit recently brought to Wellington their dealers, numbering 74. from all parts of the Dominion and entertained them for two days in Wellington, in which time they visited the Exhibition, with the intention of impressing on them the importance of the Centennial Exhibition as a whole as well as the nature of their own exhibit.

All this expenditure is particularly courageous in view of the adverse conditions engendered by the present crisis to the motor trade. Motor firms in New Zealand are spending more than their usual allocation for advertising than in normal times with the object of creating goodwill.