POST MORTEM: Why were there so little participants at the recent KL motor show 2013?

It's quite simple actually. 

1. The Tokyo Motor Show as well as the Los Angeles Motor Show 2013 took center stage over KLIMS 2013. This was because all three motor shows either overllapped slightly or were close to one another.

 2. When it comes to the Tokyo motor show, it is very important for the Japanese car makers to shine at their home turf. Tokyo is what some motor journos rate as a class A motor show. A class A motor show usually has the latest car launches as well as the unveiling of lots of concept cars.



3. The Los Angeles motor show is akin to a class B show. This means that it is important enough for manufacturers to launch new models there too. Note that in the case of the Los Angeles motor show Subaru found the North American market important enough to conduct the launch of the new Subaru WRX there.

4. The KLIMS'13 isn't prominent enough to attract due to our market (while large is too protected to make any impact). If it were, Honda would have decided to launch the new Honda City at KLIMS instead of launching it a few days after the closing in India. KLIMS is actually a grade C motorshow. Even the Bangkok and Jakarta motor shows have more fanfare.

5. Car makers would have to pick and choose motor shows if they overlap and if the market is large enough to spend. Bad for the organiser as they car just refuse to participate (which is what happened).

4. In Malaysia, there is a problem of two or three conglomerates holding the right to a few brands. You got Kia, Peugeot, Citroen, Chevrolet with one, Proton, Honda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Ferrari, Maserati and more with another as well as one more holding BMW, Ford, Hyundai. If their principals choose not to spend money on a stand at KLIMS'13 then the distributors would have to fork out. In this case, the principals mostly chose not to do so and that is why you see some car makers and you don't see some others.

6. This is the problem where only a few companies handle all the brands in a country. They will pick and choose if the manufacturer does not want to fork out display space at a motor show. Not good for a motor show and actually not very good for the industry as a whole.

7. Proton must have been suffering from a brain fart as regardless of whether you have nothing to show (this was a reason I was told by some industry players) or that they felt they needed to be given priority (like a diva needs her idiosyncrasies). Malaysia is Proton's largest market and regardless of whether you have anything to show or otherwise, Proton's presence ought to have happened. The average car buyer is the one Proton needs to reach out to and any chance of showing the brand should have been taken. There is actually no excuse for Proton to not participate at KLIMS'13. I mean Perodua was there and I was there observing the inquisitive general public asking questions on what's new with them. Big mistake Proton. It's no wonder you're continuing to suffer.

So it is actually various factors. Some truly unforeseen, some as clear as crystal. I do hope that the next KLIMS will not suffer from such circumstances like this one.