Volvo stand at KLIMS 2000 Tops in AW Poll

The Volvo stand at the Kuala Lumpur International Motorshow 2000 which ended on December 4th won the most votes in the poll run by AUTOWORLD.COM.MY.

Over 400 AW visitors cast their votes through this website’s polling system and the Volvo stand got the highest score of 23% of votes. However, a close runner-up was Ford which received 22.03% of votes, while Proton was third places with 14.53% of votes.

The Volvo stand could have appealed to visitors most due to its spacious layout and ‘open door policy’ for virtually all its cars displayed. Such a policy was not the case at a number of stands and the exhibitors were criticised for it. However, their reluctance to allow people to freely enter the cars was understandable as there had been cases of cars being vandalised and some items stolen.

“The battery on our Peugeot 607 went completely flat during the first day as visitors kept pressing the various switches to operate the power windows and sunroof. The car’s glovebox was also damaged during the second day of the show,” revealed an executive at the MBf-Peugeot stand.

At another stand, the senior manager of the company said he was disgusted by the attitude of many visitors who not only caused damage to some cars but also allowed their children to jump about on the seats with their shoes on and spilling drinks. “Under such circumstances, can you blame us for locking up our cars?” he asked.

But Volvo Car Malaysia’s Managing Director Lena Olving did not make a big fuss about the potential damage to the company’s cars. “I think people come to a motorshow to have a chance to sit in the cars and yes, there is the possibility of some damage but it is something that has to be accepted by exhibitors,” she told AUTOWORLD.COM.MY.

According to Aishah Ahmad, President of the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) which was responsible for organising the motorshow, another survey involving 1,000 visitors saw the BMW stand getting the highest score, followed by Mercedes-Benz and Ford.

She told AUTOWORLD.COM.MY that there was a lot of feedback on improvements and enhancements needed for the event, adding that there was no decision yet when the next one would be held. “We are going to ask our members for their views and it could be either in two years or three years but not as long as four years’ time,” she said. “We also hope that another venue would be available but right now, Putra World Trade Centre is the most suited for a motorshow.”