The Montreal International Auto Show (MIAS) opens on Friday, the first time since the last two editions were shuttered due to COVID-19, and while some manufacturers have chosen to skip the event, there are others taking advantage of it to display electric vehicles.
“We are super excited to be back,” said MIAS Executive Director Luis Pereira in an interview with Canadian auto dealer.
“Walking the show floor and meeting the guys that we haven’t seen in two years setting up the displays, everybody is enthusiastic about being back and so are we.”
Pereira said the show, which runs January 20-29 at Palais des congrès, will have almost 70 new EVs on display. He noted the Nissan Ariya, a crossover utility vehicle, as an example of an EV that will be available for the public to test drive. He said he had been told by some journalists they haven’t even had a chance to drive the Ariya.
“There’s a lot of new models people haven’t seen and we’re very happy about that,” said Pereira. “Quebec is a huge EV market, so we’re glad to be presenting so many new models to the public, some that have never been seen before. We’re happy about that. There’s no better place than an auto show to cross-shop.”
He said Toyota has been particularly supportive of this year’s edition and that three-quarters of its vehicles on display are hybrid or hydrogen.
“That is very, very huge,” said Pereira. “There’s more EVs in their displays than internal combustion engine vehicles. Everybody knows we’re in a transition period. We’re looking towards the future and each display at the show has at least one EV model, so we’re really happy about that.”
The management team of the Canadian International Autoshow (CIAS) is in attendance for the Montreal show, which it normally does to meet with manufacturers and industry people but haven’t been able to do since the last show in 2020. Ticket sales are up more than 50 percent this year from the 2020 show.
“It’s great just to get out and be at an auto show again, which used to be something we all took for granted and now is a real treat,” said CIAS General Manager Jason Campbell. “I think we’re all excited and looking forward to an even bigger show in Toronto where we’ve got more brands, more activities and a bigger floor space, so this is a nice taster. What the manufacturers display here is repeated on a bigger scale in Toronto.”
The CIAS runs from February 17-26 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
