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NE1 Newcastle Motor Show boosts city centre economy

The inaugural NE1 Newcastle Motor Show, which showcased a range of multi-million pound cars never before seen in the region, has been hailed a success by city centre business benefitting from footfall and the economic impact brought about by the event.

Bringing Newcastle’s Grey Street to a standstill, crowds of over 100,000 flocked into the city centre across the weekend. Businesses across the board recorded average increases of 43% in trade, with some reporting triple that figure with business up 200% on their usual weekend trade.

Moreover, the impact was felt wider than the immediate environs of the show with Northumberland Street enjoying a 10% increase in footfall over the course of the weekend.

Cars on display included the Aston Martin DB9 GT, on only its second outing internationally; the Infinity Red Bull Formula 1 racing car and hundreds of privately owned rare, vintage and classic vehicless.

Stephen Patterson, Director of Communications at NE1 Ltd who organized the whole event explained: “We were delighted to have worked with our main sponsor Benfield and other dealerships and private car owners to deliver this unique event and we’re excited about the prospect of making it bigger and better next year.

“The overwhelming response from the general public has exceeded our expectations. It was wonderful to see Grey’s Monument and Grey Street filled with some of the world’s best cars and thousands of people enjoying this unique experience.”

Mark King, Commercial Marketing Manager, Benfield Motor Group said: “The event surpassed our expectations, Benfield had to be involved in such an unique motoring event in our home town, but the experience was so much more than we could have hoped for – the crowds and the cars were amazing not to mention the phenomenal business leads the event generated.

“It was great to be able to take our fantastic array of cars out of the showroom and onto the streets, we loved it and the sentiment was echoed by the public.”

Commenting on the success of the event, Dave Walker, Operations Manager, Vaulkhard Group added: “Bringing the city to life with an open air motor show of this scale and magnitude was fantastic – you didn’t have to be a car enthusiast to enjoy the splendor of the occasion and we experienced record number of guests over the weekend.

“Everyone we spoke to loved the experience, seeing the cars at close quarters and not from behind the window of a showroom was a rare treat and from a business point of view our business had two glorious days over the Saturday and Sunday.”

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