That Car Show Oct 16, 2025

The LA Auto Show's Andy Steinhauser: There Is No Substitute.

Annotations will appear as you listen

0:00

72:53

Concept

LA Auto Show

The LA Auto Show is a big car event that happens every year in Los Angeles. It's where car companies show off their new cars and technology to the public and media.

Car

Pontiac Aztek

The Pontiac Aztek is a unique SUV that was made by the Pontiac brand. It has a very unusual look that some people love and others don't, and it was made between 2001 and 2005.

Brand

Chevrolet

Chevrolet is a popular car brand in the United States that makes many different types of vehicles, from small cars to big trucks.

Car

The Ford Bronco is a tough SUV built for driving off the beaten path, like on mountains or through rough terrain. It's famous for its strong look and ability to handle challenging roads, which makes it a favorite for people who love outdoor adventures.

Car

Lucid

Lucid is a company that makes electric cars, especially known for their luxury model called the Lucid Air. They aim to provide high performance and long battery life.

Brand

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo is a car brand from Italy that makes stylish and sporty cars.

Brand

Cadillac

Cadillac is a luxury car brand from America, famous for making high-end vehicles.

Brand

Chrysler

Chrysler is an American car brand that makes family-friendly vehicles like minivans and sedans.

Brand

Dodge

Dodge is a car brand from America that makes powerful cars, including sports models.

Brand

Hyundai

Hyundai is a car brand from South Korea that makes affordable and reliable cars.

Brand

Faraday Future

Faraday Future is a new American car company that makes electric vehicles.

Brand

Fiat

Fiat is a car brand from Italy that makes small, efficient cars, great for city driving.

Brand

Jeep

Jeep is a car brand famous for making vehicles that are great for off-roading and adventure.

Car

Subaru WRX

The Subaru WRX is a fast car that is great for driving on both regular roads and in tough conditions, thanks to its special all-wheel-drive system. It's popular among car lovers because it can be really fun to drive, especially with a manual gear shift that lets you control how it speeds up.

Car

Acura Integra

The Acura Integra is a small car known for being fun to drive and reliable. It has a version that comes with a manual transmission, which lets you control the gears yourself.

Car

Subaru BRZ

The Subaru BRZ is a small, sporty car designed for people who love to drive. It has a simple engine that makes it light and fun to handle, especially on winding roads, and it's usually more affordable than other sports cars.

Concept

North American International Auto Show

The North American International Auto Show is a big car event in Detroit where car makers show off their newest models and technologies. It's a place for both the public and industry insiders to see what's coming in the automotive world.

Brand

Fisker

Fisker is a car company that makes electric vehicles, focusing on eco-friendly designs and technology.

Company

Drake Motor Cars

Drake Motor Cars is a car dealership in Denver that specializes in luxury cars. If you're looking for high-end vehicles, this is a place to check out.

Car

Audi Rs6S

The Audi RS6 is a fast and powerful version of the regular Audi A6. It's designed for people who want a luxury car that can also go really fast and handle well.

Car

Acura Nsxs

The Acura NSX is a sports car that is very fast and has a unique design. It uses a mix of traditional and electric power to give it great performance.

Brand

BMW

BMW is a famous car company from Germany that makes luxury cars. They have a special center where people can learn to drive and improve their skills.

Term

cross shopping

Cross shopping is when someone looks at different car brands and models to see which one they like best before buying. It's like comparing different choices to find the right one.

Term

showpieces

Showpieces are cars that look really impressive and are meant to grab people's attention. They show off what a car company can do and often have cool designs or features.

LIVE

There is just no substitute for being able to put your hands

on the wheel, put your butt in the seat, touch the buttons,

feel it, and then get up, walk over,

and be in a completely different brand in less than a minute.

This week, that car show meets that auto show,

the LA Auto Show, or at least the show's

director of sponsorship and business development,

Andy Steinhauser.

Andy lives, breathes, and almost certainly dreams

the LA Auto Show, and this one's a fun ride.

We go deep into the history of auto shows,

what the challenges are in putting on a show of this scale,

and why the LA Auto Show might be more relevant

now than ever.

This will be the 118th year of the LA Auto Show,

if you can believe it, and Andy shares everything

that's up the show's sleeve this year,

and even some hacks for the out-of-town visitor.

We'll be there, and hope to see you there as well.

This year's show is November the 21st

through November the 30th, and tickets and more info

are at laautoshow.com.

That car show is brought to you by Sheffield Watches.

Sheffield is the storied watchmaking brand

that was revived a couple of years back

by her good friend Jay Turkbus,

and it's seen wild success in both the car

and watch enthusiast communities.

Sheffield offers a wide selection of watches,

many inspired by the iconic designs

of its 1960s dive models, most notably,

the one that Jay's parents gave him in 1970,

which ignited his lifelong passion for watches.

Sheffield watches are high quality,

reasonably priced, and a great value.

Sheffield has truly become the car guy

and car gal's watch of choice.

Order your Sheffield watch at sheffieldwatches.com,

give them a follow on the gram at Sheffield

underscore allsport underscore watches,

and tell them that car show sent you.

Hey, it's that car show,

and today we're talking auto shows,

specifically the auto show, the LA auto show,

which returns for its, is this right, 118th year?

This is year 180.

It's hard to believe.

It's incredible.

Yeah, back to the segment.

This November, so Andy Steinhauser

is the director of sponsorships

and business development for the LA auto show,

and he's joining us today

because we have a bunch of questions

about what it takes to put on an event like this.

It's an event that always showcases

a lot of new offerings, particularly in the EV realm,

and let's not forget, is smack dab in the middle

of the biggest automotive market in the country.

It's good to have you on the show, Andy.

Welcome.

Oh my God, thank you so much for having me.

This is so fun, you know, to be able to talk

about the show and what's coming.

We've been, you know, it's interesting as like,

I think for most people, the LA auto show

kind of like rears around now in October, November.

Oh yeah, and they, you know,

starts to come back into consciousness,

but I live and breathe it year round,

so it's so fun when everybody starts

waking back up to us.

We're like a cicada, but an annual cicada.

An annual cicada.

There we go, that's the title of the show.

That's great.

The LA auto show.

And we are perennial, and we will never die, you know?

As you said, 118 years.

I love thinking about the evolution of auto shows.

I mean, literally, and you know,

I'm a very elder millennial.

Even, you know, in my lifetime,

it was like, you know, the evolution of like

the ball gown, you know, Miss USA,

Miss Michigan standing on stage showing off a car, right?

Who the evolution of letting them talk, you know,

Martin Kresge, you know, revolutionize the industry

when she let the models talk about the car.

That was revolutionary, you know?

Crazy, right?

And then there was the introduction of men.

Oh, interesting, yeah.

To talk about the car, you know,

those things were like, you know,

to think back how far that goes,

and that story, and that it's still here,

and it's just, it continues to evolve.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm sorry, I missed the days of Miss Michigan

rapping about the Pontiac Aztec,

but it's good that we've evolved, I suppose, you know?

Interestingly, and you know,

we can talk about this later,

but I got my start on the show floor of the auto show,

and some of those beauty queens are still around.

They are like executive managers now,

but they are very much still around in the business,

and they are a real part of it,

and they've become a part of the fabric

of delivering this product.

It's like the price is right.

You know, they were there for years,

and they never changed.

Now they're the producers.

Yeah, that's amazing.

That's incredible.

I mean, I love to hear that arc, too,

and we were chatting a little before we started

about your history with the show

and sort of the different roles,

and yeah, I mean, you think 118 years,

it's like with a rescue dog,

you wish the show could talk for a minute,

because that show has seen some things

and been through some time periods,

but I know we'd love to hear a little bit

about how you got started with the show

and kind of the story of your experience with it

and where we are today.

Happy to, yeah.

I mean, just quickly, interestingly,

I moved to Los Angeles in 2012,

and this is a whole nother podcast.

I was a crew director.

That's amazing.

Yes.

Again, that's a different episode.

Well, when I come back, we'll talk about that.

So I was a crew director for many years.

I lived, you know, and long, short.

I just watched that documentary on Netflix,

starring the crew's director.

I played a very big role in that narrative,

so yeah, we will have you back.

I was prepared to have that experience, right?

I mean, you are expertly trained on a cruise.

Thankfully, I never had a poop cruise.

I've seen a lot of crazy things at sea,

but I don't remember that documentary.

I was thinking, I think there were two that came out.

Well, they're one about, okay.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not worried about this.

They're both on the top.

You've been studying a cruise director.

Yeah.

Cruise directors in crazy scenarios.

I mean, the craziest thing about that time

is that when I think about it,

I started that when I was like 28 years old,

and I was like emergency number,

two-digit, you know, and it was like,

maybe like 12 or something.

And what that means is,

so if the captain is dead in the emergency,

he's number one and the staff captain is dead,

number two, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,

there would come a point where I would be the one in charge.

And it was like a low enough number

that definitely gave me pause for my age level

that I was in this position.

But I'm not prepared for this, but here we are.

We always rise to the occasion that we're given, right?

You know?

Right.

So you don't get more than you can handle, right?

So anyway, I moved to Los Angeles.

I was trying to be a TV host.

I was trying to be Ryan Seacrest.

And, you know, that industry was evolving.

There was really, I was out here for a little while,

kind of like doing things and not making,

nobody was making any money doing like red carpets

and TV hosting things.

And finally, some, one of my TV hosts, you know,

wannabe colleagues was like,

oh yeah, the only way people actually make money

in this business is to do the auto show.

And I'm like, what's the auto show?

I'm from South Georgia.

Like we don't have this run from, you know,

growing up.

Doesn't that mean?

I literally thought the only ways to make money

in cars were build them, sell them.

That's it.

That was the Alpha and Omega.

I didn't think there was anything in between.

I mean, very naive and ignorant.

No, you know, now there have been more

than a decade in this business.

But so I learned about it and it was just like

to me an audition, you know?

And it was like, I just kicked the door down,

found the person I had to find to be seen.

And I was like, listen, I'm gonna do this

better than anybody, like give me a chance.

And anyway, they sent me out and I auditioned

for a bunch of brands and I wound up at,

you know, I got like cast, you know, like drafted

to Chevrolet and, you know, I was literally

the last person hired for the season that year.

And honestly, this is a true story.

There was a guy who looked ish like me with a beard

who left, who like got a corporate job and left.

And there was like, oh, we have a,

we need a replacement for a white guy with a beard.

And they cast me at the end.

And you know, I was just like, okay, I'm here.

Let's do it.

I'm here to make some money, like talk about cars.

And transparently, I did not know anything

about cars at the time.

And so, you know, I just started to study.

Yeah, and I got thrown into the gauntlet.

And anyway, long story short, I wound up

having a very successful career with that.

And I loved it.

And I traveled the world and I did like every auto show

in the US, all the major, big ones,

some of the small market ones too.

Really just fun, transformed experience.

Like I joked that when I was on a cruise ship,

I was like a pirate, you know,

just like traveling around everywhere.

And then I became a carny, you know.

Oh, that's quite an analogy, yeah.

There is a through line though.

And I feel like cruise director preps you well

for then going into the auto show circuit.

Like it's on paper, you'd go like, that's interesting.

But if you really look at it,

there are a lot of skills that I feel like are translate.

They're both like mass market consumer experiences

where you're really with the people, right?

And the biggest thing I learned doing the auto show

was like really like listening to consumers

and like hearing them talk and like,

I used to just get such a thrill about, you know,

inevitably every single show,

somebody would come in, won't buy Chevrolet,

whether that was either I bleed blue

or I'm import only.

And they would just like, they were like just a,

you can't, and I would just take that thrill of like,

oh, you think you know this brand?

Okay, let me open your eyes, you know.

And I would take, I was like, you know,

assess them and you know, okay, you got two kids.

All right, you need a third row.

You know, let me show you this.

You don't know about this feature in the Traverse

where the, you know, you can keep your car seated

and show them these features and the tech

and you know, kind of walk consumers through the cars

and there is, and that kind of goes back

to the core of the auto show, right?

Is that like, when you think

about your car buying experience,

like I recently leased a couple months ago

and you know, thankfully I know all the product

because I am immersed in them.

But you know, I wanted to drive a few

and I got through two, that was it.

You know, and so I think about that

when I think about consumers getting the chance to,

you know, drive over 50 for models

at our car, at our show, you know.

So it's just such an experiential opportunity

that is just unique and it takes that like,

giant, you know, organizational effort

to bring everybody together.

You know, because the industry is very competitive,

but they're all willing to put their products,

you know, and may the best product win.

And it really is always just kind of

like that match to consumer, right?

It's like, what fits you and your lifestyle and price.

And then the other day, you still gotta go buy it, right?

So, that's how I got here.

Yeah, no, that's all.

And you've heard a lot about the death

of the auto show, right?

And last year was my first time at the LA Auto Show

and it seemed to be thriving to me

and I hear a lot of buzz and you know,

it seemed like just what everyone was represented

and how do you keep it relevant?

Like what's the secret?

It seems to be things are much more experiential

than they were like when I was a kid, right?

Far fewer static displays, more, you know,

driving experiences, real and virtual, that kind of thing.

Totally.

10 questions, sorry, go.

No, I love it.

I think it's, listen, we'll always take that one head on.

I mean, the reality is in a 118 year old product

is going to evolve over time.

We are now in a new era

and it's a different show than it was

when I was working it in 2012

and then, you know, I think what happened was just real,

like transparently is in 2017-ish, there was a,

you know, we have to, it's like, it's real easy to forget

like how online we are now versus like what that was like

even just like seven years ago, we were, you know,

there wasn't a thousand YouTube reviews of every car,

right?

This was kind of the only place

that you could really get a good look at everything.

So it was a must-do destination and that has evolved.

I still think it's a must-do destination

to actually feel a product

and I think there is a huge return to in-person

and there is a huge desire for us to go back out

into the world and reconnect after the isolation

that happened, you know, unbeknownst to the COVID era

and the COVID era was a reckoning

for a lot of large scale events, a lot of businesses.

They just, it really shook everything very hard

and it shook us harder than anything

because we were a complete in-person event.

LA Auto Show was one of the first major shows

to come back in 2021 and I was working this

at an automaker at the time

and we were wearing masks and showing our, you know,

vaccinations and stuff that now seems like insane, you know

but that's what we had to do to put the show on

and you know what, it was still a great show

and I can tell you from the business perspective

it was a great show from the business perspective

even in those really challenging circumstances

but through that kind of shakeout of this like unbeknownst

to us at the time of a heyday era

where automakers were pouring money into the show

and building massive displays

that were like incredibly impressive,

we got used to a product that has evolved, you know

and it's just like brands are spending differently.

They're still here and maybe there's not two stories

of like Volvo I remember in 2017, 18,

literally had like a Scandinavian house inside the show,

bonkers, like it was so cool, we were like this is insane

and yeah, they're not building a Scandinavian house

this year but they're here

and you can touch their really cool cars

and you can drive them at the show

and that is in the end of the day

the most important thing for the consumer

and to what you were kind of alluding earlier

is that the evolution of the tech and the experiential

that is how the show has evolved now

so it's no longer like wow, look at that.

Let's really put our hands on this

and a lot of brands have brought like immersive

and mobile experiences into their show

so it's like where you can actually like not just drive

maybe it's like the Camp Jeep mountain

and the Bronco Mountain or these indoor drive tracks

that we're still seeing at the show

that are like fast moving through the product

and then there's a ton of driving experiences

we have a bunch of test drives this year

like this is I think our busiest test drive

and maybe ever I don't know, I mean it's really like

the amount of test drives this year is pretty wild

like how many, I don't have the final like count

of like you can test drive like 70 cars

or 50 cars or whatever it is, it's a lot

I can tell you the brands if you wanna know

I was gonna say can you share, I know

because I know Ryan and I got to go

with our co-host Dan last year to Automobility

and at least for me that was one of my favorite parts

of the day was when we went outside

and started test driving all the cars

I still talk about the Lucid that we got to drive

I mean I think you guys were probably like

we get it cause I'm like it was so transcendent

immediately I was just like yes I'm in

so who can we expect to see this year?

So we've put a lot out on the website already.

Okay, what is the website?

What we're talking about.

It's Elliottautoshow.com, I know you wouldn't think, right?

I guess that's something, right?

Okay, so like actually like vehicles in motion, right?

So you wanna talk about what you can drive.

So Alfa Romeo, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge,

Faraday Future is back, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai,

Jeep, Kia, Lucid, Nissan, Ram, Rivian, Subaru,

Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Those are cars that you can get in motion in

and that's not just one car per brand

it's multiple models per brand.

So you see the move to yes they're exhibiting

but there's also it's like we really wanna get

butts in seats and get people driving

cause there really is just no substitute.

You know I come from an OEM background

there is no substitute from getting them in the car

and putting hands on the wheel and driving, right?

Once that's done it's that will move it further down

the sales funnel than anything else, right?

Shut up to Subaru who I know always puts on a big show

at the Elliottautoshow.

Last year they had a manual transmission, WRX

which I gotta kick out of because that takes

some real confidence in your product

to put a manual WRX out in the mix

for the public to drive.

You know I feel like I've been talking

about the death of the manual since 2012, you know

but it is really it comes now it's like we're down to like

two or three models that have manuals, you know

you can think of like the Integra has a manual

you sports cars like there's just not a lot, right?

But people do love it still, you know

there's still a small subset but in the end of the day

it's like automakers have to build a scale

and I don't know if that's there anymore.

I'm sorry to Oliver I'm sure there's a lot of people

right now are cursing you're like

don't talk bad about the manual.

But you're right there aren't I mean

we just had Rory Carroll on the show

and his wife is driving a manual that he said

they've been discussing a replacement

but there aren't really any manual options

and that's her preference and I know

I think we were probably unique last year Ryan

we went out to the Subaru you know area

to do the test drives and they also had a manual

BRZ which I took and Dan took the WRX

but we were probably you know one of the few groups

that were like yeah yeah what do you have

in manual all of those.

That is actually amazing that they did have a manual

like for a test drive.

We'll just see that clutch at the end of the show but.

I want to tell you guys you know like

you guys are like the behind the scenes

like this is like kind of embarrassing.

When I was 21 I was a valet and a bellman

for a small hotel that shall remain nameless

and they were like do you know how to drive a manual

because if you're going to valet

and I was like oh yeah absolutely yeah

100% and I had done it a few times you know

like I knew to you know how to put my like

proficient might not have been the word

but you'd done it before.

Probe definitely not a proficient stretch.

Anyway and I literally like just getting in these

like BMWs and just like riding out of the

riding out of the test drive.

They know attention nothing to listen to here.

I mean yeah so if you have a manual just like

you probably don't want to valet that.

That's just it for our for our is it

while we're talking to manual consumers.

Yeah we're going to do a little bingo card.

This is the life advice from Andy.

First one is if you have a manual drive

something else if you're planning to valet.

Don't valet it stay tuned for the next one.

I'm honest enough to tell you

they don't know how to do it right.

Which they probably won't.

Yeah.

So I think something else that you know

that that keeps the show so good is that

you really have kind of an ear to the community

and you bring in like young people.

Right.

And that's a whole other discussion.

You know the young people like to drive.

I mean the LA auto show.

I mean that we can.

Oh my God.

Like yeah if we could go on about like

you know what will cars look like.

And these are like are my children even going to drive.

I honestly I don't know.

Like I really don't know the like

and will the auto show in 15 years

just be a collection of like autonomous vehicles

that you can drive.

You know will it be like a subset

or will it be like half the show.

Will it be a quarter.

I don't know.

And those are fascinating things to think about.

That's stuff that we'll really be discussing

at Automobility LA.

We'll pin that and talk about it.

Yeah.

But yeah I think it's really interesting.

We really focused.

So we were doing something different this year

with the Kentia Hall.

Did you get to go down to the Kentia Hall last year

if you were just on Automobility LA

we didn't open it at that event.

No what's not.

No.

Okay.

Well don't worry even if you only come

from Automobility LA this year we're opening it.

So the Kentia Hall is the lower

the lowest level Hall at the show.

And this year we're kind of just re re re skinning it

and we're giving it a new vibe

and a new atmosphere and a new focus.

And it's called the underground

and we're making it a car culture focused Hall.

Okay.

So.

And classic.

Tuners low riders you know custom off road

custom you know you're going to see things

that you would not normally see

but also we're really tapping into LA car culture

and LA car culture is really interesting.

It is like very alive and well.

I went to an event at race service.

Have you guys heard of race service?

Yeah.

Yeah those I mean they are like I went

I mean I'm like I said very elder millennial.

I mean thankfully I have a very fashionable wife

who keeps me looking appropriate.

Okay.

You know if I did not if I was not dressed

by my stylist I would have been like I am old.

You know when I got in there

I feel like that happens more and more these days

where I'm like hello fellow kids.

Oh wait.

No.

Oh no.

You're the best to us.

But it was just like such a pulse and such a scene

and it was the new era of the younger consumer right

is of car culture is like it's cars.

It's culture.

It's art.

It's merch.

It's like all of this blended together into this

and it's also experiential.

Yeah.

So it's going places.

It's connecting IRL and I think this is you know

another podcast where we talk about the you know

the death of in life in real life experiences

and the loneliness epidemic and all of that

and like you know on a deeper level

we're serving some we're serving the community

in that way and I'm really excited about

what the underground is bringing this year.

You're gonna see everything from kind of the stuff

I've already mentioned up to we have creator studios.

So like one of my favorite like car artists

you guys know Joshua Vitas.

Yeah.

And just black and whites like the really just like

eye popping.

It's on real cars Ryan.

I know you've seen it and they look like they're

animated and Eric Powell who's actually

he was on the show.

He's a friend of the show.

He wrote an article about Joshua I think

for road and track that's really car and driver.

So this is funny this is like this is a little

BTS right you know how it happens right.

So this year Joshua did his exposition in LA

it was super successful and he put that whole thing

on himself that you know took a big swing

for himself and just really and it was awesome

and we got all of our attention and you know

we reached out to him and we're like

we need to connect like how do we get you involved

like and it was just kind of a dialogue

where it was like we know we want you to do

something we just don't know what it is

or who's gonna pay for it

but we're gonna figure it out right.

You know we have them this like this culture

this art and that's and as the year evolved

as the show planning evolved and as we changed

you know what we used to call the garage

into an updated it to the underground

and added elements one of the things

that we're investing in and adding this year

is the Creator Studio.

So the Creator Studio is a collection of four creators

that are coming down to show off

like their art there you know what they build

and what they do and we have some art elements down there

so we're kind of blending all those things

that we're talking about right

like the culture, the merch, the art

you know the right people and inviting everyone

to really be a part of it this year

and so there's a lot of like really just cool stuff

that's gonna happen down there

or a lot of rotating content this year

that we're not you know like you're gonna see

we introduced something last year

called the all roads stage

and we changed it four times this year

we're changing it every day.

So a new like headline car every day.

So yeah it's gonna be like yeah

and that's just one thing that's literally

like on the way into the underground right?

So Joshua Viedes will be one of the creators right?

So you want to see that art exhibition

that you didn't get to go see last year earlier this year

it's here a version a new version of it at the show.

That is really exciting

because I kept seeing his cars everywhere

and you know people we knew kept getting to meet him

and I was like this feels this is

that happens all the time but for some reason

this was one of those where it really like

I really would love to meet him

and see his work in person.

Right, well you're gonna see it now.

I think he'll be there at the show.

So we're gonna open that during the media day this year

so the media has a chance to go down

and experience it and connect with the creators

that are gonna be there.

Do you guys know OG Slick?

He's really cool.

He's the guy who did that.

I think my age is showing.

I'm looking out to the right hand.

Yeah so you think you're old Andy.

Right, right, I didn't know but I had to learn

about this.

You know the LA hands that are like this right?

The Mickey Mouse LA hands.

Yeah, it's the whole thing thing.

He's gonna be there and he's doing some art.

Oh right on, yeah, very cool.

Yeah, that's so exciting.

Can you share some of the other creators

that'll be there also?

Yeah, I just need to pull them up

because I don't know them off the top of the tank.

Well you do that.

I think that makes the LA auto show different.

It's just, it isn't static

and there are all these other things going on

at the same time you know.

I remember last year Aftermarket was a big part

of it specifically the overlanding stuff.

Is that still the same this year

or have the kids moved on to other things?

No, so OVR essentially, OVR magazine

is back with another collaborative this year.

What they're gonna be doing is kind of similar

to what we've done in years past.

It's gonna look a little different

with the hall this year because it's so full.

But they're gonna bring a collection

of outdoor overland adventure.

Essentially what that is is like OVR magazine

like the pages brought to life

and they're bringing unique one of ones

and everything in there is like a product

that the magazine has vetted and used

and is showing and you're kind of an experience

and what we always hear

and if you spend any time in the OVR section

is you hear somebody inevitably come again.

Usually it's a husband and their wife.

See, this is what we should be doing.

We should get a camper van.

We should get an RV or we should rent one.

It's a tempting lifestyle for sure.

Right, that is very alive as well.

Are you doing the sleepover thing again this year?

No, we're not.

That's right.

So can you talk a little bit about what that was

and how it like what you thought after that was done?

Oh my God.

Okay, so last year we had this brilliant idea

to do a overnight for creators.

So we're always trying to engage automotive creators

and if there's any out there we want you at the show.

We're doing a partnership with TikTok this year.

TikTok is doing their own kind of like hashtag contest

and they're giving some really cool prizes away and stuff.

So if you're in auto creator on TikTok

you're probably getting outreach now or soon about that.

Yeah, that's gonna be kind of during the consumer

portion of the show preferably I believe

they're gonna be starting on that opening day

like first Friday with that.

But last year we did something where we did

an invitation kind of selection group of creators

that spent the night at the LA Auto Show.

This was after the industry media and press day

Automobility LA before the consumer shows

on the first Thursday.

Right.

They spent the night.

We worked with the automakers.

We worked with the OVR magazine

and we basically let everybody camp out.

Like they're camping out in the like jeep,

you know the camp jeep area.

They're camping out in the Subaru.

As we talked about earlier like Subaru

if you haven't seen it.

Yeah.

It basically build like a four.

They're very connected to national parks.

Right.

And they basically build a replica national park.

It's crazy.

It's great.

You can sit and relax with the Subaru, yeah.

It's such a breath of fresh air

because you walk in and you kind of go,

ah, it's a moment of pause.

And you know, like that's their goal

is to encourage you to come in and hang out

and see the cars and it works.

And then they have, of course,

their rescue dog, you know, partnership.

Yes, and the dogs will be there.

We're gonna have more dogs this year

by popular demand.

Now back with more dogs.

Yeah, that's brilliant marketing right there.

We're placing our dog count.

Yeah, yeah.

That's amazing.

We have a charitable group we work with

that does, they're called Dove Rescue

and basically they work in,

we have them there both weekends

and just really couldn't keep the dogs there every day.

It's a little overwhelming for the dogs to come every day,

but their like constant feedback was like,

you know, if you came into Monday

and there weren't dogs,

like, oh, I want the dogs, right?

So we worked with them to get more dogs.

So they're full all days of dogs.

That's amazing.

I love it.

But so, okay, so people were able to,

they had the opportunity to spend the night.

At the night, we did,

we actually curated this whole thing.

This is all our show president

who's like just like a creative like mastermind,

give her time and budget and like watch out, right?

And so it was like,

you went to like this, you know, experience

and you had like, you know, a drink there

and then you went and you had an FMB,

like a food moment here and then you had a,

you know, you got to do all these different things

and explore the show.

Meanwhile, operationally,

we're like changing the show over from media day

to consumer days, a lot happening.

I was there till about like 10, 1030

and seeing everybody off.

Okay. And then off they went on their adventure.

And we did like,

we do little pop out, we're very creative

and love like,

we had like a costume squirrel

who was like running around.

No detail went unattended.

Yeah, like, no, yeah, exactly.

So it was all these,

it ended with like a pancake breakfast at Camp G

but like it was so, it was outrageous.

And so all the creators,

I was coming in at like seven in the morning

the next day and I'm watching them like starting

to pack up and they're like, didn't sleep.

And you know, they're like,

one of them was, she walked out,

I was like, oh, hey, how did it go?

Which is like, oh my God, you guys,

this is the best thing I've ever done,

the best event I've ever been invited to.

I'm like a mind blown, like,

I think we overstimulated them for a while.

One of my favorite wrap ups was

there's a creator called Gen Z,

like Jennifer's, you know, Gen Z, Gen Z.

Look up Gen Z, she's great.

And she did, she did like just this like,

you know, you know, a vertical video

like one and a half minutes that was like

really encapsulated the experience

or really, really well.

So that's kind of a good,

like if you can go back and look at it.

We are doing something different this year for creators.

Instead of an overnight,

we are doing a two things.

We're doing a scavenger hunt

and we're doing a partnership with Fork & Film,

which is really cool.

Fork & Film, look them up.

They're very like cool underground thing

where you watch a movie

and they bring it to life through food.

So, you know, you're watching the lady in the trap

and then when the moment when they're doing the

dog's kiss, you're getting handmade, you know,

hand rolled Michelin spaghetti, right?

It's so old, yeah.

Oh yeah.

Is it a dog to eat it with?

Yeah, well maybe.

That's where the rescue dogs come in.

Yeah, they can make it happen.

Give it that extra sparkle that LA can do.

But we will be doing a Fork & Film this year

and they're doing it with the movie cars.

It is like a private event.

Oh my God.

I shouldn't be like bragging about this too much.

You're only just going to see it on socials, but.

Well, but I think it goes to,

it speaks to the level of detail that the show puts into.

It's a part of the overall experiential experience

of the show.

Yeah, I mean, you know, we definitely felt last year

and in years past.

Yeah, so one of the reasons why LA Auto Show is unique

and I did not really fully understand this.

I always just knew it was different and more innovative

and more, you know, kind of exciting

and just like a little fresher than, you know,

that's what I felt when I worked all the shows.

We're actually, so the difference is

and this is, it is not a good or bad thing, it just is.

There are a series of events that happened in the 70s.

We're a privately owned company.

Okay.

So we're a privately owned company.

We are most auto shows are dealer run shows

and they're, you know, a consortia.

The, you know, Greater Chicago Dealer Association

comes together, Kumbaya, we all agree.

We're going to put the cars on roof

and, you know, may the best car win.

And you know, we do this all in the greater good

of, you know, servicing and getting people educated

on the cars.

And we serve that exact same purpose.

We're just organized differently and independently.

And because of that, like we just think about it differently.

We're, you know, think always creatively.

Always, how do we evolve the show?

Always, how do we give the consumer something new?

But also that's because we're in Los Angeles

and like, I mean, honestly, you know, like

you can open up your, you know, anything

and you can do a hundred different things today.

I mean, it's just, we have, you know,

two football teams, two soccer teams, NBA teams.

You know, we have a 360, near 360 degree immersive dome

where you can watch all these said sporting events

and or a, or a movie at, you know, in concerts.

I mean, hundreds of theaters or multiple arenas.

Like, so to serve this customer, you got to bring it,

you know, and we're just a family friendly offering

that hopefully brings it.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

You have to, you definitely, you have no excuse

for being bored in Southern California for sure.

Yeah, yeah.

Choice or funds.

Yeah, exactly.

No.

So you spent quite a few years on the road

going from auto show to auto show.

You could probably write a book, any highlights

or low lights of a life on the road like that.

Cause I mean, you were kind of Cheryl's corral of.

Yeah, it was, it was really cool.

Like it was a really cool experience

and I was also doing it during that unbeknownst heyday era.

You know, it's like, well, think about it.

But that's like anything you don't know till it's done.

Right?

You don't know what you have until it's like,

now we were probably complaining about the food.

I don't know, you know, like at the time,

but it was good.

We were treated very well actually.

So what was interesting about it is we all,

it's auto shows are like a winter time activity,

you know, like they're kind of originally built

around like the Northeast and upper Midwest

of like it's winter.

There's nothing to do.

Let's just go indoors and look at the cars, you know,

that's kind of like the schedule was served around that.

And so we were constantly like just traversing the country,

you know, it was kind of built around the tent poles

back then of like LA in this order, LA in November,

which was home for me, which is great.

Chicago, sorry, North American International Auto Show,

down under the Detroit Auto Show in January.

And then there was Chicago in February

and New York International Auto Show in March, April, May

because it always falls down, Easter Passover,

it just evolves whenever those dates align.

So it was always built around those tent poles.

And then there was a lot of little little shows

in between and you know, you just got like drafted

to them and you were like assigned it.

So it was just so cool.

You know, like sometimes I would do these things

where like, we would also do like the Texas State Fair, like.

Oh, wow.

That was, that's, that's another podcast episode.

Like this big fair.

I've been keeping a list.

So we've got you from the part of this year.

Yeah.

But we, so okay, when I went, it was a fun.

So when I worked at Texas State Fair,

I worked for Chevrolet

and we were obviously promoting trucks, you know,

so it was like, Texas, can you imagine?

And we had like, I mean, they built like an outdoor

like cement and like a, you know,

tinted area just for this and ripped it out.

But we were right next to big techs,

which is that big, like big techs.

Yeah.

I was not there the year it burned down,

but that looked like apocalyptic.

Oh, yeah.

Like the wicker man or whatever.

Yeah.

That was scary.

But we were also some big techs

and then right next to big techs

was like a very popular corn dog stand.

Okay.

I cannot tell you that's what you want to be next to.

How many go?

I mean, it's not good for like the first day and a half.

Three weeks later, I cannot tell you

how many conversations I would have

where people are like waving a corn dog in my face.

Like, what's different?

No, there's junk, you know, I'm just like,

and then that's when the moment we were like,

it's 98 degrees, I'm sweating, like,

and then so then, you know,

that experience, right?

That's a whole experience.

You know, but look at the end of the day,

we're just like, we're still working,

we're doing, one of those moments where you're like,

what am I doing?

This is crazy.

And then we would, that would finish

and then you would quickly get home

and, you know, take a moment to breathe

and then you would do the LA auto show

and then we'd be at LA press day

and back then we wore suits and ties

and you know, my like expensive shoes

and my, you know, and it was like,

literally like days apart

where you're just like going

and then you come to LA and it's like glamorous

and you know, the juxtaposition was just wild.

Yeah, it sounds like quite a contrast.

Yeah.

You've got a picture on the website,

the laautoshow.com website of,

I think one of the early shows,

it's probably from the 30s, right?

Oh, yeah.

So you were, I guess, what, 30, 40 years in

or 20 or 30 years in, I guess.

Yeah.

But it was very fancy, very glamorous,

there were like drapes and Packards and people

and like, yeah, it was, it was very, I don't know.

High society almost.

High society, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Auto shows have kind of weirdly always been,

I mean, it's interesting, right?

Because in some ways, they're very for the people.

Like it is a very like, and obviously life in general

is so much more casual now than it was even 10 years ago.

But it always has been kind of like this upscale event,

especially when you go to cities that,

you know, like, when I used to work

at the New York International,

I mean, sorry, the North American International Auto Show

in January, they would have their charity ball

and we don't, we just, we don't do a charity ball here.

Just operationally, it's too challenging.

But that was something that was always done

and we would call it car prom

because it was black tie, you know, ball gown.

And you know, but it's like that is like,

there is that connotation of glamour and auto show,

like still there.

I just think that's evolved, you know,

and that is still there.

And I think there are still people that attend

in definitely industry day.

I think you probably noticed, you know, it's like,

it's gotten a lot more casual,

but you still see some like some fresh looks

when you're there, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And you see a lot of international correspondence,

you know, meet a lot of people.

It's a big deal, you know, it's,

because I really think the LA show,

especially with the nod to all the EV stuff, right?

Yeah.

You don't, you embrace it, you don't fight it, you know,

it's really become, you know, the show

for that kind of thing.

It's just a part of it.

It's funny, you know, okay.

In 2021, the COVID year, just by chance,

that was also like, it's funny to talk about like

that 2021 is like so long ago,

but it was so long ago, it was a very different life,

you know.

Like in every sense.

Yeah.

You know, I was-

Strange days, for sure.

And so back then there was a dearth of new EVs, you know,

like Van Fast, Fisker, the list goes on, right?

And they were all kind of mulling.

I mean, they were all like,

and they all were like bowing at the LA auto show.

So when that happened,

the LA auto show got this reputation as the EV show.

And like, look, at this point, that has really evolved.

I mean, EVs are just, they are here.

They're currently not a highly supported car category,

but they're very much not going away.

Sure.

You know, and I believe that because I drive an EV,

but I don't, people aren't going back.

They're here, they're here to stay.

And the kind of the industry saying goes really is like,

if you cannot be successful selling EVs in Los Angeles,

you're not gonna be successful selling EVs anywhere.

So because of that,

we do have like a good push in enthusiasm

from the automakers around their EVs here,

but it's not really any different than, you know,

what you're gonna find everywhere else,

but you will find a lot of EVs.

And there's a lot of exciting EVs now.

Yeah, but I think that's an interesting point.

It's part of the larger show.

It's not the focus of the show,

but it's also that's part of the industry

and the show is about the industry.

So it makes sense.

And you know, yeah,

when you think about the evolution, right,

is like one of the things that we've done is like,

so for two years we had an area of the show

that was like a test track

and it's basically just a just about a mile,

little under a mile, like loop around

the South building of that.

Right, right, right.

Some in private, some in public,

but mainly just a quick, a chance to do a quicker turn.

And we did it for two years as the electric avenue.

And we always had sponsors and, you know,

but this year we kind of just made

the strategic choice to say to the automakers,

bring whatever car fits best.

Like we're not telling you it has to be EV anymore.

But lo and behold, like most of the products are EV.

They're not all EV, but they're mostly EV.

And so this year we have a new sponsor,

shout out to the Clean Power Alliance

promoting their EV Smart Charge Program,

wonderful partner of ours this year,

coming in in a big way.

And so we've retitled it because it works

and it makes sense the Clean Power Alliance test track,

right, because it's mostly clean vehicles.

And you know, and they're promoting EV Smart Charge,

which is just basically a wave locally to save

on your EV charging if you go EV or if you have EV.

And it's a great program.

So we're happy to kind of connect those dots

and then just kind of move with the narrative.

It's like, we're not here to tell anybody how it's gotta be.

We are a reflection of the current state.

And this is kind of where we are.

It's interesting.

Yeah, yeah.

That car show is proud to partner with Drake Motor Cars.

Drake Motor Cars is Denver's premier destination

for exactly the kinds of vehicles

that we like here at that car show.

Think Velocity Broncos, Audi RS6s,

Acura NSXs and Irrequiled Borschas.

You can see their complete

and constantly changing inventory at drakemotorkars.com

and check out their amazing online reviews

from all across the country.

But our friends at Drake need your specialty car too.

A sign of a good business

is when there are more customers than inventory.

So reach out to Drake too

if you've got a great enthusiast car

that just doesn't get driven like it used to.

Find out more at drakemotorkars.com

and let them know you heard about them on that car show.

You mentioned the test tracks earlier,

the Jeep specifically in the Bronco.

Are those back this year?

Yes, Jeep.

Because my inner 12 year old self

comes out for that kind of stuff.

That's the best.

That's a highlight every year.

The crazy thing is when I worked auto shows

as a staff or with an OEM,

I never got to do it because I was too busy.

And even now I rarely get to do it

but I usually get to do it

like if we're doing some promotion for the show

or something.

So I got to do them all like the last year.

Those are crazy.

Like they're so fun.

They're really insane.

The only reason I'm not terrified

is because I know these drivers personally,

and I know that they have done it like a hundred times.

I'm like, okay, if you're not scared, I'm not scared.

But I honestly, if you were, I would be.

It's very different once you're up there, isn't it?

Than when you're on the ground waiting in line.

But I have faith.

How are we doing this indoors?

This is insane.

Like what are we doing?

When we all did the Bronco track together

and I remember we got to the top of Bronco Mountain

and I kind of like you said, right?

It's very different at the top.

And I just went, and I remember Ryan looked at me

and he's like, do you have a problem with heights?

And down he went, yeah.

And you're just like, you know,

you're sitting on the hill and you're like, yes.

You're like, your seatbelt is like holding you in

and you're like, what?

This is crazy, right?

But it does to your point, you know,

you know the drivers and you trust their capability.

It's an incredible way to demonstrate

the capabilities of the cars.

Yeah.

They don't like what is, most people won't do that.

But you know, if they want to, they can.

They know they can.

And then they can say they can and they don't need to.

You're seeing people get out there and do it though.

And that's what, and that's what's interesting

is that like how we connect all the dots, right?

It's like, so you may, you know,

you may get the Bronco because it looks cool, right?

Or you may get the Bronco

because you want to do the thing, right?

And then you go over to the OVR section, right?

The OVR outposts and you're like,

okay, like here's some more of that equipment.

Here's some of the people that do this stuff

that really go out there.

And there's like tours and groups.

And you know, it's a way to like get, you know,

you can kind of thread that like connection of your car.

That's why our thematic for the show

has been for the past two years is again,

this year is all roads lead here.

Because whatever your interest in cars or car culture is,

it all leads to the show.

You're into low riders, you're into new,

you're into car shopping, you're into outdoor,

you're into trucks, you're into adventure,

you're into race cars.

Like all of that is here.

Like it's all celebrated here.

So all the roads lead here.

I think there's a lesson for other auto shows, right?

I mean, you know, to stay relevant,

you have to kind of have an ear to the street, right?

You do have to reflect your community,

all these things, right?

Yeah.

You know, and it's been amazing to see the show thrive.

And something else that really I guess impressed me

was before we started recording,

you talked about some of the stats of the show, right?

The number of attendees, I think 50 states,

people come from like 60 or 80 different countries.

Like can you get on that list?

Cause it's pretty impressive stuff.

I mean, I guess the proof is in the pudding, right?

Yeah, it's really wild.

And like we're always surprised by this.

So it's like last year, there were 68 different countries

that were ticket buyers, right?

And this is just, we just know this

because the data of the credit cards

so that came from this country, right?

So it's like 68 different countries

of people traveling in,

and some like more represented than others, right?

Additionally, all 50 states,

like we had somebody buy a ticket

from every 50 state across the country.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

Yeah, that reach is remarkable.

Yeah, yeah.

And when you look across like California,

we cover basically the entire map of California

except from sparse, like upper Northern counties

that are very, you know, very rural.

But yeah, people come from all over.

The majority of the consumers do come

from like the region,

which is like the way over to the East Riverside

up to, you know, Ventura County and down to San Diego.

So, heavy in Orange County and kind of still more there.

But yeah, I mean, it's just like if you're into cars,

like there's something here for you, you know?

And so.

You talk about demographics,

your demographic is like everyone.

Right.

I mean, that's kind of the dream.

Yeah, it's funny.

I always tell people it's like

we really are honestly a pretty good cross-section

of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is just a very diverse place.

So it really is like an imprint of LA, you know,

as far as like economics and like demographics

and like you really see that when you come to the show,

like you just walk around here, like this just feels

like the city, you know, it really feels like LA is out.

And it's fun.

Yeah. Yeah.

All right.

What about some tips, tricks, hacks?

So say you're coming in from, I don't know.

Far away.

Belgium.

Say, Denver.

My Belgium.

I don't know.

It's a lovely country.

Okay. If you're not from LA

and you're going to come to the show, like.

Yeah. What do we need to know?

Spend the night.

Stay out of the room.

Start there.

Don't try to do it in a day, you know,

or do the show in a day.

You could spend, I mean, honestly,

I think most people do the show

for about three to six hours.

It just depends on like how deep you want to go.

And some people come for two straight days, you know,

if they want to, if you want to drive every car,

if you want to do all the experiences, like sometimes

transparently you might have to wait in line

for that Jeep ride for 40 minutes, you know,

like you really want to do it.

Worth it.

You know, it's good.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

But so, and you look, we're in downtown LA, right?

So there's a ton of great hotels

and places to stay and things to do.

The, we are right next to the crypto.com arena.

Most people know us, the Staples Center.

So Lakers, Kings, Sabrina Carpenter concerts.

Like there's some, well, those are sold out.

But there's a lot.

Yeah.

There's a lot happening around, right?

So I say like, if you're coming from far, like add on,

you know, like at a sporting event, at a museum,

at a, you know.

At the Peterson.

Right?

Oh my God, absolutely.

Like I don't think I've seen Peterson.

Peterson is so cool.

We gotta make it a car weekend.

We actually do a, so we actually do a giveaway package

with St. Jude's, an auction.

We're basically, you can go to,

this is the only way if you're like a consumer

and you know, just like, I have no business.

I just like cars.

I'm not like, I'm not in the business.

I just like it.

Like, which actually might be a lot of this audience.

So good pitch.

If you want to come to the industry and media event,

like it's vetted.

You can't just like buy a ticket.

It's not, it's a pre, you know, it's like,

it's for people working that business there.

But we do allow a couple people in.

And the only way in is if you support St. Jude's

and get that auction and win it.

So we did, we've done it for two years.

And then we're going to do it again next year.

And we tack on some additional stuff,

like a VIP weekend essentially.

So it's like, you get to go to Peterson

for a VIP experience.

You get to stay at the Four Seasons.

You get, you know, like this year's winner

also gets to go to Palm Springs

and go to the BMW Performance Center in Thermal.

And yeah.

Sounds like an awesome few days.

It's like, if you're into it,

it's a really cool thing.

So, so tips and tricks.

Comfortable shoes.

You're going to walk a lot.

Like I do 20,000 steps a day at the show easy.

You're going to do 10,000 for sure.

I'll never forget my friends were here last year.

And I was, you know, walking down with them

for a little bit, you know,

and they're like, okay, we got to go.

Like we just realized it

because they're the five year old in an Apple watch.

Like we just realized he's already done like 6,000 steps

and he's five years old.

Like he's done.

He's like falling down.

So there are rest stops, you know, along the way.

But I think my biggest piece of advice is like,

is really ask, like talk to the staff.

Like the product specialists,

the people that do what I used to do,

they are like encyclopedias of product information.

That you will not, I mean, they are,

I will, you know, no disrespect to the dealers.

They are better trained than the dealers.

Most of them, you know,

that you will find have more product knowledge

than the dealers and they can't sell you a car.

They're just, they're not, they're not like,

they're not there to like sell you a car.

They're there to like teach you about the product

and you know, help you experiences.

So, you know, go and talk to the staff

and like really engage and sit and touch and feel and drive

and you know, really do, that's the whole point of it, right?

Is to really do and to see, touch, feel,

wear comfortable shoes.

You're gonna walk a lot.

If you're really into it, like save time for the underground.

Like you're gonna wanna do the car culture.

You're gonna wanna get involved.

Like there's just a lot of touch points

that you can experience if you really take your time.

I mean, I mean, we have so much crazy stuff this year.

One of our big sponsors and I'm really excited about this

is Aqua Caliente Casinos, which is in Palm Springs

and three casinos, one in Palm Springs,

one in Rancho Mirage, one in Cathedral City

and they have a resort and they have a five star spa.

Anyway, so they're doing a,

we have an area of the show called the Showcase Hall.

So one of their requests we always get is,

you know, where's the Lamborghinis?

Where's the Ferrari's?

And I'll just be completely transparent.

Like if you're not aware, Lamborghini,

and I know this because I was a product specialist

for Lamborghini, they don't need to market.

You know, like there's-

It's true.

They don't need you to like buy the car.

Like there's plenty-

They sell everyone, yeah.

They don't make enough, right?

So it's like, they don't need that like,

you know, mass exposure that like, you know,

well Hyundai is gonna say,

I want you to try this Ionic 9.

You know, like it's a great car.

I need to win you over.

That cross shopping, the two, yeah.

Yeah, it's a little less, right?

It's a totally different proposition.

And the cars are such rolling business cards

for lack of a better, you know-

Yeah, I mean they're showpieces.

So what we've done,

because we, our consumers want to see it, you know,

whether or not Lamborghini wants to be there

and say try my product or not,

our consumers really want to experience it.

So we created a gallery, essentially.

We did this last year

and we're kind of like evolving it this year.

And it's gonna be called the showcase hall.

And it's like $20 million worth of automotive,

like wow, I mean, gold porcelain,

unique one-on-one Ferraris and like crazy stuff.

You can go and oo and awe and like Google over.

And in this area,

we have our sponsor, Agua Caliente Casinos,

doing like at certain times,

like some like play blackjack for fun.

And there's gonna be like giveaways

where you can win like desert nights,

which are, you know, you can go out

and experience a show.

I mean, they have like, you know,

really big names of their show.

Yeah, they do.

It's a casino, you know,

plus a dinner at the excellence five star steakhouse.

So, you know, we're gonna be giving away experiences.

We're gonna be connecting.

You know, we're talking to a potential tequila sponsor.

Maybe we'll get a nice cocktail.

That's when you're done driving.

When you're done with the class drive.

Look for us there, yeah.

You can stay.

Right, well, on the industry and media day,

we'll definitely have, we have three happy hours, so.

Okay.

Right, I remember that last year

when we were looking at the schedule

and we're like, we can't,

we can't do all of it.

You had these great cookies too.

I remember in the media room.

I don't know what those were,

but those were like cookie crack.

We do, like, yeah.

So we do a really nice meet for like,

this is very fun to see.

It's like, we have a media center

for like, you know, people like you to go and kind of like,

all right, you're digesting.

You're kind of taking notes or uploading.

You have great internet up there, you know, right?

And there's just like a full of snacks

and you know, pastries to keep you fit.

Much appreciated.

Yeah.

And we have a networking breakfast and lunch

and three happy hours.

Right, good time.

We'll kick everybody fed.

That's unique.

And nobody else really does that.

Like provides food for every attendee

because Automobility LA is, if you're in the business,

I mean, it is just no better place

to network with the automotive industry.

And one thing that I've really worked hard on this year

is bringing a lot of like relevant partners

and policy makers to the show.

When is this gonna air?

I wanna tell you something,

but I need to, when is this gonna go out?

When would you like it to go out?

I think, because the press release

is going out in like a day or so.

It's like we're recording on the 15th.

I think it'll be fine.

Oh god, after that.

Okay, it's fine.

So anyway, the California Secretary of Transportation,

Secretary Tux Amashakan, 99% sure I'm saying his name

correctly in charge of a $30 billion apartment.

And you know, this guy used to run CalTrans.

He's incredible.

He runs a huge, huge, you know,

California sets the tone for legislation,

for you know, so much when it comes to transportation.

And we're doing a special session with him

on our main stage called DirectLine.

And this is literally like,

you wanna ask a question

to the California Secretary of Transportation?

Yeah, I think Ryan's like, I have one.

I'm like, yeah.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna do,

we're gonna announce it

and then we're gonna do a call

amongst registered Automobility LA attendees.

Just submit a question.

We're gonna take those questions

and give them to the team for the Secretary.

He'll review and you know,

decide if you want to answer.

And then he's gonna go live.

Like he's gonna be like, you in the back, right?

You know, in the blue shirt.

Raising your hand.

What's your question for the Secretary?

So, I mean, this type of connection

is the thing that we're really

hyper focused on building is,

you know, getting everybody in one room,

there really is no more,

there is no currently one all automotive event.

The automotive industry has a lot of internal events

that are scattered, right?

It's like, oh, there's a battery event.

There's a manufacturing thing.

There's a dealer meeting.

There's a, you know, it's like, it's all separate.

Everybody's, fleets are over here

and retail is us and you know,

it's all kind of like separate.

And so the goal of Automobility LA

was to really bring everybody together.

Policymakers, fleets, tech, advanced technologies.

All of this in one room

for just a powerful day of connection and networking

and fun and sizzle and we're going to pull some,

you know, curtains off some amazing cars.

And you know, like we're going to have all those moments.

It's going to be a big three-ring circus this year

because the main stage content

presented by Cox Automotive

contractually bound to sit

and I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

Everybody's asking like,

you know, what is AI?

What are we doing?

Cox is going to do a really interesting presentation

about how the auto industry is currently using AI

in all these different verticals, right?

So it's really interesting.

And then where's that going to go?

Right?

Yeah.

You are in LA.

We can hear the honking now, Andy.

You know, and I just, you know,

Lindsay can vouch for this too,

but you do see everyone there, right?

I mean, I think it's evidence of really

how important this event is.

And you know, a lot of people that are there, you know,

they really want to talk to, you know, your CEO,

your C-suite, you know, like global executives,

they're there.

They usually have a layer, you know, to get to them.

You sort of have to know who to, like,

you got to go through their comms

and work your way with your media, you know,

but they're there.

And what I always find really fascinating

about the coverage from Automobility LA is like,

so I'm like a, like I said, a very elder millennial.

I love CBS mornings, CBS Sunday mornings,

Saturday morning, like, oh yeah, just like,

all the mornings, I tell people,

75 in my viewing preferences.

Mug of coffee, you know?

Kevin, yeah.

I was watching one morning and I caught this,

this content that was like, so familiar.

Like, what is it?

And it was an interview with Jose Munoz

and it was all about the ironic nine.

And then it touched on like, you know,

it touched on manufacturing in America

and the political changes and this came out

in like January or February, you know,

it was like way after the show.

But it was all shot at the show.

So it's like a national CBS mornings piece of content

that was revolving to a large feature

that was shot at the show.

And like, we didn't even know what was happening

and we're just like, oh, that is a really cool piece.

That's so fun.

Yeah, so you-

Amazing discovery.

Yeah, you kind of like can never catch it all.

No, it's fun to see some of us in some of the shots,

I think on some of those, you know,

my daughter, my old-year-old daughter was very impressed.

You're like, look at you.

I'm on TV.

I know, but to kind of speak to the people

that you do draw and the group that you pull together,

like, I had been to the show the year before last

and then Dan and Ryan and I went together

for the first time this past year.

And that was what they kept commenting on it was like,

you couldn't take two steps without running into

either somebody that we knew in the media

or somebody that you knew from Instagram

or from, you know-

Right, or that you wanted to meet.

Yeah, right, yeah.

I always tell everybody,

so if any of you are like in the biz

and you're coming to industry event,

Automobility LA is like, my only tip for you is like,

I know a lot of people are, you know,

either introverts or extroverted introverts,

or I was like, this is the day, like, I'm sorry.

Like you might, your battery might be zero at the end,

but turn on your extrovert and get out there.

And, hey, how you do it?

Like, it's like, that's the power.

Yeah, yeah.

There's so many cocktails and coffee.

Jato, Jato Dynamics, incredible company out of Europe

that's like really making a push into the U.S.,

very industry stuff.

They're presenting the coffee bars at Automobility LA

and they're like really thematic and cool this year.

So it's like we have some really like amazing coffee

for don't wait, three coffee bars, serving till 230,

everyone's gonna be caffeinated thanks to Jato.

And we got like, we got some good stuff.

So that's how you counteract the introvertedness,

you just keep the coffee going and then, yeah,

and then you start the happy hour as soon as you can.

The happy hour start about three.

So it's like the coffee ends and the drinks start flowing.

So we're coming from out of town,

maybe out of the country as a local,

some local knowledge here,

give us a restaurant recommendation.

We should all hit up while we're in town.

Okay, so this is the big like LA,

like you gotta understand when you come to LA

that like I always have to like remind people,

if you are staying in downtown LA

and you wanna have dinner in Santa Monica,

this might be a bad idea, you know,

it's like you have to who,

it's like, it's, you know what it's like,

it's like when you're in Las Vegas

and you're at this resort and you're like,

oh, the other ones like just across the street,

it'll take 10 minutes.

Like, no, it will not take 10 minutes.

It'll take you 30 minutes to walk over there.

Right?

And it's the same thing with like driving around the city.

So or taking an Uber or a Waymo with zillions of Waymo's.

And so if you, unless you want to travel,

like localize your experience, right?

So if you're like, I wanna be in, you know, Hollywood.

Okay, go stay in Hollywood,

do your plan your dinners in Hollywood.

I would say probably mother tongue is incredible

at that places.

Michael Mina restaurants can't go wrong with any of those.

So, you know, do it around where you're staying

otherwise it's not gonna be, you're gonna get,

you're gonna lose so much time in travel.

It's just like, it just takes away from the experience.

But there's so hyper local.

There are so many cool restaurants around here.

Like honestly, like when I do,

I just open up Google Maps and I'm just like,

where what's near me, you know?

Yeah, that area is really underrated.

It's actually a great area with a million things to do.

So downtown like, people don't know downtown LA is like,

is one of the most thriving culinary scenes in LA.

So if you are coming to the show

and you're gonna be downtown,

like stay downtown and eat downtown.

There's really good restaurants.

I mean, right across the street from over there,

Calaverde, the proper incredible.

There's a hotel literally across the street

from the LA Convention Center.

It's a AC and a Moxie combined.

And they have this area called level eight

and it's eight concepts from these guys,

the Houston brothers who will look them up.

They're very cool.

They're like very, very cool guys.

And they create these really immersive experiences.

So, you know, you walk into,

it's like a teppanyaki, but it's like so elevated.

And it's like, God, it's such as a theatrical.

And then there's like a shabu-shabu like a hot pot.

And there's like this harp that is like

across the entire ceiling of the room.

And somebody's like playing it in the sky.

I mean, it's crazy stuff.

Like, where else can you get that?

Level eight, I'm telling you.

And then there's like a bar road.

Right across the street.

Level eight, you cannot go wrong.

Now, if you have kids, that's not the one.

There's some great pizza.

Stayed at the Moxie last year.

Yeah, it's a scene.

Right, oh, you did?

Yeah.

So, I will go to the mat on this.

LA has incredible pizza.

Okay.

Not known, but it's true.

Do you have a favorite?

Yeah.

There's so many.

You can't pick a favorite.

But I do like, Pizana is 10 to 10 every time.

You cannot miss.

It's always right.

There's this one in Hollywood called Latin Ticademic Calais,

which is like the, literally the one from Naples.

Like it's like that one.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, yeah, I've seen this, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, something like that.

That one is incredible.

There's one downtown that was voted like best,

the best of best.

This came from Arizona, actually.

But it's like incredible.

Yeah, pizzeria Bianco, right?

That's the one in the row,

DTLA, which is also a very cool area.

And then Moza, but I don't think that's close.

Pizzer and Moza.

That's one of those where you're like,

oh, I'll just go to Pizzeria Moza.

Okay, go.

Just play in the room for 30, 40 minutes,

like just as long as you're cool

that you're going 40 minutes that direction.

Right, no problem.

You'll get there on Thursday, but it's fine.

So the lesson here is the LA Auto Show

really is a destination.

And you should come, you should stay for a few days

and you should go to the Peterson Museum

and you should go make it a culinary thing as well.

Had a sporting event.

Go see Sabrina Carpenter about her ticket.

Come on.

You can get all the pizza.

And can you remind us of the dates

and just the essential information website?

Break it down for us.

100%.

Okay.

Automobility LA, media industry, B2B networking,

that all happens Thursday, November 20th.

That is everything.

That sets up the consumer show.

Then you're going to start to see all the media,

all the content on social, start busting through.

Like this car was revealed.

I finally got my hands on this.

Here's my first impression.

That's when all the content starts exploding.

Then the consumer show starts Thursday, November 20th

and runs for 10 straight days through Sunday, November 30th.

We are even open on Thanksgiving

and I love coming on Thanksgiving.

It's one of my favorite days to come to the show.

Especially if you don't like your family, right?

That's a good place to-

No, no, no, no.

Come with your family.

Come with your, there you go.

Yeah, you are the PR guy.

Oh, here, Ryan's thinking it's an easy out.

Wait a minute.

Okay, there's two groups.

So there's like, so it's from nine to four, right?

And then that's like, it's just like a really like nice vibe.

Like everybody's nice on Thanksgiving.

It's really cool.

You can't be mean on Thanksgiving.

We over index on groups that like don't sell,

historically celebrate Thanksgiving, right?

Like LA has a huge Korean American population, right?

So you're like, I'm celebrating Thanksgiving.

Like, let's go to the auto show, right?

Yeah, yeah, there you go.

Right?

We also have like family tradition where it's like,

we all go on this day.

Like funny, this is like what has become my family tradition

is we all go to LA auto show and then we go out to eat

for Thanksgiving.

We don't cook.

Right on.

There you go.

That's the way to do it.

But that's, if you're working the show,

that's part of the deal, I would imagine.

And you have so many good restaurants,

Manuela in downtown LA, incredible.

And they do great Thanksgiving right here.

So you could do like LA auto show,

go to Manuela for Thanksgiving.

Like it's a beautiful day and the weather's like-

That's amazing.

Crisp and dry and you know, like-

But it's not cold.

So one thing I was gonna say is can you tell people

how do they participate in the St. Jude giveaway?

Oh yeah, good point.

Yes, okay.

So we're, okay.

That one's already done for 25.

I was afraid I'm like-

We have winners.

Yeah, we have winners.

We are doing it again for 26.

What we're talking about doing with St. Jude's

and hopefully this is done.

We're doing a footnote when we're done.

We're gonna try to auction it or start it

during this year's show.

Okay, okay.

So we're still finding-

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, cause basically we did it

and we're like, no, more people need to know about this

and the people that really need to know about this

is the people that come to the show.

So we're trying to do something at the show

to promote it and talk about it.

So we're working on that now and that will, you know-

Give me a month, I'll have it done.

Yeah, yeah, all right.

St. Jude, yeah.

And then-

Which we're gonna-

Oh, no, go ahead.

Well, what I didn't tell you guys is

it's all on LAautoshow.com.

Literally, it's all there.

You can just click through, you can buy a ticket.

We have VIP tours, which are guided by

your favorite tour, you know, we have like some journalists

like Motorhead Mama, who's, you know,

if you love, if you follow Amelia-

Right.

And Lynn Woodward is doing it.

And Lynn, you know, you can do it with them, right?

And that's really cool if you like to like,

you're like an expert to guide you around.

We also have some kind of like different experiences

this year when we're doing it,

we're doing a happy hour guided tour,

which is gonna be a bit more like social.

And it's at like four o'clock and it's a different audience.

They're selling really well.

Have fun.

So you'll still have like an expert guiding you around

and kind of giving you the, you know,

but it's also meant to be kind of like a social experience

or you're like, oh, hey, like, who are you?

And I just really want to create moments

where people can come together.

And I think that's, you know, we can,

we can surf that here at the show.

Yeah, doing a great job for sure.

And we're gonna be there, of course.

Can't wait.

We'll be there with stickers and smiles on our faces

and we'd love to meet you if you see us.

So be sure to look for us.

Yeah, please say hi for sure.

Yeah, yeah.

Andy Steinhauser, thank you very much

for joining us on that car show.

You were great.

I feel like we didn't get to a lot of these stories

I wanted to get to, but, you know.

Well, he's gonna come back.

He's already committed.

I have a full list.

Whole poop cruise episode.

No way.

I cannot wait.

But I will say, I know this is,

the show last year was a highlight for us

that we've been talking about it.

I've been excited to, you know,

attend and I'm even more excited

after hearing about all the changes

and the exciting things that we're gonna get

to see this year.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I have so much more to tell you.

We're gonna have like talking physical robots

there this year.

There's a company that's bringing like robots.

Robots are always awesome.

Yeah, Fox Factory, if you know,

I mean, there is like things that we didn't even cover.

Like, so, yeah, get ready.

Okay, so what else do you want to tell us?

Oh my God, I mean, no,

I'll leave it for you to come and discover.

Okay, all right.

Okay, definitely come to the LA Auto Show.

Yeah, this was super fun.

I had just thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.

Like, it's just so fun to,

and that's what you're gonna get at the show, right?

It's like, you can come and talk cars

for an hour with people, right?

Right.

All day long, if you want.

Which is what a lot of people,

they live for, you know?

So we're here to serve it.

But we really do have something for everyone,

whether you're, you know,

whether you're like a casual,

like car shopper who's trying

to get the latest information and try to figure out,

like it's funny because it has worked out

for a couple of years now

where I am actually in market.

And I'm in market again this year.

So I do this show as like a two-pronged, you know?

I'm like a consumer, I'm working it, I'm building it,

you know?

Yeah.

I could do it all at the same time.

You're looking at it from all the angles.

I tell you, like from personal experience,

like it really is the very best place

for product discovery.

I'm so excited to see what's out there.

And I've got that perfect timeline

where it's like, I gotta get my next vehicle in May.

So my lease ends.

So I'm like, I can go through like all of it.

And it's like some of that stuff is like coming in the fall,

you know, or coming in the summer or coming in the spring.

It's like, it'll all be out.

Yeah.

So most all of it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Some is a year.

And then you sleep for a week.

I do.

When it's over, we, yeah, we hybrid,

well, we don't really hibernate that much.

We hibernate for like a long, long weekend.

And then we come back because everybody's always like,

what do you do all year?

And I'm like, I'm already on 2026.

Like I'm having 2026 conversations and they are exciting.

So I'm already like looking at like what we're going to bring

for 2026 and I want to bring more interesting

non-endemic brands to the show.

Like we're doing this year with kind of bringing

a casino partner and just kind of interesting stuff

that you might not expect.

I'm really, that's what I'm really focused on.

Also, how's it going to be 2026?

You know, I mean, we're all going to find out, right?

But I think we're going to see.

Too much about it.

I think we're going to see.

I have no idea what it's going to be.

Honestly, because none of it's done yet,

but we're already working on it.

And I think we're going to see, look,

you know, we're going to see more brands.

We're going to see more participation.

I think if we're going to see as many drive opportunities

as we can produce.

And yeah, it's going to be a really like exciting

like jam pack show because like we kind of started

this conversation to Alpha Omega.

Is that like, you know, auto shows are cyclical.

They've been around for over a hundred years.

Things evolve.

We all went through shake ups and interesting times

and in person events are back and, you know,

consumer experiences are more vital than ever before.

You know, at age is like, by 2030,

you like experiential will be even more valuable

than it is now.

And I do believe that.

And I'm bullish on the show for that reason too,

because you just can't substitute the tangible experience.

So I think we're just going to see more.

And we're just going to have to find places

to cram it all in for you all to explore.

If you see one auto show this year,

make it the LA auto show LA auto show.com.

Andy Steinhauser, Director of Sponsorships

and Business Development really appreciate you joining us

on that car show.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

Pleasure is absolutely mine.

We'll do it again.

Absolutely.

And I'll see you all in a month.

We'll see you in a month.

And we're that car show.

And remember, always be driving

and we'll see you next week.

About this episode

Andy Steinhauser, director of the LA Auto Show, shares insights into the upcoming 118th edition of the event, discussing its evolution and relevance in today's automotive landscape. He highlights the importance of hands-on experiences, especially with the rise of electric vehicles, and the unique offerings this year, including immersive driving experiences and a focus on car culture. Andy also shares tips for attendees, including the best ways to navigate the show and local dining recommendations, making it clear that the LA Auto Show is an essential destination for automotive enthusiasts.

Alfa Romeo BMW Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler cross shopping Dodge Drake Motor Cars Faraday Future Fiat

Acura Integra Acura NSX Audi RS6 Avant Ford Bronco Pontiac Aztek Subaru BRZ Subaru WRX

Original notes

This week, That Car Show meets That Auto Show… the LA Auto Show. Or, at least the show’s Director of Sponsorship & Business Development, Andy Steinhauser. Andy lives, breathes and almost certainly dreams the LA Auto Show and this one’s a fun ride. We go deep into the history of auto shows, what the challenges are in putting on a show of this scale and why the LA Auto Show might be more relevant now than ever. This will be the 118th year of the LA Auto Show—if you can believe it—and Andy shares everything that’s up the show’s sleeve this year and even some hacks for the out of town visitor. We’ll be there and hope to see you there as well. This year’s show runs from November 21st through November 30th and tickets and more info are at laautoshow.com.

Sheffield Watches: sheffieldwatches.com and @sheffield_allsport_watches

Drake Motorcars: drakemotorcars.com and @drakemotorcars

That Car Show

Ryan Bahrke, Dan Pilling, Lindsey Jesch

View classic page →

0:00

72:53