Thumbs up for THE Expo

Date: 21.03.2017

Industry professionals are full of praise for New Zealand’s only all-encompassing transport and heavy equipment expo

Event manager Ammie Hardie is pleased with the positive feedback received by both visitors and exhibitors over the three days.

"We received such positive feedback about the quality of exhibitors and sales leads that we’re confident the event achieved its goal, bringing industry buyer and seller together," Ammie says.

Porter Group’s national products specialist Grant Rayner flew in from Australia for the event and was blown away by the standard and quality of the expo.

Grant has been to his fair share of transport and heavy equipment shows all over Australia, but according to him, none compare to THE Expo.

"This is by far better than those. The sites are all top-notch, and we’ve had a steady stream of industry people coming through the site all day," Grant says.

Porter Group spent months planning their site, their hard work netting them the award for Best Large Outdoor Site.

NZ National Fieldays Society’s general manager commercial, Nick Dromgool, says of all their events, exhibitors at THE Expo take the awards most seriously.

"This event is a showcase of the biggest and the best transport and heavy equipment from all of New Zealand, so to win these awards is a real statement and they have a right to be proud," Nick says.

Another industry heavyweight, Gough Group, was also recognised at the event, taking away the award for the Best Interactive Showcase Site. The Gough Group marquee featured advanced CAT Connect technology in virtual reality pods.

Best Small Indoor Site from Castrol NZ had visitors lining up at the chance to beat V8 Supercar driver Greg Murphy’s time around Mount Panorama in a virtual driving experience.

It was a double success for Nick, who owns Freightliner, Mercedes-Benz, Fuso, Western Star, and BharatBenz. They took away the award for Best Large Indoor site for Freightliner’s retro-themed jukebox diner, complete with roller-skating staff as well as selling a brand new Mercedes-Benz Actros prime mover.

Another major drawcard was Show n’ Shine that saw photographers and spectators line the roads as the early morning convoy of close to 100 trucks made its way to Mystery Creek for the competition.

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