The Auto Experience show, formerly known as the Edmonton Motorshow, is back at the Edmonton Expo Centre after a five-year hiatus.
The four-day event, which started Thursday, allows attendees to check out what’s new in the auto world, consult with several manufacturers and test-drive new vehicles.
“We’re still showcasing a lot of other things, like racing vehicles, tuners, exhausts, kind of everything that touches the automotive industry,” The Auto Experience manager Eleasha Naso said.
New this year is the partnership with the YEG Motorcycle Show.
“We’re kind of saying, ‘We’re for the love of driving, they’re for the love of riding,’ and we have what will move you at this show,” Naso said.
Its return comes during new challenges for the auto industry, as it and consumers try to navigate new tariffs.
On April 3, a 25 per cent tariff went into effect on all foreign-made vehicles entering the United States.
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Canada retaliated with its own 25 per cent tariff on U.S.-made vehicles.
There are some exceptions that fall under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Naso says that with policies changing at a rapid pace, it’s been challenging for the industry to follow along, too.
However, she says dealers are prepared to answer as many questions as they can and could help clients plan ahead.
“Coming here, what we know today is certain. We can give you the information that we have today, give you an idea of what your next purchase could look like, timelines, how tariffs can affect some of them to the best of our knowledge,” she said.
The U.S. also plans to apply a 25 per cent tariff on certain automobile parts on May 3.
Naso says how that will play out is unclear based on how vehicles are made.
“They’re not all made in one country. Parts and things are coming from different countries and how that affects is a little bit harder to piece together,” Naso said.
Frank Paonessa, general manager of West Edmonton Volkswagen, says that in addition to interest rates, prices and reliability of certain vehicles, tariff impacts are now part of his everyday sales conversations.
“It comes up all the time. All I can tell people is that the price of the car today was the same as the price yesterday. But I can’t promise tomorrow,” Paonessa said.
He says Volkswagen is still working through the details of how tariffs will play a role in its business.
He recommends that Edmontonians looking to buy a vehicle, either new or used, make that purchase sooner rather than later.
“It sounds cheesy because I feel like I’m in that sales mode being like, ‘Now is the greatest time to buy,’ but it is! You don’t know what happens next.”
He advises people looking to buy used vehicles to do so sooner as well because he feels prices will rise when there are not enough new vehicles to meet the demand.
The Auto Experience show runs until Sunday at 6 p.m.
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