I saw him, I saw them, I caught up with her and yes, I did spend some time chatting with them; but I didn’t see you. Did you make it to ERoad’s Fleet Day for 2023?
If you did and you missed me, there’s a good reason for that – the numbers just keep growing for what has become New Zealand’s most talked about and patronised fleet event, so you probably never saw me in the crowd.
Organisers of the event anticipated maybe an increase of 20 percent over 2022’s numbers and while the percentages haven’t been calculated, through the door numbers soared over 800.
Over 300 organisations were represented between auto brands and suppliers to the fleet industry, and EROAD played host to over 50 exhibitors and over 100 vehicles ranging from conventional fleet to electric fleet vehicles, supercars and of course, the light and heavy commercial vehicles – it’s clear that this is an event on the grow!
EROAD is also fielding calls from new attendees and exhibitors so, stay tuned, 2024’s Fleet Day may well be in a new locale – “though still in the Waikato region”, as EROAD’s Matt Fontein says. “We couldn’t put it together without support from Waikato Regional Council but with the rapid organic growth of what is becoming one of the biggest transport events with a fleet focus on the calendar, we do have to evaluate venue options carefully.”
Support from local vehicle agencies looks to be enough for the EROAD team to ensure the event stays south of Auckland.
Key sponsorship of the event came through Keith Andrews, SG Fleet, Auckland Cranes, Porter Group and Winger Group. Most of these names you could have expected, but Auckland Cranes?
They sponsored the crowd highlight of the event this year, since EROAD always wants to have something to surprise and delight showgoers. This year, A 21-year-old car was sacrificed in the interests of demonstrating road safety.
The little red hatchback was taken 35 metres off the ground and dropped in a simulated 87km/h head on collision.
After the drop, the car’s engine dropped under the passenger cell as it was designed to, the chassis rails bent underneath, as they are designed to, the airbags deployed, as they are designed to, but the occupants would have had to find another way out as the front door –gosh darnit – just didn’t open like it was supposed to!
And what did the punters think? A full 100 percent of attendees asked said they would 100 percent recommend Fleet Day to someone else. And as a snapshot of what the event was like:
“The event delivered far more than I expected. Really enjoyed the whole day. Engaging, interactive and informative.” And: “Compared to auto events in NZ and overseas, Fleet Day has to be one of the best,” as well as: “It’s NZ’s equivalent of AFMA. It’s the must-attend fleet management event.”
As per last year’s event, and the year before that, EROAD’s wrangling of guest speakers was right on point. Sir Graham Henry gave a keynote address and was followed by Josh Hedley and Brian Yanko of Downer New Zealand and the New Zealand Police respectively.
Mark Tamura of Waikato Regional Council was joined by Rosie Spragg from Te Waka spoke on the topic of getting our region moving while Steven Jones of Road policing for North-Western Waikato spoke and formally led into the crash demonstration. After lunch, the event split off to light Fleet and Heavy Fleet with an extensive array of informed and informative guest speakers which took showgoers into the same split for the final part of the day which wrapped up at 4.15 with a prize-giving and close at 4.30.
Stay tuned for more details on EROAD Fleet Day 2024 and this time, I’ll try to look out for you!
