Dealer registration now open for AIMExpo 2018 — it’s Vegas time!
By Dave McMahon
AIMExpo presented by Nationwide is gearing up for a momentous 2018 run in Las Vegas, with the Powersports DEALER Seminars and 2018 Power 50 Awards Dinner once again being spearheaded by Powersports Business.
Dealer registration for AIMExpo is now open, and dealers can register for free by clicking here. Your home for the Oct. 11-14 run of AIMExpo will be the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The newly formed Powersports Industry Week will allow for a weeklong celebration of motorcycles, including Las Vegas Bike Fest and the Monster Energy Cup on Oct. 13.
The show floor is really all dealers really need to know about, however. In case you missed it, Tucker Rocky Distributing has signed on as an exhibitor in Las Vegas. Previously, Parts Unlimited began the distributor brigade to AIMExpo by announcing that it will be setting up shop at AIMExpo.
Parts Unlimited president and CEO Mike Collins was hopeful that his company’s decision to join AIMExpo would lead to other distribution companies following suit, so it was encouraging to see Kenan Ikels, vice president of Sales & Marketing at Tucker Rocky, also make the decision to be AIMExpo supporters.
“We’re looking for ways to drive dealer engagement, and we feel that exhibiting at AIMExpo is a way to support the industry and get more dealers to attend,” Ikels told me. “If we can attract dealers to come together and look to the future of the business, put our heads together to find ways to attract new riders and build a better future, it just makes sense. Obviously with Parts Unlimited also attending, it’s a chance for us to show the industry that we also want to do our part.”
Collins, meanwhile, has seen Parts Unlimited stage its own highly successful shows in Indianapolis and Madison, Wisconsin, that both attract throngs of dealers. Even so, Year 6 of AIMExpo will be the year that Parts Unlimited decided to join ranks.
“We’ve talked to a lot of vendors in the past at AIMExpo, and they all told us that if the distributors were here, the dealers would come,” Collins told me in February. “The dealers were telling the vendors, I don’t buy from you, I buy from Parts or Tucker or Western. I think it’s healthy for the industry to have the distributors there. We’re hoping our competitors step up and exhibit also, because it’s only going to work if we all do it.”
So Parts being out front to set the trend was certainly not surprising; Tucker coming on board makes sense, too. Hopefully in the coming months I’ll be able to relay news that WPS also has decided to exhibit in Vegas; it’s simply a matter of industry support.
More Nifty 50 winners
As you can see above, we continue to receive photo submissions from the 2018 Powersports Business Nifty 50 winners.
Wet Sounds Inc. and Works Connection are just two of the latest examples of companies that came to market with innovative aftermarket products and services that we believe can benefit your dealership.
Did you contribute to a Nifty 50-winning product at your company? Send an email to me TODAY that includes a photo of your team, the product and the Nifty 50 certificate that you received in the mail. It’s a year-long program that is meant to help promote.
Dave McMahon has been editor in chief of Powersports Business since 2012. Contact him at 763/383-4411 or dmcmahon@powersportsbusiness.com.
