2019 Cleveland Auto Show hits mid-week stride
There are just four more days for Clevelanders to make their way to the 2019 Cleveland Auto Show at the International Exhibition Center at the south end of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Featured in today’s article is the Toyota display.
When you mention Toyota to the average American they see it as primarily a foreign car company. What many do not realize is that Toyota has been around in America for over 60 years with currently ten manufacturing plants in the United States, 1,500 dealerships, 137,000 U.S. employees and over 25,000,000 built in the U.S.
Toyota is a huge presence at the Cleveland Auto Show with a huge showroom style display, their “Toyota Live” prize filled game show every 90 minutes and of course the Drive and Ride featuring numerous models to test drive during the show. Sport Toyota is a powerful presence in NASCAR (having recently won the 2019 Daytona 500), NHRA Drag Racing and off roading events.
What’s new for Toyota for the future? Soon to be released is the FT-1 sports car, a single seat commuter vehicle and self driving vehicles. For more on these stop by the Toyota exhibit for the Toyota Live show.
Here what is coming up for the rest of the week as special events at the 2019 Cleveland Auto Show.
Thursday, February 28th: Has the Cleveland Auto Show honoring America’s service personnel, veterans and first responders with free admission during Northern Ohio Heroes Day. The free admission offer is limited to individuals with valid identification with no geographic limitations but does not include spouses, children or friends. No matter where or when you served or where you currently reside your entrance fee is free. For more information go to www.clevelandautoshow.com/heroes. From 7 to 8 p.m. Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl alumni linebacker joe Schobert and OL Joel Bitonio will be available to sign autographs in the Honda display.
Friday, March 1st: Cavaliers point guard Matthew Dellavedova will be available to sign autographs from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Kia display.
Saturday, March 2nd: The 20th Annual Classic Car Show Awards for “Best of Show” and “Peoples Choice” will be awarded at 2 p.m. Vote for your favorite by going to the Cleveland Auto Show’s Facebook page. The RAM display will host the 92.3 “The Fan’s Street Team” with on-air personality Ken Carman from 3 to 5 p.m. with Cleveland Brownsw linebacker Joe Schobert joining the event from 3 to 4 p.m.
Sunday, March 3rd: The Official Vehicle Giveaway will take place at 5 p.m. where two lucky winners will get a free 36-month lease on either a 2019 honda Accord Sport or a 2019 Honda Ridgeline RT., the official vehicles of the Cleveland Auto Show. Show attendees can register for the drawing at the Official Vehicle Giveaway Booth located near the West Entrance of the I-X Center. Each day of the show, one finalist will be chosen and invited back on Sunday, March 3. Out of the ten finalists invited back, two Grand Prize winners will be selected. So, if you are selected as a finalist, your odds of winning are one in five this year!
Some cool stuff to look out for during the show are the Delorean “Time Machine” from the hit movie “Back To The Future”, Scooby Doo’s “Mystery Machine”, Mutt Cutts “Shaggin Wagon” from the film “Dumb and Dumber”, the 1970 off-road Charger from the movie “Fast and Furious 7”, Optimus Prime from the Transformer Movie “The Last Knight”, the Lego Chevy Silverado inspired by “The Lego Movie 2”.
You can also take a test ride with Camp Jeep and Ram Test Track and eight manufacturers are back with their Ride and Drive vehicle testings. The Cleveland Auto Show will host Ride-N-Drive events from Chevrolet (weekends only), Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat/Jeep/Ram, Kia, Mazda, Nissan (weekend only), Subaru, Toyota and Volkswagen.
Millionaire’s Row, presented by Bernie Moreno Companies is back with a huge array of dream cars including Mercedes-AMG GT R, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Aston Martin Vulcan, Aston Martin DB11, Aston Martin Vanquish, Bentley Bentayga, Rolls-Royce Ghost, Rolls-Royce Dawn, Maserati Levante GTS, Maserati GTC, and Lotus Evora. (Subject to change).
The South Hall of the I-X Center will once again be home to the Classic Car Show throughout the run of the show with local car enthusiasts showing off their pride and joys that came out of the factories 25 years ago or more.
The Cleveland Auto Show Show hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets cost $14 for adults and $12 for preteens and seniors. Children six and under get in free. Parking at the Cleveland Auto Show is always free courtesy of your franchised new motor vehicle dealers. Tickets are available online right now with no convenience fee at www.clevelandautoshow.com.