The first "Autoexpo del Automóvil" was held as an unofficial event on December 8, 1994, at the Palacio de los Deportes center, in Mexico City and was called "International Auto Show". By the early 90s, car marketing in Mexico was lean, and less than fifteen makers in this first Autoexpo but the real deal were cars like the Mustang Mach III, the Bugatti EB110 and a Batmobile. Its particular success led to a new edition the following year at the same venue. In 1996 it changed its name to "Autoexpo Mundial" and moved to the World Trade Center México exposition center. The place has three floors so the expo was divided in three sections: "Armadoras" 1 and 2 and "Comercial". The car market started increasing since this year so every year more and more carmakers started assisting to this event. In 1998 Mexico got impressed by the entry of Ferrari cars that were presented in the Autoexpo. That would be the beginning of the entry of new carmakers. The show was moved again in 2002 to the Centro Banamex convention center at the Hipódromo de las Américas racecourse.
Extravaganzza Automotriz
For 2003 the organizing committee decided to deviate from the affordable-car paradigma of previous editions and presented the show under the "Extravaganzza Automotriz" motto. The show presented exotic and concept cars, notably Noble M12, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, Bugatti EB110, Chrysler ME Four-Twelve and others. This edition met with strong criticism by attendants expecting to find what they expected from the previous shows. There were up to 30 makers, including exotic makers like TVR and Spyker and brands not available in Mexico like Lancia and Morgan but not mainstream manufacturers like General Motors or Nissan. This expo also included a tuning area that presented the modified vehicles from 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Salón de México
The failure of the last Autoexpo gave Mexico the opportunity to raise as a country with gained automotive culture. The SIAM was born. Auto Moto Cycle took charge by the Asociación Mexicana de la Industria Automotriz or shortly "AMIA". AMC is the organizer of one of the most important auto shows in the world, the ParisMondial de l'Automobile and also of many other important auto shows. The name "Salón de México" was given because other autoshows around the world are called for example "Salón de Paris". Almost every car manufacturer in Mexico assisted to the event, even the ones that were not yet in Mexico, like Mazda. The event was very successful and worked for many new makers in Mexico to present their vehicles. The SIAM was then classified as a major international auto show. However, the 2005 edition saw a minor amount of brands, excluding Renault along with a discouraging hosting as visitors could not park in the parking lot but were forced to leave their cars by the horse racecourse. The 2006 Autoshow saw even less brands, along with Renault, Peugeot, the whole of the Volkswagen Group and others. After the so-called 2006 fraud, the Autoshow was cancelled for 2007.
SIAM 2008
The Autoshow returns to the Centro Banamex site for 2008, from the 27 September to the 5 October. The exhibition opens from 10 am to 10pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and from 1pm to 9pm Monday to Friday. The show will close at 9pm on the final Sunday. There will be around 400 cars on display, including museum pieces, from a number of manufacturers, including Porsche, Lincoln, GM, Ford, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mercury, Pontiac, Renault, Peugeot, Saab, Mercedes, Bentley, VW, Audi, Chrysler and Dodge. The show is expected to return in 2010 as a biennial event.
