Over $12 million of inventory at Liberty Auto Show

Revving engines and roaring music greeted guests who came to observe the collection of car manufacturers like Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Mercedes and BMW at the of the River Ridge Mall parking lot. 

Three cars on display under the Bentley tent alone were valued at $1 million while the Mercedes collection racked up to $1.3 million. There were also classics like the 1989 red Chevy Corvette that drew spectators’ attention.

The event was dubbed Virginia’s largest outdoor new car auto show and featured $12 million in inventory, exceeding last spring’s show with an inventory of $6 million.

Liberty University partnered with River Ridge Mall to host its second student-run auto show last weekend.

Multiple tents displayed specific brands underneath each one. Like last year, each brand’s tent was decorated with a theme in mind. The Mercedes tent took the theme of “The Great Gatsby,” Chevy’s tent featured football flags and a mini football field inflatable, Volkswagen’s tent highlighted a bachelorette wedding, Subaru featured a campfire and chairs set up beside its vehicles and the Lincoln tent put the focus on natural exploration within the power of sanctuary. 

Student Matthew Rogers was working the Bentley tent and explained the movie posters, red carpets, hanging lights and red velvet stanchions that surrounded the cars. 

“This year we wanted to get Bentley and … what better for Bentley, why don’t we do movie premiere?” Rogers said.

 A team of about 10 people led by a captain and co-captain ran each tent. The chairs of the LU Auto Club assigned the teams a brand to represent, and each team decorated its booth and competed to have the best theme. 

Dave Brat, the dean of the School of Business, said the auto program at Liberty could see some changes in the near future. 

“We’ll probably up the auto program at Liberty for students academically,” Brat said. “And then all the dealers are very interested in upping their own game on education so that when the students come out, they’re ready to roll in the auto business. Students will be surprised at the salary levels coming out of college going into auto management and sales. The salaries are a lot higher than you think.” 

Brat also worked closely with Craig Pettitt, Liberty’s vice president of real estate management, to put on the auto show. 

“He took care of all the technical issues to make it a success with the mall and to have this venue,” Brat said. 

After the spring semester show’s success, the LU Auto Club went from 94 members to over 200 members. More information on the Auto Show is available on Instagram @luautoshow.

Napier is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on Twitter