Quake LED visits Saudi Arabia

[Quake LED]

What's Up Guys!?

Instead of prepping for thanksgiving and bundling up for the cold, the Quake LED team has arrived in Saudi Arabia, ready to participate in the inaugural Riyadh Car Show as part of Riyadh Season 2019!

We are extremely excited to share this very special experience with you all, and plan to give you a firsthand look at everything involved with an international event of this magnitude.

It started almost a year ago when Bonnier events first presented the opportunity to us, and although there have been a bunch of moving pieces and plenty of headaches along the way we have finally made it (we hope our vehicles have too). The trip out here for lack of better word was exhausting. The team had to endure over 24hrs of travel time from Denver, Colorado halfway around the world to Saudi Arabia. The flights were actually quite pleasant, with the longest stretch clocking in at just over 12 hours. They served us great meals and there was plenty of on-board entertainment to occupy our time as we anxiously awaited our arrival to the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh.

We prepared as best as we possibly could for the trip, but we still had no clue what to expect upon arrival. We have lucked out with the weather, and it is not 9 million degrees like we thought it might be, but I can tell you what—it is just as much a desert as we thought. As far as the eye can see there is nothing but blowing sand, long flat roads, and an occasional tree.

After checking into our hotel and getting settled in, we headed over to the venue to see what we had gotten ourselves into. The Janadriyah Festival Grounds, where the event is being held, started as an empty parking lot and is now a massive construction site sprinkled with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of exotic vehicles. Numerous large pavilions, tents, and buildings have been erected on site and it is mind blowing that it will be finished in two days when the event finally kicks off.

Although we were intimidated by the cultural differences at first, the people and general culture out here is very laid back and everyone is extremely polite. It is easy to get along with anyone you run into, and communication has not been an issue. Ubers are cheap and abundant, which we are thankful for because driving out here is not like it is back home in the states. Lanes and speed limits are merely a suggestion, which we learned when a four-lane highway turned into six lanes, and cars were weaving in and out of each other while dodging oncoming traffic.

The event itself is best described as the SEMA of Saudi Arabia, and it is easy to see that the people over here are just as passionate about automobiles as we are in the states. Just walking around during set up we have seen everything from exotic super cars to classic hotrods, and everything in between. We mean it when we say anything automotive will make an appearance at this event.

Expected attendance is supposed to be over 250,000 people and we are very excited to be a part of the first-year event. Stay tuned for an inside look with plenty more photos, videos, and interesting content from the Quake LED team experience out here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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[Quake LED]

Quake LED Visits Saudi Arabia Continued:


While the construction crews have been working day and night to finish putting the venue together, the Quake LED team has been scrambling to get ready for the crowds. I think that we have all finally adapted to the time zone difference (8hours for us in MST) and have been getting an actual night’s sleep for a change.


Our days begin with a delicious breakfast at our hotel’s buffet consisting of several cups of coffee to give us that morning jolt we need to get ready for what may lay ahead. We have been arriving at the venue in the early morning in an attempt to gather our jeeps, trucks, and inventory that was shipped, but nothing had arrived on the first couple days of setup. Shipping 5 vehicles, a 20-foot display trailer, and over 12 pallets of inventory halfway across the world is no easy task, so we were extremely happy when we finally found our display trailer. It arrived on a semi-truck after being shipped on a plane by UPS (9000lbs is not cheap to airfreight)!


Unloading our trailer from the truck almost gave us all a heart attack as an oversized forklift managed to shimmy its way under it, lift it up, and manage not to topple over as it moved our trailer into place. We began to set up the booth and with all hands on deck we made quick work of what would usually take hours. The booth was done until showtime, or so we thought…


We arrived for the official kick off day to the event, and although none of our vehicles or product had made it yet, we had all of our lights to display. Thirty minutes before the venue officially opened, “pow-pow-pow…pop-pop!” We had no lights—all of our power supplies on the trailer had fried due to a power surge and improper equipment. After freaking out for a short period of time, we were able to all work together and scrounge up enough new equipment to make all of our displays operational once again. Luckily for us the show would go on!


It was truly amazing to see the venue all put together and filled with people when it was still in the process of being built all but a few days ago. It truly shows what can be accomplished when everyone has the same end goal in mind. The event starts at 4pm and runs to 11pm each day, which creates a cool atmosphere as the sun begins to set.


We have never seen so many rare and well put together vehicles in one place at the same time. Some of the best builds we have ever personally laid eyes on are all congregated in one location, and it is truly special. No matter where you walk or where you go, there is something remarkable around every corner. Exotic supercars I have never even heard of, one-of-one limited edition vehicles, hotrods, ground up restorations, off-road vehicles, and much, much more all find a place at this event and no one is taking it for granted.


Beyond the automobiles, there is excellent food and drinks, live concerts, and plenty of other forms of entertainment to keep everyone busy throughout the night. Firework explosions heard periodically being set off in the desert behind the stage, lights shining from all directions, and tons of positive energy all lead to create an experience that surpasses a typical auto show.


We are thrilled to be out here as part of the Riyadh Car Show and Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia, and are excited to see what more is to come as we still have four more full days of the event left. Tomorrow, the four remaining vehicles we shipped will arrive, as well as our pallets of inventory so we will be ready to kick it into high gear as the main days of the event play out. The new expected turn out is supposed to be over a half million people, so continue to stay tuned as many more exciting things will be happening with the team from Quake LED here in Saudi Arabia.

 

[JeepColorado]

This is awesome! As I've traveled around the world and sometimes just on youtube I've always felt a cool connection with people in other countries who find joy in a lifestyle I love so much! It's neat to have a familiar connection with someone who perhaps is on the surface very different. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Quake LED]

More from Quake LED’s visit to Saudi Arabia:

It was the morning of the third day of the Riyadh Car Show and we received notice that the rest of our vehicles (2 jeeps and 2 trucks) as well as our inventory had arrived. The team scrambled to get over to the event and finish setting everything up for the busiest days of the show.

With our shelves full of product and our two other jeeps stacked in our booth we were ready for the masses. It became immediately apparent that people in Saudi Arabia were not used to seeing jeeps stacked on top of each other because everyone was stopping to take photos of our vehicles, free marketing at its finest!

The booth seemed to be constantly filled with people and our team was so busy educating everyone about our wide range of products that we offer that it was tough to find time to eat a snack or even grab a drink of water. The language barrier was difficult to overcome at times, as a large portion of people did not speak English, but we managed to befriend the security staff that would help us translate when we would need.

While we were busy inside the south tent emptying our shelves of product, there was plenty more going on outside of the event. They had a track set up where people could watch drifting and stunt teams perform, side by sides hit a jump, monster truck competitions, and there was even a real-life hot wheels loop where vehicles were going completely upside down!

There were so many people walking around all excited to be attending the inaugural event as part of Riyadh Season that you could feel the energy in the air—most of them had never seen anything like this before. We would take advantage of the slower times in the booth giving the team the opportunity to check things out for themselves.

Enjoy the photos below, and stay tuned for more content from the rest of the Quake LED’s experience from Saudi Arabia, including our outings to the city, and our return trip home!

 

[Quake LED]

Quake LED visits Saudi Arabia—Wrapping up a 12 day trip

Visiting a country like Saudi Arabia is not something that happens often and I don’t think that it is at the top of most peoples places to visit, so we took every opportunity we had to immerse ourselves in their culture and check out what the city had to offer.

Riyadh is rapidly expanding, and construction is everywhere as they have just recently opened to tourism. The architecture is stunning and there are many buildings that are complete works of art decorating the skyline. The Kingdom Tower, Riyadh’s tallest building, has a rounded triangle that appears to be cut through the center of it, with the top functioning as a sky bridge that you are allowed walk across!

Pretty much everything in Riyadh is closed from 12pm-4pm, which we learned the hard way when we arrived to the markets at 11:30am and the call to prayer was played over the loud speakers in the city. Everything shut down and we were informed that nothing would re-open until 4pm. This meant you either have to get things done earlier in the morning or later in the evening, which is nice because it avoids the heat of the day.

When everything reopened, we found a textile shop that one of the other companies out here recommended to us and were not disappointed to find extremely affordable pashmina cashmere. High quality handmade pashmina scarfs could be found for 50-80 SAR, which is the equivalent of about 14-23 USD—an absolute steal! Others in the group purchased gold, perfumes, and spices—all of which Saudi Arabia is famous for.

The overall culture is so friendly and welcoming as everybody wants tourists to be there. One gentleman went as far to help us by turning on his phones hot spot so we could book an Uber when our phones data wasn’t working. We were never hassled by anyone, including the religious police, which was something we were made aware of that could possibly happen.

The show was finally over which meant that everything remaining had to be packed up and prepared for the journey home. The displays were dismantled, the jeeps were staged, and inventory was repacked as some of the crew members left attempting make it home for thanksgiving. The trip home was not as direct as our flights out, as we traveled from Riyadh to Jeddah, and then endured a 16.5-hour plane ride from Jeddah to LAX, which is the longest any of us had ever been on a plane! We were extremely excited to land and all got to enjoy a nice cold beer, the first one in 12 days!

Finally home and sleeping in our own beds feels great, but being in Riyadh for 12 days was an experience that none of us will forget. We had a successful event, showing us the possibilities of business in emerging markets like Saudi Arabia. We were able to learn about a new culture, cultivating relationships with people we would have never met without this opportunity. And we showed ourselves the way we can work as a team, proving what can be accomplished when everyone comes together. We are so grateful for this chance the Saudi government has given us to come to their country for the Riyadh Auto Show, and only hope that they decide to bring us back for next year!

 

[Pig-Pen]

The jeeps here look better than the ones from sema lol

thanks for posting this thread and pics

 

[hildji01]

Wish I would have found this earlier! Do you have a vendor in Saudi?

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