MULLEN FIVE LAUNCH AT THE LA AUTO SHOW

The Ask

Mullen Automotive arrived at the LA Auto Show with something to prove. As a Southern California-born EV startup entering a crowded market, the brief called to establish a brand presence with style.

The Mullen FIVE Five-Seater SUV and Mullen FIVE Luxury Four-Seater were being unveiled to the press and public for the first time, and the 70x80-foot island exhibit needed to do the heavy lifting before a single spokesperson took the stage.

The brand positioning was specific: Mullen is more than an EV manufacturer; it was an affordable luxury brand rooted in Southern California culture, built around a core philosophy of Efficient, Economical, and Easy. The exhibit needed to embody it all: open, airy, refined, sophisticated, while simultaneously hosting a fully produced press reveal with live performance, theatrical lighting, a large-format LED wall, and a five-act run of show.

The design direction was equally precise. Final revisions eliminated structural towers, standalone product display boxes, green turf inlays, custom vinyl, and printed floor graphics in favor of a clean, unobstructed open-air pavilion on uniform black carpet. Every element that remained had to earn its place.

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The Solution

Show Ready fabricated the full 70x80 island exhibit for the Mullen FIVE launch at the LA Auto Show with structural environments, vehicle staging platforms, gallery installations, hospitality infrastructure, and AV integration across every zone of the footprint.

The Structure and Overhead Program

The exhibit's overhead moment was a black circular box-truss system suspended directly over the main vehicle activation zone, supporting branded hanging signs and matching overhead lighting. The truss gave the space an architectural definition from above — establishing the primary zone from any angle on the show floor and giving the press reveal lighting program its primary rig point.

Vehicle Showcase Stages

Custom engineered vehicle platforms elevated both the Mullen FIVE Five-Seater and the Mullen FIVE Luxury Four-Seater for maximum visual presence and press access. Each platform was purpose-built to the vehicle's dimensions and integrated into the broader exhibit floor plan without breaking the open-air pavilion aesthetic the brief called for.

The Hero Stage and LED Wall

The primary content moment of the exhibit was a large curved high-resolution LED display wall measuring 21'3" wide by 11'5" high. The wall anchored the main presentation stage and served as the backdrop for the vehicle reveal, the brand narrative video, and the synchronized b-roll footage that ran throughout the press event. Seven 75-inch LCD 4K smart monitors and one 85-inch LCD 4K smart monitor were distributed throughout the booth's ancillary zones (the Chassis Display, Charging Station, Trim Details, and Feature Vehicle areas), each running bespoke synchronized video loops produced specifically for their zone.

Audio and Show Control

An integrated surround sound package of eight JBL powered speakers and two subwoofers was pre-rigged to the truss and structure. An on-site AV tech room built into the exhibit structure served as the master control room for network stability, hardware switching, and booth power distribution throughout the show.

An on-site animator and asset manager were embedded directly inside the booth during build week, handling environment adjustments, media code updates, and final presentation slide revisions in real time.

The Functional Zones

The exhibit's interior was organized around five distinct areas:

Learning Zone: An open-air interactive consumer space with integrated hardware tablets for direct digital exploration of the Mullen lineup
Bespoke Color and Trim Area: A simplified zone using direct wall graphics and hanging materials for customizable interior and exterior configuration
Mullen Lounge Points: Private hospitality and business infrastructure including an enclosed private lounge, dedicated conference room, staff lounge, and secure storage and catering room — the physical embodiment of the "Lounge Points" retail ecosystem concept being introduced at the show
Discovery Zone and Registration Stations: Digital engagement points for press and consumer interaction, QR-code-enabled for virtual press kit access
Skateboard Chassis Display: A dedicated structural display for the Mullen FIVE chassis, built to showcase the EV platform engineering beneath the vehicle

The Five Gallery

A dedicated in-booth digital art section celebrated Mullen's Southern California roots through custom physical and digital displays from five California-based local artists, each contributing to a gallery that contextualized the brand within the culture it was born from. The Five Gallery wasn't background dressing. It was a brand statement about who Mullen was positioning itself alongside.

The Press Reveal

The Mullen FIVE launch event at the LA Auto Show was a fully produced five-act press reveal built into the exhibit environment with lights, sound, live performance, and a vehicle unveil sequence managed from the AV tech room and executed on the show floor.

The pre-show atmosphere set arriving press with native outdoor sounds, simulated wind effects, and isolated spotlights trained on the vehicles draped in custom art silks. The formal reveal opened with an on-screen narrative video of a street artist painting a California highway landscape, transitioning live to spoken word poets performing an anthem about optimism and the road ahead. Founder and CEO David Michery then anchored the brand narrative. Theatrical lighting shifted to dramatic custom cues as the field team pulled the art silks from both Mullen FIVE variants simultaneously, synchronized with b-roll footage across the main LED wall. Chief Design Officer Andreas Thurner followed with performance metrics — 0-60 in 3.2 seconds — and the SoCal-inspired design language. VP of Marketing Jason Putnam closed with the Lounge Points consumer model, digital reservation process, and a preview of upcoming CES activations.

Results

The Mullen FIVE launch at the LA Auto Show delivered a fully realized brand debut for a company making its first major public statement. The exhibit established Mullen Automotive as something specific. Mullen is not another EV startup, but a Southern California luxury brand with a point of view, a cultural identity, and a vehicle lineup staged to prove it.

The Five Gallery and Lounge Points zones gave the exhibit depth beyond the vehicle reveal, creating multiple dwell-time opportunities for press and consumer attendees throughout the show run. The press reveal was executed cleanly across all five acts in an environment built to hold every element simultaneously.

The exhibit won awards for the activation, recognizing both the fabrication quality and the experiential design that Show Ready and FGPG delivered for Mullen's debut on the national automotive stage.

Why It Matters

A brand launch at the LA Auto Show is one of the highest-pressure fabrication contexts in the automotive calendar. The press is there. The cameras are there. The competitors are on the same floor. Show Ready built a 70x80 island exhibit that could hold a curved LED wall, a live five-act press event, a California art gallery, and a fully produced hospitality infrastructure — all at once, all in service of a brand making its first impression. The room doesn't lie. Neither does the work.