Attendance at the 2008 First Hawaiian International Auto Show last week was up 3.5 percent over last year, said Dave Rolf of the Hawaiian Automobile Dealers Association.

"That was just wonderful," Rolf said. "Many auto shows across the country were flat to slightly down, but there's a bump in interest in new vehicles in Hawaii."

Rolf credits the increased traffic in part to the Green Trail at this year's show. Several hybrids were on display and dealers were at the vehicles to answer questions about the hybrids and the more than 350 vehicles in general.

"One auto manufacturer's representative on the floor said 95 percent of the attendees asked about gas mileage of the vehicle," Rolf said. "In fact, it was usually the first question."

Not all attendees were interested only in the Green Trail or gas mileage, however. One of the show's lures over the past 30 years has been its exotic car collection. This year, Bentleys were reintroduced to O'ahu after a 15-year absence and Brad Nicolai, vice president and general manager of JN Automotive Group, said his dealership sold three Bentleys — each handmade Bentley Continental GTC convertible coming with a $200,000-plus price tag — following the show. (Attendees couldn't purchase at the show, they had to go to the dealerships).

"We also sold one Lamborghini Superleggera (starting at $130,000) and had several inquiries about the Ferrari 599 ($400,000), the Lotus, the Maseratis and others. Overall, it was a very positive event for us based on consumer response. We saw huge interest in the limited edition 2008 Audi R8."

The Audi R8, Nicolai said, is known for its high performance and sleek futuristic design. Audi made just 300 R8 models.

Also at this year's show the Hawaiian Automobile Dealers Association asked attendees to fill out an exit form that dealt with, among other things, the traffic concerns in Hawai'i.

The following are some highlights from the questionnaire, which drew 835 complete survey responses. Nearly 65 percent of the respondents were men, and nearly 22 percent of the respondents were ages 25 to 34.