A dialogue has been occurring for 15 years: the automotive honest is dated, however it refuses to die out

Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Turin, Bologna, Detroit, Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris, Los Angeles: previously, each nation that mattered within the automotive discipline had a number of of its personal automotive festivals. It’s not stunning that so many have been organized. Earlier than the appearance of the Web, the general public might shout ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ on the newest automotive fashions they’d ever seen. It was the one choice to view all of the automotive information in a single go.

AutoRAI and Het Salon Brussels cancelled

Amsterdam and Brussels performed their half for a few years. However the final AutoRAI dates again to 2011 and was a flop. There isn’t any method it is going to ever return to its outdated kind. Brussels held out longer; this 12 months it was nonetheless successful on the Brussels Expo. The format was at all times completely different from different European festivals: producers provided excessive reductions on new vehicles, making it an actual gross sales honest. It attracted 265,000 guests.

However this honest can also be dying in its present kind. A Dutch company has taken over the group and every little thing will likely be completely different in 2024. The announcement is buzzing: “A brand new dazzling automotive present the place previous, current and future come collectively in 5 palaces of Brussels Expo. Meet probably the most lovely classics, the most recent introductions from varied manufacturers and efficiency manufacturers and probably the most modern fashions with the most recent drive applied sciences.”

Automotive honest with anorexic fashions

In 2013, Bavo Galama already puzzled in his column in Auto Evaluate what the added worth of a big automotive honest is. Each for the general public and for the press. His reply: nothing. “Sin! In useless! Each drop of sweat wasted!” he wrote. In accordance with Bavo, you did not have to do a report for the atmospheric photographs: “They primarily encompass grumpy photographers who’re continuously getting in one another’s method, anorexic fashions staring blankly into area who don’t know which automotive they’re standing subsequent to and chatting bobos in equivalent tailored fits.” All this within the invariably overexposed setting of a a lot too noisy manufacturing facility corridor.”

The Geneva Motor Present was in Qatar in 2023

That was ten years in the past, and again then Instagram was nonetheless in its infancy and TikTok did not even exist. You’ll say that the automotive honest is now utterly a relic from the previous. But they rise like a Phoenix from their ashes. Take the Geneva Motor Present, probably the most prestigious of all European automotive festivals. The Salon was canceled on the final minute in March 2020 because of the corona pandemic – all stands had already been arrange.

That appeared like the ultimate finish, however the motor present will nonetheless return in February 2024. And as if it wasn’t difficult sufficient, a commerce honest known as the Geneva Motor Present was additionally held in Doha (Qatar) in 2023.

Wasted effort

The Paris automotive honest is holding its personal, however on the final version in 2022, solely Chinese language automotive manufacturers bothered to go huge. The French manufacturers seemed pale, really an embarrassing show. Citroën wasn’t even current. The IAA is now a mobility honest and not takes place in Frankfurt, however in Munich, in an exhibition advanced and at varied places within the metropolis. We went there once more in September 2023 and might solely agree with Bavo. No ambiance, little to see. Wasted effort.