After a grim couple of years shut down by Covid and general belt-tightening, Europe’s big motor shows are trying to stage a comeback in a bid to recover some of their pre-pandemic status.
This October, the Paris motor show will return after a four-year absence, while the Geneva motor show is currently drumming up support among car makers for its planned comeback show in February 2023, its first since 2019.
However, the shows' organisers are finding it hard going. So far, Paris has signed up DS, Jeep, Peugeot and Renault, while Geneva has 15 brands according to one car maker that has been given the sales pitch for 2023.
Both shows will hope to grow those numbers, but it doesn’t look like we will be returning to the glory days when both were defining events in the automotive calendar.
Geneva didn’t reveal the identity of those 15 brands to the car maker it was pitching to: they might be big hitters or they might be a bunch of automotive tuners and start-ups.
The problem is that right now, no car maker can justify spending £2 million-plus on a car show.
“We can’t produce enough vehicles, lead times are into next year and we’ve a massive order bank, so why do you need a motor show?” one executive at a car company said on condition of anonymity.
“Yes, manufacturers are making more money, but the budget for fixed marketing expenses has gone, and that’s where the motor show budget comes from.”
The one most likely to stage a comeback is Geneva, which traditionally kick-started the automotive year with its friendly, compact show that played on its neutrality by presenting a level playing field to car makers (unlike the shows in Frankfurt, now moved to Munich, and Paris).
But even luxury car makers, which connected directly with Switzerland’s wealthiest car buyers at the event, are thinking twice about returning.
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