The British International Motor Show has just been cancelled. The next one was due in summer 2010. The organisers say they’ve pulled it because of the current economic mess, but to be honest you’d hope things would be getting better by mid-2010. No, the real reason is that even in the good times of mid-08 (when the last one was staged – it happens every two years) it was a damp squib.
To work properly, full-scale motor shows need support from manufacturers. They jostle for attention by launching new cars. And in July, when the British event was held, there aren’t really any new cars.
The main car launches happen in spring and autumn. But if the British show were timed then, it’d be in competition with Geneva (spring) or Paris (autumn). A battle it couldn’t win.
The British show has always been too parochial to get manufacturer excitement. Jaguar, Ford and Land Rover have usually made the effort, but the half-dozen debuts you get at London compare very badly with the lengthy lists from Geneva, say.
Of course there’s more to a motor show than that. It’s easy for sniffy journalists to sneer at a show if it doesn’t give us many new cars to write about. But for most of the people who come through the doors, the show has two more purposes.
First, having an up-close experience of the rare-groove and dream cars. Stuff you’re unlikely to find on a normal day. Sweet talking the security guard so you can get a sit in a Ferrari is motor-show standard procedure.
Second, comparing cars you might buy. Poke about the cabin of a Golf, then go to a French or Korean competitor, and see if the extra cost of the VW quality is worth it to you. Wedge your kids into the back-row seats of a few MPVs and see which ones cause complaints.
But increasingly, the car makers are seeing the show as an irrelevance. BMW, VW, Audi, Fiat, Volvo and more stayed away last time. The fees to exhibit are huge, and building a stand and staffing it up runs into the millions. Lots of the car makers say they can get better bang for their marketing cash by ‘interacting with their customers directly’.
For the supercar makers, that means finding the rich people at say polo clubs and posh spa hotels, rather than spending on a show stand only to have to fight off those of us who’ll never be able to afford to buy.
For the mass makers, that means among other things using the internet more cannily, providing electronic experiences instead of metal ones. Or getting their cars out there at events like Goodwood and (OK, interest declared) Top Gear Live.
In the old days, car launches happened at motor shows because that was where the excitement was. In this era of constant drip-feed news, most car makers think they can get more coverage by trailing their new stuff before the shows.
Even the mighty Tokyo show was suffering, and for several months it looked like this October’s event was going to be cancelled. I remember the last one, in 2007, feeling distinctly low-key compared with its former glory.
So there are all sorts of reasons why the London show couldn’t survive. It’s not just the economic climate. Don’t expect it to be back in 2012.
I don’t think it’s just the economy or the timing. When I was a kid if you wanted a car fix then the proper Motor Show at the NEC was a real treat, coming home with bags full of brochures and freebies. These days there are so many more opportunities for the average Joe to see special metal such as the Festival of Speed and so on where the stuff actually moves. That plus access to images of supercar porn instantly on the interweb and all of a sudden a motor show is just a huge showroom with added tottie which, incidentally, is also freely available in spades on the internet.
why now we won’t be able to see the new cars unti the company that makes the car and relese it
It’s not just the economy, their are lots of contributing factors which have resulted in a no london motor show situation. The main thing to blame is the olympics, almost 10 billion pounds is being spent on the whole damn thing, thats £10,000,000,000! That will make things worse for the economy. The london motor show should go on, the sales of tickets whould surely help the economy and the visitors whould have some interest in manufacturers concepts which would keep the manufacturers reputation high… ish. It’s not just london though, cities all over the world are strugging, especially tokyo. Tokyo has to put up with the yen decreasing more rapidly than ever before and the upcoming 2016 Olympic games held in Tokyo. The Japanese car industry is sufferend a lot as well from the lack of value in the yen, toyota are halving there full-time workers, they will only take on a maximum of 1,400 workers, around 1,000 less than normal. It’s not all that cheerful in germany, BMW expect sales to fall by 20%, ouch.
I was at 08, and to be honest the best thing was the boats outside and the Deep Purple concert !
I went to the last one. No new cars you say? The Focus RS, Nissan GTR and Vauxhall Insignia would like a word with you. And the Focus RS was a world premiere!
It was still a fantastic event, be it from the Westfield drifting experience or the Honda show, to the manufacturer stands themselves.
Anyone who thinks otherwise obviously don’t like cars enough.
Ash – yes I agree about the Focus RS and Insignia. Vauxhall did us proud actually, and they launched the Corsa at the last one. The GTR was at Tokyo the previous October so was ignored by the press, because as I say the press have a different view of what is called a launch than the paying public do, and that’s a shame. By the way the Alfa MiTo also had its world’s-first public showing in London.
But if motor shows just appeal to fanatics like us, they’re not going to survive.
I think the British Motor Show shouldn’t be cancelled i’ve been there since the 2000. The last show of fantasic. You should see the cars which come out in 2010.
Anyone who likes cars are going to be disappointed because I am one of those people.
It’s a fantastic place and chould be held in Birmingham not London because I live in Staffordshire.
Does any one here reads TG mag and the ‘Import It Deport It’ section? If you do how about this…
Import It: Honda Element
Deport It: Dodge Nitro
I think it all started to go downhill since they stopped it at the NEC in 2002 i think. at least we had VW/Audi there. anyone remember 1998 brit motor show at NEC, best one iv been to.
Yes Cheesey Panda i remember NEC motor show 1998 it was brilliant,went to a couple of Brum ones actually thats where i first bumped into mr Clarkson!
Paul Horrel: Good point about problems with aiming at fanatics. That said, my fiancee isn’t all that interested in cars (all she knows is she wants an Audi R8!) but she really enjoyed it too. It proved to be enjoyable for petrolheads and non petrolheads alike. Plus, who doesn’t like looking at shiny new Ferraris?
I don’t think cancelling it is the way to go. If attraction is the main problem, change the range of events on offer (keep the go karts though; that was the best £10 I spent all day!). If its manufacturer cooperation that’s the issue, then at the end of the day motor shows are the best way for them to reveal new metal and to advertise their new products. Ergo, they’ll still be adding themselves to the roster even if it’s not 18 months in advance.
To me, cancelling it is too much like giving up, but this is coming from a hopeless idealist, so make of that what you will.
I think it’s sad that they don’t have a motor show this year because 2009 is an EXCELLENT year for cars!!
So now I have to go to SWITZERLAND?! That’s outrageous! I’ve been going since 1998, what am I supposed to do now? >:-(
MPH 09 had better have LOTS of new cars to sit in…
Sorry,
I am reading Your post and almost have a heart atack. I am from small country in south of Europe and I have to say to You that the crisis that You have mentioned are nothing comparing the auto industry or selling the cars here.
Audi sell last Year 1600 pcs in my country but in first 3 month complete VW group did not sell more than 25 pcs !!!!!!
Last week was the week of the biges moto expo in this part of Europe and there it was over 50000 visitors but selling was almost one big zero.
I hope that You wont have that situation in Your country.
I went last year, liked the new Alfa, oh and Squeeze were great…..apart from the duff sound system!
hi top gear team.
i thought you might like to see this,thats if you have’nt seen it already.
if you go to http://www.hoax-slayer.co m and type in their search box…cars in barn..click on the one in portugal..i was amazed at the contents and just wondered how true it was?..
many thanks
8ball
let the people drive some of the cars ? On line reservations might help.. Keep the go-karts, but arrange a competition.. ie best time gets a set of trivia.. employ girls in bikinis and give them a pole to cling to and have a kids section with sitters… ie make it an event not simply a show.. In general squeeze in more action for satisfaction´s sake ! Cancelling is simply so petty !
Oh and a petrol heads happy hour from after 8pm.. no kids, no laics, no annoying by-standers and let the manufacturers loose… See what the TG World Tour did to the ´car show´ –and use the talent ! It´s not always a question of money you know…:D
I remember going to the motor show in London every year with my dad during the 80’s. Things were so different then. Collecting as many brochures and freebies as possible. I even remember seeing Clarkson on stage being amongst a small group of people watching (imagine that!).
I think there are other options now for people and the internet has changed things too.
I’m 13 and I’ve never been to the show before and next year was gonna be my first one and I’m annoyed that they cancelled it
noooooooo why?. And dont blame the credit crunch.
i think it is lode of **** about the credit crunch i think it should still go on because it is a good day trip for ll the family if thay like cars. We went to the motor show in 2008 it was brillant it had all the cars and you can pick up brouchers and it will tell u all abotit and u get a goody bags and the children can go on the bumper cars while the parents go to see the cars and the sister will be looking after the chindren. And there are lotes for the childer for them to make them happy.
tbh its been shite since it came 2 excel
from 1996-2002 were the best years by far! u kno y? coz evri1 was there, they had LITERALLY 5 times the excel space for the show, more freebies than girls at a maxpower show and it was good value as well. now the autosport show is better, but even that was a major disappointment this year. go abroad from now on for a motor show, england just cannot be arsed no more.
btw those years were at the mighty NEC. and 2004 at the NEC wasnt great but hey. the best also by far were honda givin u a bag load of stuff – and the bag was a proper bag u culd take 2 school or work lol – gym bag styly. but then suddenly BLAH BLAH global warming, and the honda ppl had 2 appeal 2 yummy mummies. so the economy and the yummy mummies wiv their greeny bolloks have stopped the companies 2 comin 2 UK motorshow. thank you u bunch of tw@S!
lastly they dont make concepts like they did in the 90’s by 2002 all the concepts they made were actually possible to be made in a couple of years – so this took away the mystique of the show. if they kept it at the NEC it would have been better, also coz the excel is in a SH!T place in london for accesibility. . . bloody nitemare. Manufacturers wil still go2 detroit, geneva and paris due to them being the famous 3. Uk was never the best 1 of the lot, although i loved it back wen i was a kid lol. =)
Couple of points,
1. With the amount of redundancies in the industry how can anyone justify spending millions on a car show.
2. Maybe the journalists are just a bit miffed that they will be missing out on a bit of “corparate hospitality.”
3. When the shows do reappear lets move it out the capital and back to the NEC
Should never have been moved from the NEC in the first place. Real good idea that was, taking it away from the motoring hotbed of the country and moving it to London, real clever. And then, when the event didnt live up to expectations in London (lack of crowds) they quietly hushed it up!
I was at 98 and 2000 at the NEC and both were brilliant. Went three times in 2000. I will NOT go to one in London!
do you think top gear should make a car that flys! i do
do you thik the nissan micra c+ci dooooooooooooooo sorry my dog likes standing on my key board i don’t like the nissan micra c+c
The cost was also a prohibitive factor for many visitors, it’s cheaper for me to fly from newcastle to geneva and back to see the show there every year than it would be to visit either Birmingham or London….
I was at the British show in 08 and to be honest it was shit. I saw every car within 30 mins.
There were a hand full of new cars at the British show but as Paul Horrell said they were launched at Geneva.
The Focus RS may of been a world launch but really, does the rest of the world care about a Focus?
IMO the British show is an opportunity for average Joe to have a poke round the current range of drivel on offer. You could walk into a few car dealers on a Saturday morning and see the same stuff.
I was at the Geneva show in 08 and it took two days to view everything. Current models, new models, concept cars, super cars, hyper cars. I didn’t turn my camera on once at the British show.
The problem is, by the time the show comes around, we may not have a car industry…..
Here’s an idea for the TG team; now that the Tata Nano’s on sale, how about a new type of motorsport? Nano racing!! Dirt cheap and you are going so slowly that you won’t get hurt and it’s all about driver skill (to sop it from falling over). Brilliant!!
It’s a shame really, isn’t it? But as it’s been stated, many manufacturers have realised that there are simply better and cheaper ways to appeal to everyone.
Exotic/luxury car makers in particular, actually. I remember managing to squeeze into Morgan’s velvet-roped area, and got a shock when one of the guys there told me just how much it was costing them to exhibit just a few cars. And not just the standard, ‘here’s your space and fill it’ cost either. There were 3 cars in there – an AeroMax, a Plus 4 and an Aero 8; all of which, I was told by the guy from Morgan, were essentially ruined in one way or another. The black Plus 4 needed a total respray and various cosmetic fixes; the orange Aero 8 also needed a respray, plus a brand new gearbox; and the AeroMax wasn’t much better. 3 hand made, beautiful cars, scratched, bullied and bruised by people who were about as likely to buy one as my 1 year old nephew is. Admittedly I had no intention of buying one either, but I did at least make an attempt to treat them kindly – unlike the 12 year old before me, who attacked the gearbox in the Aero 8 with the sort of cruel ferocity that not even a Vectra deserves (all while his father simply smiled and snapped away at him with his Nikon). It all made me feel a little sick, to be honest.
What really surprised me, though, was the attitude the guy from Morgan had about it. After explaining the costs and damage to me, he simply shrugged it off and said “But it’s all part of the show, isnt it!”. Now why is it that a tiny, cottage-industry car company like Morgan is happy to exhibit despite the sheer cost, and the likes of VW, Volvo, Lexus, BMW and Fiat etc aren’t?