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The 2010 British International Motor Show has been cancelled due to the global economic crisis, the organisers have announced.

"We didn't want the situation of planning a show against a background of uncertainty, so we crystallised debate very quickly: could manufacturers commit to the show for 2010?" said Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) that owns the rights to the event.

"The manufacturers are all in the process of making red...Read the full article

Why not integrate it on an informal basis with the Goodwood Festival Of Speed?  Most of the manufacturers seem to have an exhibit there anyway...

This begs two questions:

 1) Do the manufacturer's actually sell anything on the back of motor shows nowadays?

2) If they do sell there then here's a thought gents... Instead of spending ridiculous amounts on ever more obvious and vulgar displays of extreme wealth and waste - why not have a Gentleman's Agreement to cap the stand expenditure down to, say, 10 grand a car displayed plus hall fees??

Or have I answered my own question with the Gentleman's Agreement...?

I think that 2012 would be the perfect date to hold the British Motor Show. Yes, the Olympics will be held then too, but why not turn this into an opportunity? I think the Show should be resheduled to either before or after the Olympics. You would have plenty of people coming to see the Olymics and it is likely they will arrive a week or even two before they start. The Motor Show would be the perfect way of spending that spare time. I think this would attract even greater crowds and we could see record attendance. However, to make sure this happens I suggest the SMMT consults major manufacturers to agree on launching their key new cars for the first time on that show.

Advertising and marketing budgets are always the first thing to go in a recession, but the London show has always had this threat looming over it.

Really the issue here is how the NEC lost the show in the first place by letting itself get so run down and not spending on new facilities or refurbishment. There's always been a London crowd who wanted the show moved to the capital, whereas the rest of the country find it an absolute pain to get to.

The Olympics idea isn't a bad one but isn't really a long term solution. Besides I have a friend involved fairly high up in the planning of all the Olympic build, and apparently its turning into the next Wembley, in terms of getting the Ozzy contractors to feel any sense of urgency.

For those that have not realised or have blinkered vision, this is the final confirmation that the UK does not have a viable car industry, or at the very least the vision and leadership to pursue one. Other major shows across the world have not been cancelled. At times like this it is even more important to show case the dwindling automotive engineering ability and capacity in this country.

 

Autocar:

The 2010 British International Motor Show has been cancelled due to the global economic crisis, the organisers have announced.

The last time the British motor show was held in London was, I think, in the 1970's at Earls Court.  The last time there was a British motor show was a few years ago at the NEC.  The local event in London was always going to be an iffy proposition, as who is interested in driving, and therefore cars, in our clogged up capital?  (Apart from taxi drivers).

That's a great shame. Excel was a nice venue, it's just a shame so many manufacturers couldn't be bothered to back the show. Motor shows are always great fun to go to, so I guess I'll just have to carry on visiting the Paris show!

Fly over here and visit Frankfurt. Not to Frankfurt Hahn - it's not here whatever Ryanair think. You can eat sausage (sort of), drink beer (not bad) and marvel at how many reversed baseball caps the world still has to offer. Go wild and ruin your cholesterol level with Kartoffelpuffer. Gets a bit full though. Germans only go to the VW, BMW and Mercedes halls though, so there's still plenty to see.

Autocar:

could manufacturers commit to the show for 2010?"

I've been to the last two at the NEC, flew in, got ripped off by a taxi driver from the airport to the NEC (we now know there's a mini-rail link), and really enjoyed the day out.   The last one you could tell was smaller than you'd like.   But we still enjoyed seeing as many different cars as we could, especially those rare examples.

A friend went to the first show in Excel and he reported it wasn't anything like as good as the last NEC show.   Reports I've heard is that the last Excel show was even more of a disappointment.   Same friend has gone to Geneva, which he tells me is the only show to see and not to waste any time in the UK.

Does these shows help sell cars in the UK?   No.   Product launches help at these shows, but any one will do.   It's really ensuring that you've got an excellent dealer network which helps.   I can only heap praise on what I've had from S&S Subaru in Ayr and Menzies BMW in Stirling.   Both showed the way it can be done, and you go back for extras and recommend others to their garages too.

I'd at this point state that having a poor dealer service is the worst for any manufacturer as having had a bad experience through Ford dealers I won't be buying any of there products.   Brother has bought a Focus ST but after having dealer trouble too (the biggest in Scotland) he won't be buying another Ford either.   I'm not stating their names to protect the guilty.

 

The well-known "Ozzy" contractor - Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd?

A sensible move considering the market conditions at the moment.

Let's use this opportunity to do something great with it.  Cars are mobile devices, not static, lets get a track such as Silverstone or Donnington on board so people can drive the cars as well as just look at them.

With all the re-development that's going on at both tracks, I'm sure the investment needed to put in a display hall at the same time is relatively small compared to the rest of their costs.

Execute it properly and the UK could become Motor show world leaders.