Analysis: Is Geneva's cancellation the end of the motor show?

That trend was already evident before the pandemic. For example, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Hyundai, Opel/Vauxhall and Volvo had all decided not to attend this year’s Geneva show. Last year’s Frankfurt show featured a greatly reduced manufacturer attendance.

In recent years, several firms had taken to exhibiting only at shows that were in key markets or coincided with new model launch plans. But many are now taking that further. Lamborghini recently announced that it wouldn’t attend any more shows, with marketing chief Katia Bassi saying: “We believe that having an intimate relationship with the customer is key and motor shows are no longer aligned with our philosophy.”

While the benefits of stand-alone unveilings are clear, the motor show decline removes a major marketing opportunity and stops the wider public from getting up close and personal with new models in one place.

What’s the future of the motor show?

The sale of the Geneva show to Palexpo SA should ensure that it returns for 2022, although there will be questions about whether the car firms will come back after a two-year break. What seems certain is that future motor shows are likely to move away from the traditional formula of static car displays on stands in exhibition centres.

The organisers of the biennial Paris show have said it is unlikely to return in ‘traditional’ form in 2022, focusing instead on “innovative mobility” and a business-to-business trade event.

Germany’s biggest motor show, which alternates with Paris on the schedule, will also have a new look for 2021, with organisers shifting it from its long-term home in Frankfurt to Munich.

This year’s Detroit show had seemed likely to serve as a vision for how future events could look. Having struggled to attract exhibitors in recent years, with many firms preferring the New York or Los Angeles shows or tech events such as CES, organisers aimed to revitalise it by moving it from January to June and reshaping it as a Goodwood-style ‘festival’ with a large interactive outdoor area. But with that cancelled, it will be at least 2021 before the revised concept can be tested.

Best show moments

Mark Tisshaw - Bentley EXP 9 F (2012)

I’ve never seen such a stunned yet amused look on a face as that of snapper Stuart Price at the unveiling of the 2012 Bentley EXP 9 F, the SUV concept that became the Bentley Bentayga. The car had been nicknamed Falcon, so obviously Bentley brought along a real-life falcon to be next to then boss Wolfgang Dürheimer as it was unveiled. Whether Stu’s stunned look was for the concept’s front end or the falcon, I’m not sure, but the giggles were from him catching the look on the face of VW Group supremo Ferdinand Piëch at the weirdness in front of him.

Steve Cropley - Porsche 918 Spyder (2010)

I’ll never forget Porsche’s king hit to every other car maker at Geneva 2010. No one had known precisely what was coming, but by 9am on that first day we all knew that, instead of searching for a show star, the answer was right there in front of us. By that time the covers were off the 918 Spyder concept – a 214mph hybrid hypercar with 282bhp of electric front-wheel drive and a mid-engined 600bhp V8. It not only described brilliantly but also looked fabulous, even shading its predecessor, the Carrera GT.

Jim Holder - Aston Martin Lagonda SUV (2009)

Has another car ever been revealed at a motor show that was so wrong… and yet so right? To my mind, nothing comes close to Aston Martin’s Lagonda SUV concept from the 2009 Geneva show. Although attitudes have changed since then, it was the idea of Aston building an SUV that caused as much horror as the car’s looks. The irony is that if the Lagonda had been put into production, it would have fitted right in with many of the other undignified luxury SUVs on the roads today, and Aston would probably be in far ruder health.