Motor shows: an endangered species?

THE INFORMATION AGE AND ENTHUSIASTS CRAVING A MORE INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE ARE TESTING THE VIABILITY OF TRADITIONAL MOTOR SHOWS. SO WHERE TO FROM HERE?

- ASH WESTERMAN

THE ‘INTERNATIONAL’ motor show as we know it may not be clinically dead, but its complexion is a sickly pallor, and its pulse erratic.

In this fast-moving world where so much information has never been so quickly or extensively shared, and where billions of car enthusiasts around the world can view new releases on large, high-def displays, or via social media platforms, perhaps it was inevitable that the largely static spectacle of shiny cars parked in vast halls would become a casualty.

Australia’s motor show died way back in 2008, when the 2009 Sydney event was cancelled in the wake of the GFC and falling attendances. An effort to merge Sydney and Melbourne shows never found sustainable traction.

Now, what was once one of the world’s blue-chip automotive showcase events, the Frankfurt motor show, held in the German city since 1951, is no more.

At Frankfurt, cars (and motorcycles) are shown in odd-number years; commercial vehicles in even years. The VDA (organising group Verband der Automobilindustrie, or German Automotive Industry Association) has pulled the plug on the odd-years event.