The more than century-old Geneva International Motor Show will be canceled for good after declining interest from automakers in an event once not lost on the industry, organizers said Friday.
The Qatar event, however, will go ahead and take place again in 2025.
The first Geneva motor show was held in 1905, attracted 17,000 visitors and had two more editions before a hiatus due to financial crisis and World War I.
It started back in 1923 and reached its peak in 2005 when almost 750,000 visitors attended the event.
The Covid pandemic shut down the show again for four years.
When it returned earlier this year, there were 37 exhibitors and 168,000 visitors — far down from previous editions. In 2019, a year before Covid, it attracted 602,000 visitors and 184 exhibitors.
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Alexandre de Senarclens, chairman of the foundation’s standing committee behind the event, said the final cancellation of the show was an “extremely regrettable decision”.
βThe lack of interest shown by manufacturers for the Geneva Salon in a difficult industrial context, competition from the Paris and Munich shows favored by their domestic industry, and the levels of investment required to maintain such a show, they sound the last blow. ” he added.
Organizers said they had asked cantonal authorities to dismantle the institution.
“There are too many uncertainties linked to the automotive industry and the eroding appeal of the major European shows for us to take the risk of investing further in the future,” the agency said in a statement.
But Qatar’s edition “continues its journey” after a “successful” first edition last year, the statement said.
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The next Geneva International Motor Show in Qatar will be held in Doha in November 2025.
Source: AFP