The latest edition of Frankfurt Motor Show it happened in September 2019 and revealed a disturbing scenario. Despite the many new features present, 22 car brands missed the event and even the house brands had a much more restrained presence than usual.
The announcement of the end of the Frankfurt Motor Show — no longer returning for the 2021 edition — was advanced by the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA), the event's organizer, but that does not mean that there will no longer be an international motor show in Germany, the largest European market.
In reality, he's just moving to another city.
It's easy to forget that the official name of the Frankfurt Motor Show is really Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (International Auto Show), better known by the acronym IAA , but for many IAA is synonymous with the Frankfurt Motor Show and vice versa. This is what happens after almost 70 years of the IAA having Frankfurt as its host city.
Where is the Frankfurt Motor Show going?
The VDA announced in a statement that, at the moment, three cities — out of a group of seven initial cities — are in the running to host the event: Berlin, Munich and Hamburg.Why move to another city? Starting over, as the saying goes, the “typical” motor show needs to be reinvented. Over the years Frankfurt has lost audience: if in 2015 it received 931,000 visitors, last year it was around 550,000.
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In this sense, the applications that the VDA currently has on the table promise to bring a breath of fresh air to the old and traditional Motor Show. In a statement, the VDA states that ideas and concepts that are marked by creativity were presented. The focus of these applications is on how sustainable and urban mobility can be improved in their regions.
So the IAA 2021 — traditionally interspersed with the Paris Salon, which always takes place in even years —, it will have a new home, with the winning bid to be known in the coming weeks.
Motor Shows in Crisis
Motor shows have not had an easy life in the last decade, with a decline in interest and also investment by car brands (being present represents a large investment by the brand) and by the general public.
In addition to the relocation and reinvention of the Frankfurt Motor Show, the most paradigmatic and recent case was that of the Detroit Motor Show. Traditionally, it was the first motor show of the year, but this year, it no longer took place.
Organizers also decided to reinvent it. It will continue to be in Detroit, but will take place in early summer, when the weather is much nicer than Michigan's harsh winter; and no longer competes with CES, the electronics show that increasingly attracts the car industry and takes place in the sunniest Las Vegas.
Furthermore, it will adopt another format, closer to a type of event like the Festival of Speed in Goodwood, which seems to increasingly gather the preferences of the public and car brands alike.
The Geneva Motor Show, the great bastion of European events, has also been losing its marks. Even though they are marginal absences and are expected to be intermittent, often motivated by budget optimization, because, unlike Frankfurt, Geneva continues to be the “Hall of Salons” as far as visitors are concerned.
With a view to a more sensorial contact with cars, in the next edition the Geneva Motor Show will have an interior test track, which will give visitors the opportunity to test the new models that will be presented there.
Is this the formula to be followed for the future Frankfurt Motor Show, which will no longer be in Frankfurt?