Paris Auto Show Falls Victim to Coronavirus

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Despite its relatively faraway late-September date, organizers behind the Paris Motor Show say the show cannot go on in its current form.

The “seriousness of the unprecedented health crisis” facing both the world and the show means the event, slated to kick off at the city’s Porte de Versailles on September 29th will pare back several elements. However, depending on how the coronavirus pandemic plays out, some satellite events could still go ahead.

“The Movin’On, Smart City and out-of-town events are not, for the moment, in question,” the organizers said in a Monday statement, referring to some elements of the broader Paris Motion Festival.

“We study all the alternative solutions in close collaboration with our main partners. The profound reinvention of the event that we initiated, with in particular a festival dimension around innovative mobility, but also a strong [business to business] component, could offer the opportunity.”

One thing that’s definitely off the table is a convention hall filled with people, cars, and OEM employees.

“Nothing will be like before, and this crisis must teach us to be agile, creative and more innovative than ever,” the organizers said.

Thus far, the Paris show is the latest cancellation (quasi-cancellation in this case) announced in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Early March’s Geneva Motor Show was first to fall, followed soon after by April’s New York International Auto Show. Originally scheduled to open in a week’s time (and since postponed to late August), the NYC event has since seen its venue turned into a field hospital.

With other field hospitals under construction in Central Park and a U.S. Navy hospital ship mooring off Manhattan Monday morning, one wonders if that event’s organizers were a little too optimistic in their rescheduling.

Elsewhere, this past weekend saw organizers behind the North American International Auto Show in Detroit announce the cancellation of this year’s inaugural June event.

Maybe the Paris show organizers are foretelling the future in claiming nothing will ever be the same again — at least regarding the importance of big, splash trade shows like these.

[Image: Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Mar 30, 2020

    Cancelling an event 6 months in advance is pretty conservative. This statement is true, but not due to the virus: "Maybe the Paris show organizers are foretelling the future in claiming nothing will ever be the same again — at least regarding the importance of big, splash trade shows like these." These shows are just not worth it anymore.

  • Inside Looking Out Inside Looking Out on Mar 30, 2020

    Who cares. I don't. San Francisco auto show is more important to me.

  • Lorenzo Are they calling it a K4? That's a mountain in the Himalayas! Stick with names!
  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
  • THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
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