The 104-year-old Brussels Motor Show has been rebranded - but it will take a lot more than a name to put this show on the road, says Daniel Attwood
Brussels may be at the heart of the European automotive regulatory establishment, but when it comes to its motor show it has a long road ahead before it can compete with the world's premier auto shows. But that's not stopping it from trying.
The Brussels Motor Show, which opens its doors to the public tomorrow, is promoted as one of the most important auto shows in Europe. And for those who doubt their intentions to raise the show's profile, the organisers have renamed it the European Motor Show Brussels.
The name change is significant, as the show's chairman, Jean-Albert Moorkens, explains: "Our ambition is to develop a benchmark European show in Brussels. We enjoy a unique advantage in this respect - our position at the heart of Europe, close to the political decision makers whose deliberations affect our sector and our products."
But, for the time being, anyway, the Brussels show remains essentially a regional event catering for car buyers in Belgium and neighbouring France and Holland.
Despite this, the show is large: spread over 13 halls in Brussels' Heysel Exhibition Centre and covering some 114,000sq m. It is also one of the oldest shows - this year is its 104th birthday. And with 300 exhibitors, displaying both cars and motorcycles, it is popular, with attendance predicted to come close to 750,000 visitors.
Indeed, attendance at the show has been growing in recent years. In 2002, there were 702,000 visitors, while two years later (this is a bi-annual event), attendance had risen to 731,000. Not bad considering that Detroit attracts just 774,000 motoring enthusiasts despite its 57 world premieres. However, it is still well short of the world's biggest show - Tokyo - that last year attracted 1.5 million visitors.
The theme this year - bio-fuels - holds few surprises in today's environmentally conscious world, although it should prove interesting for Irish motorists in light of changes in the last budget that saw a VRT tax break for cars powered by bio-fuels in Ireland.
While more of a gimmick than a true attempt at mass education, the show features information about bio-fuel, what impact it has on the environment and how the technology works. To press the message home, a field of rape has been planted so visitors can see, touch and smell one of these environmentally friendly raw materials that produce bio-fuels.
However, the main attraction of any motor show must be the cars and the premiers.
Support from the manufacturers is high - all the mainstream and not so mainstream are at Brussels - but, unfortunately, premieres of significance are sparse.
World firsts include the mildly facelifted BMW Z4, the beautiful Jaguar XK Cabrio and a refreshed Megane. Not the type of show-stopping world premiers that are familiar at Frankfurt, Detroit and Paris. As a result, Brussels must attract visitors by other means.
The rape field is one for the environmentally aware, but it is this year's novel Tintin exhibition that will appeal to a wider audience. The Tintin sideshow has a display of the cars that featured alongside this comic book hero. It was 77 years ago that this forever-young cartoon character first appeared in a Brussels newspaper and, to celebrate, visitors can see the cars he, his comrades and his foes drove. Among the highlights is a 1925 Mercedes Torpedo that Tintin drove during his adventures in The Land of The Soviets and a 1912 Model T Ford that this quiffed hero drove through the Congo in.
With its innovative sideshows as well as the tonnes of shiny metal on display, Brussels will continue to attract huge numbers of locals. But until it can deliver the major world premieres, despite its name, the European Motor Show Brussels will remain just a regional show. But that will change, promises Moorkens, repeating a popular mantra in Belgium: "The persistent one wins." And the Brussels organisers are certainly persistent.
The European Motor Show Brussels runs until Sunday 22 January. More information can be found at www.salonauto.be