Traditional car shows are struggling to compete with the excitement of a new breed that is rebranding the tired car show format, writes BEN OLIVER
BACK IN THEIR 1970s heyday, few events were more glamorous and exciting than a motor show. Scantily-clad models draped themselves over lurid-coloured supercars with extraordinary shapes and unpronounceable, multisyllabic Italian names.
Ferraris and Lamborghinis were rarer commodities back then and a motor show was the one chance for a car enthusiast to get close to his automotive dreams. Motor shows made headline news. Pop stars and royalty would visit. In the UK, Top Gear would devote a whole episode to the British Motor Show, and at its peak in 1978 nearly a million excited punters would pour through the doors.
Every car nut has a favourite motor show memory. Mine is of going to the British Motor Show in Birmingham in 1988 as a 14-year-old with my Dad, and being crushed against the railings surrounding the sensational, other-worldly Jaguar XJ220.
But those days are long gone, and the motor show as we know it is in mortal danger. From that 1978 high point the British show declined to under half a million visitors by 2008, and has been cancelled altogether this year.
The mighty Tokyo motor show was almost cancelled late last year, and went ahead with just 11 major carmakers exhibiting, down from 35 the year before. The Bologna show, Italy’s biggest and held in the heart of Supercar Valley, home to Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati, somehow went ahead without the official involvement of any major carmakers. Even the vast Frankfurt show, easily the world’s biggest, was 20 per cent smaller last year.
So is this the end of the motor show as we know it? Quite possibly, although they won’t vanish altogether, and what replaces them – particularly for the valued customers of the supercar makers and other high-end brands – promises to be even better.
The short-term problem is, of course, the economy. Dependent on cheap credit and consumer confidence, the car industry was hit particularly hard by the global financial crisis, with General Motors, once the world’s largest carmaker, slid into bankruptcy along with Chrysler last year, and Toyota, now the world’s largest and profitable for 59 years haemorrhaging $7.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009 alone.
Against losses like these, the $2 million required for a decent stand at a big auto show seems like small change. But that’s only a fraction of what a carmaker will spend on a show, once you include the first-class flights and five-star accommodation for its top executives, dealers and guests, the aftershow events and the PR effort around the new models it launches. And the situation for some carmakers was so dire last year that every cent counted.
But the feeling that motor shows might be past their prime had been around for a while, particularly among the supercar makers, who felt that their expensive, glamorous stands just pulled in the punters for the mainstream brands – tyrekickers in other words – and didn’t generate enough enquiries from people who can actually afford their products.
The absence of the exotic carmakers will make motor shows much less exciting for ordinary buyers. But if you’re in the market for a supercar, things are about to get a lot more exciting. Rolls-Royce and Bugatti both fly their new concept and production cars around the world, hosting very exclusive parties for their best customers close to home, with first-class catering, no crowds and the chance to speak directly to the firms’ designers and engineers.
Although it hasn’t started production of its new MP4-12C supercar yet, McLaren is already flying serious prospects in for personal factory tours.
And if you want something a bit more social and want to see more than one brand at once, there’s a whole new breed of motor show. Now in its fifth year, Salon Prive is held over three days in late July on the manicured lawns of the Hurlingham Club in Fulham, west London. No more than 5,000 guests are given access in total; around half are invited by the strictly A-list roster of exotic carmakers exhibiting, and the others buy two or three tickets for themselves and friends at £150 each. The event has been so successful that it grew 30 per cent in 2009 despite the downturn, and now plans to expand to Dubai from 2012.
David Bagley co-founded the Salon Prive show with his brother Andrew. “The big motor shows use supercars to pull people in, but the supercar makers end up paying extortionate sums to spend two weeks keeping people away from their cars. It’s different here. The people who come to Salon Prive aren’t looking to replace a car, but to add to their collection. Some already have an example of every single premium make. They’re very open-minded, and there’s a great cross-pollination between the brands’ customers. If they’re torn between two cars, they’ll probably just have both.”
But this type of customer demands a rather better motor show experience than a trip to a grim exhibition hall, a long walk from the car park and a greasy burger. “These people certainly don’t expect to queue,” agrees Bagley. Instead, once inside the 42-acre exclusive private member’s club they’ll find live music, a concours d’elegance, champagne and lobster to keep the energy up and celebrities from Rod Stewart to Rubens Barrichello.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is following suit. This three-day historic motor sport meeting held in the grounds of the Earl of March’s Sussex country house has become part of the English summer social scene since it was established in 1993. But this year for the first time it will host a “moving motor show” the day before the historic racing cars take to its legendary hillclimb. It won’t be as exclusive as Salon Prive, with more marques exhibiting and more guests, but the setting will be just as elegant, and guests will be able to test-drive some of the cars on a route that includes the hill climb on which everyone from Sir Stirling Moss to Lewis Hamilton has competed.
“Lord March is clearly trying to fill the gap left by the demise of the British Motor Show,” said a senior executive from one of the big carmakers. “I can see it working. Where are you more likely to feel well-disposed towards a new car: standing in a draughty exhibition hall with thousands of other people, or standing on a lawn in the sunshine with a glass of champagne in your hand?”
salonprivelondon.com
goodwood.co.uk
