The Final Word

	Organisers blame the lack of premieres on the fact the British motor show is no longer ranked a major event

You’ll know from our coverage that there were practically zillions of world debuts at this month’s Geneva Motor Show. I was there, and the new cars almost outnumbered exhibitors. Everywhere you turned, some chief exec was proudly pulling the covers off a fresh piece of metal. Unveil followed unveil. In the end, the spectacle almost became no more remarkable than seeing a waiter change a tablecloth. Really, this is quite surprising. After all, Switzerland is famous for clocks, chocolate and an unwillingness to take sides in a war – not building cars. Yet its motoring expo is the envy of the world.

Now, I don’t begrudge the Swiss success. But by comparison, the press days at British Motor Shows I’ve been to have had all the atmosphere of a doctor’s waiting room. And that’s just wrong, considering we invented the car. Sure the Germans and French may claim otherwise. However, there can be no denying that the first mechanically powered road vehicle was created by Brit Richard Trevithick in 1801.

That’s enough history for now, though. What I’m interested in is the future – the future of the British Motor Show. So I decided to meet with its organisers. As you’d expect with a team of slick marketeers, they were keen to explain how this year’s event, which kicks off in London’s Docklands on press day on 22 July, is going to be the “best yet” and will pull in “record numbers” of visitors, thanks to a raft of “amazing” interactive events. And I’ve no doubt the show will prove a brilliant day out for punters.

But when the topic turned to the number of expected world debuts, they became less bullish than the UK stock market. Now, I wouldn’t go so far as saying you are more likely to see a premiere on UK TV Gold. That would be rude. The truth is, though, that compared with Geneva, there will be relatively few unveilings at ExCeL this summer.

And apart from the Vauxhall Insignia, most of them will probably just be model derivatives, rather than completely new cars. Why so few world premieres? The organisers blamed part of the problem on the fact the British Motor Show is no longer ranked as a major event in the automotive calendar.

It used to be up there with Geneva, Paris, Frankfurt, Detroit and Tokyo. Sadly, it is now slumming it in the same league as the expos of Sofia, Riga and probably even Chernobyl! You’ll be as cross as I was, then, to learn the organisation which has decreed this ranking is based in Paris. It’s called OICA, which translates from something in French to the Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers.

So, I contacted its secretary general Yves van der Straaten to find out why he and his cronies downgraded our precious British Motor Show. I had planned to give him a hard time, but he was so friendly and helpful that it would have been less of a strain on my conscience to kick a sick puppy than rant at him.

Anyway, Yves explained the rank is really decided by the car firms, and that OICA only rubber stamps their decision. Apparently London isn’t that important to the auto industry. The reason, surprisingly, isn’t to do with visitor numbers. Instead, it’s about the levels of international press that attend.

On that front, the British Motor Show doesn’t fare too well. The last one only attracted 652 foreign journalists, but there were 3,900 at Geneva in 2007. Without the promise of plenty of world debuts, story-hungry hacks simply won’t bother to turn up. That means in terms of international importance, the British Motor Show is in a Catch 22 situation. And I’m sorry to say no amount of evening rock concerts, test drives or changes of venue can alter that.