The most important motor show of the autumn is the Paris Motor Show – the Mondial de l’Automobile – held at the Paris Expo on even-numbered years, or the Frankfurt Motor Show, held at the Frankfurt Messe, on odd-numbered years.
Whether held in Germany or France, both shows are huge, and feature large numbers of world debuts for both production cars and concept vehicles.
Production vehicles debuts at the Paris Motor Show and Frankfurt Motor Show are always big draws. In the past, the Porsche Cayenne, Audi A4, Kia Sportage and Suzuki Swift have all debuted at the Paris show, while Frankfurt has hosted the arrival of the BMW 5 Series, Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo and Honda Civic.
Given its proximity to the large European car markets of France and Germany respectively, the show is always home to some interesting exhibits by the home makers, be it eccentric concept cars from Peugeot, Citroen or Renault in Paris, or hi-tech, efficient and high performance creations from BMW, Mercedes, Audi, VW or Porsche.
The Paris Motor Show is relatively compact, but the Frankfurt show space is huge, giving carmakers plenty of opportunity to construct enormous, architectural stands to display their new cars and concepts.
