Proper motor shows aren’t dead, they’re just far too expensive

We’ve talked at length about the demise – and subsequent rebirth – of the international motor show in the pages of Auto Express. But the metal on display at Monterey Car Week this year proves just how far brands are prepared to go to target specific audiences – and it’s a long way from the big European expos that used to pull in thousands of punters on any given weekend.

It makes sense. There’s no point trotting out your multi-million-pound, limited-run Brit-built supercar to crowds paying pocket change to visit Birmingham’s NEC on a wet November afternoon. Instead, head for the land of the rich and famous, position it neatly on a lush putting green, stand back and watch the deposits roll in.

This kind of targeted marketing is why brands such as Mercedes and Aston Martin spend billions on Formula One, and Jaguar Land Rover shuttles tennis VIPs around south-west London in Range Rovers in June and July. Modifying that old adage: take a horse to water and you can almost certainly get it to drink.

But what does that mean for the rest of us, who can’t afford Lambo’s Revuelto SV, or Gordon Murray’s V12 hypercar? The events that splinter from Monterey Car Week, Pebble Beach Concours and The Quail, for example, often demand a VIP ticket or a four-figure entry price, thus excluding general enthusiasts.

Admittedly, the Goodwood Festival of Speed does a pretty good job of immersing petrolheads in their dream-car playground here in the UK, but at more than £200 for a weekend ticket – driven up, in part, by exorbitant exhibitor fees – the barriers remain insurmountable for many.

The British Motor Show, which as our outspoken columnist Mike Rutherford points out, returns to Farnborough International in Hampshire this weekend, has morphed into something quite different to previous events at Earl’s Court or The Excel, but proves why the basic show concept still has legs. 

Being able to walk from the likes of BMW to Bugatti, via Alfa, Renault and Rolls-Royce, is one of life’s great privileges. There’s no arguing the business benefits of events like Monterey, but building a wall around top-end car culture will starve the next generation of car connoisseurs. Please, car makers, don’t lose sight of that.

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