Majority of GIMS exhibitors polled said they preferred not to attend in 2021
Show could be sold to Palexpo SA
The 2021 Geneva International Motor Show has been officially cancelled.
Reports of the Geneva show’s future being in doubt began to surface earlier this month and today, organizers officially cancelled the event for next year. Like every other major auto show this year (save the L.A. Auto Show in Novembre), the 2020 edition of the GIMS was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, organizers said that conditions related to a loan needed to survive the cancellation of the 2020 show were impossible to meet. More importantly, GIMS says that after polling exhibitors (meaning automakers for the most part), there were questions as to whether anyone would show up for a 2021 edition.
“A majority of GIMS exhibitors who took part in a survey, stated that they would probably not participate in a 2021 edition in and that they would prefer to have a GIMS in 2022”, the Committee and the Foundation Board of the Geneva International Motor Show said in a statement.
This is big as it gives us an idea of where automakers stand in regard to auto shows. With the future of shows already uncertain, the COVID-19 pandemic may have nailed the final nail into the auto show as we know it’s coffin.
Organizers also said they couldn’t be certain the pandemic will be a thing of the past in 9 months when the 2021 Geneva Motor Show would have taken place.
The Geneva Motor Show began in 1905 and is regarded as the most important auto show in the world. The 2021 Geneva Motor Show was supposed to take place from March 4 to 14, 2021.
