Who ruined the traditional auto show?

Every auto show comes, except the main engine factory, the auto media is the busiest.

Although the 2020 Geneva Motor Show was cancelled on February 28th due to the "COVID-19" epidemic, the OEM and the media did not become relaxed. On the contrary, there are many things going on as usual about the auto show.

In fact, for OEMs, the biggest impact of auto show cancellation is Shui Piao's investment, but all new car plans will be promoted as usual, and even spread in the form of network conference. As for the automobile media, the rhythm of the main engine factory has not stopped, so the new car report will be step by step.

The advantage of the Internet age is that any decision-making and execution will become more efficient, and the decisions made one second can be conveyed through the network the next. The physical auto show was cancelled because the crowd would gather, but soon, the official organization of the Geneva Auto Show announced that it would provide exhibitors with a "cloud conference" network platform.

But obviously, the scale of the conference has shrunk. According to the original plan, in 2020, 65,438+050 companies will participate in the Geneva Motor Show, about 900 models will be unveiled, and a number of new cars will be launched in the world.

When the media was still lamenting "Geneva", the Swiss side quickly released an update message: on March 3, European time, the media conference of the main engine factory was held as usual on the day of the auto show, and the brands were displayed for about 15 minutes. The press conference started at 08: 15 on March 3rd and ended at 16: 15 in the afternoon, involving a total of 19 automobile brands.

Geneva motor show construction site

When the new car was released, the media laughed, the fans were happy, and the dealers behind the OEM were relieved.

But there are exceptions Since Renault and Toyota announced that they would launch new cars another day, the DS has been a brand-new flagship car since February 24th at 17:00 European time. 9 debut, so in the end, none of the above three brands appeared at the press conference.

It seems that because of the passive "breaking a promise" of the Geneva Motor Show, people soon formulated a set of rules of the game. This seems to be an era that needs adaptability to survive, because everything changes too fast, including the traditional auto show that we are familiar with.

The first auto show was cancelled due to "virus"

Humans are an interesting group. They come together because of the sharing of resources, and they are divided because of the development of resources.

In peacetime, whether it is an international auto show, an electronic consumption show, a watch show or a world exposition, it is a social activity to enhance the friendship of all countries in the world, promote industrial upgrading and increase human welfare. But during the war, all social activities will be stopped because of the smoke, so that communication will be interrupted.

The Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland originated from 1924 and has a history of 96 years. It is the only international auto show held every year in Europe. Because it was launched in March, it is also the first large-scale international auto show in Europe to "start running" every year.

Renault Zoe electric car in place

Therefore, for a "catch up early" auto show, it undoubtedly has the role of industry vane. At least in the last two decades, the Geneva Motor Show has also given people a very intuitive impression: there are many concept cars and "new energy" cars emerge one after another. If Frankfurt Motor Show and Paris Motor Show are more like the exhibition stages of their respective automobile companies, then the neutral positioning and agglomeration effect of Geneva Motor Show seems to better reflect the real state of the industry.

The last Geneva Motor Show was cancelled during World War II in the 1940s. Due to the war in Europe and the transformation of automobile factories to produce weapons, the Geneva Motor Show was suspended for seven years. 1945 After World War II, the frequency of the Geneva Motor Show resumed once a year until 20 19-nCoV novel coronavirus broke out in continental Europe in early 2020.

As international auto shows with the same long history, the auto shows in Frankfurt and Paris were also closed due to the outbreak of World War II, but the Paris auto show in autumn of 2020 is also likely to be postponed or cancelled due to the influence of 20 19-nCoV virus, because the virus is spreading, so all this is still inconclusive.

The remarkable feature of 20 19-nCoV novel coronavirus is that the patient will not appear immediately after entering the human body, but there will be a long "fermentation period", from a few days to 14 days or even longer. Therefore, under the premise that health is threatened and it is impossible to determine whether it is infected, all large-scale crowd-intensive activities must be stopped.

Mercedes-Benz booth

In fact, before the cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show, the Swiss Swatch Group "Time? Where to? "Move" Watch Exhibition, Barcelona Mobile World Exhibition and even auto china in April all announced the cancellation or postponement. The organizers of the Geneva Motor Show held out until the last minute.

As early as February 25th, the auto show official issued the first press release, pointing out that the auto show was risky because it was almost in sync with the spread trend of 20 19-nCoV virus in Europe, but there was no mention of postponement or cancellation at that time. However, things changed a lot soon. On the afternoon of 25th, the first infected patient was announced in Ticino, southern Switzerland.

Ticino is close to Italy and belongs to the Italian-speaking area, and it is still a long way from Geneva where the auto show will be held soon. Therefore, at that time, the auto show official did not plan to set up a temperature checkpoint at the entrance of the exhibition hall, but only gave disinfection and hygiene guidance to sensitive areas, such as toilets, entrances and exits, bars and restaurants.

Perhaps out of concern, perhaps because we have seen cases of fighting the epidemic in China, especially for those who have been in contact with infected people, and for foreign exhibitors, it is necessary to observe them in isolation for 14 days. Therefore, on February 28th, the Swiss government officially issued a notice prohibiting activities with more than 1000 people. Based on this official document, the 2020 Geneva Motor Show was announced to be over before it started.

Just when the Geneva Motor Show was cancelled, conspiracy theories began to spread. For example, the Geneva Motor Show declined, and many automakers announced that they would not participate. ...

More and more manufacturers are absent.

The reason for conspiracy theories is actually that things are happening. It is an indisputable fact that more and more manufacturers are absent, but it cannot be said that it is the real reason for the cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show. After all, the tragedy caused by 20 19-nCoV virus has been staged in China, and any country will take it as a warning.

In fact, in recent years, in Europe and other countries, many OEMs have begun to ignore the existence of international auto shows. Even Herbert Diss, CEO of Volkswagen Group, said that the traditional auto show was a product of the 1960s, and now it is not so important. This sentence undoubtedly shows that the traditional auto show model has fallen behind the times, and its attraction to the main engine factory is decreasing. The investment and return of millions and tens of millions are not proportional.

So the Geneva Motor Show in 2020 is no exception. At least 65,438+02 familiar automobile brands announced that they would not participate, including Citroen, Peugeot, Opel, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lamborghini, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Tesla and Volvo.

In the past, auto shows were indispensable public relations activities for manufacturers throughout the year, including new cars, new technologies, concept cars and future development strategies. These were announced or released at the auto show, because it also conforms to the logic of "doing things". The auto show is like a big party. Some people show off their wealth, some people show off their labor achievements, some people like to watch jokes, and of course some people will take the opportunity to learn.

2065438+2008 Paris Auto Show New Logo

However, in the period when the global automobile market continues to decline, and it is increasingly unprofitable to build cars, it is not in line with the development purpose of a "conservation-oriented" society to participate in auto shows in a "high consumption" way. In this regard, the organizer of the auto show has always been the "Prophet of Spring River Plumbing Duck".

For example, at the 20 18 Paris Motor Show, the organizers paid a heavy price for the absence of a large number of manufacturers, and announced that the transformation of the exhibition in 2020 would be more grounded. Frankfurt Motor Show is even worse. The German Motor Vehicle Association (VDA) even announced that Munich may become the venue of the next Frankfurt Motor Show (202 1), which is near BMW headquarters.

In fact, the "Waterloo" that Geneva encountered in 2020 appeared as early as 20 19. A year ago, Ford, Land Rover and Hyundai Motor did not participate in the Geneva Motor Show. At that time, MINI claimed to concentrate on celebrating the 60th anniversary of the brand and give up the Geneva Motor Show. By 2020, the number of brands absent from the exhibition has unexpectedly increased.

On the one hand, in the current period of electrification transformation, OEMs are more willing to "carefully calculate" and invest money where they can see the results, such as taking ADAS driving assistance results and electric vehicles to ces Consumer Electronics Show in the United States, which can also cause more buzz; On the other hand, except for a few brands that have never sold cars in the United States, most European brands actually have branches in the United States, so taking electric cars to the other side of the Atlantic shows that they are full of expectations and confidence in the "new world."

How did the audience react to the performance of the OEM?

20 15 Mercedes-benz f landing at CES? 0 15 concept car

According to statistics, the Geneva Motor Show in 20 18 * * received a total of 660,000 visitors (including exhibitors), but it declined slightly in 20 19. The decline of Frankfurt Motor Show is even more obvious, because it is held alternately with Paris Motor Show, so it is held every two years. 2015,930,000 people participated in the exhibition; From 20 17 years to 8 1 10,000 people; In 20 19, only 550,000 people participated in the exhibition. The audience is getting smaller and smaller, so it is no wonder that the enthusiasm of manufacturers has faded.

Relatively speaking, the situation at the Paris Motor Show is slightly better. In 20 18, the organizing committee announced that more than 1 10,000 people attended the Paris Motor Show. At that time, the French auto media still called the Paris Motor Show one of the busiest auto shows in the world. If we look back at the data of 20 16 years, there are1070,000 people attending the Paris Motor Show.

Moreover, at the Paris Motor Show on 20 18, the local French automobile group PSA expressed great satisfaction. For example, DS received 200 orders on the day of its launch. Citroen got 420, 50% more than 20 16; Even Hyundai has got many orders.

There are tangible benefits, which are naturally the biggest attraction for manufacturers. A purely forward-looking exhibition like Geneva may not be of interest to manufacturers who value income.

Self-transformation and the threat of consumer electronics show

At present, it is impossible to predict the trend of the next Geneva Motor Show, but its decline is inevitable.

In fact, in Asia, the Geneva Motor Show has a reference-the Tokyo Motor Show in Japan. Because Japan is also a place where the automobile market is highly mature, the Tokyo Auto Show also experienced some decline, but on 20 19, the Japanese made some adjustments and some new ways of playing appeared.

Sony concept car can't be seen at traditional auto show.

Electrification transformation, like the trend of the whole industry, fundamentally changes the mode of auto show. About 10 years ago, the Tokyo auto show was mainly based on Kei? Cars are mainly mini-cars. Because of the deep influence of Japanese animation culture, the Tokyo Motor Show at that time was polarized, either a high-performance model, a concept car or a mini-car.

But now, the face of the Tokyo Motor Show has been very different. Almost all manufacturers began to pay attention to "new energy", and hydrogen fuel cells, liquefied petroleum gas and electric drives went into battle. In addition, there are the 4G/5G car networking technologies that have received much attention, as well as the ADAS driver assistance system. Even Mazda, which is the least busy with electric vehicles, has developed the first electric vehicle MX-30, which shows how big the driving force of the industry is.

In Japan, scene applications around the concept of C.A.S.E (interconnection, autonomy, sharing and electrification: interconnection, automatic driving, * * * enjoyment and electrification) have also become common. In this regard, Honda has begun to deepen technology development, while Toyota has greatly promoted the transformation from an automobile manufacturing company to a travel service provider.

Toyota and Softbank established Monet? Technology ",

Committed to the transformation of tourism services

At the 20 19 Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota built a booth with reference to CES, highlighting the concept of "travel service". There are not only self-driving vehicles on the booth, but also some travel plans designed for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. And this kind of scene application will undoubtedly be a new model of the future auto show, so you can say that Europeans are slow and Japanese are more imaginative.

Relatively speaking, maybe Europeans are half a beat behind. For example, the organizer of the Frankfurt Motor Show and the chairman of the German Motor Vehicle Association (VDA), Martin Coles (Martin? Koers) said that with the transformation of the automobile industry, auto shows should also be transformed, and future auto shows should pay attention to the sustainable development of automobiles in future cities. This undoubtedly reveals that the future auto show should not only be grounded, but also pay attention to the application of scenes and the proposal of solutions.

But now the transformation seems a bit slow, but there are still opportunities. If there is no transformation, the large-scale international auto show in Europe will only die. Because the threat from CES in the United States is too great, the siphon phenomenon of CES has begun to appear, especially the new technologies in electric vehicles and autonomous driving applications-these two aspects are CES's exhibition business for the automobile industry.

I can see a Mercedes with an F five years ago. 0 15 self-driving concept car on display, 20 19 also looking for it? The figure of Baiteng and even FAW Red Flag at CES. This is CES, a showcase for new technologies. Even for consumer electronics, OEMs are more willing to understand electronic cars as electronic consumer goods than traditional means of transportation. Just like Tesla, Musk plays with technology companies, not traditional car companies. Simple Tesla has also become a reference case for the transformation of many automobile OEMs.

The poster of the 2009 Geneva Motor Show is very suitable for use here.

There are many factors that spoil the traditional auto show, such as industry trends, manufacturers' choice, consumers' wishes and even electrification transformation. Only change is the ultimate way out.

20 19-nCoV virus is more like an inducement, and the Geneva Motor Show just happened to catch up. In fact, no one is responsible, which is the inevitable development of the times. "Nothing lasts forever" ... End

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.