Opinion: International motor shows need to stay

I have fond memories of motor shows as a young man, wandering the halls packed with glossy hardware wide-eyed and overwhelmed by the sensory slap to the face. And while a big show still invokes a sense of nostalgia and excitement, attending one as a journalist brings a whole cocktail of emotions.

An average media day at a major international show looks a bit like this: Arrive as the doors are opening and, with more violence than a moshpit, fight your way to the first scheduled press conference to find a spot as close to the stage as possible. '

At its conclusion another scrum will erupt, this time to approach the executive who has just finished their presentation. If you can get two half-sensible questions answered you are doing well but commit too much time and you’ll risk missing the next brand’s presentation, which has already started… in another area code.

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If one-on-one executive meetings have been arranged, at some point in the day you’ll need to peel out of the chaotic procession to have a sit down and a chat before re-joining later and trying to catch up. And, if you’re lucky enough to uncover a scoop or two, you’ll need to decide whether it’s worth missing a presentation to write it up and file or continue on the manic merry-go-round.

'When it’s all over and time for a well-earned beer and reflection, you’ll instead go back to a hotel room and stay awake until the early hours transcribing and writing, fuelled by minibar snacks and the fear that rival may publish a similar story before you.

It’s been that way since I started visiting shows professionally, but this year, something was very different. IAA is the biggest auto show in the world, usually based in Frankfurt, but decamping this year to Bavaria for its biannual show. Manufacturers have been downsizing their involvement since 2017 and it was clear in Munich this year that so have the numbers of visitors.

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Instead of continuing to shrink their onsite activities and presence, all but a handful of brands had arranged its own show space elsewhere in the city and had no visibility at the main location at all. And those brands that made an appearance were doing anything they could to keep journalists at a distance.

BMW had arranged a dense line of po-faced security grunts tethered together with a rope to prevent access to the stage, Volkswagen whisked its people away so fast I thought they were on elastic, while Hyundai’s efforts were even less subtle.

Between its people and the public it had actually constructed an elaborate cage and a moat. Ask any of the marques why, and the official line will be ‘Covid’ but, as the expression goes – why waste a perfectly good crisis? I suspect something more calculated is going on.

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That morning, while I was perilously piloting a hired e-scooter from my hotel to a remote venue for a global reveal somewhere in Munich’s suburbs, there’s no way I could be hunting around the various other displays for secrets and stories from rival companies.

'And while there were still round-table interviews on offer at the respective off-sites, nothing beats ramming a ‘tape’ recorder in someone’s face to tackle the really difficult questions.

This new strategy has been insidiously evolving over many years. Audi, for example, chose to reveal its fourth-generation A8 not at a major international show where it would have to compete for attention, but at its own vast Audi Summit in 2017. BMW did the same for its Vision M concept as part of its huge NextGen event in 2019, with coronavirus continuing to upending many traditional launches you can expect more of it to come.

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And why not? The manufacturer has a captive audience to receive exactly the message it wants to give with an aggressive efficiency. I’m troubled by this dark evolution of the motor show, but with social media and web-streaming allowing instant access to new global car reveals from the comfort of your own lockdown, do we really need the traditional format? I believe so.

Face-to-face communication with the major manufacturers is absolutely paramount and one of the best ways to keep big brands honest and accountable. And sidestepping Australian CEOs and managers to get to the board of directors at their home ground is as vital as it is fun. '

I never thought I’d say it, but I’d trade this new type of show for the traditional half marathon of walking, chips for dinner and three hours sleep any day.

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