The organizers of the Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS) admitted that they are not able to return the exhibition to its former attractiveness. The 2024 Geneva Motor Show, held from February 26 to March 3, did not live up to expectations: there were too few participants and visitors. There will be no new attempts to organize a car exhibition in Geneva in the coming years.
The Geneva Motor Show has been around since 1905, and until the COVID-19 pandemic it was considered elite and was held every year, while, for example, international motor shows in Germany and France alternate: the German one is held in odd years, the French one in even years. Before the pandemic, Geneva was the main world platform for the debut of sports cars and supercars, but there was always a bunch of other luxury premieres, a sea of concepts and dozens of world premieres of mass-produced models, the number of visitors consistently exceeded half a million.
GIMS 2024
In February 2020, against the backdrop of the rapidly advancing coronavirus, the organizers of GIMS canceled the exhibition four days before it began, when all the stands had already been installed, tens of thousands of air tickets to Geneva had been purchased, and tens of thousands of hotel rooms had been booked. The cancellation of the event was a big blow for the tourism industry of the canton of Geneva, but then there was hope that everything would get better soon. Alas, this did not happen: the Geneva Motor Show was not held in 2021, 2022 and 2023. As an alternative, the organizers of GIMS held the Geneva Motor Show in Qatar last October — a peculiar oxymoron, however, it attracted about 180,000 visitors even in the absence of world premieres.
GIMS Qatar 2023
The exhibition returned to Geneva this year, but it turned out to be quite dull: of the major automakers, only Renault Group, SAIC and BYD showed up, and there were, in fact, only two significant world premieres — the updated Dacia Spring and the new generation MG 3. The organizers counted 168,000 visitors, and only thanks to the extensive historical exhibition and manufacturers of various exotic cars. The organizers, putting a good face on a bad game, called these results of the revival of the Geneva Motor Show “successful and promising”, promised the next exhibition in 2025, but on May 31 they released a laconic statement in which they announced that the Geneva Motor Show was closed and would not be resumed.
GIMS 2024
The statement was made on behalf of the charitable foundation Comité permanent du Salon international de l'automobile, which organized the exhibition in Geneva; this foundation submitted an application to the Swiss authorities for self-dissolution. However, the exhibition will continue to operate in Qatar under the leadership of GIMS CEO Sandro Mesquita, the next GIMS Qatar Motor Show will be held in November 2025.
The official reasons for the closure of the Geneva Motor Show are “a situation of uncertainty in the global auto industry, a decrease in the attractiveness of large automobile exhibitions in general and strong competition from the organizers of auto shows in Germany and France, which are supported by local automakers.”
During the pandemic, supercar manufacturers and automotive luxury brands have switched their attention from Geneva to the Goodwood Festival of Speed (UK) and the Monterey Automobile Week (USA, California), where all premieres are held in the fresh air, returning to the halls of the Geneva Palexpo exhibition complex they, apparently, don’t want to.
GIMS 2024
Modern motor shows in Munich, Paris, Detroit, New York, Chicago, etc. — also far from what it was before, there are few premieres, there is no special excitement, but as business projects they are still working, unlike the Geneva Motor Show.
Chinese exhibitions have also been in a downward trend in recent years, because local manufacturers have de facto stopped holding premieres at them: formally there are a lot of new products, but they all stand on stands with closed doors and without any technical description — all the details appear later, days, weeks and even months later at select company events. It turns out that the drivers, for example, of the last Beijing Auto Show, held in April, were foreign, not Chinese companies. Many journalists and ordinary visitors who went to Beijing to see new automotive products felt deceived.
GIMS 2024
In its In its classic form, the Geneva Motor Show is unlikely to ever be revived, but perhaps there will be enthusiasts who want to create in Switzerland an alternative to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Monterey Car Week — there is still a lot of money and car enthusiasts in Switzerland.
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