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Thread: British Motorshow Axed for 2010, possibly never to return

  1. #1
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    British Motorshow Axed for 2010, possibly never to return

    News from Pistonheads.com

    Credit crunch kills off UK motor show

    Next year’s London Motor Show has been axed due to the global economic crisis, it has been revealed. The show has been in decline for years and thanks in part to the rapid deterioration of the British car industry it looks like it may never return.

    Officially the lunchtime announcement is expected to drop the 2010 event although it is thought that the show is unlikely to be staged again. Organisers have said that if the economy picks up they will consider bringing it back.

    The move was made after a summit of car company chiefs at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders last week, the body which has owned the show since 1903. The SMMT is understood to have recently binned its exhibitions department and it is unlikely the show will be resurrected.

    The show was once a major draw for the public but in recent years the number of manufacturers and world debuts has dwindled. Across the globe motor shows are struggling and with virtually no homegrown UK manufacturers to prop up the British show its days were always numbered.

    It was suggested in January that the Tokyo show may be cancelled and Land Rover, Nissan, Porsche and Ferrari were all no shows at the ’09 Detroit show.
    Sad that such a long running thing appears to be coming to a permanent end. I guess it's hard to justify a British car show when the British car industry has taken such a kicking over the past few years. Also the fact that rival shows like the MPH show seem to offer a lot more entertainment for the general public (multiple live shows hosted by the Top Gear crew etc) means that there's little demand for a traditional, 'old-fashioned' motor show.
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  2. #2
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    Maybe more people will come to the Stoneleigh International Kit Car Show. Not that its not generally under attended previously...
    Based on the experiences of various marques I am 'in' with, the real British car industry is fine...

    But yeah, looking at the way things are going, live action shows seem to be the place to be.
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  3. #3
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    Well, it bound to happen sometime or another, the industry's been buggered for years, and the show was never hotly anticipated.
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    WHAT THE **** IS HAPPENING IN BRITAIN?!?!?!?!

    The country that brought us Aston Martin, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lotus, Mini and a whole host of other amazing marques now doesn't have a single significant Marque and is about to lose it's autoshow. What is going on?

    I haven't been to Britain in ten years, but all I hear about is Arabs buying everything, Page 3 girls, speed restrictions, loonies chaining themselves to the doors of the Rover factory and cuts after cut to the Royal Navy. Give me tweed, give me sports cars, give me stiff upper lip; Clarkson for Prime Minister!
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jack_Bauer View Post
    Also the fact that rival shows like the MPH show seem to offer a lot more entertainment for the general public (multiple live shows hosted by the Top Gear crew etc) means that there's little demand for a traditional, 'old-fashioned' motor show.
    Sign of the times perhaps, that an event which has endured for 106 years is to be no more?

    And as per your observation, that small two-dimensional screens & print have replaced a tangible 3D world . Additionally I guess this signifies a more general shift in public perception, wherein today an almost 'anti-car' sentiment exists in the population at large?

    I recall these shows as great family occasion, with Dad dragging the kids along (and often vice versa) every year, a reluctant Mum in tow, to excitedly check out what was pitched as a 'massive public celebration' of all things new and glamourous in the field of Modern Transportation, aka the Motor Car.

    And on the business level, of course, a self-promotional stage & thinly disguised Retail Hunting Fest. For exhibitors the promise of financial bloodbath, aimed at all and sundry, conducted under glimmering fluoro light, with captive victims incessantly bombarded by yet another destabilising onslaught of 'touchy feely' enticements and lures:

    "Why yes Sir, your charming wife can get it in Decadence Beige for just a little bit extra if you step up to the DeLuxe model. Now, as for delivery, if you'll just follow me over to the sales desk..."

  6. #6
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    The British International Motor Show won't be returning in 2012 after being cancelled this year.


    discuss here if you really want to
    [ame="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?p=950772#post950772"]The British International Motor Show won't be returning in 2012 after being cancelled - Ultimatecarpage.com forums[/ame]
    Last edited by Matra et Alpine; 10-17-2010 at 07:57 AM.
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