Are Motor Shows A Dying Tradition?

The Paris Motor Show is happening at the moment. A few years ago, the arrival of one of the year’s Big Motor Shows would have elicited whoops of glee, the setting of alarms for big reveals and general excitement about all the new metal set to be unveiled.

But in recent years, even the biggest global motor shows have barely registered on my radar. I am, admittedly, getting old and jaded with the world, but I suspect that these ostentatious festivals of largely static machinery are less and less relevant to the modern world. I’ve been to numerous motor shows in my automotive career, and while a few have been fun (Geneva), many more are a knackering slog (Frankfurt) or massively underwhelming (New York, all the Middle East ones).

A glance at this year’s Paris reveals show a handful of mildly interesting new cars – such as the new Renault 4 and Alpine’s new crossover – the list of attractions is rather short with some big-name manufacturers conspicuous by their absence. There’s no Mercedes, no Honda, no Toyota. The more niche, exciting brands are missing, too – no McLaren, no Ferrari, no Lamborghini. Even serial car-ruiners Mansory aren’t there, and they used to be at everything.

Clearly, the lure of the motor show is not what it was, and in these days of fast internet and 4k live streaming, what is their future? As a manufacturer, the costs of attending a major motor show are absolutely vast, and you’ll likely get more eyes on your new car by investing far less in a fancy video. Or you could take your car to the Goodwood Festival of Speed with a handy helmsmith and send them up the hill, without having to splash out on massive logistics, a stand full of staff and half a tonne of branded Haribo.

As a consumer, you can now immediately see every detail of a new model online without having to travel for miles and spend a fortune on lousy exhibition centre food. Even if you do go to a show, you’re highly unlikely to be able to drive anything. Again, events like Goodwood let you see new cars being thrashed, rather than stationary on a pedestal, and you might get to see a few motorsport greats, too.

I’ll freely admit that having been a motoring journalist for some 20 years, my view is perhaps skewed. I don’t look at the shows in the same way that a general car enthusiast might, so please, let loose in the social comments to tell me what you think. Do you still get excited about motor shows? Do you ever go to them, or would you if you could? Or is the prospect of looking at a car in a warehouse not that much of a lure? Is it about time to consign major motor shows to history, or do they still offer something that you can’t get elsewhere?