Auto Show Blues, Part Two

I don't really want to stop the show, but I thought you might like to know . . . that the Geneva International Motor Show, cancelled due to coronavirus fears, was supposed to start today.  And even though German automakers introduced the eagerly awaited new generations of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the Audi A3 Sportback, and the Volkswagen Golf GTI (below) in online forums, I'm sure that it wasn't the same as introductions of the cars in Geneva would have been.  I can only say I'm sure, because I've never been to the Geneva auto show, though I would like to attend it eventually.  Maybe next year . . . or better yet, Frankfurt in September 2021.  I have been led to believe that European auto shows are much cooler than the ones here in the New World.

Yeah, about that . . ..  I, of course, live in the greater New York area, and the New York International Auto Show is the biggest car show in the American Northeast.  And until this week, New York State had no cases to report.  Since then, eleven cases have been reported there.  Suddenly, the New York show looks dicey.

Bloomberg News reports that show organizers are planning to disinfect commonly touched surfaces over and over and over and over throughout the show's duration, with paramedics on site to respond to any emergency cases.  Right now, I'm not that easily assured.  Whether or not I attend - the show takes place during Easter Week, opening to the public on Good Friday, April 10 - depends on how bad the coronavirus is in New York by then and how thorough the disinfectant task force is.  I usually go in the latter days of the show, so I'll get an idea of how effective they are in the first few days of the show.  Whether or not the Detroit show, being held in June for the first time this year, can ward off the coronavirus scare remains to be seen.  

Coronavirus or not, this era may be twilight time for auto shows.  They're expensive to set up, more people are checking out cars online, and even the most exciting shows in Europe seem to be resembling giant dealership showrooms more than a festive exhibition.  The auto industry itself is being diminished by a slowing global economy, expensive tech features as standard equipment, and fewer young people feeling the need to buy a car.  And foreign shows seem to be adopting bad American promotional tactics, such as sexily dressed women on the display platforms, even as American shows are getting away from all that.  Also, I find it increasingly hard to get excited by domestic brands as they push more SUVs (excuse me, monster wagons) even as the German brands, which I usually concentrate on at auto shows, seem to be pulling away from auto shows in the U.S. - BMW skipped the 2019 New York auto show for reasons having nothing to do with an infectious disease.  The firm simply didn't think it was worth it.   Audi will still be at New York in 2020.  Too bad the newly introduced A3 Sportback, below, won't be there (we're only getting the as-yet unintroduced A3 notchback sedan).

Despite all that, I still hope to make it to New York for this year.  There will be several new-car introductions there, not all of which will be monster wagons, and I love photographing the cars for my Flickr page and also video-recording presentations for my YouTube account.  And besides, it doesn't feel like Easter without the auto show to go to.  Its not Geneva or Paris, but it's still fun.  And I hope to attend the Frankfurt show in 2021 or 2023.  If it's the last thing I do.

I just hope that, given the coronavirus scare, attending the 2020 New York show isn't the last thing I do.      

Auto Show Blues

Although I'm going to the 2019 New York International Auto Show this weekend, I'm not looking forward to being as wowed and excited as I've been by auto shows in the past.

Auto shows have been in decline lately, largely because the next wave in automotive development is based in ride sharing and in self-driving cars.  Because none of these trends are developing in Detroit, the city that long ago spawned the auto age in the first place, the North American International Auto Show there has gotten quite lame - so lame, in fact, that the 2020 show is scheduled not during the height of the car-model year in January, when previous Detroit shows were held, but in June, when the car-model year is winding down.  Kind of like Detroit itself.  This year's Detroit show was so lame that BMW, Volvo, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Mitsubishi didn't show up. The former two brands aren't displaying their cars in New York this year, for that matter, and Tesla is never there.  And several manufacturers have skipped auto shows abroad, as well.  Meanwhile, more car companies are aiming to push their new products through the Internet with 3-D videos.  Although nothing short of driving a new car compares to sitting in one and getting the feel of it, cyber-marketing looks to be the wave of the future.

And then there's the product itself.  More and more manufacturers - especially the domestic ones - are pushing SUVs, crossovers and pickup trucks.  GM is thinning the ranks of its lineup of sedans and hatchbacks, and except for the Mustang and maybe the Lincoln Continental, Ford is getting rid of them altogether in North America.  So I'll be spending a lot less time in the domestic-brand exhibits - after the Fiesta and Fusion are gone, the Focus having already bitten the dust, I likely won't be setting foot into the Ford display at all. I simply don't like Mustangs enough to bother.    

Ahh, who cares?  I'll just spend more time in the German-brand displays, especially Volkswagen.  But even that is problematic, what with BMW a no-show this year and with even Volkswagen promoting trucks these days (it's displaying a compact pickup concept at this year's auto show).  Suffice to say, I'm happy with my Golf, and I hope VW keeps the Golf in its North American lineup.  One of these days I hope to see the permanent VW display at its Autostadt museum in Wolfsburg, the experience of which promises to blow away the experience of any auto show or car museum I've ever been to. :-)

Please note that I never commented on auto show spokesmodels, now known as "product specialists."