The next Geneva motor show is planned to open on 17 February 2025, its organiser has said, following last week’s “successful and promising” return.
The 2024 Geneva motor show was the first to take place since 2019, due to the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and its after-effects.
With 23 manufacturers displaying their vehicles, this year’s Geneva show was markedly smaller than those in its heyday, with notable omissions including Stellantis and the Volkswagen Group.
Indeed, Stellantis appeared to openly mock the Swiss show, staging an online unveiling of five Fiat concept cars (one a preview of the next Panda) in a small Italian town jokingly referred to as 'Ginevra'.
This year’s show was most prominently backed by the Renault Group, which unveiled the new Renault 5 and staged the public debuts of the Dacia Duster, Dacia Spring and Dacia Sandrider.
The Renault Scenic also won the Car of the Year award at the show, narrowly beating the BMW 5 Series in a poll of 58 journalists representing 22 countries.
Chinese firm MG unveiled its new 3 hybrid supermini and confirmed the European launch of sibling brand IM, while compatriot BYD gave the new Seal U plug-in hybrid SUV its European debut.
The show was otherwise more overtly aimed at the public than in previous years, introducing four new 'experiential' zones designed to showcase its overarching theme: 'Auto Future Now'.
There was an Adrenaline Zone dedicated to high-performance vehicles and motorsport; the Design District hosted exhibitions from Pininfarina and storied designer Frank Stephenson; the Mobility Lab showcased different forms of personal and shared transport; and the Next World area was designed in partnership with video-game maker Polyphony Digital to provide a vision of "the future of automotive".
As part of that exhibition, Polyphony displayed a range of Vision GT concepts designed by car makers for its Gran Turismo racing games.
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quit wittering & get your camera out
A shadow of its former self this year unfortunately. I used to really look forward to my annual Geneva day trip. Here's hoping more manufacturers get involved in future years.
Don't think we'll ever get back to the good old days where. Nearly all brands presented their wares,nobody doesn't want to walk miles in a crowded warm and covid aware atmosphere, the days of a bag full of pamphlets about the cars or blagging a goodie bag are gone,todays punter want a seat a screen maybe a refreshment and yes some can't be bothered to even go for whatever reason,all I noticed is that western cars aren't the go to now, the East are producing cars better cars and in some instances cheaper cars compared to like for like here in the West.
We know that a manufacturer doesn't need a long history and pedigree to produce class leading electric cars, and that having fixed design, brand or marketing principles is a disadvantage in the EV era.
Maybe it's also the catch 22, of the manufacturers still dictating that we want or need fairly ugly and unimaginative SUV's, and the public still buying into them and fueling the demand for big, premium and impractical vehicles.
It's nice to see Toyota, Honda, MG etc showing interest in the sports car, and coupe market for the post SUV era.