It’s four years since the automotive industry last set up camp up at the Paris motor show, and - understatement alert - much has changed in that time. Among that change is motor shows themselves. They sadly remain an endangered species, even more on so the evidence of the 2022 Paris offering.
There’s no getting away from just how small Paris was both in footprint (one hall over two floors, and even then there was lots of filler) and in manufacturer attendance. Not even Citroën turned up, leaving Stellantis brands Jeep, Peugeot and DS alongside Renault, Dacia and Alpine as the only major attendees.
Numbers were bolstered by new players from China, among them BYD and Great Wall, which made for an intriguing sub-plot to the show, particularly in light of some unfiltered comments from Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares who called either for European political leaders to impose tariffs on Chinese cars being sold here or for European cars to get favourable subsidies to make them more attractive and cost competitive.
So forget the sparsity: Paris was still a relevant, intriguing snapshot of an industry having to navigate a huge technology shift. Tavares’s message to the media on what he believes to be an existential threat to the European car industry was also delivered the evening before at a dinner with French president Emmanuel Macron.
The president himself was perhaps the biggest attraction of all at the show, bringing it to a standstill at various points as he moved about the halls (well, up and down the stairs at least). His first port of call was Renault, in which the French state is a large investor. While checking on his investment, Macron will have seen how Renault was following up the rebirth of the 5 with something similar for the 4 in 2024 with the 4Ever concept.
Many noted a similarity in the style and positioning of the 4Ever to Dacia, perhaps a compliment to just how individual a style the daughter brand has carved out in simple, appealing products. The future of that brand was previewed by Dacia’s own concept car, the Manifesto buggy. As for Alpine, the Alpenglow concept provides a manifesto of its own for the performance brand.
To Stellantis, where Jeep was the biggest attraction. The Avenger is the first Jeep properly designed and engineered by Europe, for Europe. The company calls it a “game changer” for the brand, and being an electric small SUV it is certainly on-trend, and without plenty of the baggage (high CO2, low quality) of the models before it over here.
One executive spotted taking a keen interest in the car was Stellantis chairman John Elkann. Peugeot had the largest Stellantis presence. The 408, a mix of saloon, hatchback and crossover SUV, was its main star, but bigger news is to come, for Peugeot today announced plans to launch the concept car Inception later this year that will preview the future of the company.
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Paris 2022.
A true symptom of the end of an era. It's sad to see the end of what was a real automobile party. Like seeing Paris, like France, which was the cradle of automotive, become anti-automotive. Like the end of almost all historic showrooms in Paris. Like the end of the beautiful glossy flyers.
We, petrolheads, have to go.
I wonder what future Europe is going straight ahead by moving towards 100% electric.
Disagree it is the milk float driverswho will be history. EV are much dirtier than a moderbn diesel and are far less practical. The battery technology will take years to make rhem bith clean and have a decent range without havingto spend hours off your life waiting for the battery to recharge. We drivers should refuse to buy these expensive white elephants. Governments and car makers would soon change their mind then
That's fair enough, but this will be the first stellantis based car using the same architecture as the mokka and 208 etc which all get very good reviews, so I see no reason why this should be any different.
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A motor show, how quaint!
Joking aside, I'm rather frustrated that this is happening but Geneva is not, again. I briefly looked at this instead but it's a right old faff not being particularly close to the airport.
Geneva is brilliant as you can just go there for the day, so no expensive hotel. You can usually sit in a selection of Porsches and even Mclarens if you queue up for a little. Yes, the food and drink prices are silly but where else can you sit in such a varied selection of cars - nowhere!
And don't say Goodwood, I noticed most of the mainstream manufacturers had gone from there this year.
i, for one, love a Geneva Motor Show day out and am really hoping it happens again
There is a Geneva show next year. In November. In Qatar! For crying out loud (it won't even align with the proposed date for the GP). Just odd.
It is possible to do Paris in a day, IF Eurostar is acccessible to you and if you're familiar with Paris enough to get yourself from GduN to Notre Dame station on Line 12. Its relatively straight forward and quick to get there and back.
But, that's not the issue with this show, in this specific location. Even if it was held at la Villette - and therefore closer to CdG - it would still be contrary to what Paris is now, and that is a city, and a population, that just isn't so in love with cars, and that for me makes holding it there a head scratcher.
And, so far, it appears irredeemably dull.
Motorshows are done....pretty much it's all over. They are convenient for Motoring journalists but they dont generally buy cars-- they just borrow them!
The lack of the German brands made a clear statement that the Paris show is swimming against the tide. Heck, even Citroen....the most French brand of all wasn't there!
Right now, given the supply issues and backlog of orders creating serious cashflow problems, the last thing the Brands need to be doing is spending millions on swanky show stands.
This leaves the door open for the clone-like chinese EV offerings as we saw here. Boring!