The 2024 Geneva motor show provided a classic case of being able to hold two conflicting opinions and believe both to be true.

You can call the show poor - although perhaps not the “pathetic” that one car maker did in private - yet still have enjoyed being there.

Geneva's problem was as much what it used to be rather than what it was. If a new show were set up in a different city and this were the result, we would probably be giving more credit for getting the manufacturers that did turn up there in the first place.