After visiting the London Motor Show press preview yesterday, there's no doubt it’s great to have a car show in the capital, even though it lacked the buzz of other well-established motor shows, such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Geneva motor show.
While some manufacturers chose the London show as the place to give their newest models’ their UK debut, the show lacked the excitement and media hubbub of other well-known motor shows.
Of note were MG and TVR’s big reveals, which brought a modicum of that palpable anticipation of a larger motor show, silk sheets and all.
What was easy to notice was the number of specialist marques at the London show: Riversimple, Morgan, McLaren, Noble, Kahn, and so on; not only specialist brands but British brands.
Even many of the international offerings brought British-influenced cars; the Mitsuoka Brooklands Roadster and Viewt and – arguably – the Mazda MX-5, which shows not only Britain’s continuing influence on the global car market, but the prevalence of the British car enthusiast.
So the show may not be the most dynamic or news-rich in the business, but it may well be a symbol of the oft over-cited but ever more apparent resurgence of the British car industry.
Its central London location will definitely help ticket sales – there’s passing trade aplenty, and beyond this, it’s accessible to millions. Less encouraging is that a family of four will pay £60 to enter – not bad against other London attractions, but the lack of new reveals and the relative size of the show compared with other attractions may leave those looking for a full day out underwhelmed.
It’s not that the show lacked promise – there were some genuinely interesting moments throughout the day - but with only one ‘true’ reveal, it seems that manufacturers aren’t taking the show as seriously as they could.
Next year’s show is the real make-or-break – it’ll be easier to see where manufacturers place it in their priorities after the novelty of this year’s show has worn off. If they don't rate it highly enough, the chances of a third show could hang in the balance.
It’s safe to say, we’re looking forward to Goodwood.
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Next year's show needs to be
To be fair to makes like Aston Martin, Bentley and McLaren they brought several cars along, more than mainstream makes in the majority of cases. I did get to confirm that the Bentayga is as ugly in the flesh as it is in photos.