After the long suspension due to the pandemic, the motor shows start again. In Europe, the start is on 7 September with the first Munich Motor Show (IAA), the ‘heir’ of the Frankfurt Motor Show. In February 2022, then, it will be the turn of Geneva: two years ago the demonstration was blocked a few hours after departure due to the wave of Covid, and last year too it was preferred not to do it because there was a lack of safety conditions. The other great European catwalk, the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris, will be held in about a year, in October 2022, and will be biennial, alternating with the German exhibition, with the aim of bringing more and more to the center of global scene the continental motor industry.
For Munich, scheduled from 7 to 12 September, a widespread and broader model was chosen, which embraces all types of mobility: the IAA Mobility. An event that will extend throughout the city, with a traditional space of the motor show, as well as exhibitions in the center and a test track between the two main locations. The organization also changes its skin. In the wake of the new model, therefore, the organization will be more fluid, with events also outside the pavilions. The cars are almost all electrified, to remind once again how the world of mobility has changed radically in a few years, with the aim of redesigning the entire ecosystem. The protagonists are connected vehicles capable of communicating with the city infrastructures to leave less and less to chance and following the path now marked by the technological pilot.
Despite this being the first major European gathering in the post-pandemic era, some houses have forfeited due to high costs, in fear of low audience participation – already in 2019 the decline was 30% – and still mindful of the tough clashes with environmentalists who see the number one enemy in the automotive sector, the architects of pollution, with all due respect to studies and research that affirm more. “A six-digit number of tickets have been sold,” assured Hildegard Müller, president of the German automobile federation recently. However, due to sanitation restrictions, the maximum daily capacity is 50,000 people at the fairgrounds and 30,000 for events in the city.
Among the car manufacturers, Stellantis is absent and the whole galaxy of brands of the brand (Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat-Chrysler) born from the merger between FCA and PSA, as well as there will be no Tesla. Present, of course, all the German brands – Mercedes, Smart, Bmw, Mini, and the entire Volskwagen group, from Audi to Porsche – as well as Polestar, Cupra, Dacia, Ford, Hyundai Renault, Rolls-Royce. Over 70 bicycle brands will also be present at the IAA, to broaden the focus on electric mobility. The Munich Motor Show, which this year replaces the traditional Frankfurt Motor Show, will be built around the Summit area, a typical motor show space with new products and reveal. Volkswagen could present a small electric concept. Renault plans to bring its new electric Mégane and R5, as well as a sedan designed under the Mobilize brand. Audi should arrive with an electric and semi-autonomous sedan concept; Mercedes will unveil a luxurious battery-powered Maybach and showcase the EQS (electric) flagship; Smart will present its first SUV (electric). In addition to a hydrogen-powered SUV, the BMW group, based in Munich and the show’s largest exhibitor, will present in detail its futuristic vision of a 100% recyclable electric car made entirely from reused materials or renewable resources.
The event also has political weight: environmentalists have recently set fire to the dust by announcing a legal offensive against Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW to force them to accelerate the abandonment of petrol and diesel. Not only that: Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected on the day of the opening at the IAA, who will give one of her last speeches before retiring to private life. In Monaco, therefore, the most electric show ever is expected, also in compliance with the request of the European Commission to stop the thermal engines by 2035. With the hope of really starting again.
