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With a hundred-year history, the Geneva Motor Show, one of the world's top five auto shows, has been cancelled indefinitely.

A few days ago, the organizers of the Geneva Motor Show issued a statement that the Geneva International Motor Show will no longer be held because of "ongoing competition and challenges in the industry."

Alexander de Senakorens, president of the Geneva Motor Show Foundation, expressed the importance and inevitability of the decision in a statement, pointing out that although organizers tried to adapt to the new reality of the post-epidemic era by reducing the size and adjusting the focus, market conditions and the overall volatility of the industry have led to a continuous decline in the return on investment to maintain such a large-scale exhibition. Alexander de Sena Clarence said that manufacturers' lack of interest in the Geneva International Motor Show, competition from the Paris Motor Show and the Munich Motor Show, and the investment needed to keep the show alive, sounded the death knell for the future Geneva Motor Show.

According to the data, the Geneva Motor Show was founded in 1905 and is called the five major auto shows in the world along with the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany (now Munich Motor Show), the North American Motor Show in the United States, the Tokyo Motor Show in Japan and the Paris Motor Show in France. The Geneva Motor Show is also the only large-scale auto show held every year in Europe, which once brought together the world's most innovative design and cutting-edge technology. Many star models have chosen to make their debut at the Geneva Motor Show, known as the "international car trend vane", which witnessed the debut of many legendary models such as Porsche 356, Ferrari 288GTO and Lamborghini Miura.

In 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic swept the world, forcing the cancellation of the 2020 Geneva Motor Show, which was halted twice in 2021 and 2022 because of the spread of the epidemic and the ensuing recession. It wasn't until 2023 that the Geneva Motor Show finally returned, but it was held in Qatar in the Middle East. In February, the 2024 Geneva Motor Show finally returned to China, but there were few exhibitors, including five car brands, including Renault, Dacia, BYD, Mingjue and Lucid, while famous manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Toyota and Honda were absent. At the auto show, organizers tried to attract exhibitors and visitors by providing innovative immersive experiences, but the attempt did not translate effectively into actual results, with the actual audience of only 168000, far less than the expected 200000. In the face of the decline in appeal and the loss of scenery, the organizers of the Geneva Motor Show finally decided to stop the event in Switzerland. It is understood that the organizing committee plans to hold a car show in Qatar in November 2025 to seek to build a "fan base" outside Europe, but the actual effect remains to be seen.

In fact, in the final analysis, the auto show is one of the marketing means of auto companies, choosing to release some blockbuster models on the market at the auto show, its purpose is to maximize the heat, but because of the long research and development cycle of automotive products, in fact, not many blockbuster models are unveiled every year, most of which have been redesigned in the middle, annual and commemorative, plus more and more brand experience stores choose to be in the bustling city center. The charm of the auto show is only getting worse year after year.

It is regrettable that the suspension of the Geneva Motor Show marks the end of an era, but on the other hand, the indefinite suspension of the Geneva Motor Show may make other international auto shows realize that the market is highly competitive and that change is imminent. In sharp contrast to the suspension of the Geneva Auto Show, the four A-class auto shows from China, namely, Beijing Auto Show, Shanghai Auto Show, Chengdu Auto Show and Guangzhou Auto Show, have gradually become bright spots, among which Beijing Auto Show and Shanghai Auto Show are held alternately. Chengdu Auto Show and Guangzhou Auto Show are held once a year, and as the Chinese market has become the world's largest new energy vehicle market. China's new energy vehicles have shown great competitiveness in the global auto market, which has indirectly led to the popularity of China's Class An auto show. Multinational automakers have chosen to launch blockbuster models in China. It has attracted a large number of executives of multinational automobile giants in Europe, the United States and Japan to visit and study.

This situation also reflects the geographical shift of the focus of the global auto industry. China is the largest auto market in the world, no auto giant can ignore it, and China's new energy transformation is in the forefront of the world, which is an important reason why China's large-scale auto show has attracted much attention. In the era of intelligent electric vehicles, China begins to replace the traditional automobile powers and become the center of the research and application of new automotive technologies.

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