GIMS 2024: The Geneva Motor Show is alive - and kicking! 🎥
AND IT DOES WORK Even on its comeback after four years, many German-speaking Swiss travel to the Geneva Motor Show. Despite Chinese dominance, however, the interest of visitors in buying a Chinese car is low.
You get to the best years when you have the good ones behind you. Car enthusiasts from German-speaking Switzerland are also traveling across the Röstigraben to Geneva for the 100th Geneva Motor Show. There will no longer be over 700,000 visitors at Palexpo as in the golden years. "But I was surprised that so many came from German-speaking Switzerland on the first day of the show," says Martin Friedli from Niederbipp. This is his 40th visit to the salon. He is there with his brother Herbert (top left gallery): "This is my first time at the Motor Show," he says. He is a Dacia driver and is mainly interested in the Renault and Dacia stands - and less in the Chinese cars.
Chinese superiority does not bother
Marco Graziani (center gallery in the middle) from Thun is also an old hand when it comes to visiting the salon. The classic car driver - two Porsche 911s from the years 79 and 88 - is there with his 14-year-old son Loris. "We've already been to Auto Zurich, the Concorso d'Eleganza at Villa d'Este on Lake Como - and now Geneva." As a coachbuilder, he misses the additional exhibitions on spare parts and accessories that used to be shown in Geneva. He is not bothered by the predominance of Chinese exhibitors. Rather the focus: "Everyone is talking about climate protection and electromobility, but the Chinese represented here are all present with huge cars."
Tuning cars are part of a show
The two car mechanic apprentices Phoenix Iseppi and Giuliano Di Grisolo (center left gallery) travelled to Geneva with the Wetzikon vocational school: "There are too few tuning cars and too many electric cars," criticizes Iseppi. "That's not a good development for us as budding car mechanics," adds Di Grisolo. But the two creative youngsters knew how to help themselves: They bought models of the Porsche GT3 RS at one of the stands. Instead of a Chinese car, the two prefer a car from Germany or Japan for quality reasons.
For Christoph Burger (center right gallery), there are clearly too few Europeans here. He says: "If I had to do a blind tasting like a wine tasting, I would most probably not buy a Chinese car." He laughs. He traveled from Olten to Geneva with his two sons and his godson. They are drawn to the sports cars. "The Geneva Motor Show is and remains a wonderful experience - we'll be back!"
The manufacturers' stands are appealing
Sepp Gwerder (top right gallery) from Schmitten is somewhat surprised to discover that the new salon has unfortunately been slimmed down compared to the old one. He likes the presentations and stands - including those from China. Buy one? No, he wouldn't do that after all. His two colleagues Josh Hofstetter from Baselland and Dejan Bogdanovic from Nunningen are anything but convinced by the new concept. "There used to be a fair like this in Geneva in every village," says Hofstetter. There was a lack of variety and therefore important opportunities for comparison. "That would be the great advantage of a trade fair." And then he says: "Just because many Chinese exhibit their models here doesn't mean that I will buy one." The only thing that can save the day now is a juicy steak in a fine Geneva restaurant.
People want to touch cars
One person is happy that the big Europeans are skipping Geneva this year. It's Merlin Ouboter with his Microlino (top center gallery): "This way, the focus is more on us," he says and smiles. He is also convinced that the salon has a future. "I can see from the example of our Microlino how important haptics and emotions are for cars - people want to get into a car, touch it, feel it." Ouboter is convinced that there will be fewer trade fairs in the future, but with Geneva, Paris and the IAA in Europe, there will be three trade fairs of great importance.
