Geneva Motor Show 2021 cancelled and conference sold
The organisers of the Geneva Motor Show have said that next year’s event will also be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The show, which was due to run between 4 and 14 March 2021, will no longer go ahead until 2022, the Salon International de l’Automobile said in a statement.
Instead, organisers will now look to sell Switzerland’s largest public event to Palexpo, which owns the venue where the show normally takes place.
The conference had applies for a 16.8m franc loan from Geneva’s authorities after the cancellation, but said that a sale was now “the preferred option”.
According to the organisers, the majority of those surveyed about exhibiting next year said that they would not participate.
“The automotive sector is currently going through a difficult phase, and exhibitors need time to recover from the effects of the pandemic”, the Salon said.
This year’s edition of the show was among the first events to be cancelled due to the pandemic, just days before it was due to begin.
Car firms such as McLaren which were due to exhibit at the conference switched to digital or local launches instead.
A number of other auto shows around the world have also been cancelled, including conferences in New York and Detroit.