It might have been overtaken by China’s alternating Beijing and Shanghai motor shows, but the Frankfurt show is still Europe’s biggest auto exhibition, eclipsing the annual Geneva show and the Paris show held every other year.
This week’s German car extravaganza was no exception, and it was notable for the avalanche of electric vehicles presented by European car-makers as they scramble to meet unprecedented new fleet-wide CO2 emissions regulations due in the continent from next year.
More surprising were the no-shows by a number of key Euro brands, as well more than a few from Japan and North America, where the mighty Detroit show will shift from its traditional January date to June next year after a similar decline in public and manufacturer attendance in recent years.
With Motor City’s show on the hop, next month’s Tokyo show likely to be a domestic brand-only affair, no Australian motor show held for five years and empty halls and absent brands at Frankfurt, it begs the questions: are the days of the extravagant motor show numbered? Or was there enough at this year’s IAA to keep the buying public fascinated into the future?
Here are the views of three senior carsales journalists from inside this year’s Frankfurt show.
Torr’s thoughts – Feann Torr, Senior Staff Journalist
The razzle dazzle of the modern-day motor show is an intoxicating experience – bright lights, loud music and the sort of hot models that’ll make any car admirer a little steamy under the collar.
The Lamborghini Sian was stunning but even it had a hybrid element; Porsche’s big reveal, the Taycan, is all-electric; Volkswagen revealed its first mass-market EV, the ID.3; and almost every car at the show had a plug of some sort.
The EV shift that we were led to believe was occurring in 2010 is now finally becoming a reality and it makes for a fascinating time to be reporting in the automotive industry.
But I reckon Swedish-born Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) CEO Ola Källenius, one of the most powerful blokes in the automotive industry, said it best when he noted that it’s not just a switch to EV that’s required, but a wholesale shift in the way auto-makers build cars.
“Climate protection is one of the criteria for awarding supply contracts,” he revealed of the way Mercedes is changing its entire operation, observing that the demand for CO2-neutral products is being driven by the customer.
Gover’s Gaze – Paul Gover, Contributer
Frankfurt has restored the relevance of motor shows. Some big brands are missing, but there are genuine surprises from cars which provide a window to the future.
Much of the electrification story is irrelevant for Australia, at least for now, but Frankfurt in 2019 will be remembered as the show full of bold predictions and solid promises.
When Hyundai unveiled its battery-powered ETCR racer, based on the latest Veloster coupe, it also announced that power for the upcoming battery-electric race series will be provided by its hydrogen fuel-cell charging station — the same as the one at Hyundai headquarters in Sydney.
That’s the sort of 360-degree thinking which will be delivering future models which run the full spectrum from internal combustion through hybrid and battery electric, sometimes off the same basic platform.
One of those hybrids is the Land Rover Defender, which is promised as a mild-hybrid at first and then with an advanced plug-in hybrid package. And perhaps later even battery-only power.
But, really, the hybrid story is just a breakout chapter for the car of the show, which flips back 71 years to bring the Defender “out of the jungle, into the urban jungle” for the 21st century.
Frankfurt has restored the relevance of motor shows. Some big brands are missing, but there are genuine surprises from cars which provide a window to the future.
Much of the electrification story is irrelevant for Australia, at least for now, but Frankfurt in 2019 will be remembered as the show full of bold predictions and solid promises.
When Hyundai unveiled its battery-powered ETCR racer, based on the latest Veloster coupe, it also announced that power for the upcoming battery-electric race series will be provided by its hydrogen fuel-cell charging station — the same as the one at Hyundai headquarters in Sydney.
That’s the sort of 360-degree thinking which will be delivering future models which run the full spectrum from internal combustion through hybrid and battery electric, sometimes off the same basic platform.
One of those hybrids is the Land Rover Defender, which is promised as a mild-hybrid at first and then with an advanced plug-in hybrid package. And perhaps later even battery-only power.
But, really, the hybrid story is just a breakout chapter for the car of the show, which flips back 71 years to bring the Defender “out of the jungle, into the urban jungle” for the 21st century.
Sinkers’ scepticism – Mike Sinclair, Editor-in-Chief
My colleagues may have been enamoured with the highlights of the 2019 Frankfurt motor show, but I’m a little more sceptical. This was a show of mainly ‘less’, with a little more.
There were demonstrably fewer brands, taking less floor space in 2019. What were once jam-packed halls in some cases had large areas curtained off for lack of tenancies.
Even the home sides were complicit. Take BMW’s base at Frankfurt, Halle 11, for example. In previous shows, this was all Munich and in some iterations even featured an elevated indoor test track.
In 2019, BMW downsized. There was no separate presence for its M performance brand, MINI’s display was funky but compact and Rolls Royce was a no-show. In fact, Halle 11 not only housed BMW, but this year also Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Opel and others.
Volkswagen Group’s Bentley was absent from Frankfurt – a gaping space left in the VAG hall that is normally chockablock.
Also missing were the top-end Italians, Ferrari and Maserati. The former hosted a million-dollar extravaganza at home in Maranello the weekend before Frankfurt’s opening.
And Fiat Chrysler was nowhere to be seen at what was once billed as the world’s biggest motor show – not even a Jeep.
In an EV-focussed show, Elon Musk’s poster-child brand Tesla was MIA – perhaps too busy arranging a record attempt at the Nurburgring.
Ford’s stand was modest and featured exclusively electrified models — plug-in hybrids are big at the Blue Oval. Don’t hold your breath to see them Down Under though.
The rest of the Americans were also absent. No GM since it sold off Opel. Cadillac is some way off a serious re-entry into Europe and the other marques have next to no relevance in the Western European space.
The ‘more’ part of Frankfurt 2019 was a tale of two halves – more third-party suppliers of EV and autonomous driving tech; and more proud but shaky promises of what is to come in terms of electromobility’s affordability and effectiveness.
The auto industry continues to talk a big game, but at Frankfurt more than a few cracks were showing.
In an era when what profits there are and many more billions of euros worth of shareholder and borrowed capital is being poured into developing a new-generation of EVs that for decades may actually be unprofitable to build and sell, something had to give.
