Aw Shucks! Geneva Motor Show Won’t Be Happening This Year...Yet Again

Right now, it seems like COVID-19 and the Geneva Motor Show are a match made in hell. Organisers offered a glimmer of hope in May this year that the annual motor show would break its two-year hiatus in 2022, but that is not to be. News has come in that the 91st edition of the Swiss auto show, scheduled from February 19-27, 2022, has been called off yet again due to the ongoing pandemic and the associated travel restrictions on exhibitors, visitors, and journalists. . 

Interestingly, organisers also attributed to the global semiconductor shortage the cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show.

The CEO of GIMS, Sandro Mesquita, said: "Many exhibitors have indicated that the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic make it impossible for them to make a firm commitment for GIMS 2022. On top of this is the negative impact that the current shortage of semiconductors has on car manufacturers. The chip crisis is likely to drag on well into next year, with negative financial implications for OEMs. In these uncertain times, many brands are therefore unable to make a commitment to participate in a trade fair that would have taken place in just over four months. When considering all the factors, it became clear that it was necessary to postpone the show, and to announce the news sooner than later to avoid cancelling at short notice.”

With the 2022 edition now binned, this is the third time in a row that the annual auto show has been called off. It was first canned in 2020 when the Swiss Federal Council disallowed any event with more than 1,000 people to contain the spread of COVID-19. That led to a financial strain for the 2021 edition, when the foundation requested monetary support from the federal council for losses estimated worth up to 11 million Swiss Francs. The organisers were not confident about the foundation’s long-term financial stability, which led to the event being called off the second time.

This announcement, while not a big surprise, is still a bummer, as it was an important platform for  carmakers around the globe to showcase their latest models and tech. The organisers might have targeted 2023 for the next edition of the Geneva Motor Show, but moving ahead with plans will be a challenging task as long as COVID-19 continues to keep things in a state of flux.