Frankfurt show insists it’s green
Under fire from green activists, Germany’s biggest car show champions EVsThreats of environmental activism have clouded this year’s Frankfurt motor show, to be held next week, but organisers have insisted the event it pointing the way to a sustainable future, rather than a harmful past.
The German auto industry association, which runs the show, insists it will be mostly about electric cars, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell EVs and future innovations, rather than high-powered sports cars and autobahn burners.
“We will make our contribution to climate protection and invest massively in sustainable individual mobility,” VDA president Bernhard Mattes told a press conference yesterday, while being heavily protected by riot police because of activist threats.
“We wish to provide intelligent answers to the most urgent questions about the future of mobility.
“We are experiencing a transformation from the world’s largest car showroom to the most relevant platform. A trend can be seen among all the major exhibitions: the relevant point is no longer the size of the area, but the extent of the media reach,” he said.
He invited activists, who recently destroyed 40 luxury German cars in protest against the show, to attend to understand the direction change in the new car market.
Once physically the largest motor show in the world, the Frankfurt show has seen a frightening number of its usual display areas cut down, to the point where it may have to shutter three of its halls, with new cars in just five halls instead of the peak of eight.
Its attendance peaked at 1.2 million visitors and 2000 exhibitors in 1989, but 2003 wasn’t far behind.
It has cut exhibition space from 200,000 square-metres in 2017 to just 168,000 this year, while Fiat, Aston Martin, Cadillac, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru are among the major car-makers skipping this year’s show.
There will still be plenty of huge new-product reveals, including the oft-teased Volkswagen ID.3 EV, the Porsche Taycan EV, Mercedes-Benz’s EQV electric van, Audi’s RS 6, RS 7 and SQ 8 performance cars, BMW’s 8 Series GranCoupe, 3 Series wagon, M8 and X6, Land Rover’s new Defender and Mini’s Cooper SE EV.
Concept cars are expected to include Audi’s AI:Trail Quattro, BMW’s Vision M Next, Hyundai’s 45 EV and Opel’s Corsa-e Rally.
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