It’s been greater than a decade since Australia final held a world motor present and, with the present state of the market, it’s unlikely we’ll see one once more.
Crowds of potential new-car patrons will flock to Melbourne this weekend for what’s being billed as “the most important gathering of automotive producers and aftermarket manufacturers in over 15 years” – however I gained’t be one in all them.
The Melbourne motor present has all of the hallmarks of reveals I grew up attending with my dad, however fairly than a contemporary revival, it’s set to be a show of largely already-seen autos, with lower than a handful of correct first-time unveilings.
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In meals phrases, consider it as vanilla essence, fairly than the full-strength vanilla extract that was as soon as the Australian Worldwide Motor Present.
One may argue the Melbourne motor present is the closest factor we’ll ever get to a correct show of Australia’s new-car market in a single location, however the absence of the nation’s greatest manufacturers and best-selling fashions means it misses the mark.
Let me be clear, this isn’t an assault on the occasion – it’s nice to see various manufacturers get collectively to point out off their present and future merchandise to the shopping for public, and hopefully encourage the following era of fanatics who will in the future take my job.
That features carmakers like MG, which has ambitions – and an upcoming product roadmap – to develop into a top-three model regionally, and can unveil some new fashions to the world in Melbourne, even when one in all them is a badge engineering train.
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MG’s IM Motors model will make its Australian debut in Melbourne
However it’s a far cry from 2012, when the final official Australian worldwide motor present introduced greater than two dozen manufacturers, with the fashions on present reportedly accounting for about 95 per cent of the market’s gross sales.
I used to be there at that remaining motor present, held at Sydney’s Darling Harbour. It was one in all a couple of dozen I’d attended, in a the custom of both heading off from dwelling in Canberra within the morning and returning within the afternoon, or staying at my godfather’s in Wollongong the night time earlier than.
I can recall many highlights on the motor present all through my early years: attending to see the billion-dollar Holden VE Commodore within the steel for the primary time, being close to racing god Craig Lowndes when Ford unveiled a limited-run Falcon ute along with his title on it, and sitting in quite a few efficiency vehicles I nonetheless crave.
It was additionally on the 2012 version that I gained a racing simulator competitors, after which I used to be purchased rFactor as a present, nicely and actually sparking my sim-racing dependancy.
My childhood bed room partitions have been held along with nothing apart from posters I’d collected from every year’s motor present, whereas ornaments from producer stands may later solely be described as large plastic waste.
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The final time the AIMS occured, the Mk6 Golf was nonetheless new
Sadly, there was to be no 2013 present, canned months earlier than it was as a result of go forward, making it much more weird that the VF Commodore – Holden’s final regionally made automobile – by no means received to be given a correct welcome into the world.
It’s simple to lament the demise of the Australian Worldwide Motor Present, however this isn’t a sense unique to Aussies.
Previously handful of years, a few of the world’s most well-known motor reveals have both develop into little greater than a shell of their former selves, or disappeared fully.
Final 12 months, the Geneva motor present was axed indefinitely, ending its 117-year run, following three straight cancellations in 2020, 2021 and 2022, owing to COVID.
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Geneva was as soon as an icon, however is now no extra
However it wasn’t simply COVID accountable for the demise of GIMS, with different reveals within the US and Europe additionally dwindling in measurement.
The one place the place motor reveals seem like gaining momentum is in Asia, with China particularly being the hotbed for auto exhibitions.
China rotates its premier annual present between Shanghai and Beijing, and each occasions proceed to develop yearly, consistent with the nation’s auto trade – which incorporates many state-owned carmakers – turning into a real world powerhouse.
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The brand new-car market has modified loads since 2012, however my style sense hasn’t
That is mirrored within the sheer variety of Chinese language manufacturers which can be on show in Melbourne this weekend, nicely and actually dominating the present ground.
Whether or not any of them have merchandise that may actually transfer the needle for Australian driving lovers like myself stays to be seen, however it does seem we have gotten an more and more small afterthought because the entourage of latest utes and mid-size SUVs swell.
So whereas I want those that run and attend the Melbourne motor present all the perfect, I’ll be spending my weekend in Victoria watching GT racing at Phillip Island and Ford icons in Geelong.
If you wish to reminisce about Australia’s motor present, tell us what you miss beneath. You can too view pictures of motor reveals previous on the still-active Fb web page.
