It has been 30 years since the Motor Show moved from Earls Court to a wild and windswept site the other site of the railway line bordering Elmdon-Birmingham Airport. Londoners were sceptical and the motor industry concerned whether the new facility would take off. There is a parallel to be drawn with World Travel Market, which in two weeks time opens at Excel, the opposite side of London from its established home. Today Birmingham International Airport is booming, NEC continues to expand and there is a nice new,(and much needed) Crown Plaza hotel on the site. Lego got into the act (see picture left), but the girl was real.
The British International Motor Show goes from strength to strength . You have until next Sunday to walk the spacious halls and view some spectacular cars. Whilst the Bavarian Motor Works might not be exhibiting under its own brand it certainly is making an impact as Mini. Called the Mini Adventure Live BMW is staging an arena show designed to blow your mind away. The old mini could perform on two wheels and so can the new one. Well worth getting in the queue for. There are 700 seats. And not to be outdone Ford has its own hourly entertainment that involves a number of revolving and bouncing transparent spheres.
In truth 2002 will not go down as a vintage year. There are 12 world launches and 75 new cars but you have to be a real car freak to spot them all. With BMW and Mercedes both absent (AMG are exhibiting with a range of high performance Mercs) some of the appeal is lost if you are in the market for an executive car. However a bunch (is that the right word) of Aston Martin”s graced the hall hired by Ford enterprises (including Ford themselves, Aston, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mazda), a mouth watering gathering demonstration of British skills in the art of making fast sporty cars. ABTN has already covered political expediency in this issue. Thankfully the James Bond 007 Vantage super car is pure fantasy, but you can never tell these days. It is not a car for the High Street. The Smart car (shown left) can be parked head on to the pavement.
Star of the show? Difficult to say. Certainly the new Bentley (by Volkswagen) Continental GT attracted onlookers but the retro style does not appeal to all. With a 6 litre twin turbocharged 500 bhp engine it should go somewhat. Ferrari Enzo. Possibly. But in black! Jaguar launched its new XJ series with the flamboyance of British Rail introducing a cross country diesel. What has happened with all the Jaguar flair. For the record the car looks a real winner, a subtle evolution of Daimler/Jaguar”s largest saloon but now with a longer, wider and taller aluminium body. The changes are not dramatic enough to upset recent purchasers of the old model but in truth it is a much more passenger friendly vehicle, complete with all the latest toys.
One corner of the vast halls is devoted to British sports cars. Most of them have been around a long time, their products the subject of evolution, not dramatic style changes. Morgan, Lotus, Marcos, Caterham, and Ginetta were at the first NEC show all those years back. To the uninitiated the cars look more or less the same and the Morgan family still run the company of that name, Jem Marsh hovers over Marcos and Graham Nearn is Caterham. Nobel is no longer new and the stunning Invicta, a brave attempt at low volumes sports car production, resurrects a manufacturer who built some of the finest British sports cars of the 1930s.
Following the success of the Peugeot 206cc with its amazing convertible tin roof, every volume manufacturer seems to be ready to produce economic drop head coupes and say that they will be available next year. However nobody (including Peugeot themselves with the 307cc) were brave enough this time around to demonstrate a real working car, unlike the French manufacturer two years back. Sales of convertibles continue to rise from 44,000 five years back to 60,000 in 2001. But it still only represents 2.43% of a market of just under 2.5m cars last year.
The 2002 Motor Show is a fine day out. NEC improves the whole time with access and parking really sorted. Fly to BHX. Take the train. Or if you must go by car. The show closes next Sunday at 17030 and admission is ”15 with online booking available. Friday and Saturday are motor sport days.
http://www.motorshow.co.uk