The Geneva International Motor Show has been canceled for the fourth consecutive year and will instead be held exclusively in Doha, Qatar in 2023.
Organizers had planned to hold the Swiss show from February 14 to February 19, 2023. Its twin event, the Geneva International Motor Show Qatar, was then scheduled for November 2023. Now, only Qatar will go ahead.
“Due to the uncertainties in the global economy and geopolitics, as well as the risks related to the development of the pandemic, the organizers have decided to focus exclusively on the planning of the event in Doha in 2023,” president of the Comité permanent du Salon international de l’automobile de Genève foundation, Maurice Turettini, said in a statement.
“We have done everything possible to ensure that we could host GIMS 2023 in Geneva in February. The enhanced event format and project had been very well received. But in the end, the risks overweighed the opportunities.”
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The chief executive of the Geneva International Motor Show, Sandro Mesquita, added that “many brands are not in a position to commit to participating in a show in Europe in the winter,” due to the “uncertain times.”
This marks the fourth consecutive year that the motor show in Geneva, Switzerland has been canceled. Things went south in 2020 when it was dropped last minute due to the coronavirus pandemic. It failed to materialize in 2021 as well and despite an announcement in May of the same year that the show would return for 2022, those plans were later scrapped. Confirmation of the 2023 edition was given in April this year but now, just four months later, it too has been scrapped.
The first Geneva International Motor Show Qatar will take place in November 2023 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. It is scheduled to take place every two years.
