The British Motor Show, held over the weekend at Farnborough, just outside London, was certainly a grand day out for the family, but it was no motor show.
For many years, the UK has grappled with the right format for a Motor Show but things have never really gelled. The shows used to alternate between London and Birmingham on a bi-annual basis but decamping to Birmingham every two years seemed to rob the event of some status.
For a while, there was no motor show, while the Geneva, Frankfurt and Paris shows went from strength to strength.
Some years ago, another attempt at Excel, in the London docklands, only lasted for a short while and now we have this live event, with a completely different focus.
What’s missing, in this its second year, was genuinely new cars. Only BYD, Ford and Tesla were fully represented and while BYD had both their Seal and Dolphin models and Ford were showing their new electric Explorer, Tesla had nothing new to show and were only offering short test-drives around a small car park. We’ve already seen the Explorer in Ireland, although it’ll probably be next year before it hits showrooms, joining the Mustang Mach-E in Ford’s electric fleet.
Elsewhere around the venue, there was plenty going on with stunt shows and a live arena where you could see cars being driven but there was nothing particularly new on display.
More experiences were available throughout the show, including the opportunity to drive an American semi, driving lessons for teenagers, various guest rides and a stunt show.
The main hall had quite a variety of new cars but it was more like a showroom and indeed, most of the models on display appeared to have been supplied by the same dealer group. A sprinkling of modified cars and trade stands made up the rest.
There was a good amount of vintage and classic cars on display, but nothing more than you’d see at even the smallest UK show.
Even getting to the venue was a trial. I came direct from Heathrow and between a bus to Woking, followed by a train and a 30 minute walk, I spent over two and a half hours travelling.
Getting back to central London was a bit easier but involved a £20 train ticket to Waterloo and I’ve never paid that much around London.
Don’t get me wrong, Britain is still an important centre of the global motor industry even though volume production isn’t as prolific as it once was.
It deserves a better motor show than this and I hope that in time to come, something better comes along and a bit more though goes into it.
