35th annual autumn salon —
We are following the plans for the GIMS (Geneva International Motor Show). To date many German car makers have said “no”, but they are not alone. Looks like the Chinese could be significant contributors to the 2024 edition.
In the meantime, the ZURICH AUTO SALON continues its 35th annual autumn program.
This salon is national, in fact quite local to the Swiss-German market. Brands are represented by local distributors and everything is uniquely in the German language. (The website has an English version – for example here.)
Zurich auto salon is a “no-frills” exhibition, none of the spectacular over-the-top installations found at the Geneva car show. Yet the cars are there, less space between them, no turntables and little or no “hype”. But as the website points out, “The success of future mobility events is no longer a question of size, but of relevance.” (ouch!)
This year, each vehicle stands within a coloured floor frame: white is petrol, blue is hybrid (plugin or not), green is totally electric.
Despite the “no frills”, Koenigsegg high end actual and futuristic concept cars are all part of the show.
A sad trend is that Hyundai hydrogen cars (left photo from 2019) are no longer exhibited — that sounds a backward step as future electricity shortages are not excluded.
Compact nature of the show allows to compare old timer versions and their latest evolution:
German brands are very present. Interesting to note BMW’s pronoun of “THE” (needed to ask what it meant!)
The Jeep Wrangler in yellow (prefer red!) and fully enclosed for just 99,000.- Had no idea a Wrangler could cost so much, but this is the Rubicon version with most mechanical sophistication included.
And lastly for this glimpse of the Zurich show we chatted at length with the representative of the Chinese car company Voyah and exhibiting their Voyah “free”:
Perhaps we will be seeing and hearing more about this company. For the Geneva auto salon 2024, Voyah was not visible present but rather the Chinese company BYD was one of the major exhibitors. See our post.
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