A successful bet for the auto show in Brussels, after two years of absence, the public was again at the rendezvous of this anniversary edition, the 100th. Nearly 271,000 visitors (a figure which remains to be confirmed at the time of writing these lines) walked the aisles of the Heysel Palace. Which isn’t bad, even if it’s a little below the 300,000 visitors hoped for by the organizers.
Visitors not always satisfied
In any case, the organizers as the exhibitors speak of success, even if it is a little more nuanced on the side of the visitors.
Some people we met complained that this show was much smaller than in other years (nearly twice as small due to a lack of available halls) and therefore that it was much more difficult to move around in the palace.
Others were disappointed by the absence of stands entirely dedicated to motorcycles, but also by the high cost of the vehicles on display.
Grievances of which the organizers are well aware and which they will take into account for the next edition: “It is clear that for the 2024 show we will have to send a message: it is important to offer vehicles that are perhaps a little cheaper, more entry-level; vehicles perhaps that the general public is better able to afford than top-of-the-range models that may have been presented at the show in 2023“, acknowledges Christophe Dubon, spokesman for Febiac, the Belgian Automobile and Cycle Federation.
A show still marked by the crisis
On the exhibitor side, we also say we are very satisfied, even if we recognize that the economic situation remains complicated: “When we imagined the show, we were not at all sure that the public would come back, so it’s a relief“, says Jean-Marc Ponteville for the D’Ieteren group.
“Of course there is inflation. There is also somewhere this transition that we know, which is a little scary and which raises a lot of questions“, adds this official. “We obviously still have the consequences of the pandemic, the semiconductor crisis and the shortage, for example, of truck drivers, which means that delivery times remain long. So the situation is very complex. Of course she will get better. But I think a lot of our customers anticipated their purchase and more or less got used to it. But it remains difficult for the whole chain: for the dealers who are on the front line, for the importer, but also for the factories. But despite everything, it’s not a huge problem here for the show since the visitors are there.“
An electric transition that continues to raise questions
Regarding the questions (and there are many) that Belgians are asking about electric transition, and which were reported during this show, they will now have to be taken into account by the automotive sector, says Christophe Dubon. “But also by the political world who wants to impose this technology on the general public.“
The auto show will return next year. The dates are already set: from January 12 to 21, 2024.