Following the news today that next week’s 90th Geneva Motor Show has been cancelled;

David Leggett, Automotive Editor at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“The public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has hit home this week with whole towns quarantined in northern Italy and the first cases confirmed in Switzerland.

“However, the organisers of the Geneva Motor Show stuck doggedly to the line that it could continue to take place and issued health guidelines for exhibitors and attendees on Wednesday (26th). This seemed unrealistic to many and exhibitors began to cancel or massively scale down their attendance plans.

“The decision to cancel the show at this late stage – press day scheduled for next Tuesday, March 3 – was finally forced by a Swiss federal government edict banning gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

“Many prospective exhibitors and attendees may well be disappointed that the event was not called off by the organisers earlier.”