The British International London Motor Show is something of an anomaly. Regarded as more of a family day out than a serious auto show, there are few international debuts and many notable absences. Tucked away in the city’s cavernous but distant Excel exhibition centre, the press day was noticeably subdued, accentuating the fact that the LMS is about paying punters after a glimpse of ultra-rare supercars or a spin on the driving experiences dotted around the exhibition centre.
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On the surface, the motor industry is still hideously old fashioned. Singers still strut their stuff as silky wraps are yanked off silhouetted show cars, while the overwhelmingly male audience trudges around, yanking wheelie bags stuffed with the latest brochures and any piece of swag that isn’t bolted down. British car buyers might be of critical importance to many European manufacturers, but that couldn’t tempt some major no-shows, including VW, Audi, BMW, Skoda, Volvo, Porsche and Fiat.
In the world of the internet exclusive, the words ‘British Premiere’ are about as exciting as a restaurant menu of reheated soup. Concept cars are re-polished, re-painted and flown in for their close up, often many months after they were first wheeled out on the other side of the world.
Land-Rover's stand aped the steel streaks and slashes of China's National Stadium, the visual trope du jour, while elsewhere it was business as usual, with lashings of dry ice and punchy stabs of launch music, compact, throbbing ditties of stirring choirs, pounding bass and tribal drums.
But although Britain is something of a backwater in motor show terms, some trends are emerging. London is one of the world’s biggest markets for private electric vehicles, alongside other dense European conurbations like Milan and Paris. There’s some way to go before electric cars come to dominate proceedings, but there were some fascinating non-fossil fuelled cars on display.
Another notable theme was the relentless drive upmarket: volume manufacturers are focusing on gadgets and fine finishes. If mass production is the new premium, you can expect ultra mass market cars to garner some utilitarian chic - just wait until the global smart set starts importing Tata Nano into their upscale neighbourhoods.
Nonetheless, no-one was really looking to push any paradigm shifts, mindful that a far bigger splash can be made at Frankfurt, Tokyo, New York or Geneva. Taken en masse, the world of contemporary car design can be slightly underwhelming - all those slashes and creases and pumped-up forms make each marque melt into one another.
With several coats of polish and several thousand watts of spotlights, most cars look pretty good. Given the turnout, you could forgive the press day for being a little downbeat, although we managed to find quite a few things that were worth our time, not least the large number of car designers skulking around behind their creations. Tomorrow we speak to four of the industry’s leading design lights to see exactly what it is that makes them tick.
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