The coronavirus is hitting the tech world hard and the car world hard now too, earlier in February Mobile World Congress was cancelled due to fears over the coronavirus and now the Geneva Motor Show for this year has now been cancelled too, the annual car show in Switzerland was supposed to take place next month between the 5th and 15th March.

Many car manufacturers use the event to debut new cars, Volkswagen was planning on showing off the new Golf GTI, GTE and GTD at the event and british manufacturer Morgan was planning on revealing its all new sports car too. Both companies, along with others have said on social media that they are planning to do online events later in the next few weeks.

“We regret this situation, but the health of all participants is our and our exhibitors’ top priority. This is a case of force majeure and a tremendous loss for the manufacturers who have invested massively in their presence in Geneva. However, we are convinced that they will understand this decision.”

Murice Turrettini – GIMS Chairman

The reason for the show being cancelled is because the Swiss government has now banned any public gatherings of more than one thousand people. The ban in Switzerland is in place until the 15th March.

“The 90th edition of the Geneva International Motor Show, which was supposed to welcome the media from 2 March and the general public from 5 to 15 March 2020, will now finally not take place. This is an injonction of the Federal Council of 28 February 2020 that no events with more than 1,000 people are allowed to take place until 15 March 2020. The decision falls 3 days before the opening of the exhibition to the media.”

Palexpo

Source: Palexpo