Paris Motor Show
Mondial de l'Automobile
Reproduction of a French poster. The background image is of a large building. There is an obelisk with a bronze statue of a horse in the middle ground. The foreground shows a number of automobiles with their drivers and passengers. At the bottom of the poster there is some additional text: "du 3 au 18 Decembre 1910" and "Grand Palais (Champs Elysees) Paris".
12e. Salon de l'Automobile et du Cycle (Gaston Simoes de Fonseca [fr], 1910).
GenreAuto show
FrequencyBiennial
Location(s)Paris
CountryFrance
Inaugurated1898
FounderAlbert de Dion
Organised byAMC Promotion
Websitewww.mondial-paris.com
Salon de l'Automobile de Paris 1946

The Paris Motor Show (French: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de Versailles.[1] The Mondial is scheduled by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles, which considers it a major international auto show.

In 2016, the Paris Motor Show welcomed 1,253,513 visitors, making it the most visited auto show in the world, ahead of Tokyo and Frankfurt.

The key figures of the show are: 125,000 m2 (1,350,000 sq ft) of exhibition, 8 pavilions, 260 brands from 18 countries, 65 world premieres, more than 10 000 test drives for electric and hybrid cars, more than 10 000 journalists from 103 countries.[2] Until 1986, it was called the Salon de l'Automobile; it took the name Mondial de l'Automobile in 1988 and Mondial Paris Motor Show in 2018.

The show was held annually until 1976; since which time, it has been held biennially.

History

The show was the first motor show in the world, started in 1898 by industry pioneer, Jules-Albert de Dion. After 1910, it was held at the Grand Palais in the Champs-Élysées. During the First World War motor shows were suspended, meaning that the show of October 1919 was only the 15th "Salon".[3]

There was again no Paris Motor Show in 1925, the venue having been booked instead for an Exhibition of Decorative Arts.[4] In October 1926, the Motor Show returned, this being the 26th Paris Salon de l'Automobile.[4] The outbreak of war again intervened in 1939 when the 33rd Salon de l'Automobile was cancelled at short notice.[5]

Normality of a sorts returned some six years later and the 33rd "Salon" finally opened in October 1946. In January 1977, it was announced that no Paris Motor Show would take place that year, because of the "current economic situation": at the same time the organisers confirmed that a 1978 Auto Salon for Paris was planned.[6]

The 65th Salon de Paris duly opened on 15 October 1978 in the modern buildings of the Parc des Expositions, on the south western edge of central Paris at the Porte de Versailles, where the show had been held since 1962.[7]

Editions

9 October 1919
65 French automobile makers exhibited (plus 22 French commercial vehicle manufacturers and 31 non-French automobile industry businesses). At least 118 exhibitors in total.

There was no "Salon de l'Automobile" in 1920

4 October 1922
81 French automobile makers exhibited (plus one French commercial vehicle manufacturer, 7 "Coachbuilders" and 25 non-French automobile industry businesses.) 113 exhibitors in total.
2 October 1924
78 French automobile makers exhibited (plus four French commercial vehicle manufacturers and 34 non-French automobile industry businesses.) 116 exhibitors in total.

There was no "Salon de l'Automobile" in 1925 due to the venue having been allocated to an Exhibition of Decorative Arts

7 October 1926
81 French automobile makers exhibited and 42 non-French automobile industry businesses exhibited. 126 exhibitors in total
2 October 1930
46 French automobile makers and 46 non-French automobile makers exhibited. 92 exhibitors in total.
1 October 1931
39 French automobile makers and 37 non-French automobile makers exhibited. 79 exhibitors in total.
5 October 1933
26 French automobile makers exhibited.
Salon de l'Automobile de Paris 1935
7 October 1937
22 French automobile makers exhibited.
23 October 1947
27 French automobile makers exhibited.
4 October 1951
23 French automobile makers exhibited.
Inter Autoscooter world premiere
Facel Vega world premiere
Citroën DS world premiere
Continental Mark II world premiere
Facel Vega Excellence world premiere
3 October 1957
24 French automobile makers exhibited.
Facel Vega Facellia
Panhard PL 17 Cabriolet
Triumph Italia
5 October 1961
9 French automobile makers exhibited. (Plus one "Jeep" maker and one coachbuilder)
This was the first year the show was held at the Porte de Versailles on the outskirts of Paris.[11]
Buick Riviera world premiere
October 1965
9 French automobile makers exhibited. (Plus one "Jeep" maker and one coachbuilder)
6 October 1967
8 French automobile makers exhibited, plus one coachbuilder
Citroën Dyane world premiere
Citroën CX world premiere
Ferrari 400 world premiere
15 October 1978
Introduction of the Renault Twingo[13]
Toyota and Škoda stands during the edition of 2018

There was no "Salon de l'Automobile" in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic[14]

References

  1. ^ "Paris Motor Show". Auto Express. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2016. The Paris Motor Show – or Mondial de l'Automobile – is one of the most important shows in the automotive calendar. It takes place only on even-numbered years, with the Frankfurt Motor Show, held at the Frankfurt Messe, taking over on odd-numbered years.
  2. ^ "Paris motor show". Paris Digest. 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1920 (Salon [Paris, Oct] 1919). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 31: 61. 2004.
  4. ^ a b "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1927 (Salon [Paris, Oct] 1926). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 78s: 57. 2006.
  5. ^ "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1940–46 "Les années sans salon". Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 26: Page 4 et seq. 2003.
  6. ^ Bell, Roger, ed. (22 January 1977). "MotorWeek: News flashes". Motor: 3.
  7. ^ Bellu, René (2006). "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1979 (Salon [Paris, Oct] 1978). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 84s: 5.
  8. ^ "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1920 (Salon [Paris, Oct] 1919). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 31. 2004.
  9. ^ "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1927 (Salon [Paris, Oct] 1926). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 78s. 2006.
  10. ^ "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1931 (Salon [Paris, Oct] 1930). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 90: 57. 2008.
  11. ^ Blunsden, John (October 1962). "Paris salongen" [The Paris Salon]. Illustrerad Motor Sport (in Swedish). No. 10. Lerum, Sweden. p. 12.
  12. ^ Armstrong, Douglas (December 1976). "Sobriété in gay Paree". SA Motor. Cape Town, South Africa: Scott Publications: 19.
  13. ^ "📰 Retro - mondial de l'automobile 1992: Renault présente la Twingo". 17 June 2012.
  14. ^ "2020 Paris Auto Show This Fall Canceled amid Coronavirus Concerns". 30 March 2020.

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