You read the date right, it’s 2019. As the Brussels Car Show will not occur this year, I decided to revive the best memories that I could not report due to lack of time. With no car shows since April, I still have a lot of unsung stories, and the 2019 Brussels Car Show was quite a memorable one.
This is first and foremost a trade show with significant emphasis on hospitality and sales booths. Still, each manufacturer prepared some truly fancy landmark to make its stage memorable.
There is no point going through the novelties at that time (some of them are already phased out since then), this report focuses on the memorable moments for me as a visitor.
The Renault stage was one of the most memorable ones of the show, thanks to its crazy food truck that could have come from Blade Runner 2047. The coolest coffee I ever had at a car show.
I recall I was actually allowed to take a seat in the cabin, so the attraction was really well used.
PSA is also a major player in the Belgian market, and having just snatched Opel from GM, a giant lion ruled the Hall, overseeing the segments of the three French brands.
I believe this was the first time DS had a reasonable model range for an entire stage, but the brand also showcased its signature fancy decoration.
Peugeot brought along one of its coolest concept cars of the decade, the e-Legend. The concept car pays homage to the Peugeot 504 Coupé which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018.
It was unveiled short before its public exhibition at the 2018 Paris Motor Show. Since then, the car was on tour, taking the centre spot of the Peugeot stage a few weeks later at Rétormobile 2019.
And I have to tell you, this car impresses me every time. It is so perfectly portioned with modern details without losing the hommage factor.
The next tenant pf the Hall was Opel, showcasing its GT X Experimental concept car, a rather shoer, four metres long five-door electric compact SUV.
The car sports a coupé appeal with innovative design cues such as suicide doors and digital dashboards. The GT X Experimental presented Opel’s design vision for future Opel models.
Finally, I skip a few halls to present the Hall of the VW group, where the most fantastic novelty was the actual presence of the leading brand Volkswagen. Following the emerging diesel scandal, Volkswagen decided to stay away from car shows for a while, including the Paris Car Show.
But the Belgian market demands car show presence, and Volkswagen is a major player. They prepared a big stage with a fancy concept car of the then gradually unveiled ID Concept series.
The Hall is also stuffed with cars from the other brands of the VW Group, but Audi, Skoda and Seat focused on production cars, without flashing any fancy concepts.
In the past few years, I found a stronger presence from the Japanese and Korean brands, than at the more prestigious IAA and Mondial.
This year was no exception. Most of these stages were quite small but functional, but more importantly, they were at least there…
I will call it a day now, but there are a few other stages, that are still missing from my reports. Unless a car event is conjured last minute from a magical cylinder, I won’t have other news to cover…
Until then, I recommend to have a look at the 2021 Automotive events calendar:
The ultimate European automotive events calendar 2021 – december update
