The car show is back! Belgium’s Autosalon celebrates its 100th anniversary and delivered on all fronts. This show has everything we’ve been missing in the past four years! And so much more…
The Brussels Car Show takes place at the usual location at Brussel’s Heysel expo area and lasts for over a week. After the press day, it awaits visitors from Saturday 14 to Sunday 22 January, with generous opening hours from 10:00 to 19:00 (with two nocturnals finishing at 22.00 on 16 and 20 January). The premises are accessible via metro line 6, and ample parking places are available with a direct connection to the ring. This year’s show occupies five major halls and a few auxiliary rooms. For a 12,5 euros ticket, this is a steal!
The map will not tell you the complete picture. While the Paris Car Show used almost as much exhibitor space, their exhibition appeared rather “lofty”. The halls in Brussels are unusually crowded.
An incredible number of cars, decorations, sights and activities were packed into the factory stages, with many brands present like we have not seen before. Like EVER! We counted over 60 brands represented one way or another. Mass market giants, premium brands, and exotics from all around the world came, and at least 20 traditional brand stages (or segments) were built.
It is easier to count those who reported absence: among the well-known brands, Ferrari, Mercedes and Volvo abstained, plus a few international brands that do not sell cars in Europe but like to exhibit (Paris was full of them).
Palais 5 is occupied by the Renault group and the Stellantis group, and they really occupied the hall with almost every single brand they had: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroën, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Opel, and Peugeot (in strictly alphabetical order), while Renault brought along Alpine and Dacia.
And it’s not like they brought one or cars to represent. They showcase their entire offering, and even smaller brands like Maserati, DS and Alpine have erected magnificent stages, punching well above their weight. Jeep even hit the home run here by taking the Car of the year award.
They are all on board with their best efforts: they brought cool concepts, timed some premieres and showcased their signature car decoration.
Hall nr 6 offers a diverse selection of mass producers, like Ford, Honda, Mazda, and also aspiring challengers like Polestar and Tesla. They spent quite some money on these stages, each following a different philosophy.
A corner is crowding together half a dozen brands squeezed together into a corner with smaller brands like Isuzu, MG, SsangYong, and Suzuki but also previously unknown offers like Maxus and Silence. And strangely, Hyundai, who did not share the same hall as Kia but brought along some exciting cars.
This hall also features the Avenue, allowing representation for a few companies that did not want to go all-in. Alpina, Aston Martin, Jaguar-Land Rover, Lotus, McLaren and Mercedes showcased one or two luxury cars and some hostesses to collect names from interested buyers.
Paleis 7 features some impressive halls, with market leader BMW announcing a strange premiere that was to be the 5 series. Still, in the end, they brought along the new X5, only to show it under embargo. Mini also delivered a decent show, with a concept and other spectacles.
The rest of the hall is shared by some Asian brands like Toyota, Lexus and Subaru, Nissan, Kia and BYD. There was a massive amount of substance in this hall.
Palais 11 is home to D’Ieteren, Belgium’s well-known industrialist family, importer of the VW Group cars and much more.
And ALL of the VW Group brands are here: the list includes Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Cupra (they are a brand now!), Lamborghini, Porsche, Rimac, Seat, Skoda and, of course, Volkswagen.
Stage sizes may vary, but even small stages offer a lot of wow factor, like Bentley showcasing a classic pre-war car next to its current model.
Additionally, Swiss roller manufacturer Microlino came with a stage featuring its cute little electric cars.
Palais 9 is a hall connecting the above four halls, hosting a few brands with no or lesser presence, like BAIC, DFSK, Dodge, RAM, Seres, Smart, SWM and XEV (in alphabetical order).
The big novelty of Brussels this year is the inauguration of the Car of the year award. For that, a stage featuring all candidates was accommodated in Palais 9, and the Dome hosted the ceremony. COTY was honoured with a podium last year too, but the award was held up until Geneva. This year, the award took place in Brussels already. If you ask us, the timing is even better.
The next hall also showcased a selection of old cars that made history, like the Benz Patentwagen, the Ford T, or the Topolino, 2CV and the first VW Golf. The list follows a timeline and reaches until fairly recent cars like the Tesla Model S and the BMW I3.
The show offers a lot of entertainment, beyond buying a new car, like simulators of all kinds (from Playstations to purpose-built hydraulic systems), and the participation of the Belgian armed forces. The Belgian Air Force came with a simulator to advertise the arrival of their pride, the brand-new F35 fighter jet.
The ground forces brought some really impressive vehicles, custom-made for various military purposes, like mine-proof personal carriers and tow trucks that could probably move even a bunker.
In the beginning, we spoke of five halls, but actually, there is a fifth one. Since January, Palais 1 is featuring a truly impressive James Bond exhibition.
The organisers managed to collect four dozen actual vehicles with many small-scale models and memorabilia. This is a full-scale show and will last for many weeks to come, so if you missed it or plan to visit Brussels in the near future, make sure to check out their website!
[…] The Brussels Motor Show is on, big time! […]