This year, I returned from Frankfurt with a sinking feeling that the age of car shows might be over. Signs were already there in Paris last year but never felt more evident than in this year’s IAA.
I would not enter into the details over why the European international car shows are going down. Still, it is interesting to see that the smaller, less prominent shows are less affected. It seems that car manufacturers are increasingly going local with smaller car shows, where small pavilions suffice to ensure presence.
While the Brussels Car Show seemed unaffected by the crisis, the Belgians developed a fundamentally different concept for the autumn period. With these smaller pavilions, manufacturers ensure a local presence and gear up viable demand for the end of year gold rush.
From 10 to 13 October 2019, the centre of Knokke Heist (the main road Kustlaan and the fashionable promenade of the Albertplein) provided appropriate background for a dozen pavilions and spectacular car podia.
19 premium and luxury car brands decorated the boardwalk with their latest models and Belgian premieres.
The event can be best described as an open-air car show with premium and luxury brands. The posh city centre and the high-end Concours d’Elegance provide an atmospheric setting and the perfect environment to discover the most beautiful and most recent cars.
While the event is free, be prepared that some of the high -end pavilions might not be accessible for the general audience. Nevertheless, even these brands compensated visitor by showcased cars in the exterior.
If there is one major Achilles-heel to these events that will be the weather. Indeed the rainy weekend did not spare the Zoute, probably curbing their hopes of new visitor records. Below I will give some (reasonably wet) visual impressions of the various stages.
Porsche, Bentley Bugatti and Lamborghini
Starting from the far side, the first pavilion houses three high-end luxury brands Porsche, Bentley Bugatti and Lamborghini. The building itself is dedicated to Porsche’s Formula E debut with a race car in the middle of the hall.
Outside Bentley was showcasing a new Continental GT Convertible, an essence of the truly British luxury brand, along with the Bentayga Hybrid and a Mulsanne.
Lamborghini treats hypercar lovers to three specimens, a Huracán Spyder, and an Evo Spyder and also a Urus.
Bugatti also showcased a Chiron outside the pavilion, giving a stark contrast to the absence at Frankfurt. They did not spare a Chiron that was showcased without physical barriers. Still, the real deal was, of course, the Concours, with many Bugattis including the Centodieci.
Audi showcased three red Sport models with a Belgian premiere: the Audi RS Q3 Sportback, the Audi RS 4 Avant and the Audi RS 6 Avant.
On the other side of the exhibition area (the Kunstlaan), an Audi R8 LMS GT2, the endurance racing version of the R8 is on display on a podium along with a series version.
Jaguar & Land Rover
Jaguar and Land Rover share a joint site with two pavilions to exhibit their luxurious, sporty SUV models. The eye-catcher is the Jaguar I-PACE eTrophy.
Jaguar also parked quite a few cars on the beachside around the pavilion, including the new IPace and EPace models.
Lexus
Lexus launched a national newsletter campaign for its stand at this year’s Zoute Grand Prix, showing Belgian premieres like the Lexus RX 450h and other models.
Aston Martin
In its pavilion, Aston Martin presented the DBS Superleggera Volante. This Cabrio is the luxury marque’s flagship car, together with the coupé. It will be Belgium’s first look at this model.
Alfa Romeo
Inside its pavilion, Alfa Romeo exhibited a true classic, an Alfa Romeo RL Super Sport, winner of the prestigious 1923 Targa Florio, one of the world’s legendary races.
Outside, the pavilion was surrounded by contemporary Alfas, it is useful to note that Belgium (and the wider region) is a traditional stronghold of Alfa Romeos.
This is equally valid to the new car market, but also as one of the hotspots for Italian classics, as evidenced by the Concours.
Rolls-Royce & McLaren
In Belgium, the Ginion Group ensures stronger presence at Belgian car events than their German and French counterparties, when it comes to the luxury brands Rolls-Royce and McLaren. Except for the brilliant Richard Mille stage, showcasing racing and road legal McLarens at Rétromobile. The city centre was populated by at least a dozen McLaren cars spread at various locations. For a reminder, the largest fleet I saw at the IAA enumerated five McLarens, and that was some years ago).
The pavilion promised four Belgian premières and also the presence of the Pininfarina Battista, at least before the Concours.
The pavilion also inaugurated the McLaren GT, the McLaren 600LT Spider and the McLaren 720S Coupé Apex Collection, which was announced only two weeks earlier but could already be admired at the Zoute.
There were several Rolls Royce models equally spread around the pavilion, the exterior and the podiums on the other road.
Alpine
This year, Alpine introduced the new Alpine A110S to the Belgian public, with an occasional start to give an impression of the sound this car conjures out of a four-cylinder.
In addition, two of these light and sporty coupés will be exhibited: one on Kustlaan and one on the dyke.
Ferrari
The Ferrari Pavilion was one of the restricted areas where guards turned away visitors. This might sound dire, but I still recall the long queue even for journalists at the Press section of the IAA 2017. To get near a Ferrari remains a privilege.
BMW
The Bavarian pavilion was laid out as a public show with open access, where visitors can walk through the pavilion to see exciting exhibits and can also make first hand contact with a few exotic masterpieces.
The concept car of the upcoming 4 series was unveiled a few weeks ago in Frankfurt, foreshadowing the new design with the excessive kidneys.
BMW’s current offering was represented by a 7 series and a brand new 8 series GT.
Mercedes-Benz
The Mercedes pavilion serves to showcase the brand’s electric aspirations. The EQS silver arrow steals the show everywhere, Zoute is no exception.
Some conventional combustion models are showcased outside, and on the Kunstlaan, most of them are the brand’s reminiscent V8 dinosaurs.
Finally, I include below a few pictures of the two-car podiums lined up on the pavement of the Kunstlaan. Most of these cars are high-end luxury products that visitors get to see as part of the scenery.
What makes these podiums particularly family-friendly, is the backdrop of the luxury shops in the city centre. These shops render the visit also enjoyable to even those who would get filled up with the sight of luxury cars rather soon. This is where the Zoute has a lot to offer, also to the missus, going beyond the events targeted at petrolheads.
