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As we told you earlier this week, tomorrow kicks of the first press day of the Paris Motor Show, and with it the debut of several new Mercedes models, two of which include the SLR McLaren 722 Edition and the CL63 AMG.
In preparation for the event, Mercedes today has published an extensive press release taking a look back at the show and
their past relationship with it, describing at length former Mercedes model debuts, visitor statistics, and a general overview tracing the show's illustrious history.
If you have some free time, we invite you to take a moment and read about the history of Mercedes and the Paris Motor Show for yourself.
Enjoy.
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
Part 1: Paris - "The capital of the automobile"
Part 2: Mounting Enthusiasm
Part 3: Salon de l’Auto
Part 4: Self-confident automotive industry
Part 5: Post Second World War: Cars for all
Part 6: Huge rise in visitor numbers
Part 7: Stuttgart premieres in Paris
Paris –“The capital of the automobile”
“The cradle of the automobile is French. So, too, was the first motor show.” Confident words from the organizers of the 2006 Salon Mondial de l’Automobile in their brief outline of the history of the Paris Motor Show. Mobility’s fairytale journey with the automobile, they continue, began in France. And the Paris Show has always remained a steadfast accompaniment to the industry’s towering achievements.
Although the car was invented almost simultaneously in 1886 by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, early successes and ultimate breakthrough for the innovative means of transportation from Germany can indeed be ascribed to the neighbors across the border in France. Whereas Germans initially viewed the automobile with a good deal of skepticism, it received a warm welcome from the more fashionable, technology-loving Parisian society. It was with some justification, therefore, that an internal document from Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) dated 1902 described France as: “the number one country of automo-bilism” since in no other country had the car “gained anywhere near as firm a foothold as there.”
Albert de Dion co-founded the Automobile Club de France in November 1895, and in 1898 this organization established the world’s first International Motor Show on the terraces of the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. Staged from June 15 to July 3, the 232 vehicles exhibited attracted 140,000 admiring visitors. And in order to persuade the public of the efficiency of this new form of transportation, the car manufacturers even offered test drives to Versailles 20 kilometers away.
The first issue of the magazine Der Motorwagen (“The Motor Car”) published the following account of the exhibition: “At this dazzling display of gasoline-powered motor cars it is perhaps only right that one should pay homage to the contributions made by the German engineers, Benz in Mannheim and Daimler in Cannstatt, in introducing and to some extent facilitating the spread of these vehicles in France – something that is always freely attested there both in specialist literature and by those working in the industry.”
It is certainly fair to say that two German engineers can also be considered the founders of the French automotive industry. With the assistance of French business partners, the pair presented their vehicles at the 1889 World Exposition in Paris. Representation by Emil Roger in the dying years of the nineteenth century played a major part in the distribution of Benz automobiles, and the Frenchmen Réné Panhard and Émile Levassor used Daimler engines in their own car designs to secure for themselves the reputation as France’s first motor car manufacturers. At the first International Motor Show the French Automobile Club collected a sum of 30,000 Francs to erect a monument to Émile Levassor, the automobile pioneer who died as the result of a racing accident in 1897.
“The Daimler Motor Car Company brought to the exhibition two Victoria cars and a heavy-duty truck for five-tonne loads,” wrote Der Motorwagen at the time of the first motor show in Paris. “In terms of engine noise and performance these vehicles were far superior to French products.” The magazine reported that Benz automobiles were also represented at the first Paris Motor Show: “The Maison Parisienne company of Paris exhibited a number of extremely attractive vehicles with between two and twelve seats. This company is mainly involved in the distribution and fitting of engines from the Rheinischen Gasmotorenfabrik Benz & Co. (Mannheim) in France and has achieved very significant successes on behalf of the parent company.”
Mounting enthusiasm
Such was the enthusiasm triggered by the car in turn-of-the-century Paris that soon the show was experiencing a shortage of exhibition space. So in late 1901 the Paris Motor Show moved to the exhibition premises of the Grand Palais on the Champs-Elysées. Still the world’s largest surviving glass palace, the Grand Palais was built in 1900 for the World Exposition and now provided a highly glamorous platform for the fledgling automotive industry: The art nouveau hall measured 240 meters in length and 40 meters in height and was covered by a 15,000 square-meter glass roof. But by 1904 the motor show had already out-grown even the Grand Palais. So trucks were diverted instead to the nearby Cours La Reine.
It should be noted that the organizers of the Exposition Universelle were initially anything but happy at the idea of a separate motor show being staged and in 1900 they attempted to have it closed down. But the attempts failed, and from that moment on there was no stopping the triumphal march of the automobile.
With the advent of electricity, the 1902 Paris Motor Show was quite literally seen in a new light. 230,000 visitors gazed in equal wonderment at the lighting concepts and presentations by the cinematographers. As for the cars, it was above all the foreign products like Mercedes that caught the eye and awakened public interest. And with each passing year the motor show would repeatedly present technical innovations and improvements in car design. “The Paris Motor Show developed into an institution people came to associate with new discoveries,” is how show organizers in 2006 assessed its early years, citing as prime examples the widespread interest shown in the four-cylinder engine and the introduction of shock absorbers.
In 1933 the journal Automobil-Rundschau ran a retrospective which put forward the view that the relatively large foreign representation at motor shows in the early part of the twentieth century was fairly typical. The show of 1903 offered the following analysis. “For the German automotive industry the motor show had at least proved one thing beyond doubt: That in the international car market one German product led the world. Everyone was copying Mercedes. There was barely a car without a Mercedes hood, barely an engine without controlled exhaust valves, without magneto ignition, without the Mercedes cooling system. All in all, it was effectively a ‘Salon de Mercedes’, as one French specialist journal accurately commented.” The article went on in similarly exuberant vein: “Mercedes cars from the Cannstatt factory are far and away the most important products at the show, and their influence on the French industry as a whole is unmistakable. After that comes Benz from Mannheim, with a car every bit the equal of the best French models.”
But, as ever, popularity has both an upside and a downside, for it rapidly brings imitators into the arena. Motor shows always presented the ideal opportunity for sizing up the competition – and checking out their impact on potential customers. At the 1905 Salon for example the Parisian Mercedes representative C. L. Charley issued an internal memo, saying that in terms of robustness competitors had absolutely caught up with the Mercedes brand. “In certain details we have seen improvements which Mercedes do not yet have.” The Frenchman warned of the serious consequences this could have for the manufacturers from Untertürkheim. “Those customers”, he said, “who have so far remained loyal were now more than ready to abandon Mercedes and turn to other makes.” But the Stuttgart company set store by what they were able to do best – innovate. And with that they maintained their technological advantage.
The official opening of the Paris Motor Show on October 17, 1913, – the last show before the outbreak of the First World War – was over-shadowed by a transportation disaster. On the day of its delivery to the Imperial Navy, the new German LZ 18 airship was destroyed by fire. The French president Raymond Poincaré took the opportunity of a visit to the Benz stand “to express his regret at the horrific Zeppelin tragedy, which had left a very dispirited mood among the German exhibitors at the motor show,” wrote the Berliner Tageblatt newspaper. The report also mentioned that the show had been “very tastefully decorated and in a thoroughly integrated style.” Nevertheless, this did not prevent the lighting failing during the evening – “having functioned perfectly during the visit of the President.”
Prior to the First World War the Paris Motor Show was a platform for innovation in automotive design. Fundamentally it provided an ideal opportunity to observe how the car was developing its own design style and how in terms of appearance it was distancing itself ever farther from the horse-drawn carriages which had once served as models for the first automobiles. Moreover, the last show before the First World War gave visitors a glimpse into the future of automotive design. When the Model-T Ford was exhibited in Paris, Europeans were introduced to the first series vehicle designed for mass production.
Salon de l’Auto
After the First World War, the Paris Motor Show opened its doors once again in 1919, now under the new name Salon de l’Auto. It celebrated the era of industrial mass production in Europe. André Citroën presented his Type A model, a vehicle he called “Europe’s first democratic car.” Citroën was capable of producing 100 Type A units a day and could therefore tap into a much larger customer base.
That same year also saw the foundation in Paris of the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles (OICA, International Organisation of Motor Manufacturers). Still with its seat in Paris, the umbrella organization today supervises all international motor shows and today numbers 42 national manufacturers federations among its members. Since 2004 the president of OICA has been Bernd Gottschalk, chairman of the German Motor Industry Federation (VDA).
In 1923 the Paris show organizers agreed with OICA that the Salon de l’Auto would open on the first Thursday in October. Throughout the 1920s the motor show also began to develop an idiosyncratic style in keeping with the Grand Palais. This meant, among other things, that lighting and hall equipment served exclusively to display the vehicles in the best setting possible.
In the early post-war years, however, the Paris Motor Show also suffered from the consequences of the First World War and the major economic and political upheavals of the 1920s. In 1920 and 1925 the Motor Show was cancelled altogether and replaced at the Grand Palais by the Arts and Crafts Exhibition. Having lost the war, German and Austrian manufacturers were initially prohibited from exporting goods and could not therefore take part in the first post-war salons as exhibitors; an internal Daimler report dated 1921 about a visit to the 16th International Motor Show in Paris stated that all the major manufacturing nations were present, with the exception of the two countries previously mentioned.
Despite this, however, the Paris show now had a decisively national flavor compared with the pre-war period. In 1921 foreign manufacturers made up barely ten percent of all passenger cars and commercial vehicles shown. The author of an internal document blamed on the one hand “the colossal expenses associated with such a show” and on the other “the limited opportunities for selling large volumes of cars.”
This set of circumstances also had visible consequences on the vehicles most commonly seen on the roads in the early 1920s: “Although France owned enormous war stocks of American cars, and Fords in particular, barely two or three percent of Paris traffic was made up of Ford vehicles,” wrote the magazine Motor at the time of the 1924 Salon. The author went on in the article to express a wish that some of the French glamour might spill over into neighboring Germany: “Paris and France regard the automobile more as a social object. The motor show is celebrated as a kind of social and sporting event – from which incidentally the organizers make money. Both the daily press and illustrated magazines have become very effective pacemakers for the car and true cultural platforms to which the car in France owes much of its popularity. In this respect there remains much useful work to be done back home in Germany.”
After skipping a year in 1925, the Paris Motor Show celebrated its 20th edition in 1926. Almost 1,500 exhibitors took up the invitation, about 300 more than two years previously. “The entire European automotive industry was in America’s thrall,”
wrote the newspaper B.Z. am Mittag. It was reported that on the one hand French industry was suffering on account of the strong dollar, and on the other because its own currency was unstable. “The American six-cylinder, the American’s amply equipped and extremely well appointed car, is not without impact with its ease of use, quiet engine and other benefits, including attractive prices,” suggested the writer for B.Z. am Mittag. He added that he hoped the French would experience greater immunity to overseas competition than had some other European countries.
During the second half of the 1920s the Paris Motor Show once again became an international meeting place and a highlight of the calendar for manufacturers. An internal marketing paper for Daimler-Benz – Benz & Cie. merged with Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in 1926 – even described the 1928 Paris show as “the most important event of the year for the automotive industry.” Accordingly the German car manu-facturer chose to unveil its new eight-cylinder to the world for the first time.
In 1928 ADAC-Motorwelt spoke of Europe’s “most valuable show for propaganda purposes … If you want to do business on the European markets you simply have to leave your business card at Paris.” Clearly, however, this was just to make one’s presence felt. “It would be utterly wrong to think immediately in terms of sales successes. Conditions on the French market are such that a 45-percent customs duty excludes the possibility of significant sales for foreign products. Success is really only to be achieved by going via the roundabout means of the international press.” Out of 110 exhibitors, 64 were French and 27 from America. Europe was represented by the remaining 19 brands.
But Mercedes-Benz was extremely pleased with its presence in the French capital. “Our exhibits met with an excellent response from the public – from both laymen and specialists alike,” said one employee. “I frequently heard expressions such as ‘fine engineering’, ‘German workmanship’, ‘solid craftsmanship’ and ‘that’s Mercedes’ being bandied around. The products we exhibited attracted a great deal of attention – a fact underlined by the cool response from our French competitors.”
Even in those days the historic Mercedes-Benz brand operated on the basis that ‘less is more’. “At Paris the stands of most companies were rather overburdened with exhibits,” reported one employee. “Without doubt, the impact of the stand on visitors is lessened if every available space is occupied by a vehicle. The overview of individual objects is lost and visitors are all crowded into a small area.”
Self-confident automotive industry
In the 1930s the German automotive industry once again got back on its feet – and exuded renewed self-confidence in Paris. The newspaper Bremer Nachrichten published an article on the 1934 Paris Motor Show which ran with the headline: “Superiority of German passenger cars”, and the Rheinisch-Westfälische Zeitung focused its reporting on “the influence of German designs on French truck manufacture.”
“It is no longer a secret that the German automotive industry has enjoyed a wonderful revival,” wrote the newspaper L’Auto on October 4, 1934. “Certainly, a company such as that of Mercedes-Benz – two names one comes across so often in the history of automotive design – has never ceased to develop its technology and to remain in the vanguard of progress. [...] We owe these two names a debt of gratitude for perfecting features of outstanding importance, such as the steel chassis, the use of bearings in general and the first engines to have a proper idle speed. This same will, quickened by the same professionalism, once again accompanies the beautiful Mercedes-Benz exhibition in the halls of the Grand Palais.”
Nevertheless, the German manufacturers in Paris still presented their models without recording any significant sales in France itself. “The nationalist attitude of the French people, very high duties on passenger cars and quota regulations make sales in France almost impossible,” wrote the Berliner Tageblatt. Mercedes-Benz circumvented the problem by signing license agreements with the French manufacturers Delaunay-Belleville and Unic for car and truck diesel engines, thus enabling the company to achieve sales of its own products.
Yet despite all the sales and market obstacles, the Paris Motor Show was a must for international manufacturers. “For countries which speak the Latin-based languages, Paris is t h e automobile market,” wrote the Berliner Tageblatt. In a Daimler-Benz AG board memo of 1934, management at the German manufacturers went even further and described the International Motor Show in Paris as “the representative show not just for France but for the entire world,” and of huge significance for the position of German motor-powered vehicles on the international market: “By sending exhibits to this motor show we have done everything in our power to support the efforts of the imperial government to increase exports.” In addition to presenting at the official show, the Stuttgart manufacturer also broadened the overview of its product range with demonstration vehicles and a special display at its own Paris sales outlet on the Champs-Élysées.
By the mid 1930s, however, the Salon’s importance threatened to slip into decline. While German manufacturers were doing well, France was mired in a currency and economic crisis. Louder than ever before, the French public were calling for small, affordable cars. “The Paris Motor Show has always been international,” wrote the Bonner Generalanzeiger in 1936. “Once again automotive specialists have come from all over the world and exhibitor numbers have been good, but the focus of development has shifted and now threatens to weaken the Paris Motor Show’s former powers of attraction. The reason for this is the mighty rise of the German automotive industry. Now it is Berlin that sets the tone.” Similar disillusionment with the Paris show was also expressed by the newspaper Deutscher Motor der Tschechoslowakei: “In terms of innovations and new ideas, the 1936 Salon has to be declared the poorest of all the 30 shows held to date in the French capital.”
To make matters worse, the 31st show staged in 1937 suffered at the hands of what the Frankfurter Zeitung described as “an all-powerful rival”. “Almost half of the Grand Palais has been taken over by the World Exposition, so that very little remains of the traditional platform for vehicles.” According to the report, the reduced exhibition space accommodated no notable sensations nor any significant innovations. For brands like Mercedes-Benz, however, the concurrent staging of the World Exposition was a stroke of good fortune: “Given the large number of foreign visitors the World Exposition will attract to Paris, this year’s Paris Motor Show will receive increased attention,” said one press release. “The loyalty that Daimler-Benz has always shown to the French market, and the efforts it has made to foster and cement relations with its foreign customers, should help focus the attention of visitors on the products exhibited by Mercedes-Benz in particular.”
Daimler-Benz did not just exhibit at the Salon: Along with other products displayed at the German pavilion, the company also proudly showed its record-breaking World Record car. This sleek racing machine, with which Mercedes-Benz lifted twelve out of 23 “German National Prizes” between 1934 and 1937, was just one example of the outstanding engineering that attracted an admiring public at the World Exposition.
But the motor show itself proved a disappointment for German manufacturers. “All things considered, this year’s Paris Show can be described as ‘moderate’”, wrote an employee from the Motor Show department in a memo to the general director at Daimler-Benz Wilhelm Kissel. “In my opinion the overall impression fell some way short of the motor shows staged in Brussels and Geneva the previous year and was far exceeded by the this year’s London Show.”
On the other hand, the magazine Der Motorist left criticisms aside to remind its readership of the Salon’s international dimension: “It may well be true that the infrastructure, organization and overall unity of the Paris show cannot compare with our Berlin show – for this is unparalleled in terms of its size and visitor numbers. But no other show this year will have the international automotive industry present in such numbers as has once again been the case in Paris.”
But in 1938 the Salon was faced with more competition – this time serious: The London Motor Show opened its doors on the same day as Paris. In fact the Salon had been asked by the manufacturers’ umbrella organization to open a week earlier. But because of the international political tensions and associated military measures the show had suffered a shortage of personnel, with the result that the original date had had to be abandoned.
Nevertheless, the Allgemeine Zeitung Chemnitz wrote: “In its entirety the Salon has shown an agreeable, tasteful development.” As the previous year, the 1938 show attracted about 800 manufacturers and suppliers to Paris. Although Mercedes-Benz did not present any new cars that year in Paris, the stand mounted by the German manufacturers still proved a magnet for the public: “Show interest focused on the Mercedes-Benz racing car.” According to the same newspaper the Stuttgart manufacturer also drew considerable interest at the much smaller 70-exhibitor London Show, although with a rather different and more down-to-earth type of car. Here Mercedes-Benz unveiled to the world its colonial and hunting vehicle, a four-wheel-steered and four-wheel-driven model. The Chemnitz journalists were amazed at the abilities of the G 5. “The car can cope with 64-percent inclines. It can go where other ordinary vehicles cannot go.”
In general, however, the Paris International Motor Show – almost all-powerful at the turn of the century – visibly lost importance during the 1930s. Competition became too stiff. The motor show in Berlin helped launch business with central Europe and the Balkans, and even the Swiss and Belgians – whose linguistic bond had hitherto made them traditional customers for the French – increasingly began to look to Germany. On the other hand, most overseas trade was transacted via London. But although German involvement in Paris was in fundamental decline, Mercedes-Benz continued to remain loyal to the Salon.
Post Second World War: Cars for all
After the Second World War the Paris Motor Show quickly picked up where it had left off during its golden years. Early reporting in the German media talked of the “motor show to end all motor shows.” The venue for the first post-war Salon in 1946 was once again the Grand Palais. “When I reached the Cours la Reine on the morning of the official opening, I saw a queue of people that wound its way down to the River Seine,” recalls the show’s former director Mautin. “The war had robbed people of their cars, this show brought them back again. The Salon brought life back to Paris.” The first Paris Motor Show after the Second World War attracted 800,000 visitors. But the symbol of French revival showed almost exclusively home-grown cars: Louis Renault, for example, showed his 4 CV, the French “Volkswagen”.
However, there was unease in many quarters about the national dominance of the international motor show. In 1949 the Paris newspaper L’Argus complained that the participation of foreign manufacturers in the 36th Salon would be in question owing to economic restrictions: “The French authorities should know that in order for the Paris Motor Show to retain its international character all foreign brands should be represented there, and that the influx of French and foreign visitors – a source of income for Parisian commerce (hotels and luxury goods) and for foreign exchange (both official and invisible exports) – depends to a large extent on its presence.”
Initially Daimler-Benz AG also had considerable difficulty procuring the necessary visas for employees, as documented in correspondence with the show organizers. German companies were authorized to take part for the first time again in 1949, but since space was severely restricted the show organizers decided to invite only one German company: Daimler-Benz. In the end the paperwork was sorted out and at the “Motor Show of Contrasts”, as it was labeled by the Stuttgarter Zeitung, Daimler-Benz presented the new Mercedes-Benz 170S. The newspaper considered the Salon to be one of ‘contrasts’ because it brought together “cars for two groups of people: the ordinary man and the millionaire.”
“The first and only innovation noticed by the uninhibited visitor on entering the Grand Palais – according to the newspaper France Soir – is the electric ceiling lighting with which the house architect had succeeded in creating an intimate atmosphere in the large glass hall,” noted Auto- und Motorradwelt in 1950. For its part, however, the magazine considered it a thoroughly important innovation “that the cars exhibited could now be purchased and not just looked at.”
Nevertheless, import duties in France were so high that it was almost impossible for foreign companies to be competitive there. A stand in Paris was above all crucial if manufacturers were to reach an international public and develop foreign business. The magazine Automobilrevue wrote that the commercial success of the 1950 Salon far out-stripped those of the previous two years: “The companies exhibiting at the show all agreed – and openly expressed the view – that the Paris Motor Show had the major advantage over Geneva, London and Turin that it was at the center of the European economy. Thanks to this, the Paris Motor Show developed into a very important meeting point for trade for specialists from all over the world.”
Huge rise in visitor numbers
At the 1950 Motor Show the Parisian press labeled the 170 D, the diesel version of what was then the most popular Mercedes-Benz passenger car, a sensation: “The vehicle was hailed a masterpiece of automotive design for its reliability and performance, as well as for its fuel efficiency,” reported the Automobilrevue. And there were plenty of visitors who agreed – in common with other motor shows the Salon was bursting at the seams. For this reason the passenger cars were exhibited at the Grand Palais, whereas the commercial vehicles and motorcycles moved to their own space at the Porte de Versailles.
In October 1951 Daimler-Benz unveiled the Mercedes-Benz 300S at the Paris show. In addition to the coupe variant, which went into series production in 1952, there was also a Cabriolet A and a roadster. But the Stuttgart company did not send their Unimog to the show, as requested by dealer Charles Delecroix, because it did not want to run the risk of being refused an import license: “Exhibiting the Unimog at the Paris Motor Show would have provided the French authorities with evidence that the Unimog was not to be seen as a purely agricultural vehicle, which could give rise to the possibility of it being taken out of the list of tractors approved for importation,” explained the board of management at Daimler-Benz AG.
In 1953 the world’s public also got their first glimpse of the Mercedes-Benz 180 in Paris, “a new design with various special features that departed from the conventional Mercedes-Benz design,” as the magazine Auto put it. “Of particular note is the absence of the tubu-lar frame chassis that had dominated the entire model series of Mercedes-Benz for almost two decades.”
During the 1950s the Paris Motor Show once again became truly international – the number of foreign exhibitors and visitors grew year on year. “Of course part of the unique atmosphere of the Paris Motor Show is that it truly exhibits world production in its entirety,” wrote the Kfz-Fachblatt in 1955. From the 1950s onwards the show organizers also focused on specific key themes. These covered topics such as new road traffic guidelines, safety, and improvements in brake systems. In 1957 the theme chosen with the intention of inspiring truck design was “Sahara”.
While the 1950s represented the rebirth of the Mercedes-Benz brand throughout France and the rest of the world – due in no small measure to its presence at the motor show – in the 1960s the company put to good use the innovative and robust image it had acquired at the show to expand in France. The automotive economy in general was set on a growth course – as was the Paris show in particular. For reasons of space the Salon moved in 1962 to the exhibition center at Porte de Versailles, where it has remained until the present day.
The new venue not only brought a significant expansion to the size of the exhibition area – it now catered for 100,000 square meters of stand space – but also a change in concept. The European automotive industry moved into the limelight, even if the show’s objective was to make Paris the focus of the car world. Thanks to the increased space, the 1962 show also exhibited for the first time used vehicles, caravans, motorcycles and accessories.
In the mid-1960s the show organizers wanted to give visitors the opportunity to recognize the competition that went on between manufacturers and refocused the event accordingly. The Paris show thus increasingly turned the spotlight on themes such as safety, fuel efficiency and the environment. Ever since then successive show directors have attempted to embrace the slogan “Times change. So does the car.” as a kind of leitmotif for the concept of the show.
By the 1970s the other European show cities had long since caught up with Paris. But the various international shows around the world were proving too much for the manufacturers. They were neither able nor wanted to be present everywhere, and it was just not possible to unveil a new sensation for each public. More importantly, perhaps, the manufacturers feared that by presenting the new models too early they might endanger sales of the vehicles themselves. They therefore selected very carefully where and when they would celebrate each premiere.
For this reason the Paris organizers decided that from 1976 onwards the show would only be held every two years. Since then the industry has convened every fall alternately in Paris and Frankfurt/Main: Paris for passenger cars and industrial vehicles in even years, Frankfurt for passenger cars in uneven years. The French took advantage of the respite during uneven years to exhibit motorcycles in the “capital of the automobile.” 1988 saw a further significant development when the French changed the name of the show to Mondial de l’Automobile (“World of the Automobile”). It was the organizers’ way of underscoring more emphatically the Salon’s international dimension.
From the 1990s onwards the Mondial de l’Automobile focused on specific themes. In 1990, for example, an “Espace Jeune” was set up to provide information for the younger generation on careers in the transport and logistics industry. The theme for 1992, “Cars and People” dedicated one room to all-terrain vehicles and collector’s pieces. Then in 1994 the slogan “Dreams in motion” focused on cars that have appeared in movies and the history of motor racing.
The event organizers hailed the Paris Motor Show as an important source of orders for the industry. A visit to the show would generally result in a respectable flow of orders with the manufacturers in mid-October. “It is not just a giant showcase for the public to admire models from all over the world, it is also a meeting place for professionals from all sectors of automobile-related industry and trade,” said the press office of Mondial de l’Automobile. “Many manufacturers decide to present their latest models in Paris, the city which has been from the beginning the Capital of the Automobile.”
The process of concentration within the automotive industry meant that over its history the Salon saw a gradual decline in the number of manufacturers. However, the number of exhibitors across the full range of car-related industries continued to rise year on year, as did visitor numbers. The number of visitors first exceeded the one million mark in 1954, in 2004 the figure was just short of 1.5 million – a new record. That makes the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris in the eyes of the public currently number one in the world.
Stuttgart premieres in Paris
For Mercedes-Benz the Paris Motor Show has always been a prime opportunity to present innovations to the world’s public. One need only consider a few examples taken from the last twenty years: At the 1988 Paris Motor Show, for example, the 560 SE expanded the model range of the W 126 series. In October 1992 Paris was again the venue for the presentation of the 300 SE 2.8 and 300 SD Turbodiesel, which added two lower-priced and particularly economical variants to the S-Class range. And the 300 SD caused quite a stir when it was presented as the first diesel model in the S-Class in Europe.
At the Paris Motor Show in September 1998 the public was introduced to six S-Class sedans from W 220 series, which succeeded the W 140 series after seven and a half years. In Paris in 2000 the Stuttgart company unveiled its improved and luxuriously revamped G-Class for model year 2001 with its innovative 8-cylinder diesel unit. In addition, the other corporate brands also presented their innovations at the International Motor Show in Paris. In 2004, for example, the public were able to catch a first glimpse of the smart forfour cdi and the smart for-four edition sportstyle.
The Stuttgart manufacturer also saw the Salon as an opportunity to unveil concept vehicles and in so doing put under scrutiny its position as a leader of innovation. In fall 1994, for example, the SLK II study caused a sensation when it was shown at the Paris Motor Show. The sporty and compact roadster presented a pioneering roof design – an electro-hydraulic vario roof which at the touch of a button could convert the vehicle within 25 seconds into a convertible or a coupe suitable for winter weather. With that Mercedes-Benz became the first car manufacturer to breathe new life into a traditional roof design.
DaimlerChrysler has also dreamed up something really special for 2006. As soon as the doors of the Paris Motor Show close on this year’s innovations, 33 E-Class models featuring state-of-the-art diesel technology will set off on a journey from Paris to Beijing. Much of the trip will trace in reverse the route taken by the first transcontinental car race in history, the 1907 event from Beijing to Paris.
The 13,000-kilometer journey will cross eight national borders and in places will take in almost impassable terrain, giving the new E-Class generation the opportunity to prove not only the performance of its advanced diesel technology but also its safe and self-assured handling. The aim of the event – to show the car’s possibilities – is therefore not dissimilar to the demonstration drives offered at the first ever Paris Motor Show of 1898. Except, of course, that Versailles was rather closer to home than Beijing.
Copyright © 2006, DaimlerChrysler AG
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