Munich Motor Show: A Press Day Diary

↳ Press day, 6:50am

My phone alarm sounds. For a moment, I have no idea where I am, then begin the usual morning inventory of aches and pains. Exhausted. I left the window ajar overnight for some fresh air, so the announcements from Munich’s main station, just next door, are drifting in. This is only the second motor show I’ve attended in eight years; strange to remember when three or four a year were a routine part of the diary. Coffee first.

↳ 7:05am

There is just enough time for a shower and a brief session staring at the wall. Then a wardrobe check before leaving the room. Today’s look is ‘out-of-work car designer’: suit jacket, pale black jumper. Motor shows once required wedding-level formality, largely because you would be mixing with significant executive types. These days they all wear trainers, and nobody seems quite sure how to respond.

↳ 7:24am

I am on a shuttle. Being driven around town in comfort is a perk, although it rests on the slightly degrading, entirely fair assumption that journalists cannot be relied upon to arrive anywhere unaided.

Photography: Alex Tapley

↳ 8:03am

Ah, the Messe exhibition hall. As I escape the claustrophobic terror of the revolving door, there is an immediate hit of nostalgia. It is manually operated, a fact that takes me about six seconds to work out. The scent must come from the exhibition carpets: they absorb a lifetime’s worth of foot traffic in one week before ending up in a skip. The main entrance resembles a railway station without rails, built from glass and enormous screens.

↳ 8:19am

On the Opel stand, I spot the Corsa concept. Even when standing beside it, the thing appears to be a CGI rendering. I have never really grasped the purpose of concept cars; most are fairly ridiculous. Still, it vaguely brings to mind the scene in Devil Wears Prada where Meryl Streep’s fearsome magazine editor coolly explains that Anne Hathaway’s bulky blue jumper resulted from a succession of industry choices made over years. It is essentially the same principle.

↳ 8:42am

The show occupies six halls from a possible 16 - or five and a half, if A3’s existential despondency counts. It is only partly filled, with a scattering of tiny, stripped-back wooden trade stands, while a pen of food trucks dominates the space. I feel a flicker of pity for the desolate-looking representatives exiled from head office for the week. Every company seems to have a misspelt name. Surprice, Moter and Protean sit in one row, all competing for obscure yet presumably vital B2B deals.

↳ 8:56am

Turkish car maker TOGG is preparing to launch. Its backdrop carries the slogan “Togg’ether beyond”, which fails on rather a lot of levels. This is what occurs when you feed a marketing manager after midnight. The actual car is a generic crossover with an enormous grille.

↳ 9:09am

I run into Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders chief Mike Hawes. He is occupied with sorting out the British car industry, but not so occupied that he cannot spare a moment for a chat. I used to work for him; it is not as though I am especially well connected. He likes motor shows of this sort - perhaps Birmingham could return.

↳ 9:23am

I attempt to see the XPeng press conference, but a) it is packed, b) it is in Chinese - headsets are available, though getting one would require battling through the crowd like John Wick - and c) the man beside me is the absolute double of Rob Brydon, except Spanish, which is deeply distracting.

↳ 9:27am

I am almost flattened by a German cabinet minister while climbing onto a busy VW stand. Oddly, it contains no cars besides the tiny ID concept unveiled back in March.

The stage appears to be hosting a continual procession of reveals, but that is fine: I saw everything yesterday at the VW Group’s Munich eve press conference. There were four small EVs based on the same platform - with the electric Polo probably the most significant - alongside a new 911 Turbo S and that strange-looking Audi concept.

It was bright, glossy and interminable. My theory was that, if they kept us there long enough, we would develop the marketing equivalent of Stockholm syndrome and adore every last thing. Bob Marley’s son Rohan attended, having decorated an ID. Buzz.

↳ 9:34am

I have just gone beyond 4,000 steps. At one Frankfurt show, I managed 38,000, but that was another time. The self-driving ID. Buzz on the Mobileye stand has its alarm sounding. I was disappointed yesterday when I watched it being driven on stage at the press conference.

An engineer spots me making fun of it, so I have to feign an interest in his autonomous bus by way of recompense

↳ 9:49am

There is a motor-show s*** sandwich arrangement here: a large car maker at the far end of each hall - although there are only four, as there simply are not enough big car makers present - with smaller trade stands forming the filling. Presumably, they receive a warm glow from all the passing visitors. I tell a man from a Japanese parts supplier that his is the stand people use when they want a better view of the press conference taking place over there. He laughs, though there is pain in his eyes.

↳ 9:53am

Enormous crowds have formed at Leapmotor, where a man is discussing cars. I cannot make sense of a single thing happening today; I will read the TG website later to discover what it was all about. The real excitement is clearly around the new Chinese brands, though. It feels like a watershed moment.

↳ 9:55am

It has the feel of a national show, except for a clutch of Chinese brands forcing their way in. Volvo is present, but its sad little stand looks as though a dealer down the road may have funded it. Ford, Hyundai/Kia, Renault and Lucid all have space at the broader public show beginning tomorrow around Munich city centre. It is a bold concept, and evidently where the spending has gone - I hear £2m was spent on the Merc stand. There are four principal locations across town, allowing people to view the latest cars while going home from work or shopping, rather than trekking all the way to an exhibition centre.

↳ 10:01am

I visit the new electric GLC on the Merc stand. The rear end appeals, but nobody in their right mind could like the front. Mercedes expected this, placing a barrier in the way so no one can get a proper view. A queue has formed of people taking turns to photograph its effervescent grille on their phones.

↳ 10:04am

I am entirely in favour of fresh blood in the car industry, but GAC is where I draw the line. Not because of the cars - they look perfectly acceptable, and the Aion V SUV even seems rather perky. It is coming to the UK in 2026. The trouble is that its name sounds like the noise my cat makes shortly before I step on something damp in the dining room while wearing socks.

↳ 10:09am

Another gathering of people catches my eye. It is the Smart stand. Staying true to the brand’s heritage, it is tiny, and I missed it during my earlier circuit. Incidentally, I greatly enjoy brands with daft names that company representatives must faithfully repeat whenever they mention them. It is very hashtag funny. I make a mental note to return when I might actually be able to see anything.

↳ 10:16am

The Changan stand is busily preparing for its press conference. One man stands on stage alongside the mystery car - the Deepal S05, which looks like a Porsche Macan narrowing its eyes - while others position cameras and test microphone levels. Another small fellow moves around the car, steaming wrinkles from the sheet that will shortly be pulled away. Detail matters.

↳ 11:41am

In the past 10 minutes, I have encountered TG’s Jason Barlow twice in entirely different areas of the show. He is delighted to have found the PIX Moving Beastie: a very poor man’s self-driving Ariel Nomad, albeit with the show’s best wheels. An engineer sees me mocking it, so as recompense I have to pretend to be interested in his autonomous bus. The seat is unexpectedly comfortable. I have now passed 7,000 steps, and my feet are beginning to ache a little.

↳ 11:57am

I chat with some pleasant chaps from Project 2|3, an engineering business formed to create a clever range of two- and three-wheel motorbikes. They have built an electric BMW C1-style scooter to offer to manufacturers. It looks good, though I question whether a highly paid engineer is likely to impulse-buy a white-label bike project while walking past.

↳ 12:14pm

Germany is progressive in so many respects, but in others it resembles a dirty uncle: show models are still here, and grubby cigarette vending machines stand between the halls.

↳ 12:49pm

Hang on, perhaps Smart hasn’t hashtag revealed that hashtag concept car after all, because its stand is conspicuously empty. It could be elsewhere. Renault is launching its new Clio today and is not even present. Polestar has also skipped the show, though it will unveil its new 5 in town later, while Skoda is staging a swish separate event for its new concept. Clearly, they did not want to pay for a costly Messe booth, but it is almost as if a Munich fringe festival is emerging.

I do like this new form of motor show: a mad press-and-trade hub with an appealing consumer layer around it. Journalists and company people are gathered within the exhibition centre for high-powered meetings, while car makers can still spend freely on dazzling potential customers with flashy stands around town.

↳ 13:43pm

I have reached 10,000 steps, so even if nothing else comes of the day, I am at least one day nearer to a healthier lifestyle.

Orlando Bloom wails past while I’m squirting mustard down my jumper

↳ 14:05pm

I spot TG’s Paul Horrell doing proper work while I have been cavorting around the show: 10,930 steps. He is interviewing somebody clever on the Rimac Technologies stand. I have no idea what they are discussing.

The coffee is excellent, and I have a pleasant conversation with head of comms Marta Longin. Rimac Technologies, the commercial side of the business, considers it important to attend the show and expects to hold plenty of meetings with customers and suppliers alike. Tomorrow, a Rimac will be displayed at a collectors’ exhibition in town, but this space is strictly business. I wait several hours, but Paul is still talking, so I move on.

↳ 14:39pm

I tour BMW now that the crowds have thinned. I avoid the Mini JCW x Deus Ex Machina concepts altogether; they stink of a stand with insufficient content. The Neue Klasse iX3 is not quite the departure from the company’s currently aesthetically troubled styling that I expected... although 500 miles of range is impossible to criticise. My attention is caught by the gigantic infotainment display, probably destined for the i7 facelift in an attempt to outdo the Merc Hyperscreen. It must span thousands of inches. I like it, but BMW will not let me stand beside it.

↳ 15:18pm

Lunch is extremely late, but for weeks I have been fondly recalling currywurst on the Volkswagen stand at some show or another. I run into TG editor Jack Rix, who enlists UK PR chief Mike Orford to help. Security is stringent, but with approval from VW’s head of communications, I am ushered up to the smart restaurant on top of the stand... and there is no currywurst. Apparently too low-rent for this crowd. More proof of VW’s relentless push upmarket.

↳ 15:27pm

I buy a bratwurst from a stand in the grassy central part of the Messe. If one local icon proves unattainable, I will take another. It costs only the equivalent of a monthly mortgage payment on a two-bedroom semi in the Midlands.

↳ 15:28pm

Orlando Bloom wails past while I’m squirting mustard down my jumper. What is he doing here? I will Google it later.

↳ 16:24pm

Oops, I am running late for Skoda’s Vision O reveal in the city centre. On the way out, I meet Paul Horrell, who is heading into town too. I desperately want to use one of Munich’s hire e-scooters and feel the wind in my eyebrows. Paul takes the metro because he believes it is faster. He is right by roughly 40 minutes, as I get lost twice and end up walking through the pedestrian zone: 13,157 steps.

Now that I have seen the future, it does not seem to offer much between ‘ordinary car but electric’ and ‘personal autonomous helicopter’. The motor show’s future, however, looks promising with this balance. Perhaps it is journalism’s future that should concern me, now car makers have escaped the exhibition halls...