The UK hasn’t had its own official motor show for many years, but in its place the Goodwood Festival of Speed has emerged as the industry’s premier meeting place.
While Goodwood is at its core a live event for the paying public rooted in motorsport, the support of car manufacturers and their seizing of the opportunity to present their latest models has allowed for wider industry trends to be played out.
And Goodwood 2024 will be remembered as the edition when Chinese car companies parked on the lawns of the Duke of Richmond’s estate in West Sussex.
Like with almost every other major industry event in recent months, the huge presence of Chinese car manufacturers was impossible to ignore. This felt different, though. This was not industry professionals wandering around show halls: this was in full public view, with the Chinese brands given prime spots and presented equally alongside much more familiar and established names.
MG went all in and made itself the marque at the centre of the Festival with the main statue to mark its centenary, while the likes of Omoda, Hongqi and BYD (who else?) also had a significant presence.
Each did so for different reasons. MG’s play on its history belies that it’s British in name only, yet what better place to remind people of what you used to be than at somewhere where the informed, engaged and influential audience will remember it?
The reason behind Hongqi, China’s answer to Rolls-Royce and Bentley, being at the show was less clear, although Goodwood is exactly the sort of place where you can legitimise a brand, given the equal footing and neutral branding each marque is given for their presenting space at Goodwood. Likewise, as the cars go up the hill one by one, there are no other distractions and the airtime is just the same as that of a revered old Formula 1 car from Ayrton Senna. Or indeed the latest Rolls-Royce…
Indeed, Hongqi delayed its press conference to give a tour of its stand to the Duke, under the watchful eye of ex-Rolls-Royce designer Giles Taylor, who swapped Goodwood for Changchun six years ago. It summed up both the surrealism and the sheer pace of change for such a brand to be able to command such an audience. Then again, its pockets are probably quite deep.
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