Peugeot has announced it will skip the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. Speaking through its marketing director, Guillaume Couzy, the French company said it wants to cut money on auto shows in favor of digital marketing. Couzy explained the share of investment spent for digital marketing in the last three years has risen from 15 percent to 30 percent, and is expected to reach 50 percent by the end of the decade.
What's more, Peugeot wants to focus on alternative ways to promote its models and "events that enhance the ability to try the cars. This leads to choices that are sometimes a bit radical, such as the decision not to go to the Frankfurt show in 2017", Couzy told Autoactu. The automaker's decision is also justified by the minor 1.7 percent share on the German automotive market.
This move shouldn't come as surprise, as many manufacturers are skipping major auto shows in favor of web marketing. Most recently, Ford, Volvo, and Rolls-Royce missed the Paris Motor Show as they pursue other marketing opportunities more relevant to the digital age. Aston Martin was not in Paris too, as CEO Andy Palmer "There used to be the feeling that you had to be at every motor show. But there are sometimes better ways of doing it than just always spending money on show after show after show after show."
Manufacturers also prefer technological exhibitions for its premieres, like the Consumer Electronics Show. In the first days of 2017, FCA will bring new vehicles, which will make their debut in Las Vegas, instead of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit a couple of days later. Audi will also reveal something high-tech at the CES, while Hyundai will show an autonomous version of the Ioniq. Faraday Future will finally unveil its electric crossover there too.
