ZURICH -- The Geneva auto show scheduled to take place in February has been canceled for the fourth year running.
Organizers of the event are switching its traditionally chilly venue in alpine Europe to the balmy Middle East. They will focus on a complementary motor show, the Geneva International Motor Show Qatar, due to be held in Doha in November 2023.
Organizers attributed the decision to hold the show outside its home town to unspecified economic, geopolitical and pandemic-related concerns.
"The risks overweighed the opportunities," Maurice Turrettini, president of the foundation that runs the show, said on Thursday in a statement.
The exhibition has not been held since 2019 after being canceled days ahead of a planned 2020 staging due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus.
The February 2023 show was to have been supplemented by a Doha-based event, according to a statement last year in partnership with Qatar Tourism.
The news comes less than a month before the scheduled start of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which also has not been held in three years.
The Geneva show’s Qatar event is slated to be held every two years.
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report
