"If we join Fira de Barcelona with the city, we are unbeatable"

Automobile Barcelona is warming up its engines for a new edition in which more than 30 brands will participate, recovering from the last one in 2021, still with the coronavirus affecting the trade fair and automotive sectors, with a supply crisis that has altered global chains and caused delivery delays. With the pandemic overcome and car production returning to calm, the 42nd edition of the show will feature more than 100 exhibitors and occupy 100,000 square meters at Fira de Barcelona's Montjuïc venue, dedicating a pavilion to Motoh! Barcelona, a show focused on two-wheeled motorized vehicles with which it had not coincided since 1999.

From Saturday, May 13, to Sunday, May 21, the show, organized by Fira de Barcelona with the collaboration of the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (Anfac), will bring together brands such as Dacia, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, SsangYong, Subaru, Suzuki, Tesla, and Volvo. Local manufacturers such as Baltasar, Ebro, Seat, and Cupra will also have a prominent space.

--- After the 2021 edition, the first post-coronavirus, Automobile Barcelona returns, with 40% more participating brands. How is this year shaping up?

--- The pandemic was a problem for all sectors. When the classic shows across Europe closed, we held on and opened. We kept the flag flying during delicate years in this city, the capital of the automotive world. The 2021 show was very difficult to do. This one is also difficult, but a little less so, and the next one will be even less so.

--- Why was Barcelona able to hold on while other shows like Geneva waited for the storm to subside?

--- We are a show that has two important advantages. The first is Fira de Barcelona, a fair-making machine with very good professional teams. Then there's the fact that the city is in love with the Motor Show. If not, we wouldn't have made 104 years of history. This is fundamental. If we combine Fira de Barcelona with the city, we are unbeatable. That's why other cities call us to see if we want to hold shows there. We also have the help of Anfac.

--- You expect to attract more than 300,000 spectators to this edition of Automobile Barcelona, surpassing the number recorded in 2021. Beyond the absence of restrictions and the recovery of the trade fair sector, what will help achieve this?

--- We will coincide with the Motoh! Barcelona show, which also attracts a lot of public. It is very important because this show started out as an automobile, motorcycle, and truck show. It had everything until it became very big, occupying the entire Montjuïc mountain. Previously, we have also done it together with Formula 1, not this year, but we have to try to coincide again.

--- Local brands such as Seat, Cupra, Baltasar, Ebro, and Silence are once again playing a major role.

--- The presence of local brands is important. For example, Seat and Cupra occupy a relevant space. Cupra will be the great brand of the Automobile.

"We have to try to make the show coincide with Formula 1 again"

--- Yes, it already happened in the 2021 edition.

--- How do you see Cupra taking the lead over Seat, to the point where its future is questioned and it's suggested that it be reduced to urban mobility?

--- The decision of what to do with the future belongs to the brands. I prefer Seat to continue here for many years because it is a historic brand from Barcelona, but a great transformation has also been made with Cupra, and the proof is that it occupies the entire Plaza del Univers. Good work has been done with Cupra, a brand that was almost invented by Luca de Meo, now at Renault, and which in a very short time has become a leader and people like it.

--- Are there missing brands at the show?

--- Many are still missing and need to be recovered. We have reached 800,000 attendees; this was like La Rambla, it was always a spectacle. In the future, we have to try to attract more brands and continue growing in the palaces we have available and can recover.

--- And, in terms of public, is there any profile that resists?

--- We need to attract more young people. Before, the first thing young people wanted was to get a driver's license and a car, in my case a 600, and now, it's a mobile phone. This has to be recovered. We have to get young people to fall in love with the automobile again and have the same passion that many of us had. I like cars more than mobile phones, although I find them very practical.

"We have to get young people to fall in love with the automobile again and have the same passion that many of us had"

--- Here you get inspired, you get excited, you get encouraged and you end up buying. That's why the Motor Show is important. People want to see, touch and try. And here you can.

--- Electric models represent the main novelties of the latest editions of the show. Is it still too expensive for the Barcelona driver to buy one?

--- There's everything. Chinese manufacturers, who have flocked to Automobile Barcelona this year, have significantly lowered the average price. That's the way, we're not going to deviate from it, the world is moving towards electric. For this, the European Union has to help renew car fleets. Greece is the country with the oldest car fleet, followed by Spain. We must help and oblige governments to create Prever plans. The first thing we have to do is change the fleet, but do it with freedom: electric and hybrid cars, but also diesel and normal combustion, which pollute much less than before. Freedom but with a tendency towards what is to come, which will be all electric.

--- How do you see this shift towards electric in the city?

--- The Barcelona driver is already electrifying. Many people are buying small electric vehicles for the city because they know they save money. First, for parking, it's much more convenient and, then, there's the saving in consumption. But people must be allowed to flow, obligations are not good. One must have enough sensitivity to act with one's head.

--- And, how does the driver feel driving around Barcelona?

--- Very uncomfortable. City traffic has to adapt. Favoring bikes is very good, I use it, but don't let the changes cause much more pollution. They don't realize that the more traffic jams there are, the more pollution there is. That is, instead of gaining, we lose. You have to be very careful. I have been a councilor in the City Council for ten years and the administration has to have a lot of common sense.