Munich motor show 2021: live blog
All the latest breaking news and in-depth coverage from the biggest motoring event in Europe
Welcome to Autocar’s extended coverage of the Munich motor show, the biggest motoring event in Europe for two years, and the place to see some of the most important new launches of the year.
This is the first major motor show held in Europe since you-know-what led to the cancellation of the Geneva shows in 2020 and 2021 and last year’s Paris event - and it also marks the reinvention of Germany’s biennial show.
Having been held in Frankfurt since 1951, the fallout from the poorly attended 2019 running of the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung has promoted a change of location to Munich. The event has also been radically changed following the pandemic, with events now spread across the Messe Munich exhibition centre and an outdoor display area in the centre of the Bavarian capital. BMW is taking advantage of being on home ground to stage its own exhibition at its global headquarters, and other firms are also running their own events elsewhere around the city.
What hasn’t changed is the importance of the German motor show to the big German car firms, with Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen all vying to steal the show.
Autocar will provide extensive coverage of the Munich show. James Attwood, Jim Holder, Felix Page and Mark Tisshaw have dusted off their passports and armed themselves with FFP2-grade masks to traverse the event to bring you all the latest news from a suitable social distance. Meanwhile, Rachel Burgess, Piers Ward and Jack Warrick are based in Autocar Towers in Twickenham to run our extensive web coverage.
*Sunday September 5*
While the Munich motor show doesn’t officially kick off until tomorrow’s press day, several car firms have got a jump on proceedings by unveiling their big show stars ahead of time.
Mercedes-Benz has been busy this evening, trying to steal some thunder by unveiling the - deep breath - EQE saloon, European-spec EQB SUV, EGQ electric off-roader, sporty AMG EQS and the ultra-posh Maybach EQS SUV. That’s on top of the Mercedes-AMG GT 4dr PHEV that it revealed earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Audi has already shown off the Grandsphere, an autonomous-ready electric saloon that previews a future A8 successor.
Cupra has previewed its future electric compact crossover with the UrbanRebel Concept, which will be on display in Munich town centre. Sister firm Volkswagen, meanwhile, is waiting until tomorrow to show its closely related compact electric crossover.
The recently unveiled Kia Sportage will also be on display, as will the Dacia Jogger seven-seat MPV.
There’s plenty more coming tomorrow: we’ve expecting to see bold new concepts from BMW and Porsche, a new reveal from Renault and further details about Chinese firm Great Wall’s European plans, among many other stories.