The British Motor Show is an exciting bi-annual event which showcases new cars and trucks in Great Britain. However, the British Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders have arrived at the difficult decision of cancelling the event for the year 2010 after consulting the UK Motor industry. The decision to cancel the event came at the wake of the economic downturn all over the world.

The British Motor Show was also facing problems of low attendance as it was not being able to attract people in good numbers in recent editions of the show. During its heydays, in 1978 the show attracted over 900,000 people at Birmingham NEC. To increase the attendance of the crowd, the show was even relocated to London in 2006 but there was no significant increase.

The opinions are divided between people who think this is a temporary situation which would improve as the world economy picks up and people who think this is certainly the end of the road as far as the show is concerned. The unprecedented challenges and the economic downturn are definitely stopping the exhibitors to make any commitments to the event.

The British Motor Show is not the only motor show event to suffer. There have been reports that the Detroit Motor Show was also in doldrums following the withdrawal of many major automakers from the event citing the reason of the present economic crisis. The 2009 Tokyo Motor Show has also suffered a setback as Ford, GM, Volvo and Chrysler have chosen to withdraw from the event.