AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY REELS FROM THE CORONA VIRUS SCOURGE
A warm and hearty welcome to our March edition, dear reader. I trust that you will enjoy it as much as we did producing it for your reading enjoyment. While there remains a great deal to be upbeat about, the Corona Virus scourge that has gripped the world is playing out its ramifications on many industries. The 2020 GIMS (Geneva International Motor Show) taking place this month was cancelled just days before the show welcomed throngs of motoring journalists, industry personnel and petrolheads alike.
An injunction of the Federal Council of 28 February 2020 states that no events of more than 1,000 people can take place until 15 March 2020. This, of course, will have major impacts on the bottomline of manufacturers who had already invested to participate at the show. As a result, a great number of vehicle unveilings have been done virtually by some manufactures, including BMW and Audi who revealed their i4 EV and A3 hatch respectively.
Alas, even other shows outside of the automotive realm have been affected, including the cancellation of the International Trade Fair scheduled to take place in Berlin this month. The knock-on effect is that the travel industry, in general, will also take a pounding, with fewer people deciding to postpone or cancel their travels altogether, citing the virus outbreak. We sincerely hope the spread of the virus can be contained timeously as it has claimed precious lives and affected economies quite severely.
On a rather more upbeat note, though, the team has been rather busy, travelling the globe to bring you firsthand accounts of some of the glorious models destined for our shores. As depicted on our cover this month, we headed to Portugal to sample the recently updated Jaguar F-Type sports car, which you can read up on pg. 26. Still in Portugal, we also got the opportunity to sample the Porsche Boxster and Cayman 718 GTS on the road and on track (read more on pg.48).
So, sit back, relax and enjoy the read! Let’s be Driven!