EICMA, the biggest motorcycle trade show in the world, has been cancelled for 2020. It will continue forward in 2021, but there will be no show this year. Of course, COVID-19 is to blame.
Based in Milan, EICMA attracts motorcycle manufacturers from all over the world. The Italian OEMs have the strongest presence at the show, but other European brands and even the Japanese manufacturers use the show to introduce new motorcycles to the world. Along with the new machines, there’s also lots of new riding gear, accessories and other moto wares on display at the show, which runs in early November every year.
But not this November, though. Word of the cancellation came out earlier Friday, with officials saying the responsibility to cancel had been imposed on them. Even if the show had gone ahead, it would have been a very different look this year, with manufacturers like BMW and KTM announcing they would not attend the show this year, spending their marketing budget in other ways.
The EICMA cancellation follows word that Intermot and the UK’s Motorcycle Live shows have also been cancelled for 2020. In the US, the AIME trade show was moved forward to winter 2021, and announced as industry-only, with no public visitors. Here in Canada, the Toronto Spring Motorcycle Show was cancelled for 2020, and there’s been no word on the 2021 MMIC shows, Supershow or Spring Motorcycle Show. There’s also been no word on the IMS motorcycle show circuit in the IMS, although we’d expect announcements on all these in the next few weeks.