COO of Qatar Tourism Berthold Trenkel (left); CEO Geneva International Motor Show, Sandro Mesquita (centre); and CEO of Rinspeed AG, Frank M Rinderknecht address a press conference in Doha yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: After 34 days on the road, the ‘Tour d’Excellence’ consisting of a Swiss team in two Volkswagen ID Buzz vans arrived in Doha from Geneva as part of the Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS).
The five-member team led by CEO of Rinspeed AG, Frank M Rinderknecht, made the over 8,000km journey across 12 countries — marking the first West to East crossing with electric vehicles. They set out from Geneva on August 28 and arrived in Doha on September 30. “The tour Frank did with the two electric vehicles was more symbolic of connecting Geneva and Doha. It was meant to show cars, electric vehicles and bring in the sustainability angle,” Chief Operating Officer at Qatar Tourism, Berthold Trenkel, said.
CEO of GIMS, Sandro Mesquita, noted that the idea of the Tour d’Excellence was to manifest the spirit of excellence, innovation and pioneering spirit while highlighting the industry’s recent progress in electromobility.
On the other hand, Rinderknecht said while the motivation to embark on the trip was to do something unusual, there was a risk of not arriving, facing technical and health issues or an accident.
He added that the charging infrastructure challenged the team after crossing to the Middle East, clearly showing the technological shortcomings. He disclosed that in Europe, the team used several apps to pay for charging points across different areas, while they had to adapt the European-designed systems they had with Chinese technology in Jordan.
Meanwhile, speaking about GIMS, held outside the Swiss city for the first time since its inception in 1905, Trenkel said, “Much more important is what we’re doing with Geneva here -- that it’s not just a car show or an old car show. It’s a very new format, and the Geneva Motor Show in Qatar differs from over 100 years of the history of Geneva. We always knew that we needed to do something different, so we came up with the unique classic hub where we have the car collections.”
The QT COO said GIMS, which will run from October 5-14 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre, will present ‘amazing’ cars that are typically not on display anywhere in the world. Trenkel added that several activities would be held outside the GIMS’ venue, including utilizing the Lusail track, the Sealine desert roads and the Urban Hub in Lusail, bringing automobile fans the best collection of cars in one destination.
Trenkel said it was a deliberate decision to hold GIMS around the same time Qatar will host the F1 Qatar Grand Prix. He added that GIMS would hopefully attract fans worldwide and predominantly across the region.
