As new car show Grand Basel debuts this week, we preview what's in store
Art, design, architecture and automotive design. These are the pitch points of Grand Basel, a new trade show centred around masterpiece cars that are debuting in Basel this week.
Running from September 6 to 9 (with a media preview on September 4) the show is the brainchild of MCH Group, which organises Baselworld for watches and Art Basel art fairs in Switzerland, Miami and Hong Kong.
Many have already hailed Grand Basel as the Art Basel of the car world—and with good reason. The inaugural edition will display a top-of-the-range selection of vintage, current and future cars, in what MCH Group describes as a “cultural context.”
What that means, exactly, is a series of exhibitions that go beyond the mere trade show format—think curated presentations and lifestyle events throughout the event, each conceived by an independent advisory board of architects, designers and other creative figures such as Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury and Italian entrepreneur Lapo Elkann.
Some 100 cars are making this first show, including, as the official press release tells us “racing legends, movie icons, radical one-offs, culturally-significant classics, and the world premiere of a contemporary coachbuilt special.”