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Corona Cancels Vega Debut

Geneva Motor Show is now canceled after the Swiss government banned gatherings of 1,000 people or more on Friday over the corona virus. The show will be the biggest victim, probably the largest event in Switzerland for the year which was scheduled to start next week.

Although not the biggest car show in the world, it’s the one where automakers mostly announce their flashiest, most future-facing vehicles and concepts. Last year it revealed the Pininfarina Battista, one of the fastest electric vehicles on the planet.

Sri Lanks’s first and the only super-car, Vega was all ready to be reveled at GIMS after a large expenditure and effort of the team. This could have been a turning point of Vega s future. We are sad that not only Vega, Sri Lanka misses it. But Team Vega is optimistic.

We are disappointed that Corona virus forces the cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show 2020. Years of strategizing, and months of planning got the Vega EVX to Geneva in the hopes of been unveiled in front of the world media. The event may have been cancelled, but our goals and aspirations haven’t changed one bit. We have successfully developed a ground up electric super car, while she proudly sits in her elegant stall awaiting to be unveiled pending final decision. She bears the aspirations of a dedicated team, and the hopes of a country! We only move forward!

Team Vega

“We regret this situation, but the health of all participants is our and our exhibitors’ top priority. This is a case of force majeure and a tremendous loss for the manufacturers who have invested massively in their presence in Geneva” said motor show chairman Maurice Turrettini in a statement.

Last year 660,000 people attended the Geneva show and the exhibition generated an estimated 200-250 million Swiss francs ($205-$256 million) worth of business.

Visitors who bought tickets will be refunded, although exhibitors will not, given it was the health authorities, rather than organizers Palexpo, who called off the event.

Preparations on halt.

Geneva is not the only trade show to get cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak. In the tech arena, the biggest have been the cancellation of Mobile World Congress, which is the biggest smartphone show in the world, and Facebook’s F8 developer conference.

Both Formula One and Formula E have canceled races in China. Even the International Olympic Committee is facing increasing questions about 2020 summer Olympics in Japan.

What other automakers do?

Digital press conferences will be held as cars going techy. BMW will unveil its i4 electric concept sedan via digital press conference on Tuesday the 3rd, Mercedes-Benz will announce its new E-Class in a similar manner. Pininfarina too will simply announce online, but that it’s also “discussing ideas for a physical world premiere to follow.”

Even Audi plan digitally release information about its new Audi A3 sportback and Audi E-Tron S.

This is not a new Trend. Tesla has pioneered and practiced the digital platforms throughout their history.

Furthermore, due to the cancellation of the Geneva International Motor Show, the organizers have decided to broadcast the Car of the Year award ceremony via live streaming on Monday, March 2, at 3 p.m. on their website.

Here are the Car of The year 2020 finalists, lets see who wins this time.

BMW 1 Series
Ford Puma
Peugeot 208
Porsche Taycan
Renault Clio
Tesla Model 3
Toyota Corolla

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