Refreshed and renamed, The Leasing.com London Motor & Tech Show is back for 2019 with a whole load to keep you busy over the weekend. Although this year’s show has a greater focus on motoring tech and how it works, you’ll still find the usual live shows and petrol-fuelled demos.
There’s plenty to see if you’re lucky enough to have tickets to the event. But it not, there’ll be plenty of content and debate online, on everything from the motors on display to the guest speakers at the Live Stage.
As you can probably imagine, there really are far too many stands and displays to even pick out a fraction of them here. So, what we’ll do instead is give a rundown on the bits that have piqued our interest, starting with the cars on show.
The main event
One of the main attractions for me is without doubt the Jaguar XE SV Project 8. To say it’s a madder version of the standard XE is perhaps an understatement on par with the best of them – the Project 8 shares nothing but a very rough shell with the base model. It’s powered by a near-on 600bhp, 5.0-litre V8 and is capable of doing 0-60mph in just 3.3 seconds. Only 300 of them will be built, and somehow are legal to use on the roads.
This year’s show also has an exhibition exclusively for electric vehicles (EVs), named ‘Electric Avenue’. With the increasing demand and subsequent investment in battery-powered motors over recent years, you’ll find more models to browse than you can shake an EV plug at. BMW’s i8 hybrid sports car will be on display, as well as the Jaguar I-PACE that’s been picking up awards left, right and centre.
The Live Arena makes a return
If you’re after the showcases that don’t just sit stationary on a revolving platform, the Live Arena is the one for you. The Paul Swift stunt team are among this year’s headliners and will be running displays on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You might’ve seen them on TV without realising – they were recently involved in that new Audi ad with the two models milling about inside a drained swimming pool.
Details on this weekend’s set are light on the ground, but Swift has said they’ll involve a London bus and taxi. Worth a look in. There’ll also be a parade of £5 million worth of supercar, including the 950bhp Ferrari LaFerrari and a Mansory-modified Lambourghini Aventador.
Guest speakers on the Live Stage
One of the show’s three halls at ExCeL London will host the Live Stage, where a number of guest speakers will appear over the weekend. Car SOS presenters. Tim Shaw and Fuzz Townshend, and Wheeler Dealer’s Mike Brewer are among the hosts, and there’ll be a bit of audience participation with the ‘Name That Part’ game and ‘Britain’s Biggest Car Nerd’ contest.
Also appearing on stage are adventurers Arkady Fiedler and Marek Kaminski, who’ve both ran cross-continental journeys in a Nissan LEAF. And Saturday will see the London Motor Show Car of the Year announced, chosen by a panel of automotive journalists.
You’ll have a task on your hands if you’re hoping to cram it all in this weekend, but it’ll no doubt be a canny trip for anyone even remotely interested in motoring.
For more information on the The Leasing.com London Motor & Tech Show, and the full schedules, have a look at thelondonmotorshow.co.uk.
Images from thelondonmotorshow.co.uk and @londonmotorshow
