The most common reason...

The most common reason cited for not attending was the venue, and the fact that it"s difficult and costly to get to for the majority of UK residents. Others who responded to our survey criticised the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which organises the event, for holding a car show in a city which is unfriendly towards drivers.

However, bosses are standing by their decision to ditch the Birmingham NEC, where the show has been since 1978. An SMMT spokesman said: "The event"s importance had diminished due to a lack of real world debuts of new cars. If we don"t have any this time, it"ll drop even further down the international calendar; we need to stop that happening. We looked to do something radical to make the industry want to display. Moving to ExCeL was the best way to achieve this."

It has emerged that the SMMT was so impressed with the venue"s bid, it"s signed a 10-year contract. That would see the next five shows held there. There is concern that this lack of flexibility could harm the event if the move to London doesn"t attract more visitors. The previous NEC deal was open-ended and reviewed on a rolling basis.

But the SMMT spokesman explained there"s a get-out clause if the move does not work out. "If the 2006 show isn"t a success, we could go elsewhere for 2008 - even back to the NEC," he said.