This week, the 2020 Geneva Motor Show was scheduled to open its doors to the media. Like years prior, manufacturers both big and small were preparing to debut dozens of exciting new models at the show. Unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak in Europe forced organizers to cancel the event just three days before it was scheduled to start. This will undoubtedly have huge repercussions for the auto industry. The financial losses car manufacturers are facing is mind-boggling, as millions of dollars were spent on unused stands displaying new models.

A new video posted by automotive photographer George Williams gives us a tour of the abandoned 2020 Geneva Motor Show showing manufacturer stands being dismantled, and it's an incredibly eerie sight. The video also gives us an insight into the extraordinary amount of work that goes into preparing such a large-scale event as Geneva.

While the floors would usually be filled with exotic new cars displayed on swanky stands and thousands of journalists and car enthusiasts, it's been reduced to an empty site of boxes, crates and deconstructed stands. Geneva's cancelation isn't just affecting established automakers either, as several new car companies were planning to debut models to the world for the first time.

The American-made Czinger C21 electric supercar, for example, was presented on a dismantled stand with no audience. Koenigsegg, on the other hand, wasn't going to let the coronavirus stop its plans, and stubbornly debuted the Gemera and Jesko Absolut on its stand as planned. Other highly anticipated new models such as the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo and Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport were still revealed online, but many others have been postponed.

Organizers were forced to cancel the 2020 Geneva Motor Show after the Swiss government imposed a ban on public events attracting over 1,000 visitors. Since the Geneva Motor Show attracts around 600,000 visitors a year, organizers had no choice but to cancel the event to the public. Could this situation have been avoided?

Alternatively, organizers could have potentially opened the event to a restricted number of media attendees to record videos, and interview manufacturers, since the publicity generated could translate to sales, but this would have been difficult to organize with such short notice. It makes you wonder if this will be the last ever Geneva Motor Show, as automakers might be reluctant to take a risk next year after losing millions of dollars. With more automakers already pulling out of motor shows every year in favor of standalone events and less expensive online reveals, we wouldn't be surprised.