The Paris Motor Show () is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de Versailles. The Mondial is scheduled by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles, which considers it a major international auto show. In 2016, the Paris Motor Show welcomed 1,253,513 visitors, making it the most visited auto show in the world, ahead of Tokyo and Frankfurt. The key figures of the show are: of exhibition, 8 pavilions, 260 brands from 18 countries, 65 world premieres, more than 10 000 test drives for electric and hybrid cars, more than 10 000 journalists from 103 countries. Until 1986, it was called the Salon de l'Automobile; it took the name Mondial de l'Automobile in 1988 and Mondial Paris Motor Show in 2018. The show was held annually until 1976; since which time, it has been held biennially. History The show was the first motor show in the world, started in 1898 by industry pioneer, Jules-Albert de Dion. After 1910, it was held at the Grand Palais in the Champs-Élysées. During the First World War motor shows were suspended, meaning that the show of October 1919 was only the 15th "Salon". There was again no Paris Motor Show in 1925, the venue having been booked instead for an Exhibition of Decorative Arts. In October 1926, the Motor Show returned, this being the 26th Paris Salon de l'Automobile. The outbreak of war again intervened in 1939 when the 33rd Salon de l'Automobile was cancelled at short notice. Normality of a sorts returned some six years later and the 33rd "Salon" finally opened in October 1946. In January 1977, it was announced that no Paris Motor Show would take place that year, because of the "current economic situation": at the same time the organisers confirmed that a 1978 Auto Salon for Paris was planned. The 65th Salon de Paris duly opened on 15 October 1978 in the modern buildings of the Parc des Expositions, on the south western edge of central Paris at the Porte de Versailles, where the show had been held since 1962. Editions 1898 1st 1913 14th "Salon de l'Automobile" 1919 15th "Salon de l'Automobile" (Model Year 1920) The first "Salon" since 1913. 9 October 1919 65 French automobile makers exhibited