Topic: Geneva Report

[@re]

OK! Here goes – the first part of my Geneva report. The system on this web page "only" allows 12 attachments to every post, and I've picked around 50 images of the 341 I returned from Geneva with, so I'll group them in five portions. The first one goes, alphabetically, from Alfa Romeo to Brabus.

As you probably know by now, I'm a fan of Italian cars and own an Alfa myself, and so the Alfa stand was one of the real highlights of the show for me. Last year I was lucky enough to see a beautiful black 8C Competizione in Geneva, this year it had a companion – the new (white, like very many of the new cars on display) 8C Spider. I got inside the Competizione and both cars are really beautiful inside and out, as you can see from the images. In my opinion, the coupé is just about the best-looking car on the market today. To say something about their heritage, Alfa had also put the famous Tipo 33 Stradale on display.

The Artega GT is a new German sports car with a VW-sourced rear-mounted 3.6 litre V6 engine, producing 300 horsepower. According to the company's web page, it will push the tiny car (length 4 metres, weight 1100 kgs) to 100 kph in less than five seconds. The design is penned by Dane Henrik Fisker, previously of Aston Martin fame, now building his own cars, one of which I'll get back to a bit further down. The prototype of the GT was shown last year – this cream white coloured car is the production version.

On Aston Martin's stand the obvious centrepiece was the new DBS, which looked nice in Casino Royale (until the careless Mr. Bond rolled it seven times, that is) and no less nice in the metal in Geneva. The proportions are just right, it's lower and more aggressive than the V8 Vantage, and the rear design matches the front much better than it did on the DB7 and DB9 models. Also arguably one of the best-looking cars available today.

For the first time, Zagato has created a Bentley-based car, the Continental GTZ. It features all the typical Zagato trademarks, like the double-bubble roof, and especially from the rear it's remarkably similar to last year's Diatto OttoVu by the same company. It has received criticism for being 'just another Zagato' but, in my opinion, it's still a nice design, although very imposing. If I understood the nice, but not-very-fluent-in-English gentleman at the Zagato stand, correctly, six will be built, and they are all sold.

German eccentric Erich Bitter showed his newest GM-based creation, the Bitter Vero, which evil tongues have dubbed "the world's most expensive Omega" – which is not a complete lie, as the basis for the car is the Holden Statesman, originally an upmarket Australian version of the Opel Omega. The engine is a bit less dull than its Opel heritage suggests, though, as the six-litre V8 has also been carried over from the Statesman. An Omega with 367 hp might just be interesting.

BMW proudly presented the new X6, which, as KarnUtz has pointed out, looks quite a lot like a Dodge show car from 2003, and it wasn't designed in one of Bangle's best moments, either. It will be interesting to see if the "sports utility coupé" niche really is a hole that needed to be filled. The flagship on the stand was the tongue-twistingly named "X6 xDrive50i" which is, naturally, powered by the 4.4-litre V8.

The "standard" Mercedes C 63 AMG has a power output of 457 hp, but if that isn't enough, Brabus offers the matte black Brabus Bullit, which looks like it might get past a radar undetected. And if one should be tempted to test the top speed, such skills could probably be useful, as that same engine has been tweaked to deliver 720 hp and a mind-blowing 1320 Nm (974 lb-ft) of torque. Just to be on the safe side. It is said to top 360 kph (224 mph). Not too bad for a four-door sedan.

The next part of the Geneva report will follow soon, with cars from Bugatti to Irmscher. Hope you like this, and feel free to comment on anything I write - I might be wrong about some things, and you might disagree on other things, as much of it is opinion!

[Otto Puzzell]

Wow - I'm envious! 

[Ultra]

Nice stuff, @re.   Your promotion to Feature Writer has now taken effect.

 

[@re]

So, to part 2 of the Geneva report, and it starts with what is generally considered to be one of the biggest engineering feats of the motoring industry: The Bugatti Veyron.

In Geneva stood the Veyron Fbg par Hermès, a limited edition with special leather interior and a unique paint scheme. Access to the stand was strictly limited to customer and press, but although I wasn't working, I managed to get in with my press card. Sitting in the car, however, was out of the question. But after a bit of sweet-talking and using my German language skills, I convinced the nice (German) guy who was in charge of cleaning the Veyron to let me inside. A memorable moment! The view from the driver's seat is dominated by a huge rev-counter, to the right is the speedometer, which goes to 420 kph, and to the left a gauge which tells you how many horsepower you are using at any given point, counting 700... 800... 900... 1001! I even got my picture taken, which is a must-do when allowed into such a car.

Cadillac had put their chunky CTS Coupé Concept on display, which is a very interesting study because it shows how well the edgy Cadillac design works on a coupé design with a big rear window. It's quite compact for an American car, with small overhangs and a wheelbase that's 10 cm shorter than the sedan, and features the same 3.6-litre V6 engine with 304 hp.

On Chevrolet's stand the new Corvette ZR-1 was the star. Pictures of it have been shown here at AutoPuzzles before, but it's really impressive in the metal, even with dark gray paintjob instead of the clear blue one in the original press photos. The top of the engine (which churns out more than 620 hp) is visible through a window in the bonnet, and the car looks more aggressive than any standard Corvette. I've never been a huge fan of American cars, but the Cadillac and the Corvette are very good-looking.

The Scorpion is back, Fiat says, and to prove it they put their Abarth versions on a separate stand in the middle of the other exotica. A Grande Punto was present, but the car everybody wanted to see was the Abarth 500. It's really amazing that it's possible to get such a mean-looking car out of the 500's cuddly shape, but the black/silver/red wheels which show off the red brake calipers, the huge air intake in the front, and the red wing mirrors really do the trick. Inside there's a 1.4-litre engine that produces 135 horsepower and, more importantly, 206 Nm (152 lb-ft) of torque.

Henrik Fisker is, as I mentioned, responsible for the design of the Artega GT, but he also makes cars of his own. The Karma plug-in hybrid is a low-slung and almost five metres long four-door car that is promised to go from 0 to 100 kph in six seconds, while being green all the way to its top speed of 200+ kph. Personally I think the Karma is a bit over-the-top visually, with its huge grille that covers almost the entire frontal area of the car, and an enormous wheelbase. The first 99 cars, though, priced at $80,000, and signed by Fisker himself, are already sold out.

The charming thing with the Geneva show is the fact that all kinds of small-scale manufacturers are present. One such manufacturer is Fornasari, an Italian outfit that offers a version of the Corvette-based Callaway C12 along what appears to be their main course: The RR600 two-door SUV (or SUC, as BMW prefers to call this kind of car). The company is also planning a car to fill the gap between the supercar and the SUV, called the Gruppo B, and the common factors for the entire model range are a) huge Chevrolet engines and b) power outputs of more than 600 hp.

Another small manufacturer, Gumpert (did anybody say that sports cars had to have exotic names?), had one bright orange and one matte black Apollo supercar on display. The Apollo features a 4.2-litre Audi-based V8, tweaked to produce 650 hp and 850 Nm (627 lb-ft), and is said to reach 100 kph in three seconds, making it one of the fastest-accelerating road cars on the planet. The car's finish looks superb, and there are carbon fibre bits all over.

Opel tuner Irmscher had done the same thing to the GT that American tuning company Mallett has done to its cousin, the Pontiac Solstice: Shoehorn a V8 into the engine compartment. In Irmscher's case it's a 6.0-litre V8 with 480 hp, which should be sufficient in a car that weighs less than 1400 kgs. The occasion for the Irmscher GT i40 is the company's 40th anniversary.

And that concludes part 2 of my Geneva report – in part 3 I will feature cars from Ken Okuyama Design to Mansory.

[Otto Puzzell]

Is that you in the Bugatti? It would be a great picture to compliment your "20 questions" responses.

[@re]

That's me. Luckiest guy in Geneva.

[@re]

Part 3 of 5 is ready – and it starts in the same secluded corner of the show where you'd find the Fisker Karma and the Fornasari cars.

Hidden behind just about every other car on display was a dimly lit stand that featured two of the biggest surprises of the entire show, cars that I'd never heard of before. Apparently, Mr. Ken Okuyama, the designer responsible for the Enzo Ferrari and Maserati Quattroporte, among other wonderful things, decided that after designing furniture and eyewear in his own name, it was time to put the Ken Okuyama Design label on some cars. On display was not one, but two sports cars: The k.o7 Spider, a bare-bones Lotus Seven-like design with wheels standing free of the body and no roof (or windscreen); and the k.o8 Coupé, which was essentially the same car, but with a more conventional body, roof and windscreen. The power source was different in each car; the k.o7 has a four-cylinder 2-litre engine (250 hp), whereas the k.o8 features an electric engine with Lithium-Ion batteries producing 100 kW (equivalent to 136 hp). Both cars are meant for production, and both engines will be available in both cars.

One of the world's real hypercar manufacturers is Koenigsegg, which is now owned 50/50 by Swedish and Norwegian investors. On Koenigsegg's stand a shiny carbon fibre CCXR 'Edition' with red interior was on display, one that was actually owned by a Norwegian in his thirties – who was present himself. He said he would be receiving the keys after the show and was planning to take the 1018 hp car to Spain, where he could drive it on toll licence plates and wouldn't have to pay the hefty Norwegian import tax. It's still a very expensive car, but that move just about halves the price of it. I wished him the best of luck, and told him not to "do a Sharif" - a Norwegian millionaire who has made his fortune on selling car tires famously went off a race track in his Koenigsegg on his second day of ownership, you can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo11XmjKq10 - it's about 40 seconds into the clip.

The KTM X-Bow is no longer a new concept, it was also at last year's show, but this year KTM showed the production version. Its rear-mounted engine originates from Audi, a 2-litre four-cylinder unit that puts out 240 hp. Eventually, the car will be offered with even more power, and the idea is to produce a pure trackday car that is more or less a four-wheeled motorcycle.

A new Lancia Delta may not be big news in most parts of the world, but for the traditional Italian marque it's make or break. There's been one Delta since the successful rally car of the 80s, but it didn't really make an impact anywhere but in Italy, and since then things have been going from bad to worse for the once-great Italians. With the revitalisation of Alfa Romeo and now Fiat, the time has come for Lancia, and the new Delta has to be a strong seller. It certainly looks the part, but in that segment of the market it needs to be, with rivals like the Golf, the Audi A3 and even Fiat's own Alfa 147. Time will show if Lancia will return to former glory or be killed off by its owners.

The Lexus LF-A has been shown on numerous occasions, I saw it both in Geneva and New York last year, and it looks very good – even more so in the metal than in pictures. Now it was time to show off the convertible version, the LF-A Roadster, with a sleek design and the same 5-litre V10 engine that sits in the coupé. Lexus calls the engine configuration "front-mid", as the engine is placed in the front of the car but behind the front axle – hence the long bonnet. Notably, the car has cameras instead of wing mirrors, which in my opinion makes the car looks like it's missing something.

And then to what many people considered to be the most extravagant display of bad taste at the entire show. Last year German tuning company Mansory presented a Rolls Royce Phantom worthy of making the cover of any car magazine that features just as many girls as it features cars. The aptly named Conquistador was finished in matte black paint and had jacked-up suspension, no doubt making C.S. Rolls and H. Royce turn in their graves. This year, the company that won't touch anything less exclusive than Aston Martins had gone to work on a Ferrari 599, changing the car's front design and adding air intakes wherever possible, and just to finish it off, the creation's name was... Stallone. But the craziness didn't stop there: Matte paint was a big hit at this year's show, and naturally Mansory went all the way by applying a matte gold finish to their pumped-up Mercedes SLR McLaren, which has undergone what the Germans call a facelift. They call it the Renovatio.

To be honest, I actually think it works... (I'll take a break here to receive some well-deserved remarks on how crazy I am) ...on some strange, bespoilered level. I never really liked the SLR's nose in the first place, and as for the Ferrari... well, the 599 is originally a fabulous car, but Mansory's version is different. And I like different. But then again, I didn't even think the last version of the Ford Scorpio looked so terrible, and I also like neo-classic cars, so there can be no doubt that I have bad taste.

Part four coming soon, featuring cars from Mercedes to Sbarro!

[@re]

Here is part four – which starts with one of the more mainstream cars in my report, if you can call a 6.3 litre Mercedes that.

The SL 63 AMG is the top-of-the line SL which has now, along with the rest of the SL range, received a new front design with the aggressive nose of the sporty C-class. In my opinion, it was sorely needed – the new front end (behind the A pillar, nothing's changed) does wonders for a car that was getting just a bit boring. I'm not really sure how I think this new design works in pictures, but in the metal, it's spot-on. Mercedes, a company that has been so afraid to lose customers that it has got stuck with old-fashioned design, is about to make their cars more desirable than the Bangle-ised ones from Munich – a great achievement, if you ask me. Too bad, then, that the SLR, now available in convertible guise, still has the same ugly Formula 1-inspired nose which I can't see how is ever going to work properly on any road car, its shape being decided only by aerodynamics and not design. The whole shape of the car is also ageing much more rapidly than the Mercedes classics of old.

Morgan displayed something rarely seen from that company: A truly forward-looking concept, designed to be a green sports car for the future. The LIFEcar is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, which generates electricity that is in turn directed to one electric motor-generator in each narrow wheel. It also features car design that can best be described as hyper-modern retro style. There are no doors – the roof and all the windows are part of a canopy that slides and flips backwards to allow access over shoulder-high side panels. But, best of all, it really couldn't have been anything else than a Morgan.

On Nissan's stand the new GT-R had been placed in front of a big screen showing an on-board view of a lap around the Nürburgring. Just about every motoring magazine on the planet that has so far gained access to an example of the computer generation's new dream-mobile has sung its praises. The question still remains whether people who can afford to spend this kind of money will be tempted by a car that is still produced by a company more often associated with cheap plastic-filled mainstream people-movers than with supercars.

A car that you will never grow tired of looking at is the Pagani Zonda C12 F. It's a highly dramatic piece of design, clearly inspired by race cars more than anything else. From the pointed nose – which is probably the best attempt yet to integrate some kind of F1 cue on a road car – through the narrow cabin and all the way to the four tailpipes grouped inside one big circle at the rear, there are gorgeous details all around. And it manages to look great in black and orange.

Renault showed two coupé concepts: The Laguna coupé which appeared in Frankfurt in September, and the brand new Megane Coupé with its unique door opening system – the doors look like "traditional" gullwing doors, but when opening, the window and the rest of the doors are pulled apart and gives an impression of something beetle-like. It's true that something beetle-like has been a success in the motoring world before, but this is just Renault's engineers showing off. Anyway, the rear end is the more interesting one with its wide stance and glowing, double square taillights.

On to a completely different kind of machine, which is simply very liberating in all its unseriousness: The Rinspeed sQuba. Rinspeed founder Frank Rinderknecht always comes up with a crazy concept at his home turf at Geneva, and this year it was a matte (of course) white Lotus Elise made for scuba-diving. Yes, really. It was inspired by James Bond's underwater Esprit from "The Spy Who Loved Me" in 1977, and on land, it is powered by an electric engine, while two other separate engines drive the propellers for underwater "motoring". This being a convertible, hoses for the two occupants' air supply are built into the headrests. If this whole concept sounds completely insane, it's probably because it is. But again – that's one of the charming aspects of Geneva. And the car works, in water and out of it – I've seen the videos. Brings a whole new meaning to the slogan "The ultimate diving machine" 

And finally, another guy without whom Geneva wouldn't be the same: Franco Sbarro. Always present with some kind of mad idea and creations made by himself and the students of his design school, this year was no exception. The butt-ugly Assystem City Car (http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=2967.0), presented last year, was there this year as well, along with a four-wheeled leaning motorcycle. Thankfully, on display was also a good-looking car, the Alcador GTB, which was clearly related to the 1995 Alcador, but this time it had a roof and looked more or less like a production car. It is built on a Ferrari base, and like with most other Sbarro concepts, if you can pay for it, you can probably have one. Unfortunately, Mr. Sbarro doesn't speak much English, and my French is not as good as I would have wanted it to be, so the conversation was limited, but I was happy to shake his hand and tell him I'm a big fan (in the picture, he's standing right behind the car). I think at least he understood that...

The last part of the Geneva report will probably follow on Sunday or Monday, and then it's time for cars from Seat to Yes!

[@re]

It's the last part of the Geneva Report, featuring a couple of rather mainstream cars and some that are about as far as you can get from mainstream.

One of the former is the Seat Bocanegra, which is a styling exercise showing what can be expected from the Spaniards in the near future. That's promising, because it is aggressively styled and looks much more interesting than anything that has ever rolled out of those factory gates – but after the show, Seat has presented their new Ibiza (http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2008/04/04-new-seat-ibiza/), more or less the exact same car, but still managing to look significantly less interesting than the Bocanegra. I haven't quite figured out why, but it's probably got something to do with the blacked-out front bumper now being painted in the same colour as the rest of the body.

Spyker has been through what has probably been the worst year in the (new) lifetime of the Dutch company, losing heaps of money on a Formula One team that never managed to be competitive. Now, the F1 team is gone, last year's (F1-related) Zagato design study will never be built, and the model range has been revitalised and renamed: The coupé and spyder are now called C8, and the wacky off-road cruiser is the D8 Peking-to-Paris. The sports cars have got a more pointy snout, and the flagship is the C8 Aileron, with an Audi V8 powerplant delivering 400 hp. In my opinion, the exterior design of Spyker's sports cars are extremely accomplished. The interior, however, is completely crazy, featuring brushed aluminium, leather in striking colours (orange, anyone?) and Spyker's trademark exposed gearshift. When it comes to the D8 Peking-to-Paris I've seen it three times now, and every time I'm getting more certain that it's a case of going a bit over the top. The detailing, however, is exquisite – for example, all the cars' tailpipes have Spyker's motto engraved: "Nulla tenaci invia est via", which translates into something like "Where there's a will, there's a way"...

Just about as far as you can get on the opposite end of the exclusivity scale, you'll find the Tata Nano, which in spite of its humble appearance was probably the most important car on display at the Geneva show this year. Tata claims that the starting price of the Nano will be 100,000 rupees in India, which equals about $2500 or €1700. To build a proper car for that kind of money can of course only be done in a developing country, but it is an amazing achievement nevertheless. Still, environmentalists say this is their worst nightmare – offering a car that is so cheap that the average Indian can afford one will result in less bicycles and motorcycles on the roads and an increasing number of cars, and thereby ultimately increasing pollution. The car has also affected the used car market in India, as people wait in line to buy a Nano instead of going for a (more expensive!) second-hand car.

From something very down-to-earth to something rather more other-worldly: The Tramontana. Also built in Spain, this two-seater tandem car looks like a gigantic insect with its stilt-mounted rear view mirrors. It's a huge car that measures almost 5 metres in length, and sitting in it is an extraordinary experience. Driving it is, according to the nice guy who let me inside it, even wilder, because of the car's sheer width (almost 2.1 metres), the central, cab-forward driving position, and its jaw-dropping looks which makes crowds gather wherever the car appears. The 5.5 litre V12 engine gives you 550 hp, but a flick of a switch inside the 'cockpit' (which is really the only thing to call it) releases an extra 170 hp. 720 hp in a car weighing only 1.250 kgs should be enough.

German specialty car builder Wiesmann showed off its new top-of-the-line GT MF5 coupé, which made its debut in Frankfurt in September. The 'standard' GT is equipped with a 4.4 litre BMW V8 engine delivering 367 hp, but in MF5 guise the car features the V10 from the BMW M5, delivering 507 hp. It is promised to do 0-100 kph in 3.9 seconds. The style of the car is slightly reminiscent of the Morgan Aeromax, but this is a hardcore, if a slightly more plasticky, supercar.

And finally, I've included the Yes! Roadster. Another German effort, this is the second-generation Roadster, powered by Audi's 3.2 litre V6 engine. It is offered with or without a turbocharger, and the top model churns out 355 hp, which the manufacturer claims will result in a top speed of 281 kph. "Pure driving pleasure" is the slogan of Yes! – and they could probably also have called it an insane experience, as the car weighs significantly less than one tonne.

That concludes my Geneva report, but I've still got loads of pictures, so if anybody's missing something, please make a request and I'll have a look – if it was interesting and on display in Geneva I've probably got a picture or two of it. Hope you've enjoyed the reading – I've enjoyed the writing!

[Ultra]

Thanks, @re.  Great thread!

 

[basman007]

awesome thread!
+1

[Bezor]

Wonderful documentation.  Loved the background paragraphs of each car.

Thank you for taking the time, and again the time to organize the post.   

[@re]

Thank you! Sadly, it's not often I get to visit shows like this, but if I do, I'll be more than happy to provide more images and a story.

[DeAutogids]

History now tells us that the Delta was more or less the last Hurray.
I mean yes, the Ypsilon was there and later some modified Chryslers, but this was the last Lancia made in Italy. I owned one for some years and can say it was unjustly unloved. I did over 360.000 kilometres with the car and you wouldn't be able to tell from the interior, save the worn floormats. The leather seats did not have wear marks for example. I finally had to say goodbye as financially it did not make sense to put in a new gearbox compared to what the value of the car would be.
If I had a bigger garage I might have decided differently.