Geneva Show – March 2008

“The Motor’s” trip to the 2008 Geneva Show started, in the best of traditions, with the attendees coming from different locations, and using different means of transport. Whilst everyone else was being subjected to the joys of EasyJet and Britain’s regional airports, I was already in Switzerland, so had the pleasure of a 2 hours and 46 minutes train journey from Zurich to Geneva to which to look forward. Having spent part of the morning in the office, I was just boarding the ICN train at Zurich HB when I got a text from Dan and Miriam telling me that they were at Bristol airport and due to depart presently. I expected that on this basis, although they were travelling far further than me, they would arrive first. But no…………… Swiss Railways delivered me to Geneva precisely on time, and with a 2 minute walk across the street to the hotel, I was the first forummer to arrive. As we were greeted by the most incredibly cloudless weather, I set off to explore Geneva. When I got down to the Lac Leman, and the biting wind cut right through me, it was obvious why Geneva’s second most famous sight after the Auto Salon, the “jet d’eau” was non-functional, as the fountain would have more likely gone west than up in the air! Some considerable time later, I got calls to say the others had arrived, and as they all said they wanted to see the city, I dragged them back across the bridges over the lake, and up into the Old Town. Only a reviving 2 cups of coffee, and Dan’s excitement at all the unusual and expensive cars seemed to keep us going (more Quattoportes in the space of a few minutes than some people will see in a life time!).

Suitably refreshed, next morning was all about the Auto Salon. We spent the whole day there, from the moment they let us in, to several moments after the show was declared closed. More than 10 hours! During that time, I think we saw most things – though my return visit the following day revealed quite a bit that I had missed. I have to confess that although we started out with a plan – which went as far as the first stand to go and see – we reacted to continuous distractions and meandered from stand to stand, every time our eye caught something of interest. And there was plenty of interest. The press had advised that there would be 130 debuts, which is a lot. Some newcomers were clearly more “new” than others, but even in this day and age of access to information on-line, there was lots to see, and look at, sit in, poke at, and in some cases laugh at. Sadly, in a couple of cases, we might almost have wanted to cry at a few things, too. Here, then, is a summary of what we saw, with some impressions and observations, as I recall them.

NISSAN

This was the first stand we went to. The reasoning was that the GT-R was likely to attract a huge crowd, as was the case at the Los Angeles Show I had attended. and so we should go there immediately. There was only one car, and it was in a display area by itself. There were indeed huge crowds around it later in the day and on Saturday.

Nissan were also showing the new Murano, though no-one much seemed to be noticing. Perhaps that is just as well, as the improvements to the interior quality are, in my opinion outweighed by the rather gauche changes to the external styling. The old model was rather good, but I am not sure about this one.

There was another debut on the stand, too. And this was capturing even less attention, not least because it is a far from new model. This was the Swiss launch of the Tiida, which is now positioned as the real replacement for the Almera.

More familiar cars were on show, too.

And less familiar, such as the Pivo Concept

RENAULT

We had raced across this stand in our quest to get to Nissan, but we did return several times. The sporting area of the stand was trying to make the most of the new Twingosport RS, but no-one seemed very interested, or that able to distinguish it from the Twingo models that launched last year. Perhaps Renault need to rethink their approach to graphics and decals, too?

More interest on this part of the stand was coming from the Formula 1 car.

The completely new model on show was the Koleos. Again, new, but somewhat familiar. A lightly worked over variant of a Samsung product, a concept version of this has been shown for the past year or so. Even the french press are not entirely sure, describing it as “too late”.

Renault were making much of the 4 wheel steering on the new Laguna GT. My experience driving a new Laguna last year suggest that this was perhaps not the weakest link in the car!

The Laguna Coupe concept was presented again. Hopefully, the production car, due for Paris 2008, will be close to this effort.

This was also the first show for the Grand Modus, which seemed to have gained a rather unnecessary chrome strip across the rear hatch.

A new concept car for this show was this Megane. I suspect that only details will appear in Megane 3, also due later in the year.

The old Megane was still there, too:

Sporting Clios were also present:

HONDA

A huge array of new Accord models dominated this stand. Although the styling is somewhat derivative of the outgoing model, with hints of a few other cars in there, such as the Camry, this is a car that really impressed from the inside. Beautifully built, from quality materials, this car deserves to do very well. Whether it will, in a market where Accord still stands for “well heeled pensioner” or not, remains to be seen.

The CR-Z Concept was staging another appearance. We are promised a production car that looks similar to this. Here’s hoping.

The FCX-Clarity will become a production reality for a small number of US customers in 2008, on a carefully controlled basis.

FORD

Pride of place went to the new Fiesta, with an example of both the 3 door and the 5 door on show. Ford were handing out free drinks that matched the colour of this pair – the green one tasted more like mouthwash than anything else, but the lubrication was welcome. These cars do remain remarkably close to the Verve concept, and look very promising indeed, especially when compared to the one example of the old Fiesta that was on the stand. However, whenever we went past the stand – which was several times – they appeared to generating worryingly little interest.

The production version of the Kuga was on show, too. The bright blue one sported some rather revolting bright blue plastic trim to line the centre console and the doors, but otherwise, this looks like one of the better offerings in its class. Whether I would go so far as to say it is “tres jolie”, as was proffered to me by the stand staff, is perhaps questionable, but nonetheless, it could do very well.

There were no Ka or Fusion models on the stand, but plenty of everything else, most of which seemed to have had an instant “econetic” rinse applied. This was a show debut for the facelifted Focus CC, and while the front may look better, they have not fixed the back at all!

The sporting pedigree of the Focus was also emphasised, with this model:

MAZDA

Only one true debut here, the 3 door version of the Mazda 2, and no-one seemed that interested. I had a good sit in one of these, and thought the cabin a cut above what you find in many superminis, and was quite impressed.

Several examples of the recently launched 6 were on show, too.

The Takurai concept car was certainly interesting.

ASTON-MARTIN

Perhaps more by luck than anything else, we managed not only to get on this stand, but to sit in several of the cars, before “security” came along and started locking them up. Some aspects of the inside, frankly, disappointed, and I don’t just mean the horrid and very cheap feeling light switch, but the styling remains sublime, for sure, and the DBS looked rather good in the light racing green colour.

ALFA-ROMEO

Highlight here was the fact that the stand contained both an 8C Coupe and an 8C Spider. They were fenced off, and you clearly had to know someone important to get inside the enclosure, or be a very bored looking model! The coupe was the same shade of very dark blue which with the difficult lighting made it hard to photograph, but there is little doubt that everyone thinks these cars are stunning.

Tucked away in a recess was this 1967 33 Stradale.

KIA

Kia are one of the sponsors of Euro 2008, which takes place in Switzerland in June, and so many of their cars were logo-ed and liveried up accordingly. The “best” car, without much doubt, is the rather clumsily titled pro_Cee’d.

Kia also had 3 different versions of their Soul Concept car on show. This could well take the place of the PT Cruiser, in my opinion, for those who want something that bit different. Certainly the quality is likely to be a sight better than the Chrysler product!

WEBASTO

Presented as something with a “completely new concept in a folding roof”……….. hmm, what precisely? the fact there is less of it?

ISTITUTO EUROPA di DESIGNO

A prize-winning competition entry, by design students, this, for a Maserati:

FIAT

You could not miss this stand, situated in one corner of the hall, with the giant 500 towering over everything.

Also new was the Fiorino – Fiat’s version of the smallest new van ranges, shared with Peugeot/Citroen.

The Panda Aria was on show again, promising stunning levels of efficiency from its innovative 2 cylinder engine.

There was also a gas-powered Panda on show:

LANCIA

Big news, here, of course, is the new Delta. Definitely looks better for real than in pictures, though I am not sure that white is the best colour for it. Nicely finished inside, this could be the car that reawakens interest in the Lancia brand.

TATA

You could hardly miss the Nano. This very tall looking car, on tiny 12″ wheels, finished in bright yellow paint was certainly distinctive. All the Tata cars were locked, but even from the outside, you could see several areas which indicate how the cost has been kept down – bare metal trim, cheap dash moulding, and three stud wheels.

This was the de-Luxe version, with 4 stud wheels, more in the way of trim, and a “sporty” exhaust

Tata also had the all new Indica 2 to show off. The interior looked better, so may be this is the car that could actually have sold as the City Rover 2?

There was one example of the Tata Safari on show, and after its surprise election as Forum Car of the Year, I had to take a picture!

BOLLORE

VW

Like many people, I really wanted to see the Scirocco, as it was one of the few cars which was truly new, and where there had been very few leaked spy pictures. Sadly, I have to report massive disappointment. There were 3 cars on the stand, and whilst the inside is quite nicely finished, it is clearly just a VW, and the outside struck me as rather bland.

The Passat CC came in for our scrutiny as well, and did not fare a lot better. Although there’s nothing really wrong with it, it seems to be aimed at a niche which may not exist, as it does little, if anything that is not delivered perfectly satisfactorily by the ordinary Passat, for less money. I did ask the “Car Explainer”. as he was amusingly titled, when the much delayed Passat R36 was going on sale, and he rather defensively told me that they are in stock in the UK and on sale soon.

We had rather more success with the Phaeton, finding the attention to detail just stunning. The fact that there was a water dispenser nearby may have had something to do with why we went back several times!

SKODA

Pride of place, of course, went to the new Superb. I was disappointed by the first photos of the completed car, but in the flesh it looks better. The quality inside is very impressive, and there are acres of room in the back. Interesting to note that this was one of the busiest stands on the Friday, thus confirming that Skoda have transformed their image in the minds of the market place.

One really neat detail was how the name is moulded into the headlight feature:

I was less than convinced by the white roof feature of various of the Fabia display cars. This feature might work on a Mini Cooper, but it certainly does not work here!

A full display of more familiar models was also presented:

ZAGATO

One lone car, here. A Bentley Continental, given the Zagato treatment. Opinions varied, but many (including the 4 lads who sat next to me on the train coming home) thought it very nice indeed. It even sported the tell-tale double humps in the roof

TECHART

From the department of Bad Taste:

HYUNDAI

Brand new is the i10, an Indian built replacement for the Amica. Although still clearly a budget car, this one was rather more impressive to sit in than things like the execrable Daihatsu Sirion that I tried later.

Hyundai were also showing a concept car

There was a new H1 MPV, too:

INFINITI

European launch for the Infiniti brand. The new car was the FX50, a reworked version of the familiar FX45, with a particularly ugly front end.

The G37 coupe and sedan could do very well in Europe, if they are priced attractively enough.

CHEVROLET

Quite how anyone is supposed to take this special edition Matiz seriously, I am not sure.

Chevrolet were focused on the new Aveo. In reality, this is simply a face-lifted Kaleos, with the branding that has been used in the US for a while, though the 3 door body, new for this show, is unique to Europe.

A surprising number of people seemed to be interested in the cars on the stand. Absolutely nothing stood out for me, and I think that Chevrolet are going to have to try far harder if they want real success in the budget end of the market. This is the new Epica sedan.

SAAB

It was the 2 concept cars here that were attracting all the attention. The 9-x bio-hybrid was getting positive attention.

The 9-4X seemed to be attracting rather less positive comment. If the Koleos is “too late”, then surely this one is “far too late”, for Europe at least?

CADILLAC

Lots of cars here. The CTS-V was in pride of place. Although the basic CTS has had good write ups, I just could not imagine selecting one of these, in Europe, as an alternative to an Audi, BMW or Mercedes.

The BLS Estate was here, too. Cadillac must be hoping that more people do select these than have so far chosen the sedan version.

Two concept cars, as well: The CTS Coupe was very well received at Detroit, and is likely to go into production

The Provoq looked to me like it could be a potential replacement for the SRX, though no-one is saying that at present.

The Escalade was also on the stand, and. in Hybrid form was doing its best to pretend to be at least a little bit “green”.

HUMMER

In a show where the environment and “green” were omnipresent on just about every stand, Hummer stands out rather conspicuously. They are hoping that the proposed H4 pickup could change all that. Based on this evidence, I’d say there’s not that much chance!

CORVETTE

The latest ZR-1 was making its first European showing. Fast car, but still looks pretty cheap inside, even though it is getting better. Trouble is, so is the opposition!

In addition, GM had an Equinox, equipped with a fuel cell, to showcase future innovation

MITSUBISHI

A concept version of the Lancer 5 door was on show. The rivalry with Subaru continues, as this car is about as visually appealing as the new Impreza!

Rallying heritage was in evidence with this much modified Shogun:

The iCar is now familiar in Europe, as a slightly unusual economy and city car:

The 5 door Colt is also well known:

OPEL

The real excitement for 2008 is coming later in the year, so the stand here had little that was truly new, apart from 2 concept cars, and the production version of the new Agila. The Meriva concept looked production ready, and, although the shape is a radical departure, this could do quite well in its sector.

As to the Agila, hmm, well………. it looks better than the outgoing model, and the inside is also a giant leap over that car, but it did not impress in the same way as the Panda or the i10 do.

There was a GSi badged Corsa. In Europe, the “hot” Corsa is the OPC, so this is the “cooking” version:

ITAL-DESIGN

A special display, showing some of the cars created by Ital-Design and Giugiaro over the years

PININFARINA

A display of some of the cars for which the well known design house is responsible:

SPYKER

Some familiar models here:

and this absolute abomination:

FERRARI

I was surprised to find that the perimeter of this stand was not absolutely packed out. Even more so when I discovered these three cars in the centre section!

Not that the cars in the outer area were exactly bad, either!

BUGATTI

Just one car on the stand:

AUDI

A huge stand, and very busy, as you would expect, given the popularity of Audi in Switzerland, where it consistently outsells BMW. No sign of the R8 V10 TDI. It apparently was not there. We had to “make do” with a regular R8.

No sign of the Q7 V12 TSI, but that was apparently there, but in a secluded area, which was not open to the general show attendee. Among a stand of mostly silver cars, there were some newcomers. The A4 Avant, for instance

:

The A3 Cabrio, which looked good in red. with the roof down.

The TT-S, which looked very much like any other TT.


LAMBORGHINI

This stand perimeter was packed out. Three cars to see, and stunning they were, too.

BENTLEY

Six cars on this stand, none of them new for the show.

ABARTH

Two cars on the stand, and they clearly spent all the money on the cars, and had nothing left for the show girls to wear!! It was the Esse-esse that was capturing more interest, but the 500 that was totally new.

MASERATI

A large stand, reflecting the renaissance of this marque over recent years. Three Quattroportes were at one end:

At the other end was the GranTurismo S

And in the middle, I could not see, as the outer wall was high, and I was not allowed on the stand!

LOTUS

A three car stand, with an Elise, a Europa and the One-Eleven.

PAGANI

No surprise that among the largest queues were to be found around the edge of this stand!

CHINA BRILLIANCE

Three cars on show: the BC3 coupe,

The BS4 sedan

and the larger BS6 sedan. It was this last which got all the headlines for all the wrong reasons last year, but Brilliance claim that they have now addressed all the safety issues. Certainly there was a lot of apparent real interest in these cars, though it has to be said that the people who were so doing did all seem to be of a certain stereotype – not your average forummer, for sure!

SUBARU

The new Forester was making its European debut. Noticeably larger than its predecessor, it is also starting to look rather non-descript. Not convinced by this one. But then, I was not convinced by the old model once I drove it, either!

More familiar cars included these:

Legacy:

Justy:

Impreza:

TRAMONTA

KTM

KOENIGSEGG

Two cars on show. Over 1000 bhp, anyone?

BITTER

Erich Bitter made a name for himself in the 70s and 80s with a series of low volume cars, based on high-end Opels. Now the name is back, with a new luxury saloon based on the Holden Commodore.

SEAT

Centre of attention here is the Bocanegra, which must surely be a thinly veiled version of the next Ibiza. Compared with the rather hideous Tribu thing that was at Frankfurt, this looked pretty decent.

Various Leons, Alteas and all the associated models that all look the same completed this display.

LAND-ROVER

Definite highlight was the LRX Concept car, which looked stunning!

JAGUAR

Lots of interest being shown in the new XF, and rightly so, too.

Also new was the XKR-S, and I thought this struck the perfect balance between restrained and muscular. Very nice!

VOLVO

Brand new here was the XC60, and this car seemed to be attracting continuous attention. It was almost impossible to get near any of the 3 examples on the stand, let alone get a photo with no-one in it, or with various orifices being opened and closed.

MORGAN

One of the more unusual cars on display was the prototype Hydrogen powered car. Much work remains to be done to make this a reality, clearly.

PEUGEOT

News here is the 308 SW. This looks exactly like the Concept SW that was shown at Frankfurt. The looks have not grown on me one bit, and although the interior quality is now up to scratch, I cannot get at all interested in this car.

The 207 is no better!

A lone 607 was skulking in a corner. Now one of the oldest models on the market.

Peugeot’s version of the new van is called Partner Tepee, and several were on show.

The smaller van is called Bipper

The 908 made a showing:

The 308 RC-Z was also there. If ever there was a car that could provide an image boost, and one that is needed, it is this one.

ARTEGA

ALPINA

A small stand for these BMW-derivatives. The side stripes do nothing for me, so it goes without saying, that I liked the plain white B3 here the best!

BMW

A massive stand, but somewhat disappointing. BMW had decided to put half their cars out of reach, on an upper level, thus leaving everyone with the clear message about all their new efficiency measures. On the ground, it was the X6 which was attracting the most attention.

There was a new M3 sedan and a convertible, and these were understandably popular, too. On the rare occasions when the Convertible was unattended, the stand staff came over and lowered the roof, and that was usually enough to get the crowds back

.

.A couple of 1 series convertibles were also on show.

Tucked away out the back were 2 very nice rarities: The CS Concept

The 1936 BMW 328:

MERCEDES-BENZ

Probably the largest stand area of any manufacturer, with a lot of cars to see. There was a huge emphasis on various aspects of efficiency and green technology. I struggled to get close to the cars, but late on the second day, I had some luck, but I also got cornered by a lady with a long marketing questionnaire – quite amusingly, when we finally got to the demographics questions, and she asked where I lived, when I said England, she then switched to perfect English for the last 2 questions! She was as English as me, it turned out! The questionnaire was mostly a load of stuff about how you perceive Merc brand values, and how your impression had changed because of the stand. If I had to base an answer on the facelifted SL, it would regress somewhat. Not a visual improvement, here, for sure.

And the CLC is all to clearly a warmed over C Class Sport Coupe

And I was not convinced by the GLK, either.

This AMG CLS63 was rather tasty, though! I quite like the new C Class Estate, such as this one:

Of course, there is always the Mclaren SLR:


MAYBACH

The new Laundalet was carefully parked so the full vulgar ostentation was partially obscured from view!

JEEP

A full range of the familiar Jeep products was on show. Newest offering is this one, the latest Cherokee

.

Also, a Wrangler, in archetypal “rough” setting

CHRYSLER/DODGE

A large display of cars, here. Three concept cars, the ZEO, an MPV and a Jeep:

The new Mini-vans, yet to go on sale in Europe, were attracting a lot of interest. So was this, the Dodge Journey, which is based on the Avenger saloon, but which is a rather large vehicle indeed.

My over-riding impression of the whole range is that interior quality is still awful. It is better than the Chinese, but otherwise, would easily have won the prize for “worst in show”.

ROLLS-ROYCE

A three car stand, with the new Coupe as the central attraction, and the Drophead and regular Phantom to back it up.

CITROEN

I was interested to see the new C5 in the metal, and was not disappointed as there were plenty of both the saloon and the Tourer on the stand. The inside of this car is a real revelation. After years of producing rather crummy and flimsy insides, this one is really impressive. Although the outside styling is not “beautiful”, not is it ugly, so I would put this pretty high on the list of cars in its class, at least to try out.

The new Berlingo was on show, too, and this also has a much higher quality interior.

The racing heritage was not neglected, with this C4-based machine

The C-Cactus staged another appearance, too:

BYD

A new name on me, this turned out to stand for “Build your Dreams”. A range of “cloned” cars were on show, with strong similarities to the Aygo, the Lacetti and the US Corolla.

It was not hard to find areas of really bad quality in these cars, but this arrangement in the boot of the Corolla clone was just plain laughable!


PORSCHE

Absolutely packed out, as you would expect. Nothing that was totally new, but the Cayenne GTS had a special gallery area.

911 GT2.

DACIA

The Sandero hatch was making its European debut here. Although this will sell for the same sort of price as the Logan, both these cars show how some levels of quality do not need to be sacrificed, and a perfectly acceptable product can be offered.

The familiar Logan, here in estate form:

DAIHATSU

A full range here, with one newcomer. That turned out to be the Sirion 1.5 ST Sport. Hmm!

The rest of the range was well represented, too

SUZUKI

The new Splash was making its production debut here.

Still in concept form is the smaller A-Star, destined to form the eventual replacement for the now discontinued Alto.

HEULIEZ

The “Macarena” – a 407 4-door convertible:

LEXUS

Highlight here is the convertible version of the LS-F. Why Lexus are still agonising over putting these cars into production is something of a mystery.

TOYOTA

Almost all the current production cars here were black, with exception of one lone dark blue Auris. Nothing much of any interest, though the gargantuan new Land Cruiser was worth a photo.

The new Urban Cruiser had a display all to itself. Quite unlike the concept version I had seen in the Champs Elysees showroom, this is a midly modified version of the Scion xD, and I did not like it all

I did like the iQ, however, and it appears, at least visually, to be very like the Concept car. I was rather amused to discover this car in its own “well” for overnight, and in between presentations.

Toyota also had the iReal, a very way out sort of concept on personal transportation of the future

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Not all that is at Geneva is “good”. There were a whole load of cars that had been “improved”. Well, I have to assume that someone thought that the time and money lavished on these had somehow made them better. I wish they had not bothered. In Hall 7, there were a whole load of the sort of cars that you expect in the “tuning” section. These were 3 of the worst:

Sadly, there were some creations in the main part of the show that were, in many ways, even worse than these! Blame Mansory for these abominations:

In contrast, these were not quite so bad:

And as for these……..


BRABUS

Perhaps rather restrained, in comparison, but still not convinced by any of these!

There were several examples of the Think! on show in one of the walkway areas out near the viewing platform for the airport, also known as a smoking area, as the whole of the show has, thankfully, gone smoke free now

Tucked away in a corridor, we came across this, a genuine Ferrari F40 LM, with a long list of illustrious drivers

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I also rather liked this Aston-Martin DB3S:

The smallest hall, Hall 3, had a strange mix of oddities, and accessories on offer.

Fisker

Some of the oddities:

Monotracer:

Fornasari

Zenz

Let’s end the report on a “high”, though. There were 3 Monteverdi cars on show. One, a 375L, was part stuffed through a car wash.

The other 2, as shown here, were on a stand which represented the Monteverdi museum, which is in Binningen, near Basle. The show cars were a 375S, and a prototype for the Hai.

This fabulous looking collection is open to the public only by prior arrangement and needs a group to attend……………… we need to plan a trip there from “The Motor”, for sure! So, an excellent show, made all the better by being able to share it in person with some other Forummers.
2009-12-30 13:02:49

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