Yes, the glitz and the glamour of the Geneva show went on, despite the realities of a global recession, the worst of its kind in 60 years. Not a single soul walking the seven giant halls of Geneva's Palexpo exhibition centre was in denial, but there was general agreement on the need to push ahead as much as possible. "What's the alternative?" was the common refrain, said usually with a shrug and a grimace.
So on that theme, Aston Martin pulled the wraps off a super-luxury Lagonda SUV, discussing plans to relaunch a marque that's been dormant since the 1990s. Perhaps 2012, we were told, though no one from Aston was willing to commit to a production date.
"We're looking long-term, here, 10 to 15 years," sales director Bill Donnelly told reporters. "This recession will end and there's still plenty of wealth in the world and will be in the future, too."
Ah, the future. The Koenigsegg Quant Concept, a solar-powered car, is certainly about the future and an unlikely one at that. But it was interesting, as was the Frazer-Nash Namir, a hybrid styled by Giugiaro. If either ever becomes a real production car for sale, well, it will years and years from now. But these oddballs drew crowds of the amused and the bewildered.
But nothing topped the hot air behind a bubble-shaped three-wheeler rolled out by the French firm MDI. The AirPod, said company types, can go as far as 220 km on a 175-litre tank of compressed air. Emissions? Zero. Refills? They take eight hours if you plug into a regular power outlet, or two minutes at a special "air station."
MDI says the AirPod will go into trials at airports in Paris and Amsterdam, where Air France and KLM will blow out the bugs. The company says that the AirPod is an excellent, low-cost, zero-emissions car. It has no expensive batteries, so the price will be about €6,000. But it's hard to be serious about a car driven with a joy stick.
Now somewhere between the dreamy Lagonda and the just plain silly AirPod, we saw some real cars with real futures. Volkswagen took the wraps off its Polo subcompact and it has the looks of a winner. There is even talk that a version of it may even find its way into Canadian showrooms.
The Polo is one of VW's biggest sellers, a high-volume model in Europe that VW hopes to also bring to across the Atlantic to Canadians and Americans. The fifth-generation Polo, if it came to Canada, would slot in below the Rabbit, perhaps replacing the City Golf. But no official word, yet.
No one from Ford offered an official word on the Iosis Max design study, either, but count on this: it hints at the next-generation Ford Focus and we will get that car when production of the new Focus begins next year in Michigan.
Ford is having a tough go of it, though it has not yet needed to ask for government money. The Iosis Max suggests Ford certainly has a plan to move forward with cars people might want to buy.
Sure, the regular Focus will be fuel-efficient, but Ford officials say the Focus can be more than that — and will be. As proof, the current 300-horsepower Focus RS performance compact was on hand.
We don't have a Focus like this now, but enthusiasts might be interested in a lightning-fast compact with a turbocharged 2.5-litre, four-cylinder engine that delivers 0-100 km/h in 5.9 seconds.
Of course, Ford officials were quick to point out that turbocharging will play a big role in future models. Ford will combine turbocharging with direct fuel-injection in a system the company calls EcoBoost.
EcoBoost will first be offered in V-6 engines to provide fuel economy and power. The recently unveiled Taurus SHO and other Ford models will get it in Canada and the United States this year.
Ford will also use turbos and direct injection to wring more power and fuel economy out of the array of small cars and crossovers it will build and sell in North America going forward.
Chrysler's plan, meanwhile, involves Fiat — and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne unveiled his company's new Multiair engine technology with claims that it can reduce fuel consumption as much as 25 per cent.
Fiat is in negotiations with Chrysler to acquire 35 per cent or more of the American car maker. If that deal goes through, the fuel-saving system would be available to Chrysler.
Multiair, we were told, originally sprang from Fiat's Ferrari Formula One racing team. But it won't be used in race cars this year. Instead, it will initially be fitted to Fiat's family of 1.0-litre to 1.4-litre four-cylinder engines, then it will make its way into other production motors.
It's worth noting here because if the Fiat-Chrysler alliance happens, some time down the road Chrysler would be in a position to build vehicles, engines and transmissions based on Fiat technology and assembling them — or Fiat and Alfa Romeo models — in Chrysler's North American assembly plants.
One Fiat I'd like to see for sale in Canada is the cute 500 city car. Fiat showed a convertible version of the 500 here and it would be a winner in Canada.
Fiat aside, perhaps the biggest star of the Geneva show was the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. It had its official global debut here, though Mercedes previewed the car to an invited-only guest list at a Detroit hotel last January.
This is the ninth-generation E and the styling is quite the departure for Mercedes — all creases and angles and lines. The car is loaded with technology, too, and in Canada Mercedes plans to offer four different engine choices. On-sale date: July.
The E looks like a very good effort from Mercedes, but truth be told, most auto makers in Geneva struggled with putting on a brave face. The talk on the show floor was as much about bailing out car companies as it was about driving new models.
Car company executives, usually overflowing with bluster and bold predictions of great future successes, were subdued this year, cautious with their comments and clearly aware of the greater economic problems out there.
That said, the show had to go on and it did.
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