BMW Green Super Car. M1 Tribute or just plain cool?
In a few short weeks it will once again be time to talk about the latest and greatest concept cars, production sports cars and some pretty interesting "others." On September 15th of this year the doors will open on the 63rd International Motor Show of Frankfurt.
The Frankfurt Auto Show is one of the biggest, most important and of course coolest (if you're into Germany machinery) international auto shows of the year. Occurring on an annual basis, the show alternates between passenger vehicle one year and commercial vehicles the next. Because of the dual-nature of the show it swaps positions with the biannual Pars International Auto Show as Europe's most important auto show.
As you would expect, given the shows location, the Frankfurt event is dominated by German manufacturers. Great companies like Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen all use the Frankfurt Auto Show as their launching pad for new models.
If James Bond had kids.... ultra-cool Rapide.
Now obviously, there is a lot of very cool machinery to talk about. There will be some spectacular debuts as well, including what is sure to be the world's fastest four-door sedan from Bugatti. Here's a quick list of the cars that I will be keeping an eye on and one's that you can look forward to hearing more about from me:
Audi has a couple of cool offerings this year. The new R8 Convertible, which was first spied on the set of the new Iron Man film, and a reportedly all-electric version of the R8. Also from those four wheel drive maniacs is the new A5 Sportback. A car which defies definition as it is a four door hatchback, or wagon, or a rebadged A4 Wagon, or a stretched A5 coupe with extra doors? Maybe Audi will let us know at show time.
Aston Martin will reportedly have a full production version of their new Rapide 4 door sedan on hand. Beautifully proportioned and enough room for Mr. and Mrs. Bond, Jr. and Fido.
BMW is another company making a few waves this year. Not only has Head of Design, Chris Bangle, left the company, but BMW is bringing a "Green Supercar" which certainly pays homage to the original M1 car. Also is a "mystery sports car" (which a few photos have been leaked) and the new X1 SUV. Apparently, the X3 wasn't small and pointless enough.
Ah, Bugatti. Ultra-exclusive, ultra-luxurious and hyper-fast. Well now your kids can share in your 250 mph glory, because Bugatti is introducing their four door sedan called the 'Bordeaux'. It shares the same 8.0 liter quad-turbo 1001 bhp W16 engine as the Veyron, which will undoubtably make it the fastest four door sedan in the world.
Ferrari 458 Italia. It's the replacement for the brilliant F430. It's beautiful, it's really, REALLY fast and it's a Ferrari, Enough said.
Mazda will show a purely concept version of the Miata called the MX-5 Superlight. This striped down roadster looks just like the Mercedes-Mclaren SLR Stirling Moss, only at 3/4 scale. Cool concept, but production is highly unlikely, bummer.
Mini Crossover. I actually like this thing. No, I would never buy one, but for a small SUV/Crossover, you could do a lot worse!
Mercedes and their mental counterparts at AMG will have a cool new debut. The SLS AMG. This car replaces the SLR "Mc-Merc" and gets a 571 bhp 6.3 liter V8. The car is a tribute to the legendary 300sl Gullwing coupes from the '50' and as such get the trademark "gullwing" door. No word if Mercedes will have their all-electric version of the SLS there, but the AMG version should be plenty cool.
Porsche's new Turbo. Fast = good!
Porsche will be there with their new Turbo model. About 500 bhp and a 194 mph top speed. Looks almost identical to the previous Turbo but get a boost in performance.
Rolls Royce is coming with it's new 'Ghost.' Ok, I know that seeing a Rolls Royce is about as exciting as watching a Victorian-era bed wallow down the street, but it's not often that Rolls comes up with a new model. So that makes this special, sort of.
Volkswagen has been in the news a lot lately. The take-over of Porsche, the new Scirocco and the CNG powered race car version, and of course the definitive "hot-hatch" the Golf GTI. VW will debut the next 'R-spec' Golf, the R20. Rumors are that it will have about 270 bhp from a turbo-charged 4 cylinder.
You can bet that there will be A LOT to talk about in the wake of this auto show. Stay tuned for upcoming news, reviews and test drives of the best from Frankfurt.
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