GENEVA FEVER

Showstoppers everywhere – and a lot of them are cars!

It’s all glamour and smiles as the auto industry puts on its bravest face. After a gloomy start to the year at the Detroit motor show we didn’t know how Geneva would bear up, but as our journalist Philip Moore reports, it didn’t Swiss a beat.

Philip Moore discusses global warming with French model Aiva Jabbour

Geneva Motor Show stands apart from its counterparts around the world. It’s small, extremely friendly and not particularly politically correct. When it comes to the key word for this mag – style – you can’t go past Geneva and Paris.

Indeed many of the gorgeous models, er, the females, that is, come over from Paris for the Geneva auto extravaganza. Times might be perilously tight and auto company CEOs are flying economy, but thankfully there are beautiful babes still presenting the hot metal in Geneva. OK, perhaps a few less than last year, but the eye candy was still dazzling, particularly on the GM, Alpha, Masarati, Audi, Lamborghini and Fiat stands.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the petrol-head Terminator, caused a sensation when he made an unscheduled visit to the halls.

Sure the auto industry has never seen a recession like this but Geneva was bursting with new models – I’m talking cars now. More than 85 models took their debut bows and there were plenty of reasons to pat the industry on the back.

And there were the characters and none greater than General motors’ car tzar, Bob Lutz. A true giant of the industry, Lutz retires at the end of this year. I had dinner with Lutz the night before I flew back to Dubai and, as usual, there were enough astonishing tales to fill 10 notebooks, but they’re all off the record. Of course he is saddened by the plight of the industry, but he knows he can walk away having done more for quality product that the punters loved than pretty much anyone.

Big Bob’s first motor show was Geneva before most of the executives introducing product were born and, appropriately, it will be his last. Lutz summed it up: “Geneva is a special show, small and friendly. You can walk from one end to another quickly and catch up with everyone you know. There’s always great cars here.” President of GM Europe, the highly impressive Carl Peter Forster, called Lutz to the stage during the reveal of the eco-friendly Ampera, Ampera, the European relative to the North American Volt, and thanked him for his massive contribution to the industry. Lutz, for whom the lecture circuit and media is beckoning, said “I’m going to miss this business.”

Geneva at its best

At this Geneva Motor Show electric-powered vehicles were to the fore more than ever, GM’s troubled Adam Opel GmbH subsidiary presented the lithium-ion battery powered hatchback Ampera.

Other car makers — including Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Ford — also trumpheted plans for vehicles equipped with electric motors.
The industry is pushing the case of electric cars as one way of beating the current crisis that has crushed sales, including in the Gulf, and to meet environmental and carbon emission standards that are more unforgiving by the day. The Ampera is likely to be on the road by the end of 2011. In a nutshell, the first 60 kilometres is on pure electricity augmented by another 500 kilometres of extended range from a gasoline engine and this will generate less than 40 grams of C02 emissions per klick.

The Ampera presented in Geneva was a white four-door sedan with a hatchback — and a set of front headlights that created a menacing, masculine impression.

We were shown how the car could easily be plugged into any household electrical supply. “This is the kind of game-changing technology that the auto industry needs to respond to energy and environmental challenges,” said Peter Forster. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said it has reached an understanding with Peugeot Citroen PSA to sell its new electric car “i MiEV” to European customers as early as late next year. Mitsubishi’s president Osamu Masuko said the collaboration could help pave the road to “tomorrow’s sunny days” for the automotive industry, which is struggling amid the global economic downturn and a decline in global sales.

The four-door electric-only hatchback produces no carbon dioxide emissions and has a top speed of 80 miles per hour (130 kilometres per hour). It has a range of 90 miles (145 kilometres) once its 330-volt lithium ion battery is charged for 14 hours. By contrast, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler showed concept cars that illustrate their respective thinking about electric cars. Ford presented a five-seater passenger vehicle, the Tourneo developed for European markets by Smith Electric Vehicles, part of the Tanfield Group, which developed the Ford Connect van in the United States.

The Alpha stand is the place to be

“The plan is to go into production as soon as we feel the market is ready for production,” Tanfield CEO Darren Kell said.

Chrysler showed its Dodge Circuit EV sports car, which was unveiled in Detroit. And our sister publication Middle East Car will have a special report of my drive of the Dodge EV. Only a handful of journalists have driven it.

Toyota showed its FT-EV fully electric four-seater concept car, also previewed in Detroit as part of the Japanese automaker’s pledge to produce a fully electric commuter vehicle by 2012.

The Indian auto maker Tata introduced its compact Indica Vista EV, an all-electric commuter vehicle that it plans to test in Norway later this year. Tata claims it has a range of at least 100 miles (160 kilometres) and a top speed of 80 mph (128 kph). VW, on the other hand, was moving more slowly before showing any product. Chairman Martin Winterkorn said the German auto maker would launch its first electric vehicle “in the next decade.” “Announcements alone have never brought new technology onto the road,” Winterkorn said. “It’s a long path to safe electric cars that are available for everyone. We are not talking about being the one with the fastest solution. We want the best solution.”

And Vee-Dub, which managed to still post a profit in 2008, was one of the few automakers to put on a show for its new car presentations. It went from green to Pink. Pop singer Pink feted executives with a song promoting the new Polo on the eve of the Geneva event. For the record, she sang “Me and Bobby McGee”.

Opel faces a particularly difficult situation and such new technologies are critical to the restructuring plan it has laid out seeking government funds. GM Europe has proposed that Opel loosen its ties with its beleaguered U.S. parent and said it would need €3.3 billion in financing or guarantees from European authorities over the next two years. The aim would be to pay the money back in 2014 or 2015. But it bears repeating there was no sign of a recession as the big names did the job with dream cars for every class and budget. Bentley debuted the stunning Continental Supersports, which delivers a whopping 621bhp and can run on BIOFUEL — as the Crewe dudes get set to make all their models use it by 2012. It is gorgeous and can give you 0-60mph in just 3.7 seconds (which is quicker than a Porsche GT3) so that should get you moving once you get past Jebel Ali on the way to Abu Dhabi.

Arnold Schwarznegger gets the feel of the new Porsche GT3 at its world premiere at Geneva. Wolfgang Dürheimer gives him the run-down.

Rolls-Royce showed they are in tune with the financial crisis by launching a small “budget” car. The 200EX is £250,000 — fairly cheap by Roller standards. The baby Roller is 435mm shorter than its big brother Phantom and will get an all-new 500bhp-plus V12 engine.

Renault has revealed its most powerful Megane ever, the (you won’t believe it) Renault Megane Renaultsport 250. Powered by a 186kW version of the French maker’s turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, which is the equivalent of 247bhp or 250ps (hence the name), the vivid yellow-coloured three-door Megane RS250 is the spiritual successor for Renault’s limited-edition 168kW Megane RS F1 Team R26.

And, tucked away in the working class heartland, was a Ford concept car which will become the next Focus. Some of the most astute judges at the show were more than upbeat about this one.

An obvious show-stopper was the return of the Lagonda name for Aston Martin which we haven’t seen since 1976. Johnny Rotten was just warming up his scream.

Its correct title is the Avant-Garde Luxury Vantage (ALV) and it’s designed as the ultimate four-seater super saloon. Aston Martin confirmed last September it would revive the long-lost Lagonda brand to “develop cars which can have a different character than a sportscar” however none of us were expecting it to be in the form of a full-size luxury SUV.

Nissan’s London-based European design studio has created a concept vehicle that aims to “reshape the small five-door” as early as next year, and the result was unveiled in Geneva. In an official statement issued in Geneva, even Nissan Design Europe vice-president Alfonso Albaisa said the Qazana’s significance should not be underestimated.Mr Albaisa said that “cars have been dull for too long” and that the Qazana was a “non-conformist car that shows that mind-numbing motoring could be a thing of the past”.
Maybach, the super-luxury arm of the Mercedes-Benz, launched an iconic badge from the 1930s — the Zeppelin, so named because the V12 engines from the original car also powered the famous German airships.

You’ll be up for a tad under a million bucks, so if someone actually buys your pad on the Palm you’ll be right. Under the bonnet the 6.0-litre bi-turbo V12 gives the Zeppelin performance levels to rival high-end sports cars. The engine’s 471kW and 1000Nm can launch the 57 S from standstill to 100km/h in just 4.9 seconds (5.1 for the 62 S) on the way to an electronically governed top speed of 275km/h (250km/h for the 62 S).

Carl Peter Forster tells it straight

And there’s a new king of the bulls.Lamborghini used the Geneva Motor Show to unveil its new Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce, a more powerful, lighter and faster development of the Murcielago. A media frenzy followed California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as he walked the halls at Terminator pace. The Hummer-luvin’ actor-turned-politician does know his cars and I walked with him and his entourage throughout the halls although he wouldn’t answer reporters’ questions.

Schwarzenegger examined both new and classic car models at the unannounced visit.He was on a technology tour of Europe. Big Arnie was accompanied on the showroom tour by German executives such as Volkswagen’s development chief, and took a turn inside VW’s new Polo compact.

It was a Morgan 4/4 from 1939 that really caught his eye, however. “This uses very little gas. Super,” he joked while admiring the green, two-seat convertible. Widening his gaze across a set of old race cars, and switching from German to English, he added: “Look at these cars.” Schwarzenegger also paused to look at a Land Rover Jeep and some other SUVs.

Green technologies to lower carbon dioxide emissions and fuel costs have been issues Schwarzenegger has championed in California so he was in the right place.

He stopped for a snack with Magna Steyr, a contract automaker from his native Austria who was touting an electric vehicle powered by a Ford Motor Co. battery. He also visited Ford’s section of the showroom, which included the subcompact Fiesta that the company plans to bring to North America from Europe in the coming years.

The last stand he visited (see my photograph) was the Audi booth where he spent a fair bit of time checking out the new TT RS and the S5 Cabriolet.

Sure times are tough, and yep, this is worst recession in the industry since old Henry said “make it any colour as long as it’s black.” But the words of the Terminator are pertinent too this time of year in Geneva ... “Let’s party.”