Geneva Motor Show ... Seventy world and twenty European premieres


Pininfarina Battista

Pininfarina Battista

 

Geneva, 07 – 17 March, 2019

The 89th Geneva International Motor Show was held between the 07 and 17 March at its regular venue of the Palexpo exhibition centre, conveniently situated adjacent to Geneva international airport. The show provided plenty of new offerings, not only from major manufacturers, but also niche market constructors and “personalisation” specialists, for visitors to enjoy through the course of the show. In all there were around seventy world and twenty European premieres ranging from the miniscule Citroen Ami One concept car to the gargantuan Hispano Suiza Carmen, both of which featured electric propulsion, as did a number of the other new offerings.

Notable by their absence was a quartet of renowned brands, namely Ford, Jaguar-Land Rover, Mini and Volvo, whilst 2018 absentee Opel was still without a stand, although the exhibition spaces that they would normally have occupied were absorbed by other manufacturers and specialist displays, These included one featuring historic Abarth models, and the Klima lounge with a variety of vehicles ranging from a Citroen Traction Avant, through a classic Lamborghini tractor and a Centenario version, to an example of the recently announced Brabham BT62 supercar. Despite the absence of some of the big names, there was still plenty of variety in the way of new models and concept cars. Geneva always seems to attract some of the more obscure offerings, like those from Sbarro, which appear decidedly wacky sometimes, like their “el-Richo” trike for urban transport, with either a hybrid or a full electric power unit. Then there are the totally over the top “personalisation” offerings from the likes of Mansory, which included a duo-tone metallic blue and marble effect modified Bugatti Chiron, which they called the Centurio. 

Citroen celebrated their centenary with a predominantly study in black and white stand, featuring both new, concept and classic models, apart from the Ami One concept car and the C3 WRC car which bucked the black and white theme. Over at Fiat, the star was the kept under wraps until the eve of the show Centoventi electric concept car, generally referred to as the “electric Panda”, which aims to be one of the cheapest electric cars on the market, should the project get the green light. Sister marque Alfa Romeo, displayed the Tonale, which like the larger Stelvio model is also named after an Italian Alpine mountain pass. This is a mid-size SUV which will be the first Alfa Romeo with plug-in hybrid technology. It wasn’t only the European brands that came up with some promising new offerings and concepts, amongst the Far East manufacturers, Honda showed their e prototype developed in conjunction with IED, KIA showed their Imagine concept car, Mitsubishi debuted their Engleberg Tourer concept previewing the next Outlander model, and Nissan had a new concept called the IMQ, slated to be the upcoming replacement for their Qashqai. 

There was quite literally a plethora of supercars and hypercars spread around the halls, with both traditional and new names providing a spectacular array of offerings in traditional fuel, hybrid and full electric power forms. Bugatti displayed a one-off Chiron based model called La Voiture Noire, producing nearly 1500bhp, and with an eye watering price tag of some €11 million, the highest price new car sold! If 1500bhp isn’t enough for you, then how about the all-electric Pininfarina Battista with a claimed power output of 1900bhp, which will be limited to a production run of 150 units. Aston Martin provided an idea of the future direction of their models, with not only the previously seen Valkyrie models, but a pair of new mid-engine models, one code named 003 and the other called the Vanquish Vision Concept, in both of which can be seen traces of the Valkyrie heritage. The latter is planned to be the company’s first series production mid-engine model. As if this wasn’t enough they also presented the Lagonda All-Terrain Concept, a fully electric luxury SUV loaded with innovative features. 

Lamborghini presented the Huracan Evo Spyder and the Aventador SVJ Roadster, whilst Koenigsegg had their latest offering, the Jesko, boasting 1600bhp from its twin turbo 5 litre V8 engine coupled to a nine speed gearbox, claimed to produce “light-speed” gear changes. No serious motor show would be complete without Ferrari, and they presented their latest mid-range offering at Geneva, the F8 Tributo, a development of the 488 model, but 40kgs lighter, and using the development of the 3.9 litre twin turbo V8 engine that featured in the hardcore 488 Pista model, producing 710bhp, which becomes the “standard” engine. Their stand also featured examples of the other models in the current range, namely the Portofino, the GTC4 Lusso and the 812 Superfast, together with a F1 static show car. 

Despite the absence of the previously mentioned “big names”, the quality of the show was not diluted, as there were plenty of exciting new models and concept cars to satisfy all tastes and wallets. Whilst it is also provides an opportunity to see some cars that may never make production, but at the same time offer design, innovation and/or technical features that may appear in a revised form in the future.

 

Ferraris on Display

Model

Colour

Chassis #

Ferrari Stand

Ferrari Portofino

Grey Metallic

243718

Ferrari Portofino

Green Metallic

243937

Ferrari F8 Tributo

Blue Metallic

242682

Ferrari F8 Tributo

Red

242985

Ferrari GTC4 Lusso

Blue-Grey Metallic

243719

Ferrari 812 Superfast

Yellow Metallic

243715

Ferrari F1 Show Car

Red

199

ACS Stand

Ferrari 488 Challenge

Yellow

234416

 

Keith Bluemel         
03/2019