WintonsWorld Dedicated to the truth about cars, and if I’ve got the time, some home truths about politics too. I worked for Reuters for 33 years, where my last job was European Auto Correspondent. I was also Reuters' global Science and Technology Correspondent. I judge cars on their honesty, practicality, quality and value for money.
geneva motor show 2004
Geneva Cars Nothing Revolutionary; Some Hostages To Fortune Audi A6 looks overweight; Peugeot 407 eye-catching Little Opel TRIXX Concept Car Steals The Show Rolls Royce, Hummer Strike Embarrassing Notes
Geneva, Switzerland "Did anything take your fancy at the Geneva Car Show?"
That was the question put to me by a friend when I arrived back on Thursday, and the first thing that sprang to mind was not any epoch-making new set of wheels. There weren't any. It was the quality of the female decoration on the Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia stands that stayed in the memory; elegant, beautiful, understated. Apparently, only the Italians have the brazenness and gall to rely on sex to draw attention to their products. No other major manufacturer at Geneva did this.
Instead at the other extreme, Volvo, gave us a car designed by an all-women team. This Volvo YCC concept car was designed with the idea that women don't want to service their cars too often, and never look under the bonnet to check things like engine oil. When servicing is due, a wireless message is transmitted to a service centre, which then reminds the driver. The materials used in the body of the car don't need washing so often. The interior is easy to clean too. I've got news for Volvo. That's exactly what most men want too.
Audi A6 review
But interesting new cars? Audi introduced its new A6, which will compete with the BMW 5 series and Mercedes E class. First pictures of the new A6 suggested it looked more or less the same as its predecessor, apart from a bold new face described by Audi as "a trapezoidal". single-frame radiator grille". This deeper and decidedly more aggressive grill will take some getting used too, and we will have to, because this is the new face of Audi. As for the new body on the A6, my first impression was that it made the car look ungainly and overweight. It was a bit like meeting an old friend who had been on a secret regime of cheeseburgers and beer, but had pretended it was a healthy diet. Instantly recognisable, but a little worrying when you had been led to believe that a lifestyle redesign would have a positive impact.
Peugeot 407review
The Peugeot 407, which appeared in concept form at the last major car show, Frankfurt in September, is an attempt by the French company to break away from a European repetitive, derivative, Russian-doll styling. The 407 has a Ferrari-esque front end with an open-mouthed grill which is an unashamed attention grabber. No doubt the 407's competitors will try and say it looks like a goldfish or a gulping grouper. In fact on a recent trip to the U.S., I noticed that the big Chrysler Intrepids and the Dodge LS have very similar front ends.
BMW 5-series Touringreview
The BMW 5-series Touring sports an astonishing new motor - a 6-cylinder in line, twin turbocharged, 3-litre 272 bhp diesel engine - as well as the usual range of power plants. The new Mini convertible looked a bit small and frail without its familiar bulbous roof, but it doesn't take a genius to see that this cute, lovable little car will be a huge success.
Price for the most brazen new car at the show must go to Mitsubishi for its new Colt. It doesn't just look a bit like the Honda Jazz, it looks exactly like the Honda Jazz. Speaking as a Honda Jazz owner, I mean exactly.
Monster Gas Gobbler A special award for the most inappropriate contribution to the show is shared by Rolls Royce and General Motors. Rolls Royce chairman and chief executive Tony Gott introduced the experimental RR 100EX, bubbling over with pride. The trouble was that the car was powered by a 9 litre, V16 gas gobbler, and it is hard to see just how experimenting with a 9 litre behemoth furthers the cause of car manufacturing, even if it does have "an interesting boot arrangement too, part of which folds out to create a picnic table".
Opel TRIXX Bob Lutz, the evergreen car chieftain who seems to have been around for ever, showed that maybe it is about time to hang up his driving gloves when he showed how out of touch he is with European thinking. In his new job as interim head of GM Europe, he unveiled two new Opels, the Tigra coupe convertible, and the marvellous little concept car, the TRIXX. Fair enough, and very impressive cars they are too. The trouble was that later in his speech he started on about the virtues of the Cadillac CTS-V - a 5.7 litre V8 useless monster, which GM has been advertising in U.S. newspapers as a driver's car with six manual gears and which has employed some driver, probably with low swinging arms, to blast around the German Nurburgring.
Hummers And Cadillacs GM apparently thinks we will be impressed with this, and that there is a car buyer in the world who might buy a Cadillac with a manual gearbox. Lutz topped this with his praise of the grotesque Hummer H2 SUT, which "has huge potential, and this vehicle is just one more example of how Hummer can be expanded in the near future". Lutz was addressing a European audience and was presumably talking about Europe. Pushing Hummer sales here might make a few extra dollars for GM, but will do irreparable harm to GM's and the industry's image, and is a godsend to politicians of the left who can't wait to bring car ownership under tight state control. Irresponsible, wasteful products like the Hummer will hasten this move.
Nifty New Ideas The TRIXX though was a marvellous looking little concept car and struck all the right notes. Looking similar to the little Smart city car, the TRIXX was bubbling over with nifty new ideas. It has a foldaway front passenger seat, three doors which slide, and a contraption which extends at the back to carry two mountain bikes. The interior can be switched to carry three adults and one child, or cleared out to provide space for the driver and a huge load area. No word from Opel about the likelihood of actually producing the TRIXX, but it drew legions of admirers to the Opel stand.
Junior Hearse Other new cars to be shown included the Toyota Corolla Verso, a big improvement on the previous design which reminded me of a junior hearse. Land Rover showed its concept car, the Range Stormer. Land Rover also showed this at the Detroit show. Surely it can't be thinking of manufacturing this car, which looks like a dead ringer for the ill fated Renault Avantime. Who would want a two door SUV? The new Seat Altea looks lovely. The Lexus GS300 is awesome. The little Fiat Trepiuno, which means three plus one in Italian, was another variation on the Smart car theme, and reminded us of the original Fiat 500 bubble car. Mercedes restyled SLK takes on the looks of the McLaren Mercedes supercar. Hyundai introduced the Tucson small SUV, the Korean company said it will have a fuel-cell powered version by 2010. Now that would be epoch-making.
Neil Winton - March 5, 2004 home page / more reviews / auto industry news / links / top of page
