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Much Ado About Nothing Much at Geneva Motor Show
Chrysler’s Dodge Underlines Big Ambitions In Europe
Where Are The Environment Saviours?
Little Alfa Spider Is Star of Show; Peugeot 207, Big Volvo Unveiled.
GENEVA, Switzerland A long-term assumption of mine died a death this week in Geneva. In southern England, where it snows a bit every year or two, at the first sign of the white stuff, expect chaos. In beautiful, efficient Geneva, in the shadow of Mont Blanc and The Alps, snow is as common as rain in England. When it snows nobody even notices, right?
Wrong.
Geneva came to a standstill when a mild snow fall hit at dawn on Wednesday. The roads around Palexpo, the Geneva Motor Show arena, went untreated. Traffic snarled. An articulated Bendy-Bus jack-knifed causing mayhem, blocking access to the centre of Geneva. My rear-wheel-drive, snow-tire free Jaguar S-type diesel became scarily undriveable.
So much for my confidence in Swiss efficiency.
But the annual Geneva Motor Show never lets you down. There are always masses of state-of-the-art new cars, and enough news generated by the attending world industry leaders to fill a couple of notebooks.
There goes another one. Sorry to report that the show was a tad dull this year.
Sure, there were lots of gleaming new machines, and no shortage of hyperbole from industry leaders talking up their companies. But there was only one major, mass market new vehicle, the little Peugeot 207, and lots of niche cars.
Huge problems for Europe
The European industry is facing huge problems. Markets are stagnant, as are economies, and new entrants from Asia are relentlessly grabbing what new sales there are. The Europeans are left to fight among themselves for scraps of a dissolving market. If they were looking for new products to start salvation, they weren’t at Geneva.
The environment, and the fight to be the first to point the way out of reliance on fossil fuels, has been a theme of many international motor shows recently. The Detroit show in January was full of new petrol electric hybrids, ways to save fuel, and fuel cell exercises (although the traffic on a recent trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, suggests this effort is superficial to say the least in the U.S.). In Geneva, any new ideas about saving fuel were either well hidden, or not there at all.
The star of the show was probably the conventional and irresistible Alfa Romeo Spider, two-seater roadster, which is directly related to the sports car that Dustin Hoffman drove in the 1967 classic movie “The Graduate”. Americans won’t be able to buy it though; Alfa Romeo stopped selling in the U.S. in 1994, plagued by reliability problems. Alfa isn’t likely to sell its cars in the U.S. any time soon, although it often talks of returning but always sets a suitably vague date, deep in the future.
Dodge Caliber, Nitro catch the eye
But there were some encouraging signs for the U.S. manufacturers attempting to sell their domestic products in Europe. Chrysler’s Dodge stand caught the eye, with nifty new products like the Caliber hatchback and Nitro SUV. Both these cars look very attractive and different from their European counterparts with chunky styling and bags of personality. When these cars hit dealer lots they will also be able to display their secret weapon – price. Thanks to the weakness of the dollar, U.S. products can have a big price edge in Europe. It remains to be seen whether quality will be up to the mark. Dodge also showed the Hornet, a rally-inspired hot hatchback concept car, which hasn’t got the production go-ahead yet. Dodge has big plans for Europe, hoping for annual sales of 80,000 in 2009, up from almost nothing in 2004.
Walt Madeira, British-based Europe Sales Forecast Manager for CSM Worldwide, thinks this is a bit ambitious.
“That’s very optimistic. Dodge doesn’t have the brand awareness in Europe yet. They are starting from zero, and we expect more like 40,000 to 60,000 by 2009. Dodge is taking this very seriously though. It is going after a sporty, aggressive, young image in Europe. It’s sponsoring German ice hockey, just like it sponsors the NHL in the U.S.,” said Madeira.
Great exterior
As for the Caliber, Madeira was impressed with the exterior of the car, but felt the quality of the interior was not quite up to class-leading VW standards.
CSM Worldwide expects Chrysler and its Dodge and Jeep brands to raise sales to between 180,000 and 250,000 in 2009, up from 97,000 in 2005.
General Motors’ Cadillac also has big ambitions in Europe, and was showcasing the new BLS, its Saab built BMW 3-series rival with the brand’s first diesel. CSM expects 15,000 to 20,000 Cadillac vehicle sales by 2009. It sold 2,500 in 2005.
Chevrolet too
GM’s Chevrolet is selling well, mainly in central and eastern Europe and sales should hit 350,000 to 375,000 by 2009, up from 245,000 in 2005.
The U.S. manufacturers have a successful story to tell in Europe with their domestic exports, although the volumes are not going to make that much difference.
An old rival in the U.S. market, Volvo, launched its flagship S80 sedan, with a standard self-effacing, some might say pious, video presentation showing how much it cares about everything, although it was quick to also point out that the S80 comes with a V-8 gasoline motor, a first for Volvo. This is hard to square with Volvo’s green credentials. Volvo said the new car has a more self-assured stance, more presence on the road, and represents elegance, dignity and dynamic alertness. The dashboard should remind us of a crisp field on a winter’s day. The S80 is new from the ground up, but looks uncannily similar to the old one.
Britain’s Lotus unveiled the Europa S, its latest affordable hot-rod sports car, which is aimed at the Audi TT and Nissan 350Z. The original Europa from the 1970s had such slab-sided, utilitarian styling that it was known as Europe’s fastest delivery van. This one looks much prettier.
Skoda Roomster
VW’s Czech Republic based-Skoda subsidiary doesn’t have a very good record with names that make sense. It has a big 5-seater sedan based on the Volkswagen Passat which it calls the Superb – a bit over the top you might think, although it may have different connotations to the Czech ear. Skoda introduced its Roomster at the show, a cheap utility vehicle aimed at other car-derived vans like the Renault Kangoo and Peugeot Berlingo.
The incomparable Ferrari launched the 599 GTB Fiorano, with a 620 bhp 6.0 litre V-12 engine, built on an all-aluminum space frame.
Opel GT
GM’s Opel European manufacturer is reviving its GT name after more than 30 years. The GT is a European version of the Pontiac Solstice, and will compete with the Mazda Miata, known as the MX-5 in Europe, and the Alfa Romeo Spider.
Ford isn’t importing many U.S. made products, but it’s Ford Europe subsidiary did launch 3 brand new models for Europe at the Geneva Show, with the S-Max, a five-door MPV taking pride of place. Ford also launched a new Galaxy, a bigger MPV, and the Focus Coupe Cabriolet, which was shown as a concept car at the Paris show in 2004 when it was called the Vignale. The Coupe Cabriolet has a steel roof which folds into the trunk at the touch of a button.
Other new cars and concepts launched at the show included –
Hyundai and its Kia subsidiary have got the Europeans on the run, even with cars that are often good value but bland. The Hyundai Genus crossover concept (it combines SUV and MPV on a car chassis) looks fabulous and will have the likes of VW, Renault, Peugeot and Fiat looking over their shoulders.
The Kia Cee’d concept could use a sensible name. If the project gets the go-ahead it will be built at Kia’s new plant in Slovakia, and be powered by a four-cylinder 2.0 litre turbo-charged gasoline engine.
Peugeot sold more than 5 million of this car’s predecessor, the 206. That was before the Koreans hit top gear, so expect this car to have a much tougher time, even if it didn’t look more or less exactly the same as it forerunner. The Peugeot 207 is a bit bigger than the 206, and is the only mainstream mass-market new car on show at Geneva.
Memo to new Renault boss Carlos Ghosn – Renault can’t sell cars in the premium sector (think Vel Satis) against the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Lexus, so the Renault Altica will bomb. There’s still time to ditch the Altica, supposedly a station wagon that looks like a sports car, because it is still just a concept. Any serious attempt by Renault to assault the premium sector would be better coming from its Infiniti cousin, owned by its alliance partner Nissan.
Suzuki has big ambitions in Europe, where the Suzuki SX4 SUV crossover will be sold. Suzuki also makes a version of this for Fiat, which calls it the Sedici.
Volkswagen Concept A. This will become the Golf SUV when it goes on sale next year, and compete with the Toyota RAV4 and Land Rover Freelander. The concept has an odd, steeply raked rear roof line, which surely cuts back on space and is unlikely to be retained on the road version.
Aston Martin Rapide. This beautiful 450 bhp, 5.9 litre V-12 four-door, four seater concept car is another step closer to reality after making its debut in Detroit. The Rapide is expected to be launched in 2007, which would give it 3 years to make an impression before its big rival, the Porsche Panamera, arrives.
On the environmental front, Land Rover did make a big fuss about its so-called belt-driven Integrated Starter Alternator, which is a kind of stop-start hybrid (the engine automatically stops in traffic, then starts immediately with a touch of the accelerator). It also uses 5 per cent bio-diesel now, rising to 25 per cent eventually. This can cut fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent.
Neil Winton - March 6, 2006
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