2017 Geneva motor show report

    From electric pods to supercars, the 2017 Geneva motor show had a bumper crop of new metal on display.

    Published On Mar 13, 2017 11:00:00 AM

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    2017 Geneva motor show report

    For a while, it looked as though new cars might have to take a backseat at the 2017 Geneva motor show.

    When Peugeot let it be known that it would officially announce the purchase of Opel a day before the show's traditional Tuesday preview, it seemed the event would be dominated by a lot of corporate guff that would take focus from what, going in, looked a bumper crop of new metal in all departments. But by Tuesday, cars were back in the spotlight.

    Of course, there was a power race. McLaren's new 720S, with 720hp on offer, did much more than merely up the power of the Woking company's new core model. It also introduced a new look for McLaren, with interesting new answers to mid-engined supercar aerodynamics and revolutionised driver visibility.

    But its engine output was nevertheless quickly compared with that of the new Ferrari 812 Superfast and with a collection of newcomers such as Aston Martin's hypercar, now dubbed Valkyrie, the Techrules Ren (1305hp from a jet-propelled range-extender) and Singapore's all-electric Dendrobrium, built by Williams Advanced Engineering.

    There was also the new Honda Civic Type R, all wings and vents as usual, which, despite talk of a calmer character, will still have an even higher engine output of 320hp and a 0-100kph time in the mid-five-second bracket. Even Tata had a supercar, the neat and compact-looking Racemo, which said good things about the scale of its ambitions.

    Geneva always provides an outing for traditional Italian concept car builders. This time, Volkswagen-owned Italdesign (which showed its super-exclusive Zerouno) and Mahindra-owned Pininfarina (with the spectacular but plausible Fittipaldi EF7) both staged heartening returns to the real world.

    Amazing what a bit of big-company backing can do. Alongside other concepts, Bentley had the EXP12, the second iteration of a roadster that now looks nailed on eventually to be its fifth model line, and at the other end of the scale, Citroën extended its new look with C-Aircross, a pretty accurate view of the forthcoming C3 Picasso.

    Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) always enjoys Geneva, and staged another of its familiar 'Ian and Gerry' shows. Jaguar chief designer Ian Callum opened the bidding with the long-awaited XF Sportbrake. But Land Rover's Gerry McGovern held the winning hand in this phase of the design chiefs' continuing rivalry with an all-new Range Rover, the Velar, whose similarity under the skin to the recently launched Jaguar F-Pace was largely lost on the vast audience.

    The JLR undercurrent was a swathe of models offering various high-power versions of the Ingenium petrol and diesel engines in place of expensively bought-in (and usually less efficient) units.

    Indian automaker Tata Motors wasn’t one to be sidelined at the show. The automaker showcased its first-ever mid-engined sportscar concept, the Racemo sports coupé alongside its upcoming new products such as the Tigor compact sedan and the Nexon SUV. Tata’s homegrown sportscar concept derives 190hp from a 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine along with featuring race car-inspired design though elements of Tata's Impact design language are still present. Drive to the wheels is via a six-speed AMT gearbox; something buyers may not appreciate considering the slow-shifting nature of the current crop of AMT gearboxes in India. Tata, however, could address this limitation prior to bringing the sports car into production.

    What else? 'Autonomous' and 'driverless' were terms freely bandied on just about every stand. Peugeot focused on the connectivity and self-driving aspects of its new Instinct concept so much so that it forgot to draw attention to its interesting proportions (it is a coupé-like estate) or the fact that it is a step towards finding a new design style for the brand.

    And there was the usual crop of new season's refreshes: Audi RS3, Bentley Continental GT, BMW 4 Series and Infiniti Q50 among them.

    Volkswagen revealed its futuristically-styled self-driving pod – called the Sedric – at the event as well, previewing a hi-tech vision for the future of individual mobility into and beyond the next decade.

    Copyright (c) Autocar UK. All rights reserved.

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