- by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne
Geneva shows cars for the rest of us, too
06 March 2003: GENEVA MOTOR SHOW A motor show always has specialist cars and concept cars, but the main attractions have to be the bread-and-butter models that make the profits which allow the luxury of conceptualisation.
This year at Geneva had quite a few mainstream launches, some of which we could take in themes. Such as the 'battle of the compact MPVs'.
It was the show when the segment leader Renault Megane Scenic (above) was shown in its latest guise, geared to hold its crown not alone against nearest rival Opel's Zafira, but also taking on other show newcomers such as the long-delayed Focus C-MAX (below), and the VW Touran (further below) which is the first VW-badged car to be built on the new platform for the next Golf. To some extent, it will be a titanic battle.
The other VW Group relation on the new platform, the Audi A3 (above), also appeared. To many of us it didn't seem so interesting, looking more like the outgoing Golf than anything else. But it promises to be dynamically far ahead of the outgoing A3.
Other big hitter Toyota had two new main vehicles on display - the new Avensis (above) which some of us have already experienced was pride of place in a very fetching shade of Burgundy, and there were two versions of the new Lexus RS300 (below), one of which was powered by the latest version of Toyota's hybrid system.
Over on the Mazda stand, the RX-8 (above) maybe couldn't be labelled mainstream, but it IS in production and will arrive in Ireland for rather limited sales later in the summer.
Opel had production versions of the Meriva 'mini' MPV, due for launch in Ireland in April and ready to take its flexible seating system into battle even against its older Zafira brother in the next segment. But mainly it will be targetting Fiat's new Punto-based 'B' MPV, codenamed the Idea (below) on the Fiat stand at the show.
We also had a good root around the Opel Signum (above), in Ireland in mid-summer and promising to provide a larger-car option for Vectra buyers who don't quite want to go as high as Omega but want special comfort and space.
Back on the Fiat stand we also had the Panda/Seicento replacement, codenamed the Gingo. In a link by a distant automotive relationship, through GM, it could be compared to the Suzuki Ignis, which had a special MotorSport version (below) with 4WD potential on its stand.
Staying with the Fiat kingdom, which might be in the news for all the wrong reasons in the last year, there were some very sexy indeed new cars and updates of existing ones. The latest versions of the Spider and the GTV made their appearances, and were joined by both the Alfa 147 in GTA (above) and Ti trim, and the stunning new GT (below).
Moving to the other side of the world, Mitsubishi brought out the Outlander, which has been available in Japan under another name but is here for the first time.
And shifting a little over to the Korean peninsula, the Daewoo new version Nubira was promoted prior to release on European markets. It will be joined by a 5-door version, with a different name, towards the end of the year.
Nissan's main new 'real' car was the 350Z sports car, already on release in Japan and the US but not yet rejigged for the European market. It should be on this side of the world before the end of the year, though.
So the roads of Europe will continue to provide new interest to car-watchers for the medium-term future. Geneva just served to whet our appetites.
Which is what a motor show is really all about.
©2003 irishcar.com