A car on the edge of risk for today's kids
PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. It's the kind of car GM hopes to have in affordable production by the year 2010. It is already driveable, writes Brian Byrne. It is powered by a fuel cell that drives electric motors. And the people who are going to be buying it are currently aged between 6-15. So the company decided to let the youngsters name it.

Megane, Stilo SW, main family interest
PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. For some reason, new products in the small family car, or C-segment, were thin on the ground at Paris this year, write Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. The niche, and the supermini, were kings. Which kind of left the C-segment field to what is likely to be regarded as the bravest move of the year. The Renault Megane II. Designer Patrick Le Quement has pushed out the envelope again.

Sugar and spice, and all things nice ...
PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. The word was out. The best action was at the SEAT stand, on the hour, writes Trish Whelan. Brows were mopped, glasses wiped. Or should I say demisted, such was the heated atmosphere of anticipation. All craned for a better look as soon as the beat music revved up to herald the arrival ‘on stage’ of the scantily clad young things from Barcelona, there to promote the SEAT Cordoba. Teasers, the lot of them. The dollies and their Manuels. Oh to be able to shake it all out like that or to grab such attention.

New Micra is another chirpy chap
PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. When the current Nissan Micra was launched a decade ago, it won major awards for its cheeky retro style as much as for its engineering excellence, write Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. It looked different to anything else in the segment. That they have built and sold 1.3 million copies in Europe since then is testament to a robustness of the original concept. It was always going to be a hard act to beat for the brand. Well, the new Micra we saw at Paris has the same cheeky attitude in a 21st century incarnation.

Making more of superminis
PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. In the supermini stakes in Paris, it might be fair to say that the Nissan Micra is likely to be the biggest seller of any new supermini on display for the first time, write Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. But there was plenty of other competition there too, with Daewoo's Kalos (left), the Mazda2, Ford's 3-door version of its Fiesta, Hyundai's Getz and mostly mild makeovers of a number of old favourites.

Maximising the MPVs
PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. One of the fastest-growing 'new' segments in motordom in recent years has been the MPV area, in particular the 'compacts' and increasingly the 'smalls', write Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. And that is reflected in this year's Paris show, with most of the major makers showing their latest, or their first offerings. For instance, we saw how Peugeot were putting down a marker that they'll be getting into the fray, with their sweet little Sesame MPV (left).

On the roadster trail
PARIS MOTOR SHOW 2002. Even if we don't get the weather for it very often, there's something about a roadster that stirs the motoring hormones, and at this year's show there was a fine set of open-toppers to look at, at many levels of price and style, write Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. And if at the bottom end of the price scale there's a little bit of going over the top, isn't that what fun is all about? God knows, it's not always easy to have fun in a car these days.