10 Best Cars of the Geneva Motor Show
The Geneva Motor Show is the world’s most important auto show in the first half of every year. It may be that only Frankfurt outshines Geneva, in September, and then only in the odd years – 2017-2019-2021 – when it’s held. This year, Geneva played on three common themes: outrageous cars for the ultra-affluent, mainstream cars aimed at Europe and the global market, and increasingly, EVs and plug-in hybrids.
If you had your heart set on a car that costs more than $10 million, Geneva and Bugatti provide an $18.5-million solution. For the mainstream, there were Peugeots and Renaults, among others. For energy-efficient cars, Audi, Honda, Peugeot, VW, and others stepped up, along with the occasional EV supercar capable of 250 mph. First, here’s our look at the 10 most important new combustion-engine vehicles.
The Bugatti Voiture Noire ("black car," not "vulture of the night," for those rusty on their French) is a one-off luxury touring car with an 8-liter quad turbo W16 engine with 1,600 hp (100 hp more than the $3 million Bugatti Chiron). That should be good for driving it well past the Chiron's 261 mph (420 km/h) top speed. Cockpit photos are not availble to afford some exclusivity to the buyer, who paid $18.5 million. It includes a full tank of gas.
Want the world's fastest SUV? A barebones Bentley Bentayga SUV is $200,000. The Bentayga Speed (photo) dresses up the cockpit, raises the top speed 3 mph to 190, and cuts 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) by 0.2 seconds to 3.9 seconds. The W12 engine develops 626 hp. The price will be about $250,000.
The Mazda CX-30 SUV fits midway between the CX-3 (168 inches long) and the CX-5 (178 inches) that on its own was 50 percent of Mazda's 2018 US sales. Ground clearance is higher. CX-30 could reach the US late 2019, or 2020, which begs the question of whether Mazda resurrects the CX-7 (CX-70?) to slot between the CX-5 and CX-9.
Start reading up on Peugeot, which will return to the US by 2026. The Peugeot 208 B-segment (American subcompact segment) hatchback offers decent back seat and cargo capacity for something 164 inches long. There will be gasoline engines and an EV version with a 50-kWh battery.
Riding on the success of the Stelvio SUV and Giulia Sedan, Alfa Romeo is adding a smaller, front-drive-based Tonale ("TOE-nollie") into the subcompact SUV market of the BMW X1/X2, Mercedes GLA, and Lexus UX. There will also be a plug-in hybrid version, Alfa's first.
The subcompact Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake is a wagon-like CLA, but with more room. (The original 1800s shooting brakes carried hunters' gear into the fields.) In Europe it gets gas and diesel engines, manual and automaker gearboxes. Its US fate is uncertain even as city dwellers lap up small cars with cargo capacity.
A Hypercar is one step beyond a supercar. That is what Aston-Martin calls its AM-RB 003 hypercar that was shown in Geneva but won't ship until 2021. It will be mega (hyper?) fast. Aston showed two V6 mid-engine cars, the Vanquish Vision Concept with an aluminum tub and the AM-RB 003 with carbon fiber. As for specs ...
... the Aston-Martin AM-RB 003 engineers went all-out on making the car light and powerful. The center stack liquid-crystal display was omitted. If you want a display for infotainment or navigation, bring your smartphone and use the secure mounting clip.
The Mercedes-Benz 2019 GLC is just a facelift, but it's still important in the hot-hot-hot world of small SUVs and crossovers. The compact GLC hauls just about as much as the midsize E-Class sedan. The 2019 GLC offers a 12.3-inch center stack display, something to a) challenge Audi and BMW to go big or go home, and b) make "class-above" mainstream makers (Ford, Mazda, VW, Honda, Toyota) realize going from 7 to 8 inches wasn't enough.
The Ferrari F8 Tributo is a follow-on to the similar-looking Ferrari 488 GTB. "Tributo" references the honors bestowed on this V8 engine design. On the Tributo, it produces 720 hp (50 more than on the 488), scoots to 62 mph in 2.9 seconds, and tops out at 211 mph.
Friday, we’ll cover the top 10 EVs, PHEVs, and hybrids. There are too many good cars this year for a single list. And should you find yourself in Switzerland, the Geneva International Motor Show runs public days from Thursday, March 7 to Sunday, March 17, at Palexpo, a convention center of seven buildings with 106,000 square meters of exhibition space, or 1.1 million square feet. This year the Geneva Show was avoided by Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Hyundai, Volvo, PSA’s Opel, Infiniti, Mini, and Tesla. (Tesla no-shows at lots of shows, but it was at Geneva last year.)
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