Best of the Geneva Motor Display 2017: Concept cars, supercars and everything in-between
Best of the Geneva Motor Display 2017: Concept cars, supercars and everything in-between
The Geneva Motor Display is the most significant in the European calendar. The industry crossroads, the point where everyone (and their entourage) rock up and where we’re usually assured the thickest single number of car launches.
And two thousand seventeen was a bumper display, with everything from a fresh Ford Fiesta to a fresh McLaren (and everything in-between) launched here.
Our round-up wraps together all the significant cars from the demonstrate floor, some insider gossip and everything you need to know about the car industry right now, plus what you should be looking at if you’re after a fresh car in the next eighteen months.
McLaren 720S
The replacement for the 650S – nee MP4-12C, or McLaren’s older car. The fresh Super Series vehicle sees McLaren going for a more elaborate, emotional set of forms with aero-details a go-go. It’s got 710bhp, and runs to 212mph.
It’s a busy design that’s utter of drama: centrally hinged doors are spectacular, the C-pillar’s see-through, the front lamp is wild and the interior feels like sitting in a space ship – finish with fold-away, two mode gauge cluster.
McLaren just made Ferrari’s life a lot stiffer.
Ferrari eight hundred twelve Superfast
Ferrari seems to be playing a bimbo name game. After LaFerrari (“The Ferrari”) we now have the “Superfast”. Mind you, with 789bhp from its V12, it will be exactly what its name says.
Ferrari’s front engined super-GT has lost some of clarity of the F12 it substitutes. It’s a very sophisticated design with aero playing a massive role, like the McLaren (above).
Word on the ground is that Ferrari is missing the Pininfarina influence. Oh, and it doesn’t get the fresh 10-inch touchscreen of the GTC4 Lusso. There is a passenger side dedicated display however.
Range Rover Velar
We covered the Velar at its Design Museum launch in London, but Geneva was the very first chance to see it surrounded by other cars and in different trim specs.
It resumes to impress, creating a fresh niche in the SUV space, brining some titillating fresh colour and material design to the party and debuting an attention-grabbing dual touchscreen interface.
Mercedes AMG GT Concept
This exterior-only concept is a sophisticated animal, demonstrating an intention for Merc to extend the AMG-GT line into a four-door coupe, but also mate the AMG sub-brand with its fresh “EQ” electrical operation.
It’s also ushering in a fresh, crease-free design language. Painting it crimson and providing it flush door treats has helped create just one impression however: Merc’s been studying Tesla. Hard.
Audi RS5
Audi’s A5 coupe has already had the convertible and Sportback treatment. Now the hot “S” (Turbo V6) and “RS” (Turbo V8) models arrive. Piling on the facial aggression in a way only Audi knows how, the interiors proceed to be peerless, Quattro remains a staple and M3-boasting spectacle should be a given. Lovely stuff.
Aston Martin Valkyrie
Looking distinctly unfinished in Geneva, the Valkyrie nonetheless made a splash. It signals Aston’s plan to create a race-car-for-the-road by 2021, and it’s being designed in conjunction with Crimson Bull Racing and race engineer Adrian Newey. It’ll be very limited edition, making it perhaps the most sensational of the fresh breed of hyper cars.
Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo
Need space for the family but don’t want a Porsche SUV? Well you can basically now – for the very first time ever – have a Porsche estate.
Except it’s not called an estate – c’mon, that’s far too common-or-garden for Stuttgart – the angle of roof and rear screen mean it reads more like a long hatch.
Engines are the same as the regular Panamera, which means hybrids and V8-turbo petrols plus a diesel, and you get the same awesome but massively sophisticated in-car tech screen setup too.
Volvo XC60
If the Range Rover Velar is a car you want, the Volvo is most likely the car you’ll buy.
Feeling significantly more premium than its Audi Q5 or BMW X3 competitors, the fresh XC60 utilises the SPA platform (as under the XC90) and keeps the Swedish-strong design themes going in a smaller SUV segment.
Alpine A110
Not heard of Alpine before? That’d be no surprise because the Renault-owned sports car brand effectively died in the 1990s. Renault is resurrecting it here in the hope of contesting with Porsche.
Rear engined, rear drive and with a fresh, 4-cylinder turbo engine said to be making close to 300bhp and not related to anything in a Clio, it’s fairly a retro car – referencing Alpine’s greatest model of the same name from back in the 70s.
Honda Civic Type R (2017)
Shown as a concept at the Paris Auto Showcase, the fresh Type R arrives hot on the high-heeled shoes of the boggo Civic.
It still looks wild (like, driven through Halfords wild) but with independent rear suspension, and 316bhp it should drive better than before.
Sales begin in the summer. We expect it to cost £32k.
Ford Fiesta ST (2017)
Britain’s favourite car got a refresh back before the turn of the year, but this is it’s public demonstrating.
Unusually for the Fiesta, it retains a similar design theme to the old car, and unlike others in its segment you will still be able to buy 3- or 5-door versions.
The premium sporty-ness is delivered with fresh Vignale, Active, and ST-line trims, while the ST (pictured) arrives from the get-go, with a fresh 3-cylinder turbo engine. Interior is the area which gets the greatest modernisation of all, tho’.
Vauxhall/Opel Insignia
Overshadowed by the news of Opel/Vauxhall’s sale to PSA (Peugeot Citroen) the fresh Insignia is Vauxhall’s fresh Mondeo competitor.
It’s cool, in a generic kind of way, majors on space and is said to be massively refined.
It’s loaded with tech too: including the touchscreen from the Astra, but features like a total projector HUD, plus driver-assistance systems feature strongly. Three bod styles will be available: saloon, hatch and wagon.
Seat Ibiza (2017)
The very first car from the VW’s group’s “B” segment platform (VW Polo, Audi A1 and Skoda Fabia will all use it in coming years), the fresh Ibiza isn’t exactly radical. It adopts a Leon-lite design theme, while packing in more space and fresh touchscreen tech.
Ruf CTR ‘Yellowbird’
Porsche tuner Ruf’s legendary “yellow bird” was a breathed-on nine hundred eleven whose formidable reputation was made in the 80s.
In a quiet way, Ruf stole the demonstrate here by recreating the 964-era 911, in “yellow bird” format. While that design actually dates from the 80s, this is a brand fresh car, built from the ground up, out of carbon.
A clear attempt to one-up newcomer Singer, which presently wields the market for special, modified, historic 911s.
Bentley EXP12 Speed 6E
A sister car to the EXP10 coupe (the green one) shown previously, this open-top, EV-powertrain concept seems to suggest Bentley is going to produce a car that sits below the Continental GT.
We love the interior with its cut-glass screens, OLED panels, aluminium with wood and oxblood crimson leather. Chunk de resistance? The “Rocket” buttons on the top of the steering wheel.
DS seven Crossback
This is Citroen’s upmarket DS brand’s very first SUV.
It’s a join-the-dots exterior design, lifted by utterly bonkers details that have escaped from a concept car (headlamps that swivel through one hundred eighty degrees).
The money’s gone on a plug-in hybrid power train, and an interior that’s like walking into a Parisian Boudoir (which is available in five different, opulent “worlds”).
Volkswagen Arteon
Passat not fancy enough for you? Audi A5 Sportback a step too far? Then you’ll be needing an Arteon – effectively VW’s replacement for the Passat CC; and a busier, more emotional chunk of design than we’re used to from the German brand.
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