Geneva Motor Display 2017: the fattest announcements from this year’s event

Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Range Rover, Lexus, Bentley and more are demonstrating off their fresh cars at Palexpo Arena this week

• 08 Mar 2017

The Geneva Motor demonstrate is the pinnacle of the motoring showcase calendar. Hosted at the Palexpo Arena in Switzerland, the demonstrate opens on March seven for trade and press before opening to the public on March 9.

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Here we round up the largest and best announcements from the demonstrate floor as car manufacturers debut their flagship models and the tech powering them. As more announcements are made, this article will be updated.

The London Taxi Company

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Meet McLaren’s latest supercar: the 720S with ‘Magic Carpet Rail’ suspension

The London Taxi Company (LTC) is testing its electrical black cab, on sale at the end of 2017, in extreme conditions in Norway’s Arctic Circle. The 98-year-old company is trialling the vehicles at temperatures of -15C to ensure the battery and range is not impacted when a cold front hits. Internal temperature controls, grip and visibility are also being tested in the icy conditions. Albeit the lowest temperature ever recorded in London was -21.1C, LTC is also due to test the cabs at -49C temperatures in giant fridges. The cab will be trialled at enormously hot temperatures as well. The vehicle will go into production soon after LTC’s fresh manufacturing facility is opened on March twenty two in Ansty, Warwickshire.

Audi has unveiled six fresh cars. The Audi Q8 sport concept has a Three.0 TFSI six cylinder engine and a ‘mild’ hybrid system, with an electrical compressor. It can reach 100km/h in Four.7 seconds and has a top speed of 275km/h. Fresh controls include a large touchscreen compatible with Audi’s AR dashboard technology. Also unveiled were the Audi RS five Coupé which has Two.9 TFSI V6 biturbo engine and accelerates to 100km/h in Three.9 seconds; the Audi RS five DTM with five hundred horsepower; the Audi RS three Sportback with five-cylinder engine; the Audi SQ5 TFSI SUV made its European debut, with three-litre V6 engine and adjustable air suspension; and the Audi A5 Sportback g-tron, which runs on natural gas and has a range of 500km.

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Toyota’s i-TRIL concept leans as it drives round corners and is powered by AI

McLaren

The 720S mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive supercar is the successor to the 650S Coupé. At 1,283kg it is 18kg lighter than its predecessor, but by borrowing construction notes from the P1 hypercar, the 720S integrates the upper part of its chassis with the monoqoue carbon-fibre “tub” (and given the moniker “Monocage II”), which results in extreme strength and rigidity and amazingly skinny piles (subsequently, McLaren claims it has the best visibility of any supercar in world).

Pinifarina

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The two thousand eighteen Volvo XC60 takes control to stop head-on smashes

F1 racing legend and Indy five hundred champ Emerson Fittipaldi has joined coerces with Italian design company Pininfarina and German engineering rock hard HWA AG to produce this stunning hypercar, the Fittipaldi EF7 Vision Gran Turismo.

The ultra-light, all carbon fibre supercar, is the very first car to be released under the Fittipaldi Motors marque and has a sleek design inspired by the lines of a shark, with an extreme power-to-weight ratio. It has been designed as a racer that is supposedly so effortless to use, it can be operated by non-professional drivers.

Honda

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Lamborghini’s record-breaking Huracán Perfomante is ‘reminiscent of a striking snake’

At the unveiling of the tenth-generation Honda Civic Type R, project boss Hideki Kakinuma said the rock-hard was “attempting to balance two aspects” and while some rivals concentrate on extreme spectacle and others are going in the convenience direction. “We want to go right in the middle.”

The fresh Civic Type R has a Two.0-litre VTEC petrol engine, with 295lb ft and 316bhp and is longer, broader and lower than previous models. The Civic Type R, which will be built at Honda’s plant in Swindon, goes on sale this autumn with prices to be confirmed.

Airbus

Aviation manufacturer Airbus has created a fresh concept for a drone-car hybrid. Dubbed the Pop.Up, the vehicle comprises of a human carrying ‘capsule’ that’s able to fit on either a set of wheels or eight rotor blades that will take it to the skies.

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Land Rover’s bespoke Discovery comes with a drone to help emergency services

Airbus says the vehicle combines the “plasticity” of a ground vehicle will the “freedom” of vertical take-off. The capsule, also described as a ‘cocoon’, would be created from carbon-fibre and measure Two.6 metres in length, 1.4m high and 1.5m broad. However, for the time being at least, it emerges the Pop.Up will only be a concept.

After taunting its next-generation five Series model, BMW has exposed the two thousand seventeen “semi-autonomous” five Series Touring at this year’s Geneva Motor Display. The car is intended to “point the way to automated driving with the help of fresh assistance systems”. The five Series Touring has Crossing Traffic Warning and Priority Warning, Lane Switch Assistant and Lane Keeping Assistant with active side collision protection, and evasion aid.

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BMW unveils the semi-autonomous two thousand seventeen Five Series Touring

Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini’s Huracán Perfomante has a Five.2-litre V10 engine producing 640hp and 442lb ft of torque. It’s forty kilograms lighter than a standard Huracan coupe and in October the Performante set a production car lap record of 6:52.01 around the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife. The car’s top speed reaches 202mph and it realises zero to sixty mph in less than Two.9 seconds.

Lamborghini claims the Huracán Performante is “the result of Lamborghini innovations, producing a super sports car balanced inbetween achieving the best lap times on a circuit with the most engaging and dynamic road driving.”

Rolls-Royce

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Porsche’s Sport Turismo is a stylish, spacious estate car

At this year’s Geneva Motor Display, Rolls-Royce showcased its Ghost Elegance – the very first luxury motor car to be finished in a paint created from diamonds. Named ‘Diamond Stardust’, the company claims the finish is the “most luxurious and lustrous exterior ever seen” and it is made from 1,000 crushed diamonds. The car was commissioned by an individual collector and all of the diamonds were ethically sourced.

Inwards, this unique Rolls-Royce Ghost has black leather seats with Mugello Crimson stitching on the doors, and piping on the seats. The carpet and lambswool footmats are black and the fascia is made from Tudor Oak veneer.

Mercedes

Mercedes has unveiled the GT Concept car, built within its AMG spectacle division. The four-door hybrid is a preview of its “third downright independently developed sports car”, has a Four.0-liter V8 engine and can reach 100km/h in less than three seconds.

Land Rover

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Volvo’s V40 car features airbags for pedestrians

Ahead of this month’s Geneva Motor Display, Land Rover unveiled its mid-size Velar. The Velar, coming from the Latin for “veil”, has been taken from the designation of the original Range Rover prototypes of 1969, which Land Rover treated as top secret while in development. This latest model is intended to pack the gap in the range inbetween the Evoque and Sport.

Elsewhere, Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) showcased its bespoke Land Rover Discovery for use by the Austrian Crimson Cross. Called Project Hero, the car is a so-called “advanced communication vehicle” that comes with a roof-mounted drone. A landing system featuring self-centring and magnetic retention technology means the drone can land on Project Hero when the vehicle is moving.

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Gallery: Volvo’s V40 car features airbags for pedestrians

– Read more about Range Rover’s Geneva Motor Display announcements.

Lexus

This is the two thousand seventeen RC F GT3 from Lexus, and with this 500hp, Five.4-litre V8 racer the higher-end sister brand to Toyota hopes to demonstrate an enlargening commitment to motorsport. The car comes with a carbon fibre spandex hood, roof, trunk lid, door panels, front and rear bumpers, front canards, rear spoiler, interior trim, rear wing, engine air box and dashboard. It has been approved by the FIA (motorsport’s governing bod) and will be rivaling in championships in the USA and Japan, as well as a select number of European events including the International GT Open series.

Porsche

Very first unveiled back in 2012, Porsche has ultimately exposed the production model for its Sport Turismo concept. The estate car, which is loosely based on the Panamera sedan, comes in five different versions and will begin shipping in the UK in October. It’s available with a range of engines up to five hundred hp and four-wheel drive – there’s also a large tailgate, low boot loading-sill and room for five people.

Porsche also used the Geneva Motor Display to showcase its next-generation nine hundred eleven GT3. At the rear of the fresh car is a four-litre flat-six engine with 500hp meaning it “remains virtually unchanged from the thoroughbred nine hundred eleven GT3 Cup racing car.”

Goodyear

Tyre manufacturer Goodyear is attempting to switch how society thinks about the tyre with a fresh concept that it claims includes artificial intelligence.

Unveiled at the Geneva Motor Display, the hard’s Eagle three hundred sixty Urban concept is a sphere designed to adapt to the surface it is being driven on.

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Kahn Design

Following the release of Vengeance at the two thousand sixteen Geneva Motor Demonstrate, Kahn Design is debuting its fresh convertible at this year’s display, called the Vengeance Volante.

Vengeance Volante is made using Aston Martin’s bonded aluminium and is inspired by the stiff’s classic designs of the late 20th century. It has interchanged the contoured roof of the original Vengeance for a cabriolet rubber hood, comes with widened C-pillars and wings and features a crosshair harass system.

Car magazine additionally has a fantastic A-Z list of all the cars being announced at the showcase.

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