Lux and Little the Focus at This Week's Geneva Motor Show
By Bill Visnic March 1, 2010There aren't that many true concept vehicles slated for the Geneva motor show this week. The few that are unveiled are bookended by a heavy presence in two sectors: small cars and luxury models.
Most of the attention in Geneva is concentrated on the small-car sector, thanks to continuing environmental pressure on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe continues to press with carbon-dioxide reduction measures, while financially battered U.S. customers evidence a downsizing mindset and the nation glides inexorably closer to a 2016 deadline for all automaker fleets to average 35 miles per gallon.
So while the Geneva show is mostly about what makes sense for an auto sector evolving toward less dependence on fossil fuels, the makers of luxury performance cars continue to respond with their own individual visions of how that future will be addressed. In many senses, it's becoming evident the makers of premium vehicles may in fact have more of an opportunity to capitalize -- as customers able to spend but unwilling to compromise may represent the best market to accept pricey new fuel-saving innovations.
The possibilities for synergy between the environmental movement and the luxury auto market may be almost limitless: even Ferrari, after all, is showing a hybrid-electric concept at this week's Geneva show.
Small Above All
Ford Motor Co. already made its small-car statement at January's Detroit auto show by unveiling the 2012 Focus, but in Geneva the company is showing a wagon version and is confirming there will be a performance-oriented variant of the all-new Focus, perhaps reviving the SVT (Special Vehicles Team) nameplate.
Also unveiled at Geneva are what Ford is calling the final production versions of the C-Max and Grand C-Max mini-minivans, both also derived from the Focus' global compact-car platform. The seven-passenger Grand C-Max is coming to the U.S.
As its first stab at the mainstream subcompact-car market (the discontinued, all-aluminum A2 wasn't really a volume model), Audi AG's three-door A1 is viewed as one of the most important new-model introductions at Geneva, but the Mini Cooper and Mercedes A-Class fighter for now is a European phenomena: the company flatly insists the A1 is not a candidate for U.S consumption. The company already has a tough enough time moving the A3, its smallest model available in the U.S. that nonetheless wields a starting price of more than $27,000.
The three-door is the launch model, but there will be five-door and convertible variants of the steel-bodied A1, Audi says. The largest gasoline engine will be a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder and there's a 1.6-liter turbodiesel.
Also of major significance is the debut of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s all-new Global Compact Car, expected to replace the Micra, Nissan's standard-bearer subcompact in numerous world markets. The new GCC, or "V" architecture is going to underpin most of Nissan's next-generation compact and subcompact models.
Nissan also is unveiling the slightly freakish Juke compact crossover, a five-passenger model based on the same B-segment platform Nissan currently uses for the Cube. There's a sophisticated direct-injection four-cylinder engine, despite the fact in the U.S. the Juke will be positioned on the crossover spectrum beneath the entry-level Rogue.
Mazda Motor Corp.'s Mazda 5 mini people-mover has enjoyed modest success in the U.S. (more in other markets) and the all-new version, based on the new Mazda 3 platform, is unveiled at Geneva. The car will be offered in the U.S. next year, but the company reportedly hasn't decided about engine choices or other equipment options.
Alfa Romeo's Giulietta five-door debuts at Geneva as what amounts to a five-door version of the Alfa Mito, itself a variant of the Fiat 500 so eagerly anticipated as the potential beginning of salvation for the Fiat-Chrysler Group LLC alliance in the U.S.
The Giuletta goes on sale in Europe about this time next year and is supposed to be sold -- and perhaps even built -- in the U.S., too. Most important, though, may be the fact the Giulietta's structure is the crucial Fiat-developed C-Evo architecture, which is earmarked as the foundation for a raft of new Chrysler-badged models.
Geneva also stages the de-sheeting of the production-ready version of the Mini Cooper Countryman, yet another larger riff on the Mini, this one a full four-door job (the Mini Clubman, the first rung up the larger-Mini ladder, has a reverse-opening door on the passenger side) with the availability of all-wheel drive. This car, like so many other compacts, isn't coming to the U.S. for another year, reflecting the struggle to quickly adapt to changing U.S. market demands.
No particular eco-message credentials for Renault's Wind two-door, two-seat convertible, just 1.2-liter or 1.6-liter four-cylinders from the Twingo lineup, a folding hardtop, very compact proportions and some interesting Saturn Sky-esque styling lines.
Luxury in Play, Too
Players such as the Audi A1, Mini Countryman and Alfa Romeo Giulietta represent the merging of the small-car market with the premium market, but Geneva has plenty of iron from luxury makers aimed more at their more comfortable size ranges, too.
BMW AG, for one, shows a hybrid variant of its all-new 5 Series, as it becomes apparent the diesel-leaning German automakers are gradually conceding hybridization will be a necessary option for even their volume-selling models. It's just that the Germans seemingly intend to use hybridization first as a performance sell and second as a mild economy-improver.
The BMW Concept 5 Series ActiveHybrid combines the excellent turbocharger 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine with a 40-kilowatt electric motor and some of BMW's existing fuel-efficiency-enhancing technology to deliver maybe a 10 percent economy gain -- but what is likely to also be advertised as a performance boost.
The previously mentioned Ferrari 500 Hybrid was believed, prior to the show's start, to incorporate a couple of electric drive motors into the rear transaxle, along with a more interesting angle: will Ferrari insinuate the potential for a road-car version of the flywheel-based Kinetic Energy Recovery System used for one year in Formula 1?
The so-called KERS technology showed promise on the track as an acceleration booster and is claimed to have even more potential for production cars, but the ever-changing winds of F1 blew out the KERS system before any lasting impact could be evaluated.
And for sheer impact, Peugeot's gorgeous SR1 concept car may give enviro-sport avatars such as the all-electric Tesla Roadster a run for their money.
The SR1 is a hybrid that gets a rather outrageous 313 total drive horsepower from a 1.6-liter turbodiesel (the diesel's 218 hp is itself something of an eye-opener) working the front 
wheels and an electric motor acting on the rear axle. Peugeot says 48 mpg and 4.7 seconds to 60 miles per hour. -- Bill Visnic, senior editor
Photos by manufacturers
1. Nissan Juke compact crossover.
2. Audi A1 not for U.S -- at least for now.
3. Nissan Global Compact Car concept intimates next-generation Micra subcompact.
4. Alfa Romeo Giulietta earmarked for U.S. market.
5. Renault Wind hardtop folds or erects in 12 seconds, doesn't compromise cargo room.
6. Ferrari 599 Hybrid concept: even Ferrari feels it must get in the hybrid game.
7. Peugeot SR1 concept: hybrid, too, and 218 horsepower from a 1.6-liter diesel.
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