
2006 Geneva Motor Show
2006 Geneva Motor Show Coverage by TCC Team
(2/19/2006)

2006 Aston Martin Rapide concept
With a little
more than a week to the press preview days, the whispers of
Geneva introductions are
being confirmed — or in a couple of cases, denied. A rumor was going round that
Aston Martin were going to show a
new convertible version of the V8 Vantage, but the Gaydon factory knows nothing
about it, according to a trusted source at the company. The centerpiece of the
stand in
Switzerland will be
the Rapide four-door coupe first shown in
Detroit
. No doubt there
will also be talk about the car the company is building for the next James Bond
film, but don’t expect any more than stylists’ sketches — this is a PR project
that will be milked for some time yet, and there will be no premature exposure
of anything.
It was expected
that Bentley would also be showing a
new open car, the Continental GTC it trailed with sketches as far back as last
September. But that too will be absent from
Geneva
and won’t make its
appearance until some time closer to mid-year. Bentley is probably too busy
fulfilling demand for its existing products to push the GTC, and it will be
tempting rich Swiss customers with special editions that celebrate sixty years
of Bentley production at Crewe, the factory that became its home while under
Rolls-Royce ownership after the second world war. The ‘Diamond Series’ 60-year
cars will be a version of the Arnage that concentrates on craftsmanship,
including special wood treatment to the interior, and a Continental GT that puts
technology to the forefront. The coupe will feature Bentley’s first application
of carbon ceramic brakes, with rotors 16.75 inches in diameter inside 20-inch
wheels.

2006 Ford S-Max
Getting to the
cars that
will be in
Geneva,
Ford has confirmed that the production
version of the SAV concept, which was so well received at last year’s show, will
be unveiled in production form as the S-Max at this year’s show. The car is
larger than the usual European MPV and is positioned in the range between the
Mondeo wagon and the full-size Galaxy MPV. It will be available as a five or
seven-seater, with either two or three rows of fold-flat seats in the
passenger/load area. Styling is described as the first production example of the
new Ford line shown by the iosis concept at
Frankfurt last year.

2006 Lotus Europa
Lotus continues to produce sports cars in the pattern
established back in the 1960s by founder Colin Chapman. Times change, however,
and sparsely trimmed cockpits are no longer accepted, even for out-and-out
sports cars. Hence the appearance in the company’s range of the Europa S, which
is described as “Business Class by Lotus.” The car follows the lead of the Elise
and Exige by achieving performance thanks to light weight, and in fact weighs in
at just 2194 lb. But in order to provide a more comfortable, if not quite
sumptuous, driving environment, the Europa S has lower chassis sides and a
higher roofline, which improve entry and exit — always a problem with the Elise.
The easy-access interior flouts Lotus tradition by offering leather trim,
carpets and driver and passenger airbags. Powered by a 2-liter turbocharged
engine producing 200 hp, the Europa S takes 5.5 seconds for the 0-60 sprint and
tops out at 140 mph. The new car
isn’t just a modified Elise, however. There are sufficient changes for it to
have a new Lotus Type Number — 121. It’s interesting to note that
Geneva
will see various
modern versions of Lotus Type No 7, which is still being made in a number of
countries.

2006 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
If you’re
looking for the
ultimate comfort in a
sports car,
Mercedes-Benz will be showing the latest iteration of
the SL-Class Roadster, which celebrates its fourth birthday with improvements in
technology, design, and interior appointments. There are new V-6 and V-8
engines, together with an uprated V-12 powerplant, and the new cars will come
with second-generation Active Body Control. The active suspension system comes
as standard in the SL500 and SL600 and as an option on the SL350. The
entry-level — well, the least expensive — SL, the SL350, with an improved
six-cylinder engine, takes 6.6 seconds to reach 62 mph from rest, while the
newly-developed 5-5-liter V-8 drives the SL500 to the same speed in 5.4 seconds.
The twin-turbo V-12-powered SL600 does the sprint in 4.5, thanks to 517 hp and
612 lb/ft of torque. The V-6 and V-8 models are both available with a
seven-speed automatic gearbox.

2006 Peugeot 2007
Conventional
ideas of model succession are being turned on their head by
France’s
Peugeot. At the Frankfurt show last
fall, the company introduced a new model to its top-selling 206 range; in
Geneva
, just six months later, it is introducing the 207, which
might be seen as a replacement if conventional wisdom is applied. But Peugeot
doesn’t see it that way. The 207 is not a replacement for the 206 but an
extension of the ‘2’ series, which started back in 1929 with the 201 and has
enjoyed total sales over 75 years of 13.2 million units. 5.4 million of those
have been 206s, and the model has become Peugeot’s biggest-ever seller,
currently being produced at eight individual sites on three continents.
So with no
intention of fixing something that ain’t broke, the French company sees the 207
as a complement to the 206 and will produce both for some time yet. The main
interest in the 207 is the gasoline-engined versions, which are powered by four-cylinder units
that are the first fruit of the collaboration between PSA Peugeot Citroen and
BMW. Three of the new engines will be available, together with three diesels. A unique feature
of the 207 is a perfume distributor built into the dash. It
can be refilled from a choice of seven fragrances specially developed by
a leading French perfume supplier. That’ll make a change from a pine-tree hanging
from the mirror.

2006 Renault Altica concept
Renault can always be relied on to turn up at
Geneva
with an interesting
concept car, and 2006 is no exception. This time it is with a new slant on the
currently fashionable ‘super station wagon’ theme called the Altica, “an
original and futuristic vision of the sporty estate car” in the words of Patrick
le Quément, Renault's Senior Vice President, Corporate Design. The lines are
fluid and hint at a wagon that has mated with a sports car, rather than an SUV,
as many other crossovers do. The car's overall stance — low-slung lines, long
bonnet, prominent wings — and proportions express sports car dynamics rather
than load-carrying ability, although the spacious interior has more than a hint
of SUV about it. The ‘Drive Station’ — driver’s seat to normal folk — is
suspended on four profiled rods rather than fixed in the normal manner and moves
electrically, together with the pedals, to suit the individual driver.
Email This Page