2010 Geneva Motor Show Highlights
By Daniel Fernandez
It was clear after 25 minutes of walking around the main hall at this year’s show that the global auto industry is returning to its former glory. Slow but with effective pushing by car manufacturing governments, the global players had their assistance from government bailouts and incentives to make a relatively return to profits as this year’s Geneva show impressed us and all visiting journalists with flamboyant stands, smart uniformed female staff and not forgetting the sexy long legged show girls. There was enough excitement to keep our lenses occupied and we needed to use our spare memory
card to take in all the 14 world firsts on the first media day and the some 30 concepts that kept us running from booth to booth to keep up with the launch times.
But this year’s show also had one important agenda hidden amongst the many fuel efficient diesels and alternative powered vehicles. The dawn of the battery powered car in Europe. Until 2010, diesel driven vehicles have taken center stage in the past years as the most fuel efficient vehicles to be had. Every year more and more efficient diesel driven cars were introduced by all mainstream European car manufacturers with consumption figures surpassing hugely popular production hybrids. Only in North America where diesel cars have had little or no influence to buyers living a petrol driven economy, the hybrid power has had huge success. Celebrities and influential people have insisted on having one in their garage to compliment their petrol guzzling supercars and SUV’s to keep their green image intact. For 2010, it looks that these hybrid powered cars will be making their presence felt in Europe as every production hybrid took center stage at every booth. Even luxury and sports car manufacturers surprised us with their concepts and even almost ready production hybrids.
