Every two years, Europe's motor companies put their finest
on display in September at the world's biggest passenger-car show. This year's
edition of the Frankfurt Motor Show, the 65th, provided welcome signs that,
though the market (particularly in Europe) may be stagnating, manufacturers and
their designers are still pushing the boundaries of what's possible in personal
transport.
The big push is, of course, in electric vehicles. Everybody
who's anybody was beating the EV/hybrid/ sustainability drum. That goes as much
for the big mass market manufacturers such as VW, as it does for the most
petrolheaded of high-performance brands such as Brabus. Perhaps the biggest
growth area is in plug-in hybrids. Most in- your-face EV was BMW's
groundbreaking carbon fiber i3, purely by its dominating the fleet of vehicles
shuttling the footsore media contingent between halls. As ever more stringent
pollution regulations begin to take effect, we'll see plenty of activity in this
area. And if you think that going electric means having to put up with
glorified milk floats, you obviously haven't heard of the McLaren P1, Porsche
918 Spyder or BMW i8. All of these use electric power in one form or another,
and all of them are unashamedly high-performance.
Here's a closer look at some of the show standouts.
Frankfurt Motor
Show
Frankfurt 2013 by numbers
159 Premieres
35 Countries represented among exhibitors
1,098 Exhibitors
99 Countries represented among media
11,500 Media members
230,000 Square meters of exhibition area 300,000 Visitors
recorded in Week 1
Mercedes-Benz Concept S-Class Coupé - Luxury stunner
Perhaps in Stuttgart there is at last recognition that our
heads are spinning from alphabetitis. The letters letter A, B, C, E, G, L, S, K
and combinations thereof are meant to clearly delineate model ranges, but often
they have resulted in overlaps and some uneasy fits. The Concept S-Class Coupé
slots in where the CL used to belong, somewhat out on its own. Not only do the
concept's well-proportioned lines look refreshingly sleek and sensational
compared with its big, blingy forebears, it also has a 4,7-liter twin-turbo V8
that we can expect to see in coming models. Word is that a hybrid is on the
way.
Mercedes-Benz
Concept S-Class Coupé
Jaguar C-X17 - Into uncharted waters
A name synonymous with sporty cars - whether two-seater or
sedan - is striking out in a bold new direction. And why not? BMW's X5 is proof
positive that you don't have to be an off-road specialist to create an SUV.
Actually it's all rather cheeky of Jaguar: just across the alleyway at the show
was stablemate Land Rover. It didn't help that Land Rover didn't have a
showstopper like its Defender-style concept of two years ago.
The C-X17 looks stunning, and given the success of
equivalent models from the German competition is quite likely to do well. It's
said to be based on a platform that will revitalize the Jaguar line-up and
provide the basis for, among others a compact sedan aimed squarely at BMW's 3
Series.
Jaguar C-X17
