Midweek Motoring with Gavin D’Souza
Over the last two weeks we have looked at two very different kinds of automobile from the 81st Annual Geneva Motor Show - the racy, and in some cases outright vulgar supercars, and the polar-bear cuddling mobility of future generations, the econo-boxes.
While these two major groups did constitute many, many cars, there were still far too many left, so we thought we’d conclude our coverage by focusing on the ones that were a little more interesting than the rest.
Don’t get us wrong, the Seat IBX concept and the slightly facelifted VW Tiguan did get us all hot and bothered, but we’re going to have to trim the fat here.
Maserati Grancabrio Sport
The convertible version of Maserati’s Granturismo coupé is arguably even better looking than its sexy fixed-head counterpart, and now it has the guts to match.
The Sport inherits (from its hard-core brother the MC Stradale) the full 325kW version of its 4.7-litre Ferrari-derived V8, as well as automotive mascara in its head and tail lights, both of which are more than welcome additions.
The car’s Skyhook suspension is also tuned for more enthusiastic cornering and so are its brakes, but given the combination of open-top motoring and this engine, the Grancabrio Sport’s soundtrack could just be its raison d'être.
De Tomaso Deauville
We know what you’re thinking - that car in the picture is not a DeTomaso, because a De Tomaso is a hunkered-down, mid-engined sports car, and not a pudgy, cross-wagon-coupe-hatch along the lines of the horrid BMW 5-series GT.
But it is, and De Tomaso, under fresh ownership, is resurrecting the classic Deauville nameplate for this not-so-classically-proportioned beast.
Credit where it’s due, the inside is finely appointed, and power comes from either a 218kW petrol V6, a 400kW V8 or a 182kW diesel V6.
Since the reveal, the company has relented and shown intent to bring the beloved Pantera sports car back to life, but they are going to need money to do that, so we had better start buying Deauvilles.
Alfa Romeo 4C Concept
Alfa Romeo in recent times has been the brand to go to if you wanted a little more flair from your everyday runabout.
They make saloons, coupes and the odd roadster, all of which are infinitely cooler than (if not always as competent as) their competition from Japan, America or Germany.
But they proved a few years ago that their penchant for making thoroughbred sports cars was not dead with the 8C Competizione, but that was a rich man’s collector’s item.
This new 4C is more of a people’s car on price, but is actually packed quite full of advanced tech.
A carbon-heavy chassis and small, mid-mounted, 1.7-litre, turbocharged engine mean it only weighs 850kg, which is not a whole lot for the 175+ kW engine to muscle around.
Factor in a twin-clutch gearbox and you’re looking at 100km/h in under five seconds.
The best part? You can buy one next year.
The Chrysler/Lancia Ypsilon and Thema/300C
Despite their ‘debut’ at Geneva, we’ve seen these cars before.
The Lancia Thema is a rebadged Chrysler 300C, which in turn is a rebodied ‘90s Mercedes E-class, and the Lancia (or Chrysler) Ypsilon (pictured) is a rebodied Alfa MiTo, which itself is a rebodied Fiat Panda.
So how is this interesting, you might ask?
Because after years of propagating the awful marketing strategy of badge-engineering that plagued the US auto market, Chrysler is now having to do it all again under Fiat ownership.
As a result, every true-blue fan of one brand will be sad to know his favourite cars are sold somewhere as the other.
Mercedes C-Class Coupé
In the last two decades, Mercedes-Benz has given us a number of different takes on the coupe.
The SL and SLK are hard-top convertibles, the CLS actually has four doors but Merc insists it’s a coupe, the SLS is rather amazing, the CL is huge in size, vulgarity and appeal, the CLS has now grown into the E-coupé and the disgusting SLC has thankfully been given the bullet.
Those last two shuffle-abouts have made room for a new car – the C-class coupé, which is a far worthier entry point to the world of RWD Mercedes-Benz luxury, and a damn good looking one at that.
It also ushers in a mid-life styling and engineering update for the C-class range on the whole, the new AMG coupé version (revealed only days ago) making an incredibly compelling case against the BMW M3.
Audi A3 Sedan
We know it seems like Audi already has a car for every situation, but we were wrong.
Here is a concept previewing the next Audi A3 and introducing its first ever sedan variant.
It certainly is a handsome thing, but what does it compete with? The two-door BMW 1-series, the cheaper Volvo S40 (if they ever update it), and maybe some very high-spec VW Jettas.
While that may not sound like reason enough to produce such a car, the US market demands it, and perhaps Quattro GmbH will be good enough to allow the concept’s 295kW, 2.5-litre turbo five to make production as an RS3.
Mini Rocketman Concept
We think Mini may have just run out of words to suffix with ‘-man’; cue Elton John lyrics now.
But despite the silly name, the Rocketman bucks the company’s recent trend of growing its cars to decidedly un-mini dimensions by being only 3.2m long.
It does this by adopting a three-seater layout which is more Toyota iQ than McLaren F1, and despite the fact this means you have to occasionally ditch a mate in favour of some luggage, it does make packaging sense.
Will it make production? Probably, but we think it’s going to be a long, long time.
VW Bulli Concept
VW Promises the Bulli concept is a genuine effort at bringing back the iconic Kombi van; trouble is, they have promised this a couple of times before, and the closest we’ve got is the dull Multivan.
Bulli, believe it or not, was a nickname given to the original, and despite its tiny dimensions (3.9m long, 1.7m wide), it has a very flexible, very funky, six-seat interior.
This, too, is likely headed for production on one of the company’s existing platforms, it has been reported, but despite the concept’s electric motor, expect small petrol and diesel propulsion.
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