G E N E V A
1 9 9 6


This year, as usual, the Geneva Autoshow was held between the 7th and the 17 of March. Although at first glance it looked the same, one can't help feeling a bit disappointed: it seems all the "big guns" already shoot their munition. The first look at the new Jaguar XK8 was exciting, but beside that there's not been much more breakthrough. Porsche released the first official picture about the Boxster.
So as in the case of the 1995 Geneva and Frankfurt show here's a complete report.
All photos which were taken at the Show were shot by me for the Hungarian Sport Auto magazine. All scans are courtesy of Graphiset Ltd, Budapest. Scans are reproduced with the permission of the editors of the Sport Auto magazine.


[ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V Z ]



Albar
New chassis to the Buggy
Alfa Romeo
the Swiss premiere of the 145 Quadrifoglio
Alpina
The German "BMW-based sportscar maker" (not tuner) showed the newest BMW 3-modification: it has 6-cylinders and 3.2 liters capacity which is enough for 265 bhp.
Aston Martin
The introduction of the V8 Coupé. There was the DB7 Volante and the James Bond DB5 too.
Audi
A new offshoot of the Audi family is the quattro Gmbh which like the M Gmbh at BMW tailors Audis to individual tastes. The TTS Roadster held its European debut in Geneva. Mew versions were announced of the A8 and the A6.

Bentley
Bertone
The orange Opel-based Slalom show car with the appropriate girls and another orange (different shade) car: the Lambo Miura. Also appeared last years' Kayak and the record-breaker ZER.
Bitter
Nothing new since their 1995 show appearance.
BMW
The European debut of the Z3 and its M Gmbh-built version were the main attractions. Also the BMW-powered McLaren F1 GTR which won the 1995 LeMans race was shown.
Brabus

Chrysler
The Viper fans enjoyed the sight of the GTS and the GTS-R. To help the entry of the new Voyager, Chrysler exhibited a special version, the LXS. The LXS are using a special 135 kW version of the VM Motori 2.5-liter turbo diesel.
The vehicle is painted in Dark Slate Metallic Gray, and is accented with 18-inch bright silver wheels and tires. Exterior design modifications to the production Chrysler Voyager include an aggressively contoured front fascia with integral fog lamps and air dam, and a sculpted rear spoiler.
Inside the Voyager LXS features six mist gray leather performance bucket seats and a sleek black carbon fiber instrument panel.

Daihatsu
The Move, a combination of the micro-mini and an MPV made its European debut. Subaru and Daihatsu are those Japanese makers who bring over their microminis.
Dallas
DeTomaso
The Biguá is the next-century Pantera. It'll go into production within a year. It's powered by a 305 bhp 4.6-litre Ford Mustang V8.
The high level of Ford componentry means the car could be serviced at Ford dealerships.
The Biguá is a car of classic configuration: front engine, rear wheel drive; four seats. The coupé should be transformed into a "targa" and a spider.
The roof section is made of carbon fibre composite materials is release with a simple action and can then be removed and housed in the boot with ease.
The credit of the design belongs to Marc Gandini.
The body is made of composit ematerials using Kevlar. The 4.2 metres long car

Electric Car Company Ltd
Electros
The half of the 7th Hall was devoted to electromobiles. The ugliest was the Kyuss Gun a three-wheeler Lotus 7 replica with altered nose. It looked terrible. The other contester is the Boxel. Its an Italian electro. You can guess its shape from the name. From the big manufacturers Citroën, Renault and Fiat showed their electros.
The Danish Kewet El-jet is now assembled in Germany. The Stromboli II is a four-seater, tw-door family car. Its scheduled for production. The body of the Ambra Electrique were sourced from the French Ligier. The electromotor was constructed by Scholl.

Ford
The slightly redesigned Fiesta and the whole European line-up were presented. A new Fiesta-based roadster-concept is the Lynx. In addition the IndiGo and the Synergy 2010 prototypes have been transported from Detroit.
Formula 1 fans had something to cheer about: Sauber C15 {image}.

Ginetta: Swiss premiere.

Heuliez
The French company exhibited the Citroen estates made by them, along with the Buffalo 4x4.
Honda
With the CR-V 4x4 Honda wants to compete with the Toyota RAV4, Nissan Terrano II and the likes. In Japan the car is a huge hit, the European premiere was held in Geneva. The SSM sports study, now in soft gold, tested the reaction of the public. Another European Honda debut was the new Legend.
Hyundai
The new Lantra based Coupé was the other star of the show. Its curvy lines are similar to the Lantra.

Irmscher
The official Opel-tuner did what the car maker didn't dare: to convert the Tigra into a fun-car. The Irmscher Pick Up is also yellow, just as the Skoda Fun but it should mean more fun.
Isotta Fraschini
The revival of the once-famous Italian luxury car maker wasn't as shocking as last years' Castagna nor as destroying as the new Rinspeed Yello Talbo. The T8 is simply a bad car, that's all: awkward styling, poor quality (as a friend of mine noticed: a man who cleaned the car wasn't able to close the boot-lid again after he opened it).
ItalDesign
Giorgetto Giugiaro exhibited a new concept car, the Formula Four. It's supplied with a bare running chassis - complete with the lower body, front seats and instruments - which can be customised with a variety of upper bodies. At Geneva the car was a 4-seat roadster without doors. At Torino a coupé is expected.

Jaguar
Jaguar stole the show by storm with the new XK8. I don't have more details than their official sites in the UK, and in the USA.

Kia
A new Sephia hatchback, named as Leo and a new midlle-class limousine, the Clarus were shown.

Lada:
The 2110 and various Samara versions.
Lamborghini
The Diablo SV celebrated the 30th birthday of the Miura. The Diablo VT Roadster held its Swiss premiere.
Lancia
Revamped Y10, new turbodiesel for the Z MPV. More to come in Turin.
Lotus
They were busy denying rumours that Daewoo wants to buy them. But they introduced a V8 powered Esprit and a stripped-down Esprit as well. More details are available from their homepage at www.lotuscars.com

Mega
The monstrous Track was dubbed truck in the Geneva Show introduction brochure.
Mercedes
Three new world premiere showed the potential of Mercedes: the C-class estate, the E-class estate and the new V-class. The latter has been featured in The All Auto On-line magazine.
Also the AAV design concept appeared. As the M-class it will be available from 1997 in the USA and from 1998 in Europe.
The two new station wagons will be marketed from spring.
Michalak
The small German designstudio converted the Viper into the Coccon cabriolet.
Mitsubishi
The TWR-prepared Carisma racer which was launched last Autumn at the London Autoshow appeared along with the new Colt.
Monte Carlo
The company has been bought by Mega, so at the Geneva Show was the first unveiling of the new Monte Carlo.

NedCar
The Access is a new concept from the Holland company whose main products are the Mitsubishi Carisma/Volvo S(V)40
Nissan
The Almera was propagated heavily. The Micra Cabrio Design is still in concept phase.

Opel
About the new Sintra , The Auto Channel published a news story. This years' Vectra STC racer {image} will compete against the likes of Peugeot 406 and the Audi A4.

Peugeot
Two show models: the 406 Toscana and the 806 Surf. The new Jordan-Peugeot F1 racer illustrated the presence of Peugeot in Formula 1.
Pininfarina
The Argento Vivo shared the limelight with production cars designed/ built by Pininfarina, such as the Ferrari 456 GT, Bentley Azure etc.
Porsche
Check out the page for the first official picture of the Boxster!!!
Proton
Swiss-first introduction of the Malaysian carmaker. Their Mitsubishi- copied, licensed cars are available for years in the UK, but they recently launched a campaign to expand into Continental Europe. They arrived to Hungary on the 20th of March. Here the German distributor will represent them.

Renault
To celebrate the 50th birthday of the 4CV, Renault crrated the Fiftie prototype, another retro á la VW Beetle. Other news on the page.
Rinspeed
I'm tolerant as far as car-makers are concerned but this vandalism made me mad. I don't know who was that sick mind who transformed the modern recreation of the Talbot-Lago T150 SS by Figoni&Falaschi 1938, the American Talbo into a hot-rod but whoever was, I curse him/her. I was shocked by the sight of this yellow thing. No, look elsewhere on the Net or off-line to see any image of the car I will not do that.
Rolls-Royce/ Bentley
Two new models from Bentley and one from Rolls should be seen on the page.
Rover
The whole line-up was there including the new KV6-powered 800 {image}.

Saab
Saab showed world first active head restraint system. It is entirely mechanical and is based on the lever principle. The head restraint is connected by a linkage to a presure plate in the backrest of the seat. In some rear collisions, the occupant's body will be pressed into the backrest, which moves the pressure plate towards the rear. Subsequently, the head restraint is moved upwards and forward to meet the head before the dangerous whiplash movement has started. Here are two images:
Sbarro
The Issima V12 is powered by a pair of six-cylinder, three-litre Alfa engines joined in-line. The suspension derived from the Alfa 155 DTM racer. The weight is just 1200 kg. The front mimiques the nose of the Spider.
The other show-cars was based on the Peugeot 106: the Gruau-Sbarro 106. Gruau is a French bodybuilder, maker of estate vehicles. The creation is a recreational vehicle.
Skoda
The Felicia Fun pick-up was an attraction.
Spectre
New, racing version of the R42.
Strosek
A converted Porsche 911 Turbo was the main attrarction of the German tuner.
Subaru
There was a sharp contrast between the rally-winner Impreza and the mini-MPV Elcapa conceptcar. The Legacy Outback is a leisure-oriented version of the Legacy wagon.
Suzuki
The brand new Baleno wagon looks outdated for me. Its a family wagon.

Toyota
Toyota always display a hefty number of cars. This year they focused on the new Starlet and Paseo along with the revised Carina E.

UAP Fascination Cars
Every year they're featuring a small exhibition of fantastic cars in the first floor, separate from the exhibition halls. This year they celebrated the Mille Miglia.

Valmet
Valmet Automotive is a Finnish car manufacturer, assembler of various cabriolets such as the Saab 900. Last year they exhibited a prototype with a unique hood-mechanism. This year a new version was shown.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen concentrated on the final, production-ready version of the Beetle.
Volvo
The 850 Bi-fuel is a natural gas car. It is the cleanest car "that has ever been tested at Volvo's exhaust emission laboratories". The 850 Bi-Fuel is powered by a 2.5 litre five-cyl. engine with two valve per cylinder. The gearbox is automatic.
this petrol engine has been supplemented with an injection system for methane gas.
The new V40/S40 family were also proudly presented.

Zagato
New Lamborghini-based sportscar, the Raptor.

Go back to the KTUD index!
Copyright March, 1996
Paul Negyesi
: Budapest, Hungary.
This document or its parts can not be reproduced, quoted in any means. You can create a link freely, but please let me know about it.
This page has been accessed by visitors since 9 AM (Continental European time), 23 March, 1996 according to the Web Counter system.