The buzz on the floor circled around and then landed on the global crossover and SUV (sport-utility vehicle) explosion, super cars – this is the Geneva auto show, of course – and whether or not Google, Tesla, Apple and the apparent Silicon Valley invasion of the auto industry is real, and a real threat.
Conclusions after the second and last press day:
- The Volkswagen Group’s Bentley’s EXP 10 Speed 6 concept, its first sports car since the 1920s, stole the super car show and Aston Martin’s DBX concept was swish enough to come in a close second.
- Infiniti led the crossover/SUV parade with its QX30 concept, a carved and cut small crossover that company officials hope will do for Nissan’s struggling premium brand what Porsche’s Macan has done for VW’s former sports car brand. SUVs already hold a 30 per cent market share in North America, and the analysts here in Europe think this continent’s share will hit that, too – from the current 22 per cent.
- And then there was the Silicon question. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche addressed it with reporters right from the get-go and so did Nissan-Renault’s Carlos Ghosn, BMW’s Norbert Reithofer, and others. They went on the record expressing respect for the Apples, Googles and Teslas, but cautioned reporters not to confuse a smartphone with an automobile. The latter is massively complex, the former a relatively simple hand-held, throwaway device whose manufacturing can be out-sourced to a low-wage, low-skill plant in, say, China.
Off the record, however, car company execs bristle at the very idea of a smartphone company, or a search engine provider, or a money-losing electric vehicle maker like Tesla just swooping in and reinventing the auto industry, knocking aside 100-year-old companies in the process. Apple, Google, Tesla and their ilk have yet to grasp the massive complexities associated with designing, building, distributing and supporting high-volume sales of automobiles. This was a theme in Geneva.
Now of course the car executive on hand put things in less confrontational ways. But in one way or the other, they all echoed the blunt sentiments of retired General Motors CEO Dan Akerson, who put the Apple-car issue this way in an interview with Bloomberg: "I think somebody is kind of trying to cough up a hairball here. If I were an Apple shareholder, I wouldn't be very happy. I would be highly suspect of the long-term prospect of getting into a low-margin, heavy-manufacturing" business like car-making.
While still GM CEO, Akerson told me that car making is the most complex and demanding business this one-time telecom CEO and venture capitalist had ever encountered. Even a company as well-capitalized as Apple, which reportedly has a team of 200-plus now working on an automobile project, will find car making a difficult business for a long, long list of reasons -- from the regulatory and safety global patchwork to the long lifecycles of even the least expensive vehicles, which must be supported in some way for decades after they're sold.
This is the sort of sideline buzz that keeps reporters and industry types entertained between the various product intros at a global show such as Geneva's 85th Salon International de l'Automobile in Geneva. The chat, of course, also turns to the car and trucks on hand, as well. Among those that caught our eye in particular:
Kia SPORTSPACE concept wagon: Gregory Guillaume, Kia's European design chief, calls it the "ultimate getaway car" – a grand tourer good for "eating up the roads." This is also a look at the styling of the 2016 next-generation Optima. Kia needs to build this and right away.
Infiniti QX30 concept: What you see here is pretty much what Infiniti will roll into showrooms early next year. This compact crossover is the sort of vehicle taking the auto industry by storm. How important? Last year Porsche sold 45,000 Macans in its first year, or almost one-third of brand's total global sales. Infiniti's dealers simply cannot wait for this to arrive.
Audi R8: Here, the story is more is better. Instead of just one, VW's high-volume premium brand showed four new R8 models: a mid-engined V-10 version was on hand, of course, along with a newly developed quattro drive and the range-topper boasted 610 horsepower for a 0-100 km/h time of 3.2 seconds, top speed is 330 km/h. The electrified R8 e-tron will do 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and new battery cells give it a range of 450 km. And as the cherry on top, Audi even showed its new Audi R8 LMS race car. Audi is a force, no doubt.
MINI Countryman Park Lane: This, we were told, "embodies the strengths of the five-seater all-rounder more impressively than ever with its four doors, large tailgate and optional all-wheel drive system ALL4." Yawn. We noted this one for its utter lack of noteworthiness – almost as unimpressive as the dowdy BMW 220d Active Tourer xDrive just a few feet way. What has happened to BMW design?
Porsche 911 GT3 RS: The Geneva world premiere was a chance for Porsche to highlight all the on-board motorsport technology – the most currently possible in a street-legal 911, said the company. Porsche said its lap time of seven minutes and 20 seconds beat the record of the Carrera GT at just under seven minutes and 29 seconds on the North Loop of the Nürburgring. Track-ready for the nutty enthusiast.
Nissan Sway concept: Nissan said this is a hint of what is in store for its next-generation compact cars. Certainly more compelling than the current Micra. Please, please, do something like this for the masses.
Lexus LF-SA concept: This, we were told, expressed what Lexus thinks about a driver-focused vehicle in a world where virtual experiences are so compelling. Lexus officials said they believe that in such a world, a real driving experience will remain the ultimate luxury. Toyota's Lexus keeps talking the talk about enjoyable driving, and that's encouraging.
McLaren 675LT: Here we have the lightest, most powerful and fastest model in the McLaren Super Series, and also the most exclusive: production will be strictly limited to just 500 examples worldwide. The rich and exclusive car nuts just get more and more to make them happier and happier.
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