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Geneva Motorcarshow 2009


This year, I've made the travel to the Palexpo of Geneva for the 2009 edition of the famous motorcarshow, not for a particular reason or model, but just in order to see a real carshow with plenty of luxury cars, at the opposite with the Mondial of Paris, more popular.
A lot of news this year for many constructors, perhaps to forget the crisis. However, the actual and recurrent "green dogma" is in Geneva too with a lot of concept cars more ecologic and CO2 saver, with photoreceptors, hydrogen powered, electric engines placed in rims...etc... Nothing is really set up actually but the marketing is in "full power mode". Let's start, there is a lot of things to see.

As usual, I make my "report" as I've lived my visit.... and I get into the show by a small hall dedicated to the "small" tuners. Not the most fascinating but quite good to set up my camera! Some interesting cars however like a Lumma X6, an Affolter Murcielago GTR finished in a mate dark grey and some Nissan R35 GTR, more or less severely tuned.

Now we can start with something stronger, and I arrived to the hall n°1, directly on the RUF stand, with an electric powered version of the 997, the Greenster, probably interesting for the german ecologists, but for me, the CTR3 and the Dakara were really more exciting!

Artega, Bitter (with the Vero sport) and ABT, with a nice Audi R8.
Alfa Romeo, with the same 8Cs presented in Paris, Morgan (with a big deception, they have sadly forgotten the fantastic Aeromax...) and Porsche, with the first presentation of the new 997 mkII GT3. Alpina was there with the B6 cabriolet and the brand new B7, AC Schnitzer too with a preparation of the new 7.
Many news for Aston Martin in Geneva : the "uncovered" One-77, but still a body shape, the new V12 Vantage and the Volante version of the DBS V12.
One of the greatest stand of the Geneva show, the Mansory one. This tuner is today at the top of personalization because working on the most exclusive cars : Bugatti Veyron, Rinspeed Chopster.
For Rolls-Royce, the Geneva show was important because it was the presentation of a smaller range of car, cheaper and less arrogant than the Phantom and Drophead : the concept 200 EX.
The new E-class is the star for Mercedes, but is without any interest for me. I've hope than the SL65 Black Series would be presented but all models seems already sold. A strange explanation... So, remains only the SLR 722 Stirling Moss and the Maybach 57S Zeppelin.
Some different things : BMW with the nice new Z4, some Peugeot concept cars, an electric concept from Rinspeed and a SUV from Dacia.
Fisker : a first seen for me, the Karma and Karma S. A really nice shape for the spider and the four doors.

Brabus : a mate black SLR, many V12 powered conversion and a strange upgraded Tesla.

No innovation for Renault-Nissan, with the cars showed at Paris : the Megane Trophy and the R35 GTR, finished in white. A pic of the Jaguar XKR by Arden.
Each year, Zagato presents in Geneva a new concept based on an production model (Ferrari 575GTZ, Bentley Continental GTZ...). For this edition, the famous coachbuilder exposed an original sport car, with a neo-retro design, the Perana. It will be great to see this car in production.
Techart : no tremendous news on the german tuner stand, with some 997 and Cayenne modifications, in black and white colors.
Back to the future with Sbarro, it seems to be a early 2000's stand with Alcador Ferrari, based on a Testarossa and a Modena. Another revival with the rim without hub coming back directly from the 80's. Strange...
Lorinser declines its Mercedes range with the Aignier and "Eau Rouge" program, based this time on GL and S classes.
On the Gumpert stand, a new version of the Apollo was presented, the Speed evolution, with aerodynamic upgrades.
The stand of the tuner Fab Design was a must see of Geneva with a SLR "Batmobile" really incredible... probably not the better taste (the back air wing is a little bit too much) but this transformation is one of the most "expressive" ever seen!
Koenigsegg : the CCX in a nice red and carbon combo, and the Quant, a strange 4 places car, with something ecologic probably? It's quite funny this avalanche of "earth friendly" concept cars without any idea of production but with a communication goal.
Lotus, with the Evora finished in blue, the evolution of the Ronart Lightening, called just Lightening today, powered by electrical engines located inside the rims, Sportec, Fioravanti and Giugiaro's concepts.
And now, one of my favourite discovered during this motorshow, the Spyker area. The quite olds Spyder and coupé Laviolette are still there and remains interesting but the new C8 Aileron is really a heartbreaker and eclipses the other models.
Wiesmann exposed to the public the new MF4 roadster and a red MF5 GT.
Pagani was there with an evolution of the Zonda F, the Cinque, and a tremendous competition car : the Zonda R.
Each year, Bugatti presents a new declination of the Veyron, perhaps to put under pressure putative future owners. In 2009, no less than 2 "upgraded" Veyron were there, with the spyder Grand Sport and a special execution, the Veyron Centenaire, finished in a dual tone mate/shiny colors. A good idea but the choice of a blue/blue one was not probably the best. I've seen later a cream/cream one, and it was lovely.
For Audi, nothing really interesting except the V10 evolution of the R8, with very small esthetic change compared to the 4,2 powered.
Let's stay in the Audi kingdom with something more tasty : Lamborghini. Two "first seen" with the Superveloce evolution of the LP640 and the syder version of the LP560-4.
Ultimate constructor eaten by Audi, Bentley. I feeled really sad to see this very large area with 4 poors Continental GT. No Brooklands coupé in Paris, no more in Geneva. WTF?
So, we can try to satisfy with the Speed evolution of the GTC and a new Continental GT, called Supersport, with a tuned body look and more powerfull engine, running with bioethanol. Fantastic...
No ecologic car on the Ferrari stand and it's better like this. I can note the 16M Scuderia spider, the HGTC 599 and a racing program for the 599 with the XX.
We arrive to the end of the show with some isolated cars : Corvette ZR1, Infiniti concept Essence (no gasoil, it's like a victory!), some ecolo cars (ever and ever) like Tesla or Dodge, and a special note to Volvo, with this nice designed S60 Concept.
At last, a big exposition of Formulas 1, through the ages.

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