Geneva Motor Show: The 5 best concept cars
A MOTOR show wouldn’t be a motor show without concept cars, which are less flights of fancy and more visions of the future.
Vauxhall GT
Vauxhall GT This red-wheeled wonder is most unVauxhall-like but also, at the same time, very Vauxhall-like, as it evokes concepts from the 1960s and the much-lived VX220 sports car of the early 2000s.
A beautifully designed coupé that is full of innovation – from its doors that open into the wheelarches to the buttonless, self-learning Human Machine Interface – the GT is a vision that we fervently hoped is realised. If this is the future, we can’t wait to get there. And keep the red wheels, please.
Vauxhall GT Concept
Citreon DS E-Tense
DS E-Tense, Citroen’s premium sub-brand, revealed a new carbonfibre-bodied electric supercar concept at Geneva.
A combination of stunning avant-garde design, luxurious interior and the latest technology, the E-Tense is what we’re all hoping electric cars can be in the not-too-distant future.
Unlike most concepts, however, the E-Tense won’t just be consigned to a design archive: it will earn its keep as a technology demonstrator, in order to prove that DS’s claims of a 4.5-second 0-62mph time, 155mph top speed and 220-mile range don’t just exist in a motor show press release.
Skoda VisionS
Skoda VisionS One of those concepts that we’ll soon see on our roads, in very similar form, the Vision S previews a seven-seat SUV that Skoda is set to launch at the end of this year (rumoured to be called Kodiaq and set to sell for around £20K and up).
A sleek, chiselled and elegant design, the VisionS is good-looking SUV that also looks sturdy and robust.
We won’t see the high-tech and futuristic interior in the production car, but give it a few years and we might see something similar.
The VisionS is powered by a hybrid powertrain that combines a 1.4-litre petrol engine with two electric motors, giving a total output of 222bhp.
Sadly, the real-world car won’t have such an innovative powerplant, so expect the usual tried-and-tested mix of VW Group petrol and diesel units.
Pininfarina H2 Speed
Pininfarina H2 Speed is a radical concept from famous Italian independent design house and coachbuilder Pininfarina, is described as being “halfway between a competition prototype and a production supercar”.
The H2 is propelled by two electric motors that are race-car standard, which draw their power from a lightweight hydrogen fuel cell.
Will we see something like this on our roads or race circuits anytime soon? Not a chance. Is it a beautiful thing? Oh yes.
Volkswagen T-Cross Breeze
Volkswagen revealed at Geneva that the T-Cross Breeze going large on SUVs in the next few years, with five new ones being introduced – three bigger than the new Tiguan, and two smaller than it.
The T-Cross Breeze isn’t previewing a convertible SUV, but it does give some indication of a Polo-sized crossover that will come to market by 2018.
The 1.0-litre turbocharged engine also points to the kinds of engine that could be available in the production car, with the touch-sensitive surfaces also hinting at the kinds of buttonless technology we can soon expect to see in our cars.