Geneva Motor Show

The Geneva Motor Show, or Salon-Auto as it's known locally, is actually quite large.

Yesterday Natalie and i went to the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, held this year in Geneva.  Except at Tesco's carpark in the week before Christmas, and in the carpark outside the Show itself, i've never seen so many cars in one place.

Natalie test-sitting the BWM M3 Convertible.

There was one overriding theme at the Show: the motor industry seems to have "gone green", at least in their advertising.  We saw a hydrogen-powered BMW and a BYD that you plug into a standard plug socket at home so that you can burn the fuel to power it elsewhere than in the car itself.  Apparently this constitutes an improvement.

Me in my new car - look i'm so famous everyone's taking photos of me.

Highlights of the Show, obviously, was the new Kia C'eed (is that really the name of a car?) and, of course, the Fiat Punto Grande.  i was equally impressed with the new Ford Mondeo which comes with climate control in the Titanium edition.

This is the new Vauxhall Astra.  It comes standard with seats, wheels, and a Nitrogen-rich oxygen mix.

Oh yeah, there were also a couple of old Koenigseggs lying around, generally lowering the tone.  Someone brought a Bugatti Veyron to the show, but obviously, everyone was too busy queuing up to see the new Fiat 500 to notice.  Pagani brought their old banger, the Zonda, to the show.  Embarrassing really, i mean, who'd spend less than half a million pounds on a car?

Not sure why you'd want this, but this car is also a submarine.  It comes fitted with propellers, a full face mask and air tank.  And this time i'm not kidding.

Once i'd been resuscitated and Natalie had equipped me with a bib to stop the drool puddling in front of me, we could start really appreciating the absolutely gorgeous cars on show.

The Mazda Taiki.  We liked this.

The real highlights of the show were the new Mazda Taiki, the Nissan Pivo2 which will be like living in the Jetsons if it ever makes it into production.

It's deeply saddening to think that they trashed one (or more) of these for Casino Royale.  i hope they're ashamed of themselves.

The Paganis, Bugattis, Bentleys, Koenigseggs, Mazaratis, and Lamborghinis were all within a 10m radius of one another.  It was at this point in the show that i had to be fed some Valium and given a little lie-down as it all got a bit much for me.

The Nissan Pivo2 proving that you can easily parallel park this tiny car into a space any normal person could get any normal car into without funny spinny-round wheels.  Actually, this car is really cool - it even leans into corners for you.

i didn't even realise that Spyker did anything other than come last in Formula one races, but apparently they make rather awesome cars as well.  There were plenty of other manufacturers i'd never even heard of, like some company called Ow-dee, or something unpronounceable like that.

Hey Leena, look what Natalie got!

The car i'd actually buy, if i had the cash and the inclination, and i have neither, would probably be the Alfa Romeo Brera.  What a pretty car.  And if i really had the oodles of cash required, the Pagani Zonda, which looked good on Top Gear, but just stupendously awesome in real life.

Pagani Zonda.  Can you say: "wow"?

Ok, and now i've committed the cardinal sin of blogging.  i've run out of text for my pictures.  This is mostly a function of the fact that i wondered round the Show with my mouth open and an expression of mild stupor on my face.

Koenigsegg.  i've actually got one of these but i don't like the red interior so i tend not to drive it.

So instead i'll just rabbit on about the photos themselves.  You had to put on a really winning smile to get to sit in the Veyron.  They took one look at my drool-stained bib and i knew my chances were dashed.

Apparently this car won a few races.  Bet it couldn't win an under-10s sack-race could it?  What about an egg and spoon race?  Rubbish really.  Despite it's short-comings, Natalie took this rather good photo of it.

In summary, the Show was really cool.  Pity no normal people could actually afford any of the truly awesome cars on display.