The automotive industry is in turmoil. It is facing technology-driven disruptions such as diverse mobility, autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity.
Electrification in particular is a major issue. Legislators are unilaterally forcing the automakers’ hand into switching to electric vehicle production when the latter are far from convinced that this rep-resents the way forward. Even locally we have heard suggestions that Gozo becomes an electric vehicle only zone (tell it to the Gozitans) and that in a very short while, we will not be able to buy any more conventional petrol or diesel-powered vehicles.
In the midst of all this, the Geneva Motor Show kicked-off this week. This is probably the finest of such events and while other shows compete on quantity, here is where you experience the top layer of automobiles. However disruptions have obviously influenced the very essence of the show and the underlying theme is a somewhat confusing one.
Naturally the main emphasis is on electric vehicles reinforced with the announcement, of the winner of the European Car of the Year award deservedly won by the Jaguar iPace.
One of the main thrusts is the mini EV aimed primarily at car sharing with Luca De Meo introducing the Twizzy-like Minimo which he argued would be rented out at around 20c/km and in many countries can be driven by 16-year-olds not holding an official licence. Citroen’s take on this came in the guise of the Ami One while Honda showed a 98 per cent ready version of the E Prototype. Fiat introduced the Centoventi, essentially the electric version of the new Panda. One car that seriously impressed is the new Peugeot 208, both for its styling and for the fact that it represents the brand’s first step at a fully electric production car, and a good one at that.
Other models that I see more relevant for Maltese consumers are the Alfa Tonale, the Audi Q4 eTron to compete with the iPace, the new Renault Clio and the Mazda CX30.
At the other end of the spectrum, we see an extremely interesting effort from the traditional supercar brands as well as some new kids on the block: cue the Ferrari F8 Tributo touted as the brand’s most powerful V8 to date, the Aventador SVJ Roadster, the AMG GTR Roadster, the €3m 300mph Koenigsegg Jasco, and the mandatory luxury SUVs from Aston Martin, McLaren and Bentley. Some new manufacturers to look out for include Hispano Suiza, Ginetta, Puritalia, Rimac and Piech.
The clash of the titans however also demonstrated the true dilemma of the current automotive market. On one hand you have the one-off Bugatti La Voiture Noire developing 1,500bhp from a 16-cylinder engine – at $19m it is officially the most ex-pensive car you can buy. On the other hand we see the fully electric Pininfarina Battista, delivering 1,900bhp at a ‘bargain’ price of $2.6m. It will accelerate to 100km/h in under two seconds making it the fastest production car you can buy at the moment. Take your pick.
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