All eyes on Paris as dream machines make their debut
The Chevrolet Volt
Wednesday October 01 2008
THEY’RE OFF in the great Paris Motor Show race. The eyes of the motoring world will descend on the French capital tomorrow as the great and mighty show off their latest offerings for the road and for the future.
Here’s a run down of the cars and the stars of the show: Audi gives its A6 a facelift with new engines and distinguishing ‘eyebrow’ lights.
It’s a huge show for BMW with its new 7-series debuting. BMW needs this all-new motor to make its mark against the dominant Mercedes S-Class.
Expect a lot of attention to be focussed on the Chevrolet Volt, the groundbreaking new plug-in hybrid – and there’s the Orlando seven-seater MPV.
Citroen do concepts better than most and this year is no exception. It has the Hypnos concept car, C3 Picasso, while the C4 gets a makeover.
It’s a ‘big’ small car for Ford with its new Ka, which we’ll see here quite soon.
There will be a lot of Irish interest in the Honda Jazz too – another one we can expect here relatively soon. And in the current ‘green’ environment, Honda’s Insight hybrid concept car has real resonance. Expensive
Honda promise that this will be the world’s least expensive hybrid.
Hyundai’s i20 accelerates the new model line-up with this supermini taking centre stage.
Kia continues to expand at a rapid rate with its compact SUV/supermini the Soul, among its most eyecathcing. Lexus gives its IS a bit of a makeover and shows off its stunning CC Convertible.
The Mercedes Fascination concept car generated a lot of interest – it is truly stunning. The carmaker also has an S400 BlueHybrid.
Mitsubishi premieres its new Lancer Sportback and Colt hatchback. The 1.1-litre and 1.3-litre engines continue but will be joined by low emission versions of similar size. The new Colt goes on sale here the first week of December. Opel is due to unveil its Sports Tourer, a sleek estate version of the saloon that replaces the Vectra.
Peugeot offer previews of its new 408 and 3008 MPV. We’ve seen Renault’s new Megane several times now – but the company reckons it’s worth officially showing it. And it gets here in weeks.
Saab is mightily excited about its new 9-X Air concept car, and Subaru is expecting huge things from its new Subaru Impreza diesel– as well as its Forester diesel, which will make a huge difference.
Suzuki bring its new Alto to the floodlights – and an updated Grand Vitara.
As far as Irish buyers are concerned, the two big shots of the show are Toyota’s new Avensis, which is a substantial improvement and the new Volkswagen Golf – the company will premier the new GTi in Paris.
