FRANKFURT: Observations from the show floor

If you had to sum up the mood at the 2013 Frankfurt IAA’s first press day it would be entrenched optimism. Profits might remain elusive for some OEMs but the sheer number of vehicle world premieres points to a European industry on the rebound.

Here, in no particular order, are some thoughts and observations following a full day of listening to speeches, examining new vehicles, and interviewing various executives.

• Audi managed a genuine surprise with its nanuk quattro concept but is the world ready for a diesel supercar that looks like a crossover?
• Nissan’s X-Trail has been twinned with the Rogue for the second generation model(s), it will be built in nine plants, and this is also the world’s first look at the Alliance’s CMF architecture
• CMF is also what’s underneath the Renault Initiale Paris concept and this big crossover weighs a claimed 250kg less than the Grand Espace (it’s a preview of the replacement model due in 2014/2015 and will be built at Douai)
• no sign of the car itself but Honda spilled the beans on what will power the forthcoming Civic Type R: a 280PS turbocharged 2.0-litre
• the Civic Tourer has an amazingly roomy boot: two roll-on hand luggage bags will fit in a recess below the boot floor and four medium sized suitcases in the boot itself – thank the car’s clever new rear suspension
• the Golf Sportsvan was supposed to be a concept but there were several of them on the VW stand and each looked production ready
• despite it now being a production model, just as was the case at Geneva the Alfa 4C was locked – this happened shortly after several journalists had difficulty getting it and out of it. It’s a tight fit for anyone of even average height and girth, and some will question if the hard plastics of the interior are suitable for what is being launched as a EUR60,000 car
• the long-wheelbase Executive versions of the Porsche Panamera are very tricky to pick from the standard car, even when parked side by side – rear seat room is much improved too
• still no sign of any crossovers or SUVs from SEAT but sales are up across Europe thanks to the León and the ST (wagon) should improve things further
• Thomas Sedran, Chevrolet Europe’s third president in two years, has pulled the brand out of the daily rental market as “margins are just too low”, and told just-auto.com “our biggest challenge is brand awareness”
• Chevy Europe’s PR machine has come up with a thought-provoking soundbite: a new Chevrolet is sold every 6.3 seconds – that’s 5 million a year
• there was a left-hand drive Vauxhall on the Opel stand – a new Insignia with the blitz badges removed and Griffins in their place
• BMW gave the long-dead C1 scooter’s equally long overdue successor an almost unseen world premiere – the C evolution is a plug-in two-seat two-wheeler that will hit 100km/h in just 6.2 seconds, but it was parked in an overlooked part of the brand’s giant stand 
• to open either of the rear doors in the BMW i3, the driver or passenger’s door must be opened first, the front boot is deep but small, and the tyres look as tall and as narrow as those on a Citroën 2CV – the car itself is amazingly roomy for something of its size
• the BMW i8 was locked and surrounded by a barrier so nobody could get in it but there was another car displayed with its doors open, so you could at least see in
• Hyundai’s i10 does indeed look like what it is: a facelifted Kia Picanto
• what had been known to some as JLR’s D7a architecture (a future downsized car and crossover version of Land Rover’s PLA) is now being referred to by Jaguar as iQ[Al], while the C-X17, which debuted it, is 4,718mm long, 1,649mm high, 1,959mm wide and has a 2,905mm wheelbase
• the Lexus LF-NX looks a LOT better in the metal than preview pics had made it appear; it’s also big for something that will be a future Audi Q5 hybrid rival
• the Mercedes-Benz S 500 Plug In Hybrid won’t enter production until 2014 but there were prototypes running around as media shuttles
• Peugeot’s signature small steering wheel manages to look even sportier and more unusual in the new 308 than it does in the 208
• if you’re keen to buy the one-off Celestial Phantom, you’re too late – Rolls-Royce has sold it (dear buyer, I saw a journalist slip his shoes off and sigh as his feet almost disappeared into the deep, plush carpets)
• the e-Golf looks like a normal five-door Golf inside and out – apart from the missing tachometer and what’s under the bonnet of course, and the boot looks the same size as combustion engine variants
• Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is stuck with strange-looking blanked out rear windows for the new e-load up! concept – reason being the plug-in up! on which it’s based isn’t available in the two-door body style
• Maserati revealed plans to give the Quattroporte a (VM) diesel engine
• neither Sergio Marchionne nor Fiat chairman John Elkann attended the press day due to ‘work commitments’ so no chance to grill either about the supposed scrapping of the Giulia and its replacement by a RWD platform car

Author: Glenn Brooks