It would have been nice if Ford and Tata had decided to end all the speculation and announce a firm deal for the former to sell the latter Jaguar and Land Rover during this week’s Geneva motor show. But no.
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Tata was there with the Nano and that was all, unfortunately, that Rata Tata wanted to talk about, disappointing the press hordes who were no doubt billed as all there to see the new Indian ‘people’s car’ but really onlly wanted to hear all about the pending deal.
And so we wait. Today (7 March) the key union representing Jaguar workers told Reuters a memorandum of understanding would be signed in two weeks, while another source said a deal was weeks away. Ford is sticking to the ‘no roadblocks’ line, insisting all will be cut and dried in ‘early 2008’. And so we wait.
Doors were an interesting feature at Geneva. First, GM Europe confirmed the rear-hinged ‘suicide doors’ on the Meriva Concept would definitely make production, and then Renault rolled out one of the few vehicles, not hyped to death before the show, its Megane coupe ‘concept’, with clever doors designed to mimic dragonfly wings. They won’t make production.
And then came Skoda’s redesigned Superb. We’ve seen big cars in Europe before that look like ‘sedans’ but actually have a full hatchback-style tailgate – Citroen’s C5 is one example. But this one gives you the choice – open a boot (trunk) lid for normal loads but, if you’ve got something really large, flick a couple of catches, and the rear window opens up as well. Nifty. The Czechs call it Twindoor and say they developed it in-house.
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By GlobalDataAt the other end of the size scale, came Toyota’s tiny little iQ city car, a cute little box that emits even less CO2 than the hybrid Prius.
But, the ultimate in cute, and this isn’t going into production, has to be Nissan’s Pivo 2 concept. Although it was first seen at Tokyo last year, it’s sure to wow the public at Geneva from this weekend. The little concept takes easy parking to a new level as the cabin can swivel towards the kerb while the wheels turn 90 degrees and crab you in to tiny spaces.
Engineers who showed the car to journalists in Paris last week reckon some of that variable-geometry chassis technology will make it to production as will aspects of the robotic Driver Assistant, a chirpy little android who keeps an eye on the driver’s mood and attempts to keep him or her cheerful on the basis that a happy driver is a safe driver.
The demo model offers to find a coffee stop, I wonder if Nissan will re-programme the UK versions to also find the best place for afternoon tea and scones? To the Ritz, android…
Enjoy your weekend,
Graeme Roberts
Deputy Editor
just-auto.com
