By TMA Howe
After many years of reading about it in magazines and watching the highlights on YouTube, at long last I got to experience the world’s greatest motor show for myself: the Geneva International Motor Show 2018.
Aston Martin’s gorgeous new Vantage
A short bus ride from Geneva Airport takes you to Palexpo where this annual event is held. Here’ll you’ll find six huge halls filled with a collection of the weird and wonderful that the world’s manufacturers and designers have assembled for our delectation. As well as being an opportunity for many of the recognised car brands from across the world to show off their latest models, many brands like to unveil their design concepts, which often provide just a hint of what the future might hold. A common theme amongst these designs this year was alternative fuels and autonomous vehicles capable of transporting us in comfort and stress-free style.
In addition to the many concept vehicles on show, there were a number of companies displaying luxury van interiors. These are the new limos, aimed at celebrities and the mega-wealthy who want to travel discreetly. From the outside, these vehicles look just like the plain vans we see on the road everyday (a black Mercedes van was the general trend), whilst inside it seems the owner can specific any luxurious comfort they wish.
Top 10 Luxury Cars in Geneva
As usual at a motor show, there was a plethora of amazing hyper-cars (supercars are so last century!). Companies such as Zenvo, Hennessey, Corbellati, Koenigsegg, Rimac, Bugatti, McLaren, and Pagani displayed a glut of machines capable of doing well over national speed limits.
So, on to my top 10 from this year’s show. So difficult to reduce so many wonderful vehicles down to a simple list of 10, but here goes… and in no particular order:
- McLaren Senna – The ultimate extreme track car
- Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spyder – Suitable for cruising in St Tropez or zooming down the autobahn
- Jaguar i-Pace – May just squeeze into the luxury bracket, Jaguar leading the way with Electric cars
- Polestar 1 – Volvo’s Electric brand launch
- Eaden Green Zeclat – First showing of this new British V8 (click here to see a video from the show)
- Lagonda Vision Concept – A welcome return for this famous marque
- LVCHI Venere – An interesting collaboration between Italy and China
- Zenvo TSR-S – A Danish hyper-car that certainly looks the part!
- David Brown Speedback Silverstone – A modern hand built take on the Aston Martin DB5
- Aston Martin Vantage – The gorgeous new entry level Aston
The go-anywhere Pal-V gyrocopter car
Whilst I have listed my top 10 above, I must give a mention to two of the strangest vehicles at the show:
- The Renault EZ-GO – Is this the Autonomous Uber of the future?
- The Pal-V Liberty – A ‘car’ that becomes a gyro-copter
The Geneva International Motor Show is considered the best in the world and I can see why. See you next year!
(Editor’s Note: For an excellent overview of the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, check out this video from Autocar Magazine.)
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TMA Howe is Luxury Globe Media’s UK Automotive Editor.
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