Geneva Motor Show: green reality bites

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BMW's former chief executive Helmut Panke always cautioned against premium car makers such as his competing directly with the volume, non-premium segment.

"Down there in the mud," he said, rolling his eyes for effect, "you have to howl with the wolves and cut costs big time."

Audi's new A1 B-car launch was one of the highlights of the 80th Geneva Motor Show but I kept thinking of Panke down there in the mud.

If you wrestle a pig, everyone gets muddy, but the pig likes it. Audi thinks it will be in competition with BMW's MINI when the little A1 goes on sale in September, but it will also have to battle with this year's Car of the Year, the VW Polo (on which it is based), as well as well-received cars such as the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Honda Jazz. These companies really understand making money out of small cars.

And by that time the new Ford Focus will be almost ready. Joe Bakaj, Ford's development chief, ran through just some of the technology it will carry: light-emitting diode (LED) Hella lamps that follow the steering, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot detection system, lane-keeping assistant, speed-limit recognition cameras, torque vectoring to minimise steering-wheel tug and a driver-alertness warning system.

When I read this list to an Audi executive, he insisted I was talking of a new BMW or Mercedes-Benz. He looked shocked when told it was a Ford. Welcome to the mud.

As widely predicted, the theme of the show was the environment, with enough electric cars to run a dodgem arcade and more lithium than you find in a gout ward. Behind that, however, was a new reality to car making best described by Saab's new owner, Victor Muller of Spyker.

"Car-making boardrooms have discovered that they can lose 40 per cent of the company's value overnight," he said.

"The old rules are gone, now you have to look at every aspect of the business and ask, 'What is this doing to enhance our profitability?' "

Muller can scarcely believe his luck. "For the price of a wind tunnel, we have got the new 9-5 which is paid for and ready to go, the new 9-4X is paid for and ready, and the 9-3, which is well engineered and 2.5 years out."

He maintains the "robust" business plan will pull Saab through. Well, that and a 400 million loan from the European Investment Bank. Fasten your seatbelt Victor, this could be a bumpy ride.

Over at Opel, Nick Reilly agreed that the new reality has changed the parameters of what can be done - and how fast.

He is busy trying to pull the vig (the interest payment on a loan paid back to the creditor by a certain per cent) in from the Governments which have expressed interest in supporting GM's decision to retain its Vauxhall and Opel marques, but finding it slow going.

GM announced an additional €1.9 billion of funding at the show to sweeten the pill.

"We've got speedier decisions now," he said. "In things such as purchasing, managers couldn't buy a pencil in the old days."

A warning grimace from his PR preventing him from taking this further.

Actually there were refreshing signs of life all over, a bit like a country hedgerow bursting with snowdrops at this time of year.

Pretty stuff included the loveable Renault Twingo Gordini, Volvo's all-new S60 and Ford's new Focus estate.

Nissan's new Juke passed muster, but the replacement Micra was much of a muchness.

Vauxhall/Opel have been playing around with the idea of a coupé/estate for some time now. The Flextreme GT/E concept was almost perfect.

"Just like a Lancia HPE," a journalist yelled at Mark Adams, Vauxhall/Opel's British design chief. He grinned wickedly.

Mud, mud, glorious mud…

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motor-shows/geneva-motor-show/7358537/Geneva-Motor-Show-green-reality-bites.html