THE biggest car show in the calendar, Geneva never disappoints.
It attracts the greatest number of world premieres (in plain English: genuine launches of new cars) – and typically some fancy metal, as befits the land of private banking and secret stashes.
There are three big trends the the Geneva Motor Show this year.
Trend One
Small SUVs are the fastest growing segment in the world, so expect many more of them in a year’s time.
It’s not just that Porsche has already pre-sold its entire first year’s production run of 52,000 Macans, or that the new Nissan Qashqai is predicted to be another hit.
Geneva served up cross-over concepts from no less than four car makers who are desperate to join the fray.
Perhaps the most significant to a UK audience is VW’s T-ROC. No one cared to explained the acronym, but it is based on the Golf platform, is smaller than a Tiguan and will sell in large numbers, if they can just get a move on and make it.
Mitsubishi produced the Concept AR; Ssangyong the XLV, and Subaru the VIZIV-2.
None of these vehicles is yet in production, but alongside the Citroen C4 Cactus represent a definite trend towards non-SUV SUVs, if that makes sense – as one car exec put it to me, “people just like the raised height and the looks, but they don’t want the running costs and Chelsea tractor reputation.”
Ah, the acronyms! I knew you’d ask. AR means ‘Active Runabout’ and Mitsubishi insist that ‘SUV + MPV = FreeSpirit’. Ssangyong’s XLV means ‘eXciting smart Lifestyle Vehicle,’ and Subaru’s VIZIV means ‘vision for innovation.’ It’s all a bit silly.
Trend Two
Apple has announced its CarPlay system, at long last putting the car industry out of its misery.
It’s a ‘system’ rather than an app because you push a button on the steering wheel and speak commands using Apple’s familiar (if you own an iPhone) Siri.
Meanwhile, the big in-car touch screen (which will soon be ubiquitous) will allow you to fully exploit, in-car and on the move, everything you currently do on your phone. That means Spotify, internet radio and so on – and not just the clunky interfaces of the past.
Until now, car makers have relied on Mirror-link, which is based on an open architecture platform agreed three years ago. If you own a recent VW you probably already have it – but it only works for Android devices.
Of course, most cars can accommodate an iPhone as well, but the functionality has left plenty to be desired. The App meister for VW, Javier Verastegui, told me that very soon we’ll have a proper, integrated solution that will not disadvantage you if you prefer Apple to Android or vice versa.
Bummer that it still doesn’t yet exist unless you are buying a new Ferrari or the new Mercedes C-Class! But we predict that it will very quickly find its way into most new cars. Worth waiting for if you are an Apple devotee.
