Paris Motor Show Preview
The 2008 Mondial De L'Automobile, or Paris motor show to us Brits, opens its doors on October 4 at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Always a big event on the international motor show calendar, the Paris extravaganza promises to be spectacular this year, with countless new production debuts and halls stuffed full of future-looking concepts.
The French capital is a glamorous location for a motor show, but it's the Italians who will undoubtedly be the crowd-pleasers at the Paris event. Lamborghini has been teasing us now for weeks by slowly revealing its four-seater concept, the design study the first four-seater Lamborghini sports car since the Espada model from the late '70s. Although it is just a concept for now any production model would be the perfect foil for Ferrari's 612 Scaglietti and new four-door models from Porsche and Aston Martin.
Ferrari will make sure Lamborghini doesn't get all the attention by debuting its new folding hardtop California model in Paris. The official reveal has been a long time coming, but any show exhibiting a new Ferrari is always going to draw crowds. Maserati isn't showing any new production cars, instead exhibiting a stripped out GranTurismo MC concept racer. We've seen the pictures and it looks sensational.
The Italians might be in Paris in force, but French firms will be showing plenty of new metal to wow show-goers. Renault will exhibit its new Mégane for the first time, the family hatchback a hugely important model for Renault throughout Europe. Less important is the Laguna Coupé, and though Renault's smart two-door is certain to appeal to France's patriotic fashionistas it'll be a rare sight when it goes on sale in the UK. On current form Citroen's new C3 Picasso will become a familiar car on our roads, the chevron-badged firm showing the latest addition to its huge MPV range at its home show. Funky and fresh, the C3 Picasso has got huge appeal and is certain to be very keenly priced too.
Not to be outdone, Peugeot will show two production coupés in Paris: the new 308 RC-Z will be on display alongside the 308 CC (Coupé Cabriolet). They'll be sharing stand space with Peugeot's RC Hybrid concept, the new show car showcasing Peugeot's future design direction along with its innovative hybrid technology. It won't be the only sleek concept from the home team, Citroen due to unveil a GT concept alongside its Hypnos crossover, while Renault revisits the big luxury GT genre with its weird Ondelios hybrid show car.
Paris promises to be awash with concept models, Mercedes-Benz bringing its stunning Concept Fascination, the German firm claiming the coupé-cum-estate is merely a design study. It does however highlight the styling we can expect on the soon to be replaced E- and CLK-Class ranges.
Big news on MINI's show stand will be its new Crossover Concept, the chunky, jacked-up show car a strong hint to a new production model. If only Saab could promise the same with its concepts, the achingly cool 9-X Air certain to be nothing more than a glimpse at what Saab could do if only its GM parent would spend some money on it.
Back to production models at the show and there's plenty of new kit to go and see. Underlining the current environmental concerns worldwide even new performance models are being sold on their green credentials. Audi will demonstrate this perfectly with its new S4, the rapid saloon and estate model binning V8 power and instead going for a supercharged V6 with 328bhp. Crucially, the S4 comes with a 30% drop in emissions, an 8.1mpg improvement on the official combined consumption cycle and is even faster than before.
The congested streets of Paris are perhaps the perfect environment for the star of Ford's stand. The Ka makes its global debut in France, and it promises to provide all the driving fun of the original but in a safer, more environmentally-friendly package. Other tiddlers at the Paris show include Toyota's iQ, the Suzuki Alto and Nissan's Pixo - small cars will be big in Paris.
Countless more vehicles will be on show; everything from a new drop-top Lexus IS to Bentley's Final Series Arnage - the big Bentley saloon bowing out with a 150 example special edition model. With its status as a major international motor show the Paris event promises to be a cracker. So get yourself there if you can: the show runs from 4-19 October. If you can't make it for yourself then check out the coverage on Yahoo! Cars. It will be updated live by our team at press days on Oct 2 and 3rd.
