Bologna Motor Show - Has No Second Name - But Lots Of Spicy Treats

New Fiat Panda In Bologna

The Bologna Motor Show opened its door to Italian and international media today. A surprisingly low-key event, the Show held some surprises nonetheless.

First it was the strong presence from India. Tata has been in Europe for quite a few years now, but Mahindra is a new player here. Mahindra&Mahindra has a long history manufacturing off-roaders suited to the Indian market, in fact their Scorpion won many local awards and has been number one in its segment with 29000 units sold in 18 months. The Bologna Motor Show heralded their entry to the Western European market. Not surprisingly the main focus was on the Scorpion which is renamed to Goa because Ford owns the copyright to the Scorpion nameplate and Mahindra has a permission to use it only on selected markets. In addition to the Goa, the Bolero and its pick-up variant will also be offered.

Isuzu which stopped making SUVs at the end of 2002 is now focussing on heavy-duty commercial vehicles in Japan but in Thailand they manufacture the D-Max pick-up which is distributed all over the world and now in Italy as well.

Citroën showed the X-Treme variant of the C3 which means increased ground clearance, black-colored bumpers, wheelarches and radiator, 15-inch wheels and new transmission. While the C3 X-Treme is still a concept, its stablemate the Berlingo X-Treme has been on sale in France since October.

Lancia showed off four variants of a special edition Y. While new color combitation would not raise the blood pressure immediately, the chic city cruiser looked neat in the cream-yellow red combination with matching interior.

Fiat proudly displayed its new Car of the Year, the Panda citycar. New versions included a 4x4 SUV and a rally prototype.

Volvo held the world premiere of its new V50, the estate version of the S40. Formerly Volvo was renowned for creating bespoke wagons, but the V50 looked fairly similar to the S40 so it may herald a new era.

Quadricycles are very popular in France and Italy. These minivehicles are usually provided by a 0.5 liter engine and can be driven without a licence. Three new makers presented their offerings at Bologna: Cat S.p.A showed its quirky CityCat, the HongKong Institute of Technology in cooperation with Guigiaro Design introduced the MyCar which will be produced in Italy from Chinese and Italian components and Effedi showed its Maranello which is designed and produced in-house bar the Lombardini engine.

Watch out for a more detailed Show report in Global Auto Insider soon.

2003-12-05 Please quote Autoindex.org if You use this news article!