TACH EXCLUSIVE

The 66th Annual Geneva Car Show:
all you need is money.

by Andrew Frankl
TACH European Bureau Chief

After all more than 52 million motor vehicles were built in 1995 a 3.4% increase on 1994. Of the total 36 million were passenger cars, nearly 10 million of them made in the United States.

Interestingly enough production fell in Japan, probably because of the strength of the yen. The sort of small cars many Europeans buy are about Yugo size except that they are a lot more sophisticated. In the United States a Fiat Bravo would seem too small for a family of four, in Europe they buy cars like that and the Renault Clio by the hundreds of thousands. These manufacturers gave up on trying to sell in the States as they were spending millions and getting nowhere. Peugeot, Citroen, Rover, Alfa Romeo, the list is endless.

Others are more successful and are trying as hard as ever. Volvo were showing here in Geneva a four wheel drive variation on the 850. An excellent car, it was proving to be too powerful for front wheel drive only. Interestingly enough after 20 odd years of pushing safety the Swedish company is currently on a speed kick, telling everyone about their 150 miles per hour machines. Must be frustrating sitting in a Porsche on the German autobahn at 120 miles per hour watching a Volvo with four people plus luggage drifting by...

Saab is also keen to stay in the United States, according to my information they are about to get more money from their partner, General Motors.

THE most exciting new car of the Show arrived on Press Day in the shape of the XK8 Jaguar sport coupe. The company refused to provide details but we managed to find out that it has a brand new V8 engine and that it will go on sale in the fall. A convertible version is also in the pipeline. The XK8 was partly designed in Ford's California design studios, as Claude Lobo, one of their stylist told us with 50% of the sales likely to be in the United States Ford-Jaguar, so parents wanted to make sure that the design was overseen by their people on the spot.

Chrysler were in tremendous form at the Show. President Bob Lutz was very bullish about their future and certainly from a stylistic point of view they are tops at present. The factory in Graz, Austria is making the hugely successful minivan and all in all they are very much on a roll here in Europe.v In an exclusive interview with The Auto Channel Bob Lutz admitted that Kerkorian saga was very time and money consuming but he thinks it is over for the time being. "Certainly took up a lot of CEO Bob Eaton's time" he added.

In a lighter vein he also admitted to having driven his first car at the age of 8. It was his uncle's car, a new Ford. Unfortunately it had three pedals and little Bob pressed the wrong ones resulting in a minor crash into an exceedingly hard brick wall.

He read Edsel Ford's complimentary words about him which appeared on The Auto Channel some weeks ago and while he expressed his admiration for his former colleague he did say that in his opinion Ford seems to have lost their way somewhat in the styling department. Both he and Richard Ide, Managing Director of VW in Britain emphasized how absolutely vital it was for all those involved with automotive industry to keep the flag flying, to try and stop people from regarding the car as just another domestic appliance.

On the subject of satellite navigation Lutz was in a minority. Unlike most of his colleagues he did not think it would become a major selling point. Whilst Roger Punam, Sales Chief of Jaguar confirmed that it was impossible to sell luxury cars in Germany without them.

I am sure the Dutch tourist who got lost in Miami and got killed would have appreciated one.

The puzzle of the Show for most people was the rapid proliferation of MPVs or multi purpose vehicles. Every manufacturer has one or is about to launch one. Mercedes, Ford, Mazda, Fiat, Opel (GM) the list is endless. The problem is that their joint capacity is about 10 times what the demand seems to be.

The general feeling here in Geneva is that someone, somewhere is going to catch an almighty cold.

One thing that puzzles Europeans is the tremendous success of Ford's F150, the only thing on four wheels for which there is a waiting list in the United States. People over here simply cannot understand what makes anyone - apart from carpenters and builders - to buy a pick-up truck in which often the heaviest item carried is a portable telephone.

As there are too many cars chasing to few people the manufactures are going more and more into niche marketing - if you are prepared to pay for it they will build it for you - within reason. Lots of rich people complained to Ferrari that there was no automatic version of their best selling 456 GT. Now there is one. BMW wanted to appeal to their equally rich customers so now they have a TV screen built into the dashboard which the drivers can watch at the traffic lights. If the car starts to move the picture disappears but the sound stays on.

Mercedes do a line in armor-plated specials. As I said, it's just a question of money If you are after a Ferrari F50 I am afraid they have all gone, you will have to wait for the black market which will start at around half a million dollars...

One car maker cropping up everywhere is Daewoo from South Korea. The cars are copies of old Opels but as the prices are low and the sort of people who buy them are regarding them as domestic appliances they are not particularly bothered.

What of the future?

Ford is talking about their car from 2010. They are expecting it to have two power sources such as an internal combustion engine and flywheel or a battery. Apparently a lot of electronic controls will be voice-activated resulting in far fewer switches, levers or buttons.

Mercifully Ford has also shown us their V12 engined sports car which is at a concept stage but will be built if there is sufficient demand.

European Editor Nicholas Frankl took one for a spin in Australia and was very impressed. Before we get too carried away with our industry and the Show let me point out the headline from today's edition of the local paper, the Journal de Geneve.

"In Brussels we lost the battle for the emmental cheese."

No, I am not joking. Apparently the commissioners in Belgium who seem to be running Europe these days have decreed that the famous Swiss cheese was not worth protection as a special product the way French champagne and cognac were.

As I am filing report the fate of the other famous local cheese gruere is undecided... All in all an interesting show, lots of new, often irrelevant ideas but by and large certain things have emerged:

First of all the car is here to stay. May sound silly but in 1973 it seemed a lot less certain.

Secondly, certain good things such as airbags are becoming the norm.

Thirdly, the choice, especially here in Europe is bewildering. After all there are cars here from Russia as well as from South Korea, Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, India, Malaysia, I could name another 10 countries. As far as American cars are concerned I am becoming more and more convinced that Detroit is catching up with its rivals from Europe and Japan.

Snobbism apart I cannot see why anyone should pay 60 thousand dollars for a Range Rover, when the Jeep Cherokee is 30.

Convertibles such as the Chrysler Sebring (now on sale over here) are probably better value than a BMW 325 convertible.

The Europeans are not standing still. Having realized that strange as it may sound the United States offers cheap labor they have started to build over here. The James Bond BMW for instance is made in the United States and Mercedes are busy building a factory as well. All in all things have never been better for the customer - small cars, big cars, slow, economical cars, fast gas guzzlers. As I said in the introduction - it is, as always, just a question of money.