SHOW REPORT

Frankfurt 1995

Coming right in the middle of the model-year changeover, the Frankfurt Auto Show usually brings out Europe and Japan's biggest production unveilings. This time? Ian Adcock and Jerry Traeger report.

ASEV And the award for the Car that Most Makes Franco Sbarro's Creations Look Tasteful goes to the ASEV Zlatko Cosmoplollt. Obviously penned after a serious week-long vodka bender, it could well have been the strongest argument yet for bringing Brezhnev back from the grave and re-erecting the iron curtain. - Ian Adcock

AUDI Audi AG teased us with the TT coupe, a blend of chunky Bauhaus stubborness and prewar Auto Union racecar that will hopefully look better in daylight than it did under Frankfurt's Wagnerian lighting. A real production possibility, the TT would be built on a cut-down version of the VW Golf/Audi A3 platform that debuts next year. Powered by a transverse 150-horse turbo Four and Quattro all-wheel drive, the price would reportedly be about $36,000. A cheaper $29,000 FWD 125-horse version is also possible, and company insiders say a convertible is lurking in the wings. Despite its heavy German styling, the TT was actually penned in California by former SCI stringer Freeman Thomas, who also helped build the car in a special project studio near Ingolstadt. - IA

BMW The fourth-generation 5-series, officially introduced at Frankfurt but already making the drive-test rounds before the public unveiling, adds length, width and height to the platform but keeps weight constant with the extensive use of aluminum. The base model for America will carry a 2.8-liter Six; V8s will come later. - Jerry Traeger

DE TOMASO The Italian hybrid maker is on schedule to unveil its new sports car at next spring's Geneva Salon, according to boss Giordano Casarini.

"We're currently assembling the first prototypes, which should be ready by the end of the year. Following the Geneva show, we'll build 30-50 pre-production models and go into series production in 1997 manufacturing 220-400 cars annually." Essex, England-based consultants Maxim Creative Technology, headed up by F1 designer Enrico Scalabroni, is currently conducting body-in-white fatigue and torsional-rigidity analysis on the new 2+2 coupe. - IA

GIGLIATO Principals say the Anglo-Japanese Aerosa GPS sports car will go into limited production next June at Activa Technology's Chessington, Surrey, factory. A mid-engine 2-seater with a steel spaceframe chassis and GRP/carbon fiber panels, the show model is powered by a Yamaha/Ford SHO V6 and a Renault 25 gearbox; specifications have yet to be finalized for production versions. The car also features double wishbones and AP discs all around.

According to Keiji Omaki, who heads up the UK office, Gigliato hopes to sell 500 of the $80,000+ exotics annually by MY 2000. "By then we'll also have a convertible and a lightweight racing version," he adds. Gigliato Design is an independent consulting firm based in Kanagawa, Japan; it opened a London office in 1993. - IA

LOTUS Lotus' main showcar, the Elise, is profiled in detail elsewhere in this issue. The firm's Lotus Engineering Division, however, also had big news at Frankfurt, in the form of the Digital Signal Processing chip, an active noise cancellation device which could be in series production by 1998 or 1999. (Active noise cancellation is a technology in which out-of-phase soundwaves are generated to modify or eliminate mechanical noise.) Lotus' DSP would work through a car's existing sound system: According to Lotus engineer Tim Saunders, the firm is working with radio manufacturer Becker to produce the device. Experts think a mass-produced DSP could add as little as $50 to a car's price. - IA

MASERATI The Trident announced it will unveil a new 3.2-liter V8 for the Quattroporte at the Bologna show in December - the 325-bhp engine has been designed by Maserati and is unique to the marque. Maserati chief executive Eugenio Alzati added that production will start next year. Alzati is looking to sell 2500 units overall by 1997. - IA

MITSUBISHI Mitsubishi's HSR-V showcar was shocking, but only because it reverses the trend of HSRs (for High Speed Research) gone by. These were previously Mitsu's most wild and outlandish creations, but the latest model sports an efficient 1.8-liter direct-injection gasoline engine, a rational overall footprint and fairly ho-hum showcar styling. Are the Japanese figuring out that the days of Unlimited Technology have ended? - JT

PEUGEOT Peugeot's aging 405 gave it up for the 406 at Frankfurt, which is all very well and good if you're into family haulers. More interesting to Frankfurters than the usual FWD French junk was the Lion's eye-grabbing Stadium showcar - a race-prepped version of a 406 prototype coupe. Cosmetic replicas seem likely. - JT

PORSCHE After years in development, Porsche finally unveiled the production-spec 1996 Targa, nee Porsche Panorama. Essentially a standard 993 platform with additional bracing and a retractable glass roof panel, the new Targa carries 300ZX-like body-color roof spears to maintain the traditional 911 profile. Neat stuff. - JT

RENAULT What do you do with an excess of F1 engines? Well, if you're Renault, you detune one to 392 bhp, mate it to an AWD system with a sequential gearbox, clothe it an avant-garde skin and call it the Initiale.

The one-off's art-nouveau styling recalls that of prewar French coachbuilders - it even carries a custom-made set of Louis Vuitton luggage - and is meant to show what future big Renaults might look like. Much nearer to Mother Earth was the new (and cute) 150-bhp Megane coupe, which is due to hit the streets any day now. - IA

SAAB GM's Swedes concentrated on some very neat engineering. First came a new "spark to piston" ignition system that employs a maintenance-free single-electrode sparkplug punching out a whopping 50,000 volts. (Normal plugs carry perhaps 15,000.) This charge leaps all the way across to a cone-shape contact on the piston crown. Saab reckons the new system may decrease fuel consumption by 8% and pollutants 10-40%.

Saab also showed off an asymmetric turbo installation on its 3-liter V6. A single blower is mounted on the front bank and driven only by those three cylinders, but it feeds both sides of the Vee, thus eliminating the need for a wastegate. Lower cost and a 200-bhp output are the draws. Expect to see the turbo in production next year; the spark-to-piston concept should arrive at the end of the decade. - IA

VOLVO Rapidly shrugging off its Mr. Sensible image, Volvo has announced that the limited-edition T5R has run its course and will be replaced with next year's 850R Sedan. A bigger turbo whips power up to 250 bhp and max speed to 155 mph. To cope with it all, Volvo has added softer antiroll bars, stiffer shocks, a viscous limited-slip diff, traction control and optional all-wheel drive. - IA