The 67th Annual Geneva Car Show

The 67th Annual Geneva Car Show - 1997

by Paul Negyesi

Daihatsu

The Japanese companies decided its time to show Europe how a real minicar should look like. Forget the silly Ford Ka - the Japanese automakers have been fine-tuning the concept for about 30 years.
Daihatsu and Suzuki started a massive campaing in Europe. Daihatsu even held a world premiere in Geneva! The new Terios, which is a rival of the RAV4, but with a promise of more passenger-car like behaviour was debuted under MS-X97 code name.
The Move and Gran Move are the current new small-car offerings from Daihatsu.

Move
This car perfectly illustrates the current trend among the Japanese minis: if You can't make them longer, make them taller! Europe won't get the small 660 cc engine, the Move is equipped with a 847 cc powerplant. It also has for-wheel independent suspension, 5-speed manual gearbox. It's comfortable for four.

Gran Move
The Gran Move is a stretched Move, which makes it a combination of the MPV and normal car - something similar to Mitsubishi's Space Wagon.
It's engine is big: 1.5 litres and it can carry 500 kg of luggage.

Gigliato

Nobuo Nakamura is a Japanese car designer set up his own studio in 1987. He's fond of the Italian carozzeria so his set up is very similar to those small companies in the outskirts of Turin. The Gigliato name sounds similar to Nobuo's wife and giglio also means lily.
To prove they're alive and kicking they decided to create a prototype. Work started in 1988. By 1993 the car was ready. First it was destined to be shown at the Tokyo Autoshow, but unfortunately the organizers allowed only internationally recognized manufacturers, so they switched to Frankfurt! I was there. It sat in a corner, among lots of other studios, like Michalak. It's look struck me:

Strict regulations made it nearly impossible to produce the car in even small scale so they figured another way! If they assemble the car abroad and bring it back to Japan - various restrictions are eased.
Great Britain was chosen but Germany became the winner, courtesy of its Lamborghini dealer. That man brought Lamborghini and Gigliato together in 1995 and the mutual work has started.
The result is an updated Aerosa by Gigliato and a letter of intention by Lamborghini to engineer, develop and manufacture it.

The car is powered by the Ford Mustang Cobra V8 engine with a power of 330 bhp at 5800 rpm and a torque of 428 Nm at 4800 rpm. The car is compact, main dimensions are 4060x1820x1130 mm, so it takes it into the Ferrari F355 league.
By 1998 the first orders will be taken and sales will start in the second half of 1998, early 1999.

Honda

The 5door version next Civic generation will be more tailored for the European customers. It was designed with considerable input from the British Honda R&D facility and it will also be built there.
A sneak preview was rolled out:

Mazda

The Ford 323 series in its more sober guise made the first Siwss appearance.

Mitsubishi

The Galant had its European premier.

Nissan

There was nothing interesting.

Subaru

The two-year-old Alfa-Exiga concept car "the super station wagon of tomorrow" was dragged out. The most surprising about Subaru was the fact that they took over the space of Ford!
The 1996 Rally World Championship winner Impreza impressed.

Suzuki

In 1993 they introduced the Wagon R. It was the first Japanese micro which was stretched upwards so it looked like a shrunk off-roader.
At Geneva, the Wagon R+ was hailed. If we don't count the patchy build quality (one of the demo cars had its door handle fell off!) it can easily become a hit in cities where parking space is limited.

The Wagon R+ has added body kits and a bigger engine compared to the base Wagon R.
At Geneva there were lots of Wagon R+ variations, the most outrageous had to be the "woody" style which mimiqued a woody estate from the '50s. But the sporting version with sports seats which made the switching to 2nd gear nearly impossible was also something special.
After the press days the whole Suzuki booth was reorganized and some of the demo cars removed.

Toyota

Toyota continued the "I am 60-year-old" theme. Last year they celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first Toyota passenger car, now it was time for the company to become 60 :-). They shipped the first Toyota, the Model A from Tokyo. It was accompanied by a 1969 2000 GT and the new Picnic MPV. Dancers completed the show.
The Paseo had its European debut as well.

Pick another exhibitor:

AC Schnitzer, Alfa Romeo, Alpina, Audax, Audi, Berard, Bertone, BMW, Brabus, Caterham, Chrysler, Citroën, Daewoo, Daihatsu, DeTomaso, DigitPower, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, General Motors USA Gigliato, Heuliez, Honda, Hyundai, Irmscher, ItalDesign, IVM Engineering, Jaguar, Jimenez Novia Karmann, Kia, Lamborghini, Lancia, Lorinser, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes, Michalak, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Pininfarina, Porsche, Proton, Puch, Renault, Rinspeed, Rolls-Royce/Bentley, Rover/Land Rover/MG/Mini, Saab, Sbarro, Seat, Skoda, Spectre, SsangYong, Strosek, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Valmet, Venturi, Volkswagen, Volvo, BEGINNING OF REPORT.