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The 67th Annual Geneva Car Show - 1997

by Paul Negyesi

Jaguar

Production is up and running - what else to report?


Lotus

There will be a racing series of Elise racers in Italy - a prepared car was exhibited. Unfortunately Lotus thought the Zytek-Lotus electro Elise won't fit to the Geneva Show - so they omitted it.


Rolls-Royce/Bentley

There aren't radical changes for 1997. Subtle alterations on the nose of the Bentley models could be noticed:
Azure 1997
For me the outstanding moment at Rolls was seeing Peter Ustinov trying an Azure. He admired the fine interior of the car but expressed fear about travelling in an open car.


Rover

Rover is playing with journalists and common people too. I don't like these games. First they rolled out a surprising Mini concept in January, saying that the ACV30 is just a concept - turned out to be stillborn. O.K.
Came March and the Geneva show and they rolled out two Japanese-like minicars, the Spiritual and the Spiritual Too.
Guess what happened? They turned out to be just ideas - they don't have anything to do with the real Minis.
Rover wants our feedback but they withdrew the two cars after the press days.
It took just three weeks to build the giant pencil/eraser/show car combination for the Show and took two hours two melt down. I'm wondering how on Earth could a normal man comment, if (s)he doesn't see the darn thing?
A Camel Trophy-guised Discovery was the attraction of the Land Rover place.


Spectre

Anders Hildebrand is a true British gentleman. He silently made the R42 a fantastic exotic sportscar - sorted out all the difficulties. After organizing everything he doesn't want credit, he remains in the background.

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.

© Paul Negyesi, Budapest, Hungary. 1997