The 67th Annual Geneva Car Show - 1997
by Paul Negyesi
Alfa Romeo As the sucessor to the 164 debuts at Frankfurt it was the Nuvola concept which meant excitement.
Bertone
The sad news is that Nuccio Bertone died at the end of February. There was
a tribute to him.
Also on show was the new Sport-Ut. Bertone is trying to convince the Fiat
group that a sport-utility vehicle would fit into their line-up. Last
year a Bravo(a) based concept, now it's the Sport-Ut developed
upon Alfa Romeo components.
Sport-Ut is SUV pronounced in a French dialect!
Detomaso A closed and an open-top Guará were shown.
Ferrari The biggest news happened behind the scenes: Ferrari takes over the management of Maserati! The Swiss visitors had their first glimpse of the F550 Maranello.
Fiat Fiat didn't show anything new.
ItalDesign
The Scighera prototype was introduced in street and racing guise. The latter
was only a mock-up. These model are strictly for show purposes and represent
ItalDesign's interpretation of the modern Italian sportscar.
Power is from a 3-litre 400 bhp Alfa Romeo bi-turbo engine mounted mid-position
length-wise. The sequential gearbox has 6 speeds. Other gadget which was taken
over from FOrmula 1 is the suspension based on the "push road" priniciple.
The Schighera's look was inspired by ID's own Nazca prototype from 1991.
It's about the same size, but it's more agressive. The front is very
distinctive with Alfa grille incorporated. Numerous air intakes could be
found with closer examination like one on the roof which pulls air into the
engine suction system.
Lamborghini
The SV with new interior was the star. But a joint press conference of
Lamborghini and the Japanese Gigliato provided
more surprises.
Vittorio di Capua Lamborghini's new Managing Director said they'll manufacture
Gigliato's Aerosa, a Ferrari-like sportscar, currently with Ford 5-litre
power (never believe to words: only a letter of intent exists).
Mr. di Capua praised with Latin temper Gigliato's name, the car and the
company. The Gigliato boss barely understood English and smiled humbly.
Di Capua also said a few words on the new Lamborghini philosophy. He'd like
to see Lambo as a design centre, similar to how Lotus operates. It's like
an umbrella. There will be divisions which handle different tasks: making
Lambos, accepting outside engineering works, like the Gigliato
Aerosa :-) and so on.
Lancia Nothing new, just the Sbarro Ionos at the designer's stand.
Pininfarina
Now that Bertone's dead, Sergio Pininfarina is the doyen of the designers.
His company, which recently developed the Peugeot 406 coupé
exhibited a new Peugeot based two-door limousine, the first saloon-project
since the 1980 Ferrari.
Two-door saloon - I like the idea. The car slowly circled around on a
turntable showed classic proportions - long bonnet, sleek rear, wide
nose.
I'd live such a car in the next few years :-)
The computer generated images show You the initial shape and features:
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.
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