2009 Frankfurt International Motor Show – Top Fives
After the out-of-step-with-the-rest-of-the-world luxury smorgasbord (or should that be cheese fondue?) that was this year’s Geneva motor show; Frankfurt showed us an automobile industry that has at least noticed the current economic downturn, even if it would rather pretend it wasn’t there. So, in between the Porsche Panameras, Lamborghini Reventons and Rolls-Royce Ghosts there were a multitude of electric and small car concepts, emerging like green shoots pushing through the crumbling blacktop. But we didn’t let that spoil our fun. Here then, are Swipelife’s pick of the show, the coolest, the craziest and the bandwagons that everybody and their dog are jumping on right now:
Continue to read to check out SwipeLife’s Top Five Picks from the Frankfurt Auto Show.
Top five picks made by our resident auto writers Gordon Welsh and Tom Masefield:
TOP FIVE COOLEST CARS OF THE SHOW:
1. BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept. Old-school show car glamour and the first chapter in BMW’s post-Bangle era. (Image courtesy of UnitedPictures)
2. Aston Martin Rapide. Are you looking Porsche? This is how you make a good-looking four-seater. (Image from Automobilemag)
3. Rolls Royce Ghost. (Relatively) small but perfectly formed. (Image from Luxist)
4. Mercedes Benz SLS AMG. Having cornered half the billionaire supercar market the SLR, Merc goes after the customers with taste.
5. Lamborghini Reventon roadster. Soft on top, hard edged everywhere else. (Image from UnitedPictures)
TOP FIVE WILDEST CARS OF THE SHOW
1. Citroen Revolte. Rene was surprised when he saw the all the left-over design ideas he’d swept up from the studio floor being presented to management…. (Image from UnitedPictures)
2. Mansory Vitesse Rose. Someone, Somewhere, WILL buy this car. Frightening huh? (Image from Autoblog)
3. Brabus E V12 Black Baron. For the executive fetishist. (Image from Autoblog)
4. Mirror Finish Audi R8 5.2 V10. So you can see envy written all over your face. (Image from UnitedPictures)
5. Marussia B2. In Russia, supercar drives YOU! (Image from Jalopnik)
TOP FIVE BIG IDEAS:
1. Electric cars – they’re this year’s must-have car manufacturer accessory, and everybody has got one. Even if it isn’t actually real, hasn’t got a motor and can’t be driven… (Image from Cnet)
2. Matte paint. When it’s made it from SEMA to Frankfurt, you can safely say it’s gone mainstream (Image from Autoguide)
3. LED lights, you’re not a big, powerful German saloon car if you don’t have some. Or even better, a lot. (Image from Autoblog)
4. Unusually small/quirky concept car. Preferably masquerading as your company’s answer to global warming but really just because your engineers can’t make the batteries last longer than 15min if the cars were any bigger. Peugeot, Renault, we’re looking at you… (Image from Cnet)
5. Glamour girls. Nice to see car companies going back to their roots. Or at least the seventies. All suggestions that the number of new cars being unveiled by a manufacturer is in inverse proportion to the attractiveness of their stands hostesses is of course, quite untrue. Isn’t it Fiat? (Image from Autoblog)
Picks by: Gordon Welsh and Tom Masefield
