Frankfurt Motor Show

... saw car makers send mixed messages to consumers, with virtually every stand featuring an electric, plug-in or hybrid concept, while also featuring testosterone fuelled vehicles that relied on the proven formula of extreme grunt. While company directors still managed to make the claim that their latest muscle cars offered improved fuel consumption, there was no escaping that supercars are back on car maker's agendas.

The Frankfurt Show featured over 700 exhibitors and covered a 170,000 square metre site, which stretched roughly 5kms in length. I covered all 11 exhibition halls and easily covered 30 or more kms exploring the latest in automobile offerings. Amongst this enormous array of metal, we bring you some of the stars of the show this month, including Mercedes-Benz's remake of its iconic 300SL "Gullwing" coupe, the Ferrari 458 Italia supercar, Lamborghini Reventon, Aston Martins first 4-door sports sedan - the Rapide, Audi's RS Spyder and the brilliant all new look Jaguar XJ...just to whet your appetite.

With so many extreme machines, next month we will look at the exotic supercars of Frankfurt, including Wiesmann, Tesla, Fisker, Hamann and Brabus incarnations. We cannot ignore the growing flood of hybrid and alternative fuel concepts and will be following up later with a comprehensive overview of this new segment. More than 70 press conferences were held at Frankfurt and while companies were keen to impress their green credentials, when pressed, the CEOs admitted that consumers generally were not prepared to pay the premium price for electric cars and alternative energies... yet.

Brian Tanner
In Frankfurt

Source: Just Cars, November 2009, Collectors Issue 165