GENEVA AUTO SHOW PREVIEW
Audi R8 supercar
High-powered cars lead the charge of debuts at this year’s Geneva auto show, with Ferrari and Aston Martin planning to unveil supercars. Audi will show its latest R8 sports car while Ford debuts a performance Focus RS that will be sold in the U.S. for the first time. The Geneva show press days are Tuesday and Wednesday, March 3 and 4.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin will unveil the Vulcan, a racetrack-only supercar that the British automaker says will be “the most extreme” car in its 102-year history. Production is likely to be limited to 30 supercars, and the Vulcan will probably get a V-12 engine that is more powerful than the 750-hp unit found in the limited-edition One-77. In Geneva, Aston Martin will reveal its future strategy under new CEO Andy Palmer, former chief planning officer at Nissan, including whether it will build its first SUV.
Audi
Audi will show the second generation of its R8 supercar and the Prologue Avant concept, which previews a possible range-topping station wagon. The R8 likely will have an electric-vehicle variant for the first time. The R8’s design is an evolution of the current model. Its chassis and 610-hp V-10 engine are shared with the Lamborghini Huracan.
Audi design boss Marc Lichte said at the Los Angeles Auto Show that the Prologue embodies the future styling of the brand’s A6, A7 and A8 models.
Bentley
Bentley will debut a concept for a two-seat sports car that would compete with the Ferrari California T and Aston Martin Vantage line, reports said. The car would sit alongside the Continental GT rather than below it.
Borgward
German automaker Borgward will outline its plans to begin building cars once more. The automaker went bankrupt 54 years ago, but now Christian Borgward, grandson of founder Carl Borgward, aims to revive the marque.
Key debuts
PRODUCTION CARS
Aston Martin Vulcan
Audi R8
BMW 2-series Gran Tourer
Ferrari 488 GTB
Ford Focus RS
Hyundai Tucson
McLaren P1 GTR
McLaren 675LT
Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake
Mercedes-Maybach Pullman
Porsche Cayman GT4
CONCEPTS
Audi Prologue Avant
Bentley sports car
Infiniti QX30
Kia Sportspace
Lexus LF-SA
Rolls-Royce Serenity
BMW
The 2-series Gran Tourer, BMW’s second production front-wheel-drive model in modern times and the brand’s second minivan, takes a bow. The seven-seat 2-series GT is aimed at young families and is longer than its sibling, the 2-series Active Tourer, a five-seat compact minivan.
Ferrari
The Ferrari 488 GTB will be the second modern Ferrari after the California T powered by a turbocharged engine. The 488 GTB is powered by a 3.9-liter, twin-turbocharged V-8 engine, which generates 660 hp, 99 hp more than the 458 Italia. The car accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 3 seconds.
Ferrari 488 GTB
Ford
Ford will show the Focus RS, a high-performance, all-wheel-drive version of the European Focus compact hatchback. The car will be the first RS model to be sold in North America when it arrives next year. The RS is powered by a 315-hp, 2.3-liter turbocharged engine.
Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai
The Tucson SUV needs a boost, and Hyundai hopes a sharper, more angular design will help the model stand out in the compact SUV segment. U.S. sales of the Tucson will start soon after the SUV goes on sale in its Korean home market by the end of June.
Infiniti
The QX30 compact crossover will be seen in near-production form as Infiniti prepares to launch it along with the Q30 hatchback to win young, premium customers. The new Infinitis will use a Mercedes fwd platform that underpins the GLA crossover.
Infiniti QX30 compact crossover
Kia
The Sportspace concept is a midsize station wagon that likely will not be sold in the U.S., but it has design cues that should appear on the next Optima sedan.
Lexus
The Lexus LF-SA concept could preview a future model that would be a rival to the Mini Cooper, according to reports. Lexus said it will unveil the LF-SA in Geneva but declined to give any details other than issuing a teaser picture of the concept.
McLaren
McLaren will show two models: The P1 GTR and the 675LT. The U.K. supercar company says the P1 GTR hybrid will be the fastest McLaren to date, pumping out 986 hp from a 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V-8 engine augmented by an electric motor. The car is driveable only on a racetrack. The 675LT coupe will join the core range of McLaren supercars this year as a more track-focused alternative to the 650S Coupe and Spider. Its 3.8-liter V-8 has 666-hp output.
SEE ALSO»
Mercedes-Benz
The Mercedes-Maybach Pullman will target the chauffeur-driven superrich with features such as a luxury leather interior, four seats in the rear cabin that face one another and a partition window that turns opaque at the press of a button.
The Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake wagon will have its first public outing. It was shown to selected journalists at the Detroit auto show in January.
Opel
General Motors is pulling Chevrolet from Europe at the end of this year because of slow sales, but it hopes the Opel Karl will attract former Chevy buyers in the region. The Karl uses the GM small-car platform that also will underpin the next Chevy Spark.
Porsche
Porsche adds a GT model to the Cayman coupe range for the first time. The Cayman GT4 gets 385 hp from its 3.8-liter flat-six engine sourced from the Carrera S.
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce confirmed last week that it is developing a “high bodied” car that can “go anywhere” but stopped short of calling it an SUV in the mold of the upcoming Bentley Bentayga. The company did not say whether it will show a concept for the new model in Geneva. Rolls-Royce said it will show the Serenity, a one-off concept based on the Phantom sedan.
Paul McVeigh, Christiaan Hetzner, David Jolley, Lindsay Chappell, Richard Truett and Autoweek contributed to this report.
Created by Shiraz Ahmed
Published February 21, 2015 – 12:01 am ET
You can reach Shiraz Ahmed at sahmed@crain.com.
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