The crisis dictates auto fashion

82 world premieres will take place at the opening Frankfurt Motor Show

The 63rd Frankfurt Motor Show, one of the most significant and prestigious motor shows in the world, has opened to the public. The last auto show 2007 in Frankfurt took place during the heyday of the economies of developed countries, but today, despite the global crisis and recession, the best automakers are ready to prove that the automotive industry has not fallen into decline and design ideas are still capable of surprising.

The Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA, Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung) is Europe's largest motor show, held every two years in mid-to-late September in Frankfurt, Germany. On even-numbered years there is an exhibition of trucks in Hannover, on odd-numbered years there is an exhibition of cars and motorcycles in Frankfurt.

This time, 82 world premieres will take place in Frankfurt, most of which were presented by European companies. Japanese giants Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi are not participating in the exhibition.

The big German three dominate - Mercedes, BMW and Audi. All three companies are presenting hybrid cars this time, which are becoming increasingly popular on the market.

Thus, BMW showed the Vision Efficient Dynamics hybrid supercar. With an engine of 356 hp. the car consumes only about four liters of diesel fuel per 100 km. In the city, you can completely refuse fuel and reach speeds of up to 50 km/h using pure electric power. The supercar will hit the assembly line in a couple of years, but in the coming months the BMW X6 Active Hybrid crossover and 7 Series sedan will begin production. The Bavarians pleased connoisseurs and connoisseurs of unsurpassed German quality with two more world premieres - the small crossover BMW X1 and the five-door hatchback BMW 5 GT. Rolls-Royce, also part of the BMW clan, is presenting an interesting Ghost model, while almost a quarter of the components and assemblies of the Rolls-Royce Ghost are borrowed from the BMW 7 Series, but the price is truly Rolls-Royce - about 300 thousand euros

Volkswagen and its subsidiary brands are exhibited in a pavilion built like a parking lot. The main trend today is the “people's” cars Golf, Passat, Jetta, Polo.

Of course, they are “popular” so far exclusively for residents of the G8, but it is precisely the countries where a car for 15 thousand euros is available to the majority of the population that are an example and a guideline for reasonable third world countries. Germany is now a real bastion of the “green movement”, so Volkswagen surprises exhibition visitors with ultra-eco-friendly cars. Such as the L1 concept, which consumes 1 liter of gasoline per 100 km, and the E-Up, an electric city car, the Beetle of the future.

One of the pavilions is occupied exclusively by Mercedes. These cars are never cheap, but, apparently, Europeans are not that impoverished, judging by their traditional and clearly non-platonic interest in luxurious, clearly not budget models. The two-seater SLS AMG coupe with a 6.2-liter engine (571 hp) looks simply gorgeous, where all this power is transmitted to the rear axle, like on racing cars, using a carbon shaft. And with traditional Mercedes rear-wheel drive, incredible stability, acceleration to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. and a maximum of 315 km/h on a good highway. It is not for nothing that our great compatriot and Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Brodsky did not recognize anything other than Mercedes.

Audi's "Lord of the Rings" will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, dedicating five premieres to this event. Among them are the Audi R8 Spyder 5.2 FSI Quattro, Audi S5 Sportback, Audi A3 Sportback 1.2 TFSI.

For the richest buyers, a Bugatti Bordeaux with a 1001-horsepower 8-liter engine is presented. And another “Italian” Ferrari 458 Italia. The name is very pretentious, but with the volume of the 4.5-liter V8 engine, Italia accelerates to 100 in 3.4 seconds, which is with a top speed of 325 km/h, coupled with an incredible coupe interior from the best auto couturiers in the world (Italians, of course !) will certainly charm future owners. Lamborghini is convincingly laconic and presented the Reventon car, produced in a modest series of 20 copies at 1.2 million euros apiece.

Toyota brought the unchanged and again updated Land Cruiser Prado, with 4-liter gasoline or 3-liter diesel engines. Not new, but buyable. Japanese auto giants have to save on conceptual developments, and Toyota legally exploits its brand, which has no equal in the world.

Many companies followed the same Toyota path - they brought to Frankfurt environmentally improved popular models of previous years, which found demand among consumers. And no one will judge them for this, because an old friend is better than the most attractive pig in a poke.

Hyundai has demonstrated a number of environmentally friendly developments under the general name Blue Drive. The main premiere is ix-Metro. A hybrid crossover for Europe, its engine's carbon dioxide emissions are only 80 g/km.

Super eco-friendly Hyundai - i10 Electric with a 49 kW engine, the i10 Electric is capable of traveling up to 160 km without recharging and reaching speeds of up to 130 km/h. Starting next year, 2010, the i10 Electric will hit the production line.

Elantra LPI Hybrid is the world's first hybrid electric vehicle powered by liquefied natural gas. Hyundai also brought to the showroom the ix35 - a new version of the super popular Tucson - and an updated version of the Santa Fe crossover.

American Ford presents only European models, one of which is new, the Ford C-Max compact van. Volvo demonstrates the restyled C30 and C70. Renault, already without Nissan, presents electric versions of Megane EV and Kangoo EV and with them the premiere Fluence sedan. Peugeot is presenting the RC Z coupe, the Peugeot 5008 compact van concept and at the same time demonstrating the 3008 EV concept. Citroen demonstrates hatchbacks - Citroen C3 and Citroen DS3.

Having left the sinking GM Saab showed its new Saab 9--5, this is, in essence, the last attempt of this truly famous brand to stay afloat. The great and terrible GM itself did not appear at the auto show, but its already former segment, Opel, brought a new generation of the relatively inexpensive Astra golf-class model, beloved by Europeans.

Western Europe seems to have “felt” the bottom of the crisis and, according to experts, has begun a slow, albeit slow, rise. And, perhaps, the European auto industry will serve as one of the locomotives of this rise.

Alexander LIBERMAN