Luxury sport cars were unveiled on Tuesday (March 7) at the 87th Geneva auto show, with new power records for the latest cars in their series, such as the Ferrari 812 Superfast model and McLaren’s 7200S.
The Ferrari 812 Superfast is powered by a new 6.5-litre V12 engine, with a maximum power output of 800 HP. The 12-cylinder “berlinetta” is the fastest and most powerful sportscar in the brand’s 70-year history and is the first Ferrari to use electric power steering.
One of the stars of this year’s auto show was the Alpine A110, revealed only one year after the Alpine Vision.
The mid-engined two-seater is manufactured in Dieppe, France and will be marketed at the end of 2017 in Europe and then in 2018 in Britain and in Japan.
“Geneva is the show that launches the auto season. We can see that there’s a lot of innovation—innovation on premium vehicles, which are very, very luxurious, a little bit ‘bling bling’ but we are in Geneva, so that’s normal. But also on cars that everybody can buy and that’s very interesting.
“For innovation that’s dear to the hearts of the French, there’s Alpine, which is unveiled here and which is really the mystical car, with its blue colour. It’s really the Alpine color,” communications officer for the French Cars Makers Committee, Francois Roudier told Reuters.
Roudier added that while French car makers have struggled since the 2008 financial crisis, they were now experiencing a resurgence.
On Monday (March 6), PSA Group agreed to buy Opel from General Motors in a deal valuing the business at 2.2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), creating a new regional car giant to challenge market leader Volkswagen.
“We saw Renault purchase Mitsubishi and PSA purchase Opel. So we see brands that are selling well, that are developing. German car makers are sticking with their premium brand, they invented it—cars costing more than 70,000 euros with a lot of technology, they are made to be driven fast on German highways but people buy them nonetheless, even in countries where the speed limit is 80 an hour,” Roudier said.
Renault unveiled the new Captur, which comes in 30 colors and has more than six interior colors.
(REUTERS)
