Convertibles and concept cars are part of the Geneva Motor Show like the cherry water in the cheese fondue. This also applies to this year's rally at Lac Leman: The top-without group will be presented with Mercedes C-Class Convertible, Fiat 124 Spider and Porsche Boxster three delicacies for the coming summer and the Futurists expected a colorful mix of more or less ready for series finger exercises.
The Volkswagen T-Cross Breeze is undoubtedly an eye-catcher - you have to look twice to be sure that a Range Rover Evoque convertible was not delivered to the wrong stand by mistake. In particular, the front end of the compact study is very similar to the British. That Volkswagen really wants to put such a fancy car on the road can be doubted. Rather, the 4,13-meter Concept with 81 kW / 110 PS petrol engine gives a view of a Polo SUV; VW wants to offer a high leg in every segment in the future. With striking LED rings, narrow lights and a wide grill, the T-Cross also hints at the face of future VW models, and the almost switchless cockpit with plenty of touch surfaces, gesture control and glass rotating rollers instead of an automatic selector lever and parking brake should become a reality in the medium term.
No less spectacular is the cockpit of the Opel GT, which works completely without switches and buttons, is only operated by voice and should think along: the driver's behavior draws conclusions and tries to adjust the music or climate accordingly, for example. The designers have dispensed with the windscreen wipers and exterior mirrors, instead of the latter, round monitors indicate what is happening behind the Opel. From the outside makes the Opel entirely on GT: short overhangs, long hood - only the folding headlights are missing. Under the hood, the Rüsselsheimer shows quite civil, there works a 107 kW / 145 PS strong one-liter three-cylinder.
The daughters must also follow the Wolfsburg SUV trend. With the Ateca, Seat presents its first finished housewife tank, and Skoda shows with the Vision S study that the Czechs of the Yeti are not enough. The concept car with 165 kW / 225 hp plug-in hybrid drive is a harbinger of the Kodiak, which will be launched on the market in just under a year and should offer space for up to seven people. With no fewer than twelve screens, Skoda also emphasizes how important infotainment is to you - the large displays in the cockpit should make it into the Kodiak and perhaps also those in the headrests. However, we have to say goodbye to at least four: as a trade fair gimmick, the designers installed an iPhone in every door to indicate that someone with a smartphone will probably be sitting in every seat.
The new Honda Civic is also coming in 2017, and the Japanese are giving a foretaste in Geneva with a study: The new one looks much more aggressive and not as fun as the current model. With the Civic, new engines are also coming to Europe and of course touchscreens and assistance systems also play a major role here. Citroën's Nobel subsidiary DS is less specific: The only 1,29 meter high DS E-Tense shows how the French imagine a powered athlete. The body is reminiscent of the Peugeot RCZ, the sharp, narrow lights could come from Bugatti. There is no mirror and rear window, everything has been replaced by cameras - but there is a chronograph on the center console, which you can take with you as a wristwatch. The drive is provided by two electric motors with 296 kW / 402 hp and 516 Nm torque, the range should be around 350 kilometers.
The Chinese electric rookie Techrules wants to score more than twice as much. The hybrid system of the sleek GT96 with wing doors developed according to the manufacturer 768 kW / 1044 PS and should only take two and a half seconds to speed 100 and speed up to 350 km / h. Dangers become purely electrical, as Range Extender serves a turbine. It has it all, the range should be well 2.000 kilometers. What is to be kept by the specified consumption of 0,18 liters per 100 kilometers with full batteries, but is just as questionable, as a possible serial production of the athlete. At least as far from the series is the Pininfarina H2 Speed, a thoroughbred racing track racer with a flat snout and a large spoiler. From the exhaust comes instead of gasoline scent but only water, because the H2 is powered by two electric motors, which supplies a fuel cell with electricity.
Significantly earlier, the Citroën E-Méhari will be at the dealer, the French have already announced the end of 2015. Even in the first half of 2016 the electric convertible with optical bonds on the Ur-Méhari and Cactus genes to come on the market and conquer the city as a fun car. And the version of the Ford Kuga, which is still officially shown as a Vignale study, should soon round off the series, after all, the manufacturer wants to expand its premium line across all series: Fine leather, Alcantara and matt black decorative elements are intended for the SUV stand out from his simple brothers.
