phred
03-11-2002, 05:05 PM
Bentley = VW? Horrors!!!!!
Geneva motor show: Shapes of things to come
The buzz at the Geneva motor show has surrounded the new breed of German luxury saloons, writes Ray Hutton
Someone called it Phaeton Attraction. The 2002 Geneva International Motor Show is dominated by the German manufacturers plunging headlong into the luxury car business.
The Volkswagen Phaeton is the most difficult to fathom. A truly big saloon from the brand that grew from the Beetle, it shares its engines and other mechanical parts with the new Audi A8, which will appear in the autumn.
It looks like a cross between a Passat and a Cadillac, is beautifully furnished and with a 6 litre W12 engine producing 420bhp, is very fast. That version will cost about £60,000. But why would you buy a VW in preference to an Audi, a BMW or a Mercedes?
Mercedes itself is a step further on with the Maybach, a £200,000 limousine being established as a brand in its own right. Having published details of this über-Merc -- 20ft long and powered by a 550bhp 5.5 litre turbocharged V12 engine -- it has been oddly coy about Maybach at the show, presenting it behind a darkened glass screen. Serious potential buyers are taken into an inner sanctum but don't get a much better view, even if they can sample one of the car's airline-style sleeper seats.
The Maybach is Mercedes' answer to BMW's Rolls-Royce and VW's Bentley. Rolls-Royce is not at the show (BMW doesn't officially take control until January 1 next year) but Bentley chose to show its new £100,000 GT Coupe to a few selected customers at a secret location on the opening day. Whisper it, but under its elegant skin, this new Bentley also shares much of the technology of the Phaeton.
Not wishing to be left out but prevented by its agreement with VW from showing the car, Porsche issued pictures of the Cayenne, its astonishing 165mph sport-utility vehicle, with a 450bhp turbocharged V8 engine. It shares its structure but not its engine with another big Volkswagen, the Touareg 4x4, which will appear later this year.
This heady mixture of power and wealth is intoxicating. But does the world need so many big, heavy, fast and thirsty cars? And will they all find enough buyers to justify the massive cost of their development? Nobody really knows, but then the motor business is nothing if not optimistic.
Geneva motor show: Shapes of things to come
The buzz at the Geneva motor show has surrounded the new breed of German luxury saloons, writes Ray Hutton
Someone called it Phaeton Attraction. The 2002 Geneva International Motor Show is dominated by the German manufacturers plunging headlong into the luxury car business.
The Volkswagen Phaeton is the most difficult to fathom. A truly big saloon from the brand that grew from the Beetle, it shares its engines and other mechanical parts with the new Audi A8, which will appear in the autumn.
It looks like a cross between a Passat and a Cadillac, is beautifully furnished and with a 6 litre W12 engine producing 420bhp, is very fast. That version will cost about £60,000. But why would you buy a VW in preference to an Audi, a BMW or a Mercedes?
Mercedes itself is a step further on with the Maybach, a £200,000 limousine being established as a brand in its own right. Having published details of this über-Merc -- 20ft long and powered by a 550bhp 5.5 litre turbocharged V12 engine -- it has been oddly coy about Maybach at the show, presenting it behind a darkened glass screen. Serious potential buyers are taken into an inner sanctum but don't get a much better view, even if they can sample one of the car's airline-style sleeper seats.
The Maybach is Mercedes' answer to BMW's Rolls-Royce and VW's Bentley. Rolls-Royce is not at the show (BMW doesn't officially take control until January 1 next year) but Bentley chose to show its new £100,000 GT Coupe to a few selected customers at a secret location on the opening day. Whisper it, but under its elegant skin, this new Bentley also shares much of the technology of the Phaeton.
Not wishing to be left out but prevented by its agreement with VW from showing the car, Porsche issued pictures of the Cayenne, its astonishing 165mph sport-utility vehicle, with a 450bhp turbocharged V8 engine. It shares its structure but not its engine with another big Volkswagen, the Touareg 4x4, which will appear later this year.
This heady mixture of power and wealth is intoxicating. But does the world need so many big, heavy, fast and thirsty cars? And will they all find enough buyers to justify the massive cost of their development? Nobody really knows, but then the motor business is nothing if not optimistic.