After that epic demonstration tour of the new Evoque’s urban capabilities we entered the last hall when hadn’t visited. Starting with the NSX, which was still sadly a concept, that Tony Stark (alias Iron Man) has the unique privilege to drive for his movies along with his usual R8. It still looks gorgeous, and we can’t wait to know what Honda will put definitely under the bonnet. Another Honda legend was displayed on the stand, but hanged on its wall : the McLaren-Honda MP4/4 which Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna drove.
Continuing our way to Chevrolet, I was very anxious at the idea of finally meeting the new 2014 Chevrolet Camaro generation. I had always been one of the first generation fans, partly thanks to the Transformers film and had therefore been very disappointed when I saw the first pictures of the 2014 model. Well actually in reality things were even worse… It has lost every single aspect of its agressivity that made all the charm of the Camaro. Fortunately though, the new Corvette C7 was there to comfort my disappointment, although I already saw it in March in Geneva. The front lamps look pretty much like the new Viper, but the ‘Vette promises to be one of the best performance/price rates on the market.
Staying with american cars, we went to see Cadillac’s new concept, called Elmiraj, heavily inspired by the previous Ciel. It’s still hugely massive but just as gorgeous and I can’t wait to see what it will end up to. We leaped out for Kia’s press conference held by Thomas Oh who was presenting the Niro Concept.
We arrived to the french part of the motorshow, with Renault. They presented a concept-car supposed to envision the new Espace, called Initiale Paris, along with the Twizy RS F1 Concept, a sort of ridiculous racing version of its Twizy electric car. Carlos Ghosn, Renault & Nissan’s CEO didn’t seem to enjoy much being prepared for his interview with french automotive TV programme Automoto.
Renault had as well brought the Twin-Run Concept (right), inspired from the famous group B rally Renault R5 Maxi Turbo, and the DeZir (left) concept inspired from the great Alpine of Jean Rédélé. We can only hope that Carlos Ghosn will encourage his engineers to work on the final version of this concept cars, turning our dreams of a french sports car’s return into reality.
Stepping through Peugeot’s stand, our eyes were impressed by the 308 R, finally a proper sport french hatchback that could compete against Volkswagen’s Golf R, Audi’s RS3, and BMW 1 Series. With 270 horsepower from the 1.6 liter 4 cylinder turbocharged engine, this looks promising, and we really hope that Peugeot will bring this concept to production. A brief stint on Nissan’s stand, and with no sign of the Nismo GTR, we had to stick with the standard one. The 2014 models of the japanese biggest name in the sports car industry offers now an impressive 545 horsepower, thanks to a new exhaust system. Nissan’s officials were very keen on explaining us all the other (boring, let’s say it) upgrades they had added on the car, but it is significant that the track pack is still available.
