Top 10: Show cars for 2010

By John LeBlanc The wrapup of last week’s Chinese auto show in Beijing brings an unofficial close to the 2010 international car show season – a round-the-world tour that started with yours truly making stops starting last September in Frankfurt along with Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York. The 2011 season will kicks off this year in early October in Paris. Until then, though, here’s my list of the Top 10 Concepts from the past show car season: 10. Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Break Unveiled just a couple of weeks back at the Beijing show, the CLS Shooting Break breathes new life into the sports wagon genre. As a precursor to the next CLS four-door coupe, the Shooting Break suggests Mercedes may also fill a niche-within-a-niche by adding a five-door version as well. If you can ignore ‘Benz’s spelling (the Brits will tell you any sporting wagon is a “shooting brake”) the concept’s low slung rear end, married to its SLS AMG super car front end, makes you wonder why anyone would buy an E Class wagon ever again. 9. Volkswagen Up! Lite If we’re all forced to drive green cars in the future, VW’s Up! Lite seems like a relatively painless way to go. Debuting in the land of granola-eating tree-huggers at last December’s Los Angeles show, the VW diesel-electric hybrid concept’s makers claim it will get a combined 70 miles per U.S. gallon (3.4 L/100 km) on the EU test cycle, making it the most fuel-efficient four-passenger car in the world. Better yet, unlike other dorky-looking hybrids — like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight — the Up! Lite’s styling isn’t a slave to fuel economy. Its crisp, Germanic lines suggest the next Golf — due in 2013 and set to be available as an electric vehicle – will also have smashing styling. 8. Peugeot SR1 French car fans will understand why the SR1 is significant. Ever since the brand lost its 205 supermini in the late 1990s, it’s become the Saturn of French cars — cheap, cheerful, but dull as dirt. But at this year’s Geneva show held in early March, Peugeot stunned observers with its SR1 roadster. Granted, the only “real” part of the Peugeot concept is its hybrid drivetrain, coming to production models in 2011. And, the French automaker is never going to make a luxury GT like the Aston Martin Vantage-like SR. But at least it’s a sign that the French firm has a pulse, and some of the spirit of the SR1 (hopefully) will trickle down to spice up some its currently drowsy offerings. 7. Pininfarina Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta Joining the SR1 as a highlight at Geneva this year was the Pininfarina Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta, a two-seat roadster “homage” to not only the 100th anniversary of Alfa Romeo, but also the 80th birthday of the renowned Italian design house founded in 1930 by Battista “Pinin” Farina. Named to “evoke” Dustin Hoffman’s Duetta Graduate ride, PinanFarina says the 2uettottanta is not a pure styling exercise. But here’s a memo to Alfa’s parents back at Fiat’s offices: when the sporty Italian brand makes its planned return to the North American market in 2012, the 2uettottanta — or whatever you call it — would make a nice present for all those faithful Alfista over here. 6. Mercedes-Benz F800 Style Originally thought of as a precursor to the upcoming midsize E Class-based CLS, the smaller F800 Style that also debuted in Geneva actually suggests a four-door coupe version of the next compact C Class. If the F800 plug-in hybrid’s scalloped sides look vaguely BMW-like, that’s no accident. Rumour has it the Mercedes concept was penned by Canadian designer Karim Habib, who also sketched the 2007 BMW CS compact and current BMW 7 Series before defecting to cross-country rival ‘Benz. Whatever, the F800 is one of the most dynamic Mercedes concepts to come out of Stuttgart in some time. And — along with the above-mentioned CLS Shooting Break — shows Mercedes’ design is looking to get a lot more interesting over the next few years. 5. Audi eTron Just a few months after the debut of the original Audi eTron electric vehicle concept at last year’s Frankfurt show, the smaller eTron concept that debuted at this January’s Detroit show was the second EV show car from the German brand with the four rings. But while its twin electric motors (with a combined output of 204 hp and — gasp! —1,955 lb-ft of torque that can move the two-seat concept from naught to 100 km in just 5.9 seconds) got all the attention, it’s the silver eTron’s platform and styling that may end up closer to an Audi showroom near you. Speculation has the Volkswagen Group developing a mid-engine roadster platform that could end up as a VW, Porsche or Audi — or all three. If Audi gets the nod, expect this smaller of-two eTron concepts to be badged as a production R4. 4. Toyota FT-CH Rarely does Toyota waste time on concepts that aren’t production-bound. As such, the FT-CH that was unveiled at Detroit this year hints at two of the Japanese automaker’s future initiatives: a smaller-than-the-Prius dedicated hybrid to take on the Honda Insight (compared to the mid-size Prius, the five-door hatchback concept has about a 150-mm shorter wheelbase and is about 560 mm shorter overall); and its long-rumoured plans to expand the Prius brand. Toyota has said it wants a hybrid version of each of its models available by 2020. Designed in Toyota’s European studios, the FT- CH (as in Compact Hybrid) may fill the gap created when the new third-gen 2010 Prius moved up to the mid-size class last year. 3. Kia Ray PHEV If you’ve been lying under a hubcap recently, you may not have noticed that the twin Korean automakers, Hyundai and Kia, are on a bit of roll in North America. Sales are up, and new product seems to be launched on a weekly basis. But the next challenge is toppling Toyota in the green car sweepstakes. That where the Kia Ray PHEV comes in. The Chicago show debut of the Ray marked the launch of Kia’s new green sub-brand: EcoDynamics. Like Volkswagen’s BlueMotion, EcoDynamics will mark the most efficient Kia models. Joint product development is one of the keys to Hyundai-Kia Motors’ recent success. So the Ray rides on the same platform as the Hyundai Blue-Will PHEV concept and shares its direct injected inline-four, continuously variable transmission and electric motor drivetrain. 2. BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics If you think BMW’s styling has been getting a little too conservative lately (i.e. the new 7 and 5 Series models), it’s nice to see the German’s automaker’s pens still have some design gravitas. The “idea” behind the Vision E.D. is a sustainable plug-in hybrid sports car. BMW claims a 0-to-100-km/h time of only 4.8 seconds and less than 4.0 L/100 km (71 m.p.g.) on the E.U. combined test cycle. Yet with the aesthetics of a 1970s Italian show car, the BMW concept seems to be channeling Pininfarina’s Clockwork Orange-era Ferrari 512 S Modulo — sheer audacity. 1. Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Leave it to the Italians to upstage the Germans: Six months after BMW’s Vision E.D. debuted, Italy’s Bertone rolled out what looked like a copycat — its Alfa Romeo Pandion at the Geneva show. But when I got up close and personal with the Pandion, the details blew me away. Its rear-hinged doors seemed longer than the legs of Bertone’s imported Italian booth babes. And the random nature of the sculptured rear venting is pure creative genius. In the end, the Pandion has the kind of impact the Italians use to create on a regular basis with their more free form, late-60s-early-70s, super car concepts.

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