For the last two days, Irish Car has been touring the show to see all the new cars and the sometimes wild concepts which are part and parcel of this most important auto show in the European calendar.
A full report, with all the best pictures, will appear in the upcoming edition of Irish Car magazine, but during the rest of the week we will give you a taste here of what we found, and the Irish motor business people we met.
A new Kia based on the cee'd concept shown at Geneva will come to Ireland in December, according to James Brooks of Kia Motors Ireland.
A C segment car, it will be produced in 3- and 5-foor formats, and as a full estate.
The new generation Sedona MPV, the Carnival at the show and in most other markets, will be here in September, and the 7-seat configuration will be 2-3-2. Engines will be 2.9-litre diesel and 2.7-litre petrol.
Mercedes-Benz Ireland will have two completely new models launched in Ireland inside six months, beginning with the R Class Grand Sports Tourer in April.
At the Geneva Motor Show, chief executive of the Mercedes-Benz division of Motor Distributors Limited Stephen Byrne (pictured above right with colleague Ciaran Allen) noted that this was on top of five new models launched already in the past twelve months -- the new generation A-Class, brand new B-Class, the all-new CLS-Class, and new generations of the M-Class and S-Class.
The R-Class is a 6-seater, with a middle row of two individual seats; the back pair can be folded out of sight to give a large flat load space.
We met Ian Corbett of Toyota Ireland with the RAV 4 Sports Concept, a take on the just-launched in Ireland new-generation car. It had light clusters which are different from the standard vehicle, and air intakes on the bonnet, with bigger 19-inch alloys.
One of the two concept vehicles on the stand was the Urban Cruiser, which is a preview of the theme of a new small SUV to replace the discontinued 3-door old RAV 4.
The new Suzuki SX4, revealed at Geneva, will launch in the autumn in Ireland, according to general manager of Suzuki Ireland Niall O'Gorman.
The 'crossover' with AWD as debuted has a 1.9-litre diesel and 1.5- and 1.6-litre petrol engines. It features a 6-speed manual transmission.
It will have two specification levels.
First units of the new Jeep Commander will arrive in Ireland in April, according to brand spokesman for the distributors Ian Bloomer.
The brand-new model is the first 7-seater Jeep, and will be powered by the same 3.0-litre V6 diesel as is used in the latest Jeep Grand Cherokee and in the Chrysler 3000C.
The new Lexus LS 460 will be on view in Ireland at the end of November, and orders will be taken for the car as an '07 model with deliveries next January, according to Lexus Ireland's Steven Kearney (pictured above with Lexus Ireland director Steve Tormey).
The LS 460 was given its European premiere at Geneva and is to be a flagship for new technology when it goes into production. Among the innovations will be the world's first 8-speed automatic gearbox.
The new car has a 4.6-litre V8 engine.
Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan
