There are lots of stories at every motor show, but one of the key ones from Geneva's annual motorfest this year is that hybrids are no longer niche.
Right, it is a story that has been developing for some time. Indeed, it is more of a mainstream one in the US for some time now, but the European preoccupation with diesels kind of left the technology to the couple of Japanese manufacturers spearheading the movement, Toyota/Lexus and Honda.
They still made statements at Geneva. Toyota revealed its Auris hybrid, coming to Ireland in the summer as the marque's first standard-model hybrid in Europe. Lexus gave us the CT200h, the first premium compact hybrid here, and Honda rolled out its CR-Z 2+2 sporty hybrid, also the first of its kind to get a manual gearbox.
But the big European boys are in the game too, and with a vengeance.
For instance, Audi had a full hybrid version of its brand new A8. BMW showed a hybrid concept version of its new 5 Series, and we're pretty sure this is about ready for production. Citroen and Peugeot highlighted their parent group's 2011-due diesel hybrid system in several concepts, the latter with the quite beautiful SR1 and 5 by Peugeot.
Even the power merchants aren't being left outside the party. A Ferrari hybrid? Yep, at least in concept form, and showing the underpinnings of its 599 concept with mirrors and no smoke. Right, the car will still have a 6.0 V12, but the lithium battery/electric motor part of the drivetrain will cut fuel consumption by a serious 35 percent. Porsche hid its hybrid Cayenne in a corner behind a super-dooper 918 Spider concept, but was nevertheless making noise about it. At the same time pushing to the front of the stand its racecar 911 GT3 R hybrid. And the Mercedes-Benz snazzy F 800 concept (below) that was mainly there to show the styling future of its big cars was set on the new rear-drive platform that will carry plug-in hybrid and full electric variants in a future not far away.
And Volkswagen, which is still mostly focusing on its BlueMotion diesel fuel-sippers, released a hybrid version of its new generation Touareg SUV, which shares its underbits with the Porsche Cayenne. Subaru indicated that it is going this route too with a concept hybrid Tourer.
The other side of the hybrid equation, the extended-range option, was also much in evidence. We've already seen concepts of the Chevy Volt and Opel's Ampera, the prototype version of which was driven from Russelsheim to Geneva just to show it can go the distance. This is a compact ERV, and we've seen it before, but indicating that larger Opel models will get similar powertrains was the Flextreme GT/E concept.
These cars are powered fully by an electric drivetrain, and the batteries are recharged as required by a relatively small static petrol engine tuned to work at its maximum efficiency regardless of the driving conditions. At the other end of the size scale, Suzuki showed a similar ERV variant of its Swift supermini.
And then there's the pure electric revolution. Now in real time.
Nissan's Leaf compact, coming to Ireland in a year's time, was a key model on that brand's stand. Equally, Mitsubishi's little i-MiEV, due to go on sale here pretty soon, has been reproducing into the Peugeot Ion and Citroen C-Zero. These are real production models too. Mitsubishi also had an electric concept of its new ASX compact crossover (above right). We also saw the plug-in Subaru Stella electric minicar debuted at Tokyo last October, and Hyundai had its i10 electric.
SEAT had its first electric concept, the iBe, a smooth looking 2+2 coupe, while for sheer mindblowing looks, the Citroen Survolt 2-seat concept (above) also has an all-electric drivetrain. Kia too, had an electric variant of its new Venga on their stand.
Altogether, the electric story in Geneva was really sparking along. And it isn't all in the distant future, or for other markets, either. The next chapter will be very much an Irish one, and coming to these columns, courtesy of our old friend Nissan, before the end of spring.
Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan.
