Super show for supercars

The 2009 running of the Salon International de l'Automobile Geneve continued the event's long tradition -- as the exhibition where the makers of the fastest and flashest come to show off.

It might have been doom and gloom at Detroit, but in Switzerland there was enough focus on fire and brimstone to appeal to the most jaded petrolhead. In practical terms, that is the performance cars most of us can afford, the hot hatches were well represented (see separate story), but it was the supercars and the ultra-low volume limited edition bespoke cars and tuner specials that many came to see.

Geneva has a well deserved reputation as being the 'supercar nutter' show -- and we're not just talking about the fans... The show specifically accommodates the supercar and boutique brands plus all many of tuning houses -- some with names that are familiar, others less so.

Pagani had its lastest models in both race and road trim, while Brabus built on its tradition of shoehorning huge engines into increasingly smaller Mercedes. No, the company isn't selling a V8 A-Class (yet!) but if a bi-turbo V12 C-Class is your cup of kickarse... Or perhaps a similarly equipped G-wagen?

Ruf rolled out its increasingly outrageous line-up of tuned Porsches -- including the Boxster-based 375km/h CTR3 -- all 515kW and 800Nm of it. Rinspeed was at its whacky best -- drugs are illegal in Switzerland but you'd never pick it based on the latter's showcars.

Bitter (low-volume German manufacturer, headed by Erich Bitter) meantime had another incarnation of its pointy-nosed Holdens... Think ugly Caprice with 415kW, and you won't be far from the mark (oh and there's a Sportwagon version on the way for next year!).
 
Lamborghini rolled out another Murcielago with more grunt (more here) and Aston Martin had the carbon and billet alloy rolling chassis of its One-77 supercar on display -- at least until its Lagonda SUV concept took over more space than it deserved on the UK marque's stand. Yuck!

The romantically named German brand, Gumpert, debuted a new version of its twin-turbo RS4 Audi-powered Apollo. The new car is called the Apollo Speed (pictured) and features a lower downforce body and flush wheel covers.

In Gumpert's own words: "Whereas optimum performance for racetracks, lateral acceleration and grip in all situations are the focus of Apollo, Apollo Sport and Apollo Race, the Apollo Speed is aimed at an exclusive high speed clientele. Its domain is the mastery of highest speeds. Thanks to polished aerodynamics the drive side values of the speed are far above those of the competition".

And with top speeds of 360km/h last year's Apollo, Apollo Sport and Apollo Race were so downright tardy...

We liked the look of the German built Artegas and hear that right-hand drive production is less than nine months away. In partnership with VDO the svelte mid-engined sporties feature very clever and clean cockpits that include rear-vision mirror mounted satnav. Think about it -- it works!

Mansory, meantime, continued its tradition of taking the world's most expensive cars and turning them into... Well, Mansorys...

This year, the coachbuilding specialist rebodied a Continental GT and hit it with a coat of matt paint (as well as the ugly stick)... Oh and how would Sir like a high-gloss carbonfibre makeover for his Veyron... Yep, the whole car!

The people at Bugatti's stand in the next hall must have been well amused. Though we're not sure how much right they have to complain after viewing their monotone satin blue tribute to the anniversary of the Blue Train, the Bleu Centenaire.

In 2009 some of the performance protagonists played lip service to the green themes -- showing so-called hybrids that will likely never be built -- but some key marques were serious about tackling environment issues associated with performance.

Bentley launched its flex-fuel Continental Super Sport -- its first car so equipped and also its first two seater (even if the rear seat's simply been shed, Mercedes CLK Black style). And as well as showing off a positively wicked 599XX racetrack special, Ferrari confirmed (finally) it was testing a hybrid production car. Tesla meantime announced it would partner with Brabus in Europe to produce customised versions of its start-up EVs.

Bespoke makers such as pure performance brand Koenigsegg were also on the fast but frugal case. The latter showed its Quant pure electric luxury sedan concept and claims the car -- with 512hp, a 0-100km/h time of under 5.5sec and thin-film conformal photovoltaic cells -- will be on sale in two years.

We're not sure that's achievable -- Fisker was at Geneva claiming similar timing and big plans -- but on past performance, it's more likely to happen than the all-wheel-drive turbo-rotary range-extended carbon-tubbed Fraser-Nash Namir by Giugiaro!

Giugiaro claims the car, when built, will top 300km/h and accelerate from 0-100km/h and 0-200km/h in 3.5 and 10.4sec respectively. Powered by a turbocharged 814cc "endothermic rotary engine with four electric motors" (there's a generator in there somewhere too!) it's claimed fuel economy will be better than 3.0L/100km.

Oh dear, is that a flying pig?

But it would not be a Geneva show without some Italian design madness... Along with the Fraser-Nash we're still trying to figure out IDEA's ERA showcar and Zagato's special (more here). Perhaps in time for next year...