The Geneva Motor Show is a big deal. It’s the first major European show on the calendar each year, so we always expect to see a healthy turnout of new and interesting production cars and concepts. That said, 2018 promises to be a banner year even by Geneva standards.
We’ll have plenty of boots on the ground to cover all of the hot Geneva news. Live coverage starts Monday evening with some offsite events, with the show’s press days kicking off on Tuesday. Here’s what to look for.
The 2018 Geneva Motor Show will mark the first time that the DB11 and DB11 Volante are shown together in public.
The folks at Aston Martin are giving the new Vantage its global auto show debut at Geneva as well as pulling the wraps off of the new World Endurance Championship GTE Vantage race car. We’re also expecting to see the DB11 Volante and Coupe together in the same place at the same time for the first time. Aston has also hinted at a surprise debut for Geneva which we think might be the DBX.
The big news from Ingolstadt comes in the form of the company’s new A6 midsize sedan. The A6 is being built on a new platform, offering weight savings and improved handling over the outgoing model. Word around the schoolyard is that Audi may have some some production electrified E-Tron models on hand for selective drives off-site, but were not sure if we can expect them to make an appearance at the show itself.
Bentley
Bentley is debuting expanded powertrain choices for its hottest seller, the Bentayga, at Geneva this year. We’re expecting to see the hybrid electric variant that packs a 3.0-liter V6 and electric motor that join forces to produce 462 horsepower. The new Bentayga V8 will also be on display.
We’re expecting the production Z4 convertible to make its appearance.
Andrew Hoyle/RoadshowWe’re expecting to finally lay eyes on the next-generation BMW Z4 at the show this year. This car is part of an agreement between the Bavarian brand and Toyota to co-develop sports cars — you’ll see it on the Toyota stand as some sort of Supra-shaped wonder. The Z4 is most likely to come with the standard array of BMW powertrain options in four and six-cylinder flavors and we’re also expecting the car to have a cloth top instead of the current Z’s folding hardtop. We also know that the X4 will be making its debut in Geneva, adding to BMW’s lineup of sport utility coupes.
Ferrari
Never a company that felt comfortable being in second place, Ferrari is bringing its ‘roided-up 488 Pista to Geneva with all of its scoops and vents and carbon fiber. The Pista packs Ferrari’s most powerful V8 to date, with 710 horsepower on tap. It will also be the most technologically advanced special production Ferrari model ever, putting even the delightful 458 Speciale to shame.
Hyundai has a lot going on at Geneva this year with the debut of its all-new Santa Fe crossover, which packs a surprisingly aggressive design with some new powertrain options, including a diesel and a hybrid. The Hyundai Nexo fuel cell vehicle (that we drove to CES earlier this year) will be making its European debut as well.
We’re also looking forward to seeing a battery-electric version of Hyundai’s new Kona crossover. The electric Kona will supposedly do 300 miles on a single charge, but we don’t know how that figure was calculated. We do know, however depressingly, that we won’t be getting the EV version in the US.
Jaguar
Jaguar is finally ready to show off the production version of the fully electric I-Pace crossover that debuted in concept form at the LA Auto Show in 2016. We’ve got high expectations for Jag’s first EV, especially since it will be packing more than 400 horsepower and should be able to go about 220 miles before a recharge.
The new Ceed benefits from a platform change and more pleasing sheet metal.
KiaKia is giving its European-designed and manufactured Ceed (née cee’d, with an apostrophe for some reason) a world debut at Geneva. The Ceed is huge for the company and makes up a sizeable chunk of its sales outside the US. We’re also expecting to see the new K900, which we no longer get in the US, apart from its chassis, which underpins the Stinger.
The Range Rover SV Coupe will be the most expensive model Land Rover sells when it debuts.
Land RoverWe’re getting a new three-door flagship SUV from Land Rover in the form of the Range Rover Coupe SV and, apart from a top-down interior shot, this will be the first time we’ve seen the new SUV. Land Rover has said that it will have a limited production run and that it will be the spendiest thing in its lineup.
Less frightening than the concept, the production UX still challenges our sensibilities.
LexusLexus is debuting a new crossover. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. The UX is based on a concept we saw at Paris in 2016 and likely will share Toyota’s TNGA platform, on which everything from the Prius to the new Avalon is built. Toyota has kept drivetrain choices secret for now but we’d put our money on there being four-cylinder gasoline and hybrid electric models in there somewhere.
McLaren
The folks from Woking will bring McLaren’s new technological terror, the Senna, to Geneva this year, despite the fact that the entire 500-vehicle production run has been sold. The Senna isn’t new per se, but this will be the first time that most people will see it in public. Just in case the Senna wasn’t fast enough or exclusive enough or even expensive enough, McLaren is also offering the Senna MSO Carbon.
Mercedes is pulling out all the stops this year. In addition to mercilessly teasing us with photos of its forthcoming AMG GT Coupe (which has four doors, despite the coupe designation), it promises to unveil its very first series-production battery electric vehicle.
We’re also going to get to feast our peepers on the first AMG version of the hot new G-Class that debuted in Detroit in January. The new G63 will have AMG’s now-ubiquitous twin-turbo V8 that will, in this trim, produce 577 horsepower and be bolted to a nine-speed automatic transmission.
The bread-and-butter C-Class is getting a facelift and the C43 version gets a mild 23 horsepower bump along with a bigger COMAND screen. No MBUX for you, C-Class! We’re also looking forward to a new Maybach S-Class that once again looks more like its own sub brand and not just an S650 with extra badges.
Lastly, we get to see the production version of the new A-Class which we’ll be getting — as a sedan, no cool hatch for us — the first time ever in the US of A. It’s set to slot in below the CLA-Class which means a (hopefully) sub-$30,000 price tag for us millennial Americans.
Polestar
Polestar is giving the public its first look of the gorgeous closer-to-production Polestar 1 coupe which will bring the heat to even the coldest Swedish winters thanks to a combined gasoline and electric output of 600 horsepower.
Porsche is ready to show off its newly refreshed 911 GT3 RS which, frankly, looks a lot like the previous version. But it’s underneath where all the magic has been wrought. The new car somehow manages to have even less rubber in the suspension, which will no doubt make for a seriously precise-handling car. Our fingers are also crossed in hopes that we see a production version of Porsche’s first fully battery electric vehicle, the long teased Mission E.
Smart
The name is changing, but not much else.
Mercedes-Benz USAThe Smart ForTwo Electric Drive is getting renamed the Smart EQ ForTwo, which makes sense because in the near future, all of the Smart cars sold in the US will be electric. This change also ties it to parent company Mercedes-Benz’s EQ sub-brand for electric cars.
Screw around with the .tif file in Photoshop and a few more details pop out.
SubaruSubaru is bringing its newest Viziv concept, dubbed the Tourer, to Geneva and we’re extra excited because it’s a wagon. Subaru teased us with a rendering of the rear of the car that we managed to fiddle with and find extra secret details! We’re looking forward to see how close the rendering was to the actual concept.
Toyota
Double bubble and cool vents coupled with a huge wing gives us the Supra feels.
ToyotaSUPRA! Well, probably. We’re definitely getting a racing prototype version of something Supra-esque, though Toyota has kept mum beyond that. The expected car is being built in partnership with BMW and will be a Toyota in name only, with BMW running gear throughout. The Toyota version will be a hardtop while the BMW version is a convertible. Cross your fingers and toes, we’ve been waiting for this for a long time.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen will be bringing its version of a Tesla Model S competitor in the form of the I.D. Vizzion concept. This sedan is relatively low-powered with an emphasis on range rather than neck-snapping performance. It is also interesting because of its lack of driver inputs, meaning this could be where we get VWs vision of autonomy as well.
Geneva will mark the public debut of the Swedish brand’s new V60 wagon. Slotting in just beneath the gorgeous V90 wagon, the V60 loses little of its big brothers looks in its transition to the middle of the market and will be offered with a borderline silly T8 plug-in hybrid drivetrain that offers 386 horsepower and one metric boatload of torque. We saw this baby in Sweden recently and it’s aces.
The oddities
Italdesign will be debuting the Roadster version of its BMW i8-based Zerouno supercar.
ItaldesignGeneva is also known for its oddball cars, and this year is looking like no exception. We’re expecting the Zerouno roadster from Italdesign and a four-door EV from Giugiaro. Rinspeed will be showing its Snap concept, which we covered at CES in January.
Geneva Motor Show 2018
