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The crowd pressing its way into the Geneva show at 8am on launch day was in a funny mood. To the many who love it, the Swiss show has always been a gigantic gathering of car-minded friends, impatient for Europe’s automotive new year to get going. But this year many in the queue were expecting the show to be a recession-addled disaster, full of dull cars and sales projections heading for the carpet.

Such forecasts were wrong. It’s no secret that the car business is in big trouble, but the ...Read the full article

Do you know what happened to the launch of the new Golf GTI? I'm sure when the Golf VI was launched last year it was said the GTI would be revealed at Geneva '09. Any news on that?

Autocar:

Geneva’s bit-players — the likes of Heuliez, Koenigsegg and Fioravanti — were still there, too, though showgoers wondered, even more than usual, what keeps them afloat.

Considering K'segg only produces circa 20 cars per year with a price tag beyond what the ordinary man or woman can afford, I'd say it is making what their customers want and doing it well!  I am a bit dissappointed not to see more details of their new proposal.  I'm sure people scoffed back in the 90's when a young Swede in his 20's said he was going to build the fastest production car in the world...

I know. Strange about that. We're driving it in two weeks time though...

I found the atmosphere and not the cars , the most interesting. Chrysler's almost abandoned stand with only a wood floor and a bunch of cars and the somewhat desperate air in the GM area. For the first time that I can remember the Lambo and Ferrari stands being easily visible rather than being 10 deep and the amount of crowd interest in the small and attractive cars being very obvious. Ditto what appeared to be a distinctly luke warm feel in the crowd to any new or recent saloons (inc. the new E) but a lot of interest in the niche's i.e. the BMW 5 concept and anything that reeked of practicality

I enjoyed the motor show. Merc, Alfa, Aston , Honda and more all had good stands. But I was dissapointed with Jaguar stand hardly any of there cars where open. You could not see the back off the XFR and XJR.