From Chas Hallett in Frankfurt
Glitz, bright lights and big car companies aren’t just the preserve of motorshow press days. Oh no, the attention seeking starts the night before. Winner of the biggest pre-night bang this year? The Volkswagen group. Hands down and then some. How’s this: 1500 hacks, every single VW big cheese in attendance, the Chinese science minister, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and more canapés than I’ve ever seen, all crammed into Frankfurt’s basketball stadium.Every single VW brand was showing their launches – all eight of them. But it all felt less to do with displaying the new metal and more one-upmanship over every other German car maker. ‘We’ve got more journos than you’ etc. We did get to see a lot of cars though. Here’s the list: Audi A4 (the pics don’t do it justice), Skoda Fabia Scout (good for the money), Bugatti Veyron Per Sang special run of five bare aluminium cars (yes, they’ve made it even more exclusive), VW Caddy Max Live (an even bigger van with windows), Lamborghini Reventon (terrifying just to look at), Seat’s Tiguan based Tribu (the sort of funky thing they should be making), Bentley Conti GT Speed (more power – just what it needs)VW’s up! Rear-engined city car concept (just brilliant and they’re going to make it).The canapés weren’t bad either.
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