Geneva Motorshow UK company Highlights

Created Date: 21/03/2011

The Geneva Motor-show, the biggest car event of the year – an occasion that sees car companies from all across the world coming together to showcase their new rides. In particular this year, we have taken a roundup of all the British companies on show and what they have in store for us in the upcoming years, (many of them might not be British anymore but it’s the heritage that counts). Here’s a rundown of the best of British highlights of the 2011 Geneva Motor-show - Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lotus, Mini, Morgan, Rolls Royce and Vauxhall.

Aston Martin

To begin with we’ll look at Aston Martin, who besides an embarrassing moment when their CEO failed to read his speech properly off his iPhone managed to come up with some pretty exciting things to look forward to.

Among these were three new car reveals and a ‘hybrid ownership’ scheme which I’ll get onto later. Of the three cars announced the first was the Aston Martin Virage, which slots somewhere in-between the DB9 and DBS. An update of the old Virage models that ceased production back in 2000, exterior differences between this and the other Aston Martin models are subtle – you would be forgiven for thinking it’s a DB9. Slight adjustments to the bumpers and skirts are the only standout alterations; however Aston Martin say most of the front end is made of fresh new parts. With a top speed of 186mph and a suitably beefy 490bhp V12 to deliver said power, it’s going to be one potent machine. Available only in a six speed ‘touchtronic’ paddle shifting automatic, it’s backed by carbon ceramic brakes and of course Astons typically lavish interior on the inside. It’s due to go on sale immediately after this reveal, so get out and buy one!

Second on their reveal list was an update to their already highly popular Vantage model, now available in an even faster ‘S’ specification to sit between the Vantage and the V12 Vantage models. The update brings with it less weight than the regular Vantage and a tuned 4.7 litre V8 delivering 430bhp. In terms of exterior looks I couldn’t see any differences between this and the V12 Vantage, which would probably be because they based the design on it in the first place. Due to its weight loss and tuning, it’s significantly faster than the regular Vantage, achieving a top speed of 189mph compared to the Vantage’s speed of 180mph.

The final and probably most interesting reveal was the Aston Martin Cygnet, which was based on the Toyota IQ and aimed as a city car. Costing £30,995 it is admittedly a more ‘premium’ city car, as most don’t retail for anywhere close to that amount. You’ll soon see why it has that price tag when you climb inside however, as you’ll feel as though you’re in a DB9. In a turnaround to most city cars, Aston Martin is billing this one as “a small car without compromise to either quality or craftsmanship”. Designed by exactly the same team who make the more expensive models, you can expect the same quality here as you would in any of their more high performance machines. However this is still a city car, so don’t be expecting much power to go with that luxury. Housing an eco friendly 1.3 litre engine which produces 97bhp, it’ll only reach 105mph and is a far cry from the powerhouses listed above. This is probably why Aston Martin has proposed a new scheme named the “hybrid car” scheme. If you buy one of their meatier models they say you can get one of these to go along with it, so you can have the best of both worlds. How well that works in practice is another question.

Article written by Thomas Wellburn...

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