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Paris Premieres

2024

Video: Paris Premieres

Video: Paris Premieres
Video: convoi de M. Abdelhamid DBEIBAH dans Paris 2024, March
Paris Premieres
Paris Premieres
Anonim

ACTUAL!

EXHIBITIONS, SALONS

PARIS PREMIERES

A car dealership in Paris has passed a century - but the car is as young as ever.

Vladimir ARKUSHA. Photo by author, DPPI and firms

It is natural that the round date included in the official logo of the exhibition was closest to the attention of local, French companies. Moreover, the anniversary of the salon coincided with the centenary of the largest of them - Renault. There is no word, the exposition of the concern worthily crowned its centuries-old path, but … right at the entrance to the first, main pavilion, I was literally dumbfounded at the sight of another, once also French brand - “Bugatti”. She adorned one of the main sensations of the exhibition - the four-seater EV 118 coupe with a W-shaped (i.e. three-row) 18-cylinder engine! (The scheme with such an arrangement and the number of cylinders was first used on a passenger car.) The Italdesign design body shop created it by order of the Volkswagen concern, which now owns the rights to the famous brand. The engine was designed, of course, at the Volkswagen, where constructions are born with enviable regularity, one more unusual than the other: a fresh example is the V-shaped “five”. And experts, I think, will remember the Audi Afus concept car of the early 90s, designed for the W12 engine. However, the engine did not seem to have been built (the concept was “fake”), but the idea was not forgotten. (Try to forget, if Ferdinand Piech is at the head of the concern, in the past was the chief engine designer at Audi, where then all the engines for the Volkswagen Audi group were designed).

Looking up from the unique “double-ve” motor, he hastened deep into the pavilion: in the center of the huge Renault stand, he posed for photographers a new concept car, Vel Satis. The company, whose popularity is based on mass, popular cars - from the “four” of the 40s to the “Twingo” and “Clio”, in recent years has aggressively attracted attention to prototypes of extra-class cars: last year - “Inisyal”, in the current Vel Satis is a four-seater coupe with Renault V6 engine. It is striking that the fancifully avant-garde, harsh style of the Renault concepts contrasts sharply with the smooth forms of its production cars, which, incidentally, have excellent sales. Being at the forefront does not mean trading in the “avant-garde,” apparently, Renault strategists argue, not tireing, however, to probe the layer of wealthy customers with their concepts. Maybe the second century Renault will really begin with the triumph of a big car?

The neighbor and the eternal rival Peugeot are clearly not deceived in this regard: interests (firms and customers) are concentrated on the latest 206 family (see ЗР, 1998, No. 10). The next concept of “206 Escapad” is designed to expand the circle of potential buyers of this particular model. “Escapad” is an image of an urban off-road vehicle, for which it is more important to look like an all-terrain vehicle than to be it. There will be interest - you can agree on a serial production (albeit not that, a little simpler), for example, with the bodybuilder firm "Elye". (In particular, electric cars based on the Peugeot 106 are made there.)

However, everything is not so simple with Elya: proud of its status as a car manufacturer (first of all, the Citroen Xanthia and XM station wagons), emphasizing it and inviting new partners, the company simultaneously demonstrates outstanding potential in the field of design and technical construction. The prototype of "Elie Pregunta" became an adornment not only of the stand of this company, but of the entire exhibition. Swift, like a fighter’s silhouette (similarities are reinforced by the “ears” of the air intakes), guillotine (folding back) doors, a 12-cylinder Lamborghini engine with a central location - in short, a magnificent example of Gran Turismo with good prospects for … piece or small batch production. Not a fighter - rather, a crane in the sky …

Having looked at such an exhibit, I involuntarily look around in search of a “tit” - a machine, albeit unusual in appearance, but rational. To the satisfaction of both the concepts, and prototypes, and serial samples gave a lot of food for thought on a favorite topic - a car rational, practical, multifunctional. (Along the way, we will agree on a concept to mean a “useless” sample, and on a prototype a design that is clearly designed for mass production). The main conclusion from the impressions of the Paris Salon: more and more Europeans are ready to enter the 21st century behind the wheel of a car with a one-volume body (earlier they would say “carriage layout”). The example given by the Renault Espas model to middle-class cars is picked up at the Golf class (Mercedes-A, FIAT-Multipla, Opel Zafira, Mitsubishi Space Star), then in an even smaller one, personified for us by "Tavria" ("Hyundai Atos", "Suzuki-Wagon R", "Daewoo Matiz"). Paris has expanded this list. Citroën put up a prototype of the one-volume Xar Picasso - an analogue of Renault-Senik: they say that we, like the great Spaniard, are ready to overthrow the canons. The name, of course, is beautiful - but the “subversors” themselves lagged behind Renault-Senik by a good three years: “Ksara Picasso”, which they worked on for 38 months, having spent about 400 million dollars, will go into series only after a year. Another one-volume, "Citroen C3" and completely filed as a concept. Therefore, a bluish, like a cloud, a nicely rounded car (or rather, its motives) is sold in a serial product no earlier than 2000. The same date, but very confidently called the start of production of Toyota Yaris. In just a year, the Toyota Fantasy concept car - an exhibit in Frankfurt-97 - turned into the Yaris prototype, which managed to undergo a number of design changes after the spring show in Geneva.

Both of these concepts - C3, Yaris, and Nissan-KYXX (Kiks) belong to the same class - European B (or Tavria). Curious numbers: with a shorter length than the Nissan Mikra hatchback, the legs of the rear Kiks passengers are significantly more spacious: up to the front backs of the “extra” 190 mm and 40 mm above the head. Turbodiesels with a volume of 1–1.5 liters will provide a three-liter flow rate - thanks to direct injection of the “Common Rail” type. Of course, similar advantages promise other mono-volumes. For example, in them you can move the rear seats (usually separate), changing the volume of the luggage compartment and the space for the legs.

Recognizing the virtues of minivans does not mean at all that cars of a more traditional layout - hatchbacks, sedans, a sports coupe - are now only in museums. On the contrary, premieres have no numbers. One of the most notable is the Mercedes S-Class. The second meeting with the new model (the first one I had before the official premiere, as if by accident) reinforced the idea that the company was subjugated to a new height in creating machines of the most prestigious class.

And around - a whole fireworks display of new products: thoroughbred Alfa Romeo-166, the Volkswagen Bora sedan, which clearly did not intend to remain in the shadow of the Golf's older brother; "SEAT-Toledo", stepping a class above the previous model - and at the same time acquiring a touch of sportiness, a kind of Mediterranean temperament; super-economical Volkswagen-Lupo, one of the modifications of which - with a three-cylinder turbodiesel - is called the world's first production car with a three-liter fuel consumption. Yes, and “Honda” as if remembered that once started a campaign in Europe with very small, 800 cc models. Now, having proposed the “Logo” model, she is ready to compete with the same “Lupo”, “SEAT-Aros”, “Ford-Ka” and others. Experts emphasize that the compact hatchback does not copy the model of the same name for Japan, but is designed taking into account European specifics. Among the highlights of the Logo is an automatic transmission of the CVT type (CVT with a steel belt), which is especially practical in the city.

Since practicality is considered the main advantage of a minivan, they may be forgiven for some ordinary appearance. But for an all-terrain vehicle, “all roads” of which run along the asphalt, the main thing is the combat look: take a look at the Suzuki Jimny. Under the hood, new items - a motor that has long been memorable in Samurai (by the way, this model continues to be produced); only the spring suspension has been replaced by a spring, but still dependent …

"Jimny" is a relatively inexpensive way to splurge with youthful outer appearance. But someone wants to do it for real - famously roaring hundreds of horsepower, leaving on the pavement black marks of a "rocket launch". Fans of sports style Parisian "Mondial" has prepared many temptations. I remember the Renault Sport Clio: in a compact body, preserving, let's say, resemblance to the usual Clio, in the middle they installed … a three-liter V-shaped “six” from the big Renault - a concept familiar from the mid-engined Renault 5 turbo”, which shone on sports tracks in the 80s. Well, fans of the Gran Turismo admired the classic outlines of the new Maserati-3200 GT, whose current relationship with the Ferrari is visible to the naked eye.

Another Italian company, Fissore, is trying to bring back the glorious Isotta-Fraschini brand from oblivion: they promise that the T8 model will be launched next year, and the 12-cylinder T12 coupe will premiere. Literally a stone's throw from it I met another interesting exhibit: a two-seater roadster “Kurara”. Carefully, tastefully made prototype with BMW units - the Parisian debut of the Moscow studio “Cardi”.

The Russian auto industry was represented only by AvtoVAZ with two modifications of the “dozens”, a minivan “Manager”, two “fields” - gas and diesel and the concept of “Rapan”, which is on the cover of the issue. With their appearance at the salon, Volzhans seemed to make it clear: crises are transient, difficulties are overcome - we live, strive to develop and cooperate with the West.

The idea of cooperation - in the broad sense of the word - literally permeated the exhibition. After all, the car as an object of consumption and production is becoming increasingly international. Mondial gave fresh examples: the Nissan Kicks concept was developed by the design center of a Japanese company in Munich (obviously with an eye to production in Europe). Toyota Yaris will be produced at a new plant in France, and Citroen Ksara Picasso in Spain. In a Renault press release next to Brazil and Turkey, Russia is mentioned - the Moscow enterprise Avtoframos, where they plan to do Renault Megan. “Despite the financial crisis,” I read, “Renault is convinced that the Russian market will show powerful potential for development in the next decade.” On this indisputable thought expressed by an authoritative partner, it is pleasant to put an end to it.

Bugatti-EB118.

Parade of veterans in honor of the 100th anniversary of the salon.

Renault Vel Satis.

"Peugeot 206 Escapade."

"Elie Pregunta."

Citroen C3.

Toyota Yaris.

"Citroen Xara Picasso."

"Mazda Demio".

Nissan KYXX.

Volkswagen Lupo.

"SEAT-Toledo."

Renault Sport Clio.

Maserati 3200GT.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

"Honda Logo."

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