2010 Geneva Motor Show: The Supercars
A car show just wouldn't be a car show if we didn't catch a glimpse at some of the most exotic, unobtainable and superlative supercars ever to grace black tarmac. And the Geneva Motor Show never disappoints.
Surrounded by countries producing the finest precision performance machines this side of the Space Shuttle, the Geneva show plays common ground to such notables as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Koenigsegg, to name just a few. This year they all came to the city by the lake to display their latest innovations. Follow the jump to read and view what they had in store for us.
We'll start our tour of the exotics on the Geneva show floor with the rarest of them all: the Pagani Zonda Tricolore. We initially brought you news of the Tricolore just a couple of weeks ago, and this was our first (and quite possibly our last) chance to see it up close. Presumably the final special edition of the Zonda before its replacement arrives, the Tricolore is a one-of-a-kind edition made to honor the Frecce Tricolore (Italy's aerobatics squadron), the Zonda Tricolore was decked out in carbon-titanium weave, coated on most surfaces only by a translucent blue lacquer and complemented by red, white and green stripes. LED headlights and special air vents are unique to this ultimate Zonda, which will sell for about $1.75 million.
What could be even rarer, you ask, than a one-of-a-kind supercar? How about one that isn't for sale at all? Enter stage left the Ferrari HY-KERS concept. A rolling test bed for the integration of hybrid drivetrain configurations into a roadgoing supercar, the HY-KERS concept integrates a Formula One-derived regenerative braking system into the 599 GTB Fiorano. Ferrari worked diligently to balance the performance cost-benefit ratio of the electric drive system, replacing the starter motor and battery with a 40kg, 100hp battery and electric motor, mounted below the car's center of gravity and fully integrated into the aerodynamic undertray. Strictly a concept for the time being, Maranello is working to bring a similar system to market.
While Ferrari decked out their Geneva debut in bright green to highlight its environmental bent, arch-rival Lamborghini did the same but seemingly purely for shock-to-the-retina value. The LP570-4 Superleggera is the ultimate version of the Gallardo to date. It follows in the tracks of the previous 2007 Superleggera and the more recent rear-drive Valentino Balboni edition, but packs a 561-horsepower 5.2-liter V10 engine into a package that weighs less than a Porsche Boxster at under 3000 lbs. Compliment the winning more power, less weight formula with a new front spoiler and rear diffuser and you've got one lean, mean, green machine.
Lamborghini's sister company Bugatti wasn't about to miss the party, even if the one-model brand didn't have a new product to unveil. Instead they mesmerized us with not one, but two new views of the Veyron Grand Sport we'd never seen before. The first came decked out in bare carbon fiber with polished aluminum and a white leather interior. The second showed us what the Veyron would look like without any bodywork at all, baring the chassis and quad-turbo W-16 engine for all to see.
Those unimpressed by the new views on an old machine, however, needn't have been disappointed, as another 400 km/h, seven-figure European hyper-exotic made its world debut in Geneva. Called the Agera, it's an update on the world-beating CCX made by Swedish upstart Koenigsegg that debuted in at the 2006 Geneva show. While the CCX had a rather subdued design, the Agera upgrades with some more aggressive curves. The 4.7-liter V8 engine built entirely in-house ditches the twin superchargers of the CCX in favor of twin turbos, delivering a whopping 910 horsepower and 811 lb-ft of torque, with more of the grunt available from lower down in the curve. That's enough to rocket the Agera up to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds en route to a top speed of over 245 mph, but the real mind-boggling number is the 1.6 g of cornering force the Agera can summon.
Koenigsegg isn't the only relative newcomer to the record-braking European supercar scene, however. Feast your eyes on the latest edition of the Gumpert Apollo. The brainchild of former Audi Sport director Roland Gumpert, the Apollo claims the fastest lap at the benchmark Nurburgring Nordschleiffe. Now the Gumpert is back in Apollo S guise, squeezing 750 horsepower out of its Audi-sourced twin-turbo 4.2-liter V8 engine. The aerodynamics, transmission and lighting have also been upgraded, with a right-hand-drive version planned for such markets as the UK, Australia and Japan.
