Archived posts to the PH Frankfurt Liveblog can be found here, most recent first. To return to the latest blog and comments click here.
The JLR motor show stand is a giant modular construction that moves from expo to expo and has several important things that make covering these events viable. Which is to say endless cups of tea and internet on a wire. These two things a happy hack make.
It's even more spectacular in the vid!
It is a little unsettling though because the stand obviously looks - is - exactly the same whether it's in Geneva, Paris or Frankfurt. Adding to the Groundhog Day sensation is my now familiar spot on the work table and jealously guarded ethernet connection to save me the vagaries of motor show wifi. I literally feel part of the furniture, as if when they unpack the stand for each show - yes - there's that bloke from PistonHeads feverishly typing and demanding a fresh brew.
At least we made it to Frankfurt though, plane loads following us apparently getting diverted to Stuttgart after storms closed the airport and threw VW Group's big pre-show evening into disarray. Embargoes were cancelled, stories rushed out and news of the Huracan Spyder and Porsche Mission E filtered out. I was sorry not to attend, eager to see what the first post-Piech Group Night would be like. Didn't work out but the Porsche looks particularly interesting and, yes, it's just a concept but a belated sign the industry at large has woken up to the threat posed by Tesla's free-thinking 'just do it' attitude. The Californians' head start is still significant though, with a car in the market and growing infrastructure of 'superchargers' now in place. I remain staggered even the Germans have taken this long to come up with an alternative.
More on this to follow...
Back to the here and now and my hosts Jaguar are - rightly - making a BIG fuss about
theF-Pace
. From the presentations we attended yesterday you get the sense it's not a car anyone in the brand necessarily expected - or even wanted - Jaguar to make. But having accepted it's what the market wants, is required for the bottom line and all the rest they were damned well going to do it their own way. And, in typical JLR fashion, launch it with a suitably big stunt. In this case a 19-metre loop the loop. Penned into a reception area after the intro speech and all the build-up the curtains dropped and we were ushered out onto a viewing platform with the structure in front of us. Recently drenched in rain. There were a few nervous faces as driver Terry Grant emerged and some very relieved ones when the F-Pace successfully looped the loop and came to a standstill right side up. All but mine, my damned camera cutting out just as Grant's wheels hit the ramp. I did consider asking if he could do it again but given the way his voice was trembling as Martin Brundle debriefed him I got the impression it was a once-only deal. No matter,
JLR'scamera team
wasn't so butter-fingered.
Now, time to hit the show. Lots to see. I'm especially intrigued by the sound of this Land Rover pedal car. It's close at hand at least!
here.
Shh, don't tell anyone but I left my seat at JLR for all of five minutes to pop to the next door hall and see what the Italians were up to. Fashionably late for
the Giulia
press conference I caught the end of it and the scrum to get first hands-on impressions so I'll return to them later when it's quietened down a little. Hopefully. I instead pored over the rather lovely Giulia TI Super and Giulia TZ that were being generally ignored/tripped over (that TZ really is tiny) in the rush to get eyes and lenses on the new Giulia. First impressions of the Alfa? Looks properly thuggish. As in SZ thuggish. And I like the SZ. Chances of getting a drive? Slim, given Turin were apparently not to chuffed when I said you'd be better off buying a
secondhand Lotus
Well of course they played the heritage card
Then over the way to Ferrari's
488 Spider
unveiling, which lacked the ceremony of the
Montezemolo
era briefings I always used to look forward to at shows. Didn't even catch the name of the new MC. As ever the scrum was epic, everyone sharpened up and in place from the adjacent Alfa conference. Ferrari obligingly put a small wooden stage thing behind the first row of snappers to give everyone a chance of getting a view of the car. And then employed a man specifically to tell people not to stand on it. Odd. Sharp elbows ruled the day though and I got my shots, albeit on my phone after my camera's SD card broke. Verdammt. Apologies if the quality of pics drops off slightly.
I think there's a shop up the end by Merc though. Which is handy because I want to see if the C63 Coupe looks any better in the metal than it does in the pics. I hope so, because the front and general proportions look ace. It just looks a bit odd from the rear.
1 / 2