Le 2010 Mondial d’Automobile (or Paris Motor Show) opened its gates for the general public this morning at 10, here in the city on Seine. As I promised you, I’ll be covering the most important thing that has happened to this show, and that is to present the latest electric and hybrid cars, be them pure concepts or concepts ready to become reality in the near future.
I traveled around 2,000 kilometers for this show by car to take pictures I can show you, so it’s going to occupy my full attention for the following period.
During the next few days, I will be presenting an incredibly high array of pure electric cars by French manufacturers Renault, Peugeot and Citroen, and not-so-public EVs from other companies, but still as important to the show’s visitors.
Despite the general trend for the electric and hybrid technology, this year’s Paris auto show has shown the masses not only these types, but also classic, gasoline or diesel-driven concepts, all of whom incited the visitors who were present in large numbers at BMW’s or at the Mercedes (huge) stand, for example. BMW, excepting for its Hybrid 7, didn’t show anything particular that should be noted from an environmentalist’s point of view. And neither did Mercedes.
Renault, though, impressed us with a lot of electric concepts, of which the most beautiful was the one named “DEZIR”, and that caught the attention of the media and especially mine. I was so impressed with this car that I am likely to overwhelm Renault with the most beautiful words ever, probably even more than I’m supposed to. Its technical details are not oriented on performance, but I’m still in love with it.
What I didn’t like about the show was the general lack of knowledge from the part of the hostesses, who knew less details about the car in question than I did (don’t want to mention any names or brands). One particular student caught my attention because he didn’t know if the solar cells on his solar powered car were anti-reflex treated or not, nor did he give me many details about the technical part of that car, asking his mate for an opinion (supposedly he was from the university that built the car). I don’t know who put them there, and why, but they should have chosen a more tech-loving type.
Also, what I observed (not like or dislike) was the lack of nice French girls, (un)dressed properly, like they were in the show’s last edition. Maybe they thought that their girls would outweigh the cars in sexiness, or (as my ultra-beautiful wife says), there were sexual harassment issues in the middle and they didn’t want their models to be as provocative.
However, the huge exhibition is open until the 17th of October, a ticket costs 12 euros and if your feet are as a cyclist’s, you may browse through the entire exhibition in just one day. Even if you won’t be able to do that in one day’s time or you’ll get bored quickly, there are plenty of things in Paris that should amaze you, even if only for half a weekend.
