Green, bold and racy at the Geneva motor show

By ALASTAIR SLOANE, motoring editor

European carmakers, facing further predictions of sliding sales as buyers await signs of better economic times, mixed ongoing green themes with bold concepts and racy after-market developments at the Geneva motor show.

There were plenty of new production cars, including Toyota's Verso people-mover (the platform on which the 2005 Corolla will be built), the Mini Convertible, an updated version of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the BMW 5-Series wagon, Audi's A6, Aston Martin's DB9, and the Peugeot 407, a striking, bold design.

Subaru showed off an addition to the Legacy range, the "Spec Bun" version of the six-cylinder Legacy 3.0R expected in New Zealand this year.

Subaru says the Spec B car is a prototype, but it's likely to go into production to boost Subaru's performance reputation, gained with the hot versions of the Impreza.

Performance additions to the standard Legacy 3.0R specification include a torque-sensing limited-slip rear differential, bigger 18-inch wheels and tyres, Bilstein rally suspension and a six-speed manual box in place of the standard automatic. The standard car's 182kW (245bhp) engine remains.

Spain's Seat, part of the Volkswagen group, showed off its lifestyle Altea, to go on sale in Europe this year.

The Altea is the first vehicle to be developed within the Audi arm of the group and was penned by design director Walter de Silva.

It will use the direct-shift gearbox (DSG) that has just appeared in New Zealand in the Audi A3 and VW Touran.

Two of the most striking concepts were the VW Concept C, a pillarless coupe similar in length to the Audi A4 cabriolet, and the Toyota Motor Triathlon Race Car, a futuristic four-wheel-drive racer powered by a fuel-cell at each wheel.

VW says the Concept C is a study only, although veteran show-goers said it looked more road-ready than many past concepts.

Toyota's two-seater (passenger sits behind the driver) Triathlon was designed in its European studio in France and will feature in the new Sony PlayStation game, Gran Turismo 4.

It has been built to compete in three different racing environments: racetrack, city street circuit and off-road course. It will also extend Toyota's brand message to future generations of car buyers, says the carmaker.

Petrol and diesel hybrid models featured prominently as carmakers continue the drive towards sustained mobility.

Mazda had its concept Hydrogen RE, a dual-fuel hydrogen/petrol version of the Renesis rotary-powered RX-8.

The car switches between hydrogen and petrol. The rotary engine uses two gas injectors on each rotor to directly inject hydrogen during the intake stroke.

Mazda says this process achieves highly efficient combustion in that the relatively low temperature of the engine's induction system is suitable for the direct injection of hydrogen.

When running on petrol, the engine uses the conventional port injection system. The Hydrogen RE is undergoing driving tests.

DaimlerChrysler says it will have more than 100 fuel-cell vehicles in real-life testing by the end of this year.

"But before fuel-cell drive becomes available to the public, however, a reliable fuel supply infrastructure must be established," says DaimlerChrysler.

"This calls for worldwide commitment and co-operation between the sphere of politics, the petroleum industry and the economic sector."

Meantime, it says conventional petrol and diesel engines offer great potential, especially in a hybrid capacity - "an important interim solution along the road to the fuel cell".

Notable on the Mercedes-Benz stand was the increased availability of 4Matic four-wheel-drive cars across the range.

Toyota and its luxury arm Lexus dominated the display of hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles.

Toyota also revealed its new D-Cat diesel technology, cleaner it says than anything else on the market.

It uses a special catalyst to reduce exhaust emissions to a level that surpasses standards in Europe by between 50 and 90 per cent.

D-Cat is available only in Britain and Germany, at the moment. It designed to run on low-sulphur diesel (below 50 parts per million) but can cope with fuel with a higher sulphur content.

Pressing a button on the dashboard tells the system that dirtier fuel is aboard and to speed up the sulphur purifying and recovery process.

The first Toyota to get D-Cat is the oil-burning RAV4, which uses a 2-litre common-rail diesel engine developing 85kW at 3600rpm and 280Nm of torque at 2200rpm. The RAV4 is the biggest-selling sports utility vehicle in Europe, with sales last year of 105,000 units.

The Lexus stand asked show-goers: "Isn't generating energy while braking a contradiction in terms? Not with the world's first performance hybrid."

The vehicle in question is the RX400h, a petrol/electric version of the four-wheel-drive RX330 available in New Zealand.

It will go on sale in Europe next year and uses a new system of Lexus Hybrid Synergy Drive. The figure 400 is not the cubic capacity of the 3.3-litre V6 but rather, says Lexus, "in recognition of the power output comparable to that of a larger petrol unit".

The system is similar to that used by the Toyota Prius, in that the engine shuts off to conserve fuel and reduce exhaust emissions when the vehicle is stopped.

Unlike the front-drive Prius the Lexus RX400h uses two electric motors in tandem with the petrol engine and a continuously variable transmission.

One of these motors drives the rear wheels to provide on-demand four-wheel-drive when the front wheels lose traction.

During deceleration and under braking, the engine switches off and both electric motors become high-output generators driven by all four wheels.

This regenerative braking system, again similar to the Prius, optimises energy management by recovering kinetic energy (normally wasted as heat under braking and deceleration) as electrical energy for storage in the system's high-performance battery.

Maximum output from the hybrid system is about 200kW (270bhp). The V6 engine alone produces around 150kW (200bhp). Lexus says fuel economy is equivalent to a four-cylinder sedan.