10 Wicked Cars You Probably Missed At The Geneva Motor Show
Radical RXC Turbo 500R
Radical already holds the Nurburgring road car lap record with a time of 6min 48sec in its SR8 model, but now it’s going after its own record with this, the 700bhp RXC Turbo 500R.
It’s the most powerful car ever produced by the British company, which has carbonfibre bodywork, a twin-cooled Ford EcoBoost V6, and even comes with driving tuition at the Nurburgring.
Pininfarina H2 Speed
World famous styling house Pininfarina has teamed up with GreenGT to create this stunning hydrogen-powered performance car. The styling is intended to increase the effectiveness of the green engine, and is entirely form following function - basically, it slips through the air with ease and just happens to look amazing.
The propulsion technology is the product of two years of testing by GreenGT, and uses a hydrogen fuel cell to power two electric motors making around 500bhp. It’ll hit 62mph in 3.2 seconds, before reaching a top speed of 186mph.
Morgan EV3
We’re huge fans of the Morgan 3-wheeler, and that’s mostly down to the gorgeous 2.0-litre V-twin engine that sits proud out front. Well now there’s a new three-wheeled Morgan in town, and this one’s all electric.
The water-cooled electric motor makes just 62bhp, but because that all goes through the single rear wheel it should be just as hilarious to drive as the original. That odd-looking front end is actually functional; the brass bars surround the battery and provide cooling.
You’re looking at probably the most bizarre concept on display at Geneva. It’s the Toyota Kikai, which was built “to explore the fundamental appeal of machines: their intricacy, mechanical complexity and motion.”
At first glance it just looks weird, but get up close and some of the details are lovely. The video above might feature some of the creepiest humanoids ever seen, but we love the engineering that’s gone into this car. The bodywork has been kept to a minimum to expose things that are normally hidden, “to celebrate the intricacy and mechanical elegance of its construction.”
Mazda RX-Vision
Sadly we had to say goodbye to Mazda’s glorious rotary engines when the RX-8 ceased production in 2012, but the Japanese manufacturer refused to be beaten. The RX-Vision is its way of showing that it hasn’t given up on the Wankel, and reckons it can produce a new rotary engine that’ll adhere to modern emissions regulations.
This may or may not be a precursor to a new RX-8, but if it is, we can only pray the production car will keep these beautiful looks.
Zenvo TS1
You’ll know Zenvo for its ST1 supercar, and now there’s a followup in the shape of the TS1. Although it looks almost identical to its older brother, and its name is just a letter switch-up, the TS1 gets a completely new engine, as well as some aerodynamic improvements.
It’s now powered by a rather tasty sounding 5.9-litre twin-supercharged flat-plane V8, and has a top speed of 233mph. There are two gearbox options in the form of a seven-speed paddle shift unit, as well as a more hardcore, racier equivalent. Auto, or racy auto, then. The ST1 has also been on a diet for its resurrection in TS1 guise thanks to some carbonfibre bits.
Stylistically, this is what happens when you marry a Lamborghini Huracan to a shooting brake, and it looks absolutely fantastic. It’s essentially a reskinned version of the baby Bull - Italdesign is owned by VW, so has special access to its kit - that has been converted to have a modular passenger compartment.
What that means is that the interior can be chopped and changed for different seating layouts and alternate drivetrains. This concept replaces the Huracan’s V10 with three electric motors, which combine to produce 483bhp, however a hybrid version is also on the cards.
Honda Civic Hatchback Prototype
Now we know all there is to know about the new NSX, Honda needed to find something else to wheel out for the Geneva motor show. It took this opportunity to preview the 10th-generation Civic’s styling, and it certainly looks like an improvement over the current car.
Gone is the odd droopy snout, in is a big-vented bumper and sharp headlights, while the rear looks a little bit too fussy for our liking. It’ll all be toned down for production, of course, but we’re already envisaging what a Type R variant would look like…
Lazareth LM847
No, it’s not strictly a car, but it is a bike with a car engine. Actually, calling it a bike might be overplaying it a bit since it does have four wheels. I’ll be honest, I don’t really know what to call this; it’s so brilliant that it can’t be pigeon-holed.
So let’s just deal with facts. It’s a 4.7-litre Maserati V8 with handlebars and two wheels at each end. In place of a traditional gearbox it has a single-speed hydraulic coupling, like you’d find in part of Koenigsegg’s Direct Drive system. Madness.
Smart ForTwo Cabrio Brabus Edition
It might not seem like the most Car Throttle of cars, but we couldn’t help but love what the Smart ForTwo is about. It’s nimble, surprisingly spacious, and looks pretty funky. Brabus has now turned its hand to the drop-top edition, and there’s something undeniably cool about it.
Unfortunately there are no performance upgrades, so you won’t be pulling teeny tiny donuts in your ForTwo just yet, but what you do get is this vibrant matte blue paint job and a titanium grey folding roof, as well as the all important Brabus badges.
There’s also now a Brabus Sports pack for non-Brabus cars, which adds a front splitter, side skirts, 17-inch alloy wheels, and a 10mm suspension drop. It’ll cost £1500 on top of the base price of your car, which isn’t actually too bad for what you get.
Comments
The most important car you left out i Concept_S by Rimac Automobili.
This car has acc (0-100km/h) 2,5 sec, Power of 1384 hp, Top speed of 365km/h and Torque 1800Nm. All this powerd only on electricity. Truly a great engineering wonder.
am i the only one who thinks the Kikai look like a new funky baja beetle? and the Lazareth LM847 is just a new updated dodge tomahawk
The Lazareth LM847 should be Batman’s next Bat bike! Just looks mean as hell!
That Toyota Kikai is giving me the weirdest hard on right now…..
The question is…
Will the Zenvo still spontaneously combust?
A lot of earlier supercars did that, and they were fairly new at that time. But I still see the point. I just want this to be good, the Danish ain’t known for the best cars xD
I live sufficiently to see Extreme G game come to real life
Lazareth > Noose IMO, it’s the better way to go.
That 4 wheel bike will boil your intesines. You basicaly lay down on a V8 engine while driving it. :D
What about the SIN R1? It’s a manual super car, that is somewhat affordable. Great car. Read about it.
Kikai: WEIGHT REDUCTION BRO!