FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Top 8 cars from 2017
Germany's biggest motor show produced wonders, wizards and wild concepts: Here's eight of our favouritesEvery two years the Frankfurt motor show rolls around and the Germans go crazy. Well, they used to. In 2017 the most impressive German at the show was probably the bratwurst, with the likes of Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche decidedly subdued. Then again, BMW and Mercedes-AMG had some razzle-dazzle on show but the Brits, French and Italians also shone.
Anyway, here's our top eight picks from the Frankfurt motor show, where the pungent musk of sweaty people in suits will, unfortunately, live with us forever.
Not just one of the coolest concept designs at the motor show, the Honda Urban EV concept is one of the best designs Honda has ever penned. After years of stumbling around blindfolded in a forest, Honda appears to have finally found its groove.
The Honda Urban EV Concept will be on sale by 2019 and if it retains one iota of the retro coolness seen here, it could be the first affordable mass-market EV that doesn't look like a bag of smashed crabs and actually appeals to younger buyers.
Just when you thought AMG chief Tobias Moers couldn't get any more smug, he introduces the Project ONE psycho car. It will literally blow the doors off any other road car ever conceived… although the involvement of Lewis Hamilton takes the shine off a little.
Propelled by a 1.6-litre V6 engine pilfered from its F1 parts bin, the Project ONE 'car' is a feat of engineering genius, developing 740kW of power. It will give the upcoming Aston Martin Valkyrie some stiff competition, with a top speed of more than 350km/h and a design that screams, "I'm rich and you're not!".
Six Aussies and two New Zealanders have plonked down $500,000 deposits for the car, which is coming in 2019 and will fetch around $4.6 million a pop. Oh, and all 275 examples are sold.
Can Renault reclaim its title of world's hottest hatch with the new Megane? On the surface the downsized 1.8-litre turbo four and availability of an automatic transmission would suggest 'no way, Jose'. But the French maestros at Renault Sport are confident this car will whack the Golf GTI and Honda Civic Type R right in the chops.
Smarter suspension, more power and torque and fog lights so cool the fan boys will be wetting their skinny jeans, the new-generation Renault Megane RS is a $50,000 hot hatch we cannot wait to thrash.
Bigger and uglier than any BMW X-series SUV before it, the new X7 is poised to be another runaway success for the luxury car company. Big enough and butch enough to make any driver feel like the king of the road, the new model will be offered with a range of powertrains, including petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric.
The US-made behemoth has seating for seven, will offer a range of advanced technology allowing occupants to completely ignore other drivers (nothing new there), and will be on sale in Australia by 2019.
Apparently this is a preview of the next-generation Proceed hatchback that was never sold in Australia – except in the top-spec GT hot hatch guise. It's difficult to see how this long, low, sausage-like creation will become a city runabout, so it's possible the car could evolve into something sportier and nichey.
But when something looks this cool, why argue? The Koreans are kicking goals at the moment and this is another signal that there's plenty more to come.
When you think Jaguar race cars, you might consider the F-TYPE or something like that. But as the world goes EV and SUV crazy – and the UK bans the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 – the latest racer is, yep, an electric SUV.
As the support category for the Formula E championship from late 2018, the Jaguar i-PACE eTROPHY will see dozens of the butch-looking (but silent) SUVs ripping around race tracks, emitting nothing but good vibes and happiness… and possibly some epic stacks.
Meet the wildest Land Rover Discovery ever built, the SVX. It'll demoralise high-performance coupes at the traffic-light drags with its 368kW supercharged V8 and will outdo the most hard core off-road rigs. Or so says Land Rover.
Illogically powerful, jacked-up, beefed-up and reinforced to tackle the rough stuff, you can bet that this car will be hugely popular despite the price of admission being unlikely to leave you with much change from $200,000.
Based on a new platform and powered by a heavily boosted twin-turbo 3.9-litre V8 engine, the 441kW Ferrari Portofino means business. Gone is the Ferrari California's ordinary design, replaced by a more sinister, racy attitude deserving of the famous prancing horse badge.
With a 320km/h top speed and a far more exotic look than before, the latest is a step in the right direction but will still be shunned by the Ferrari traditionalists because it's not a V12.
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