Frankfurt 2003 - part 2

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Show stars prepare for showroom battles
While Geneva is renowned for its concepts, Frankfurt is very much a 'real-world' show - the majority of the cars making their debut here will be dominating our roads for the next decade or so. And with the motoring market growing ever more competitive, this year more than one CEO revealed a new model while offering up a silent prayer for its success and his continued employment.

Of all the unveilings on press day, two stood out - not because they were gorgeous sporty supercars, but because they represented so much investment and thus had so much riding on their success. As Volkswagen revealed the fifth generation of its Golf, only a few hundred metres away Opel was taking the wraps off the production ready Astra, which of course we'll get in Britain as a Vauxhall. Both are the biggest sellers in their respective makers' ranges, and both are competing head-to-head – after the same customers.

There were other manufacturers with equal concerns, not least Fiat. The Italian giant presented a bold image, with F1 champion Michael Schumacher revealing the new Panda small car and Idea mini-MPV, but behind the gloss there is much turmoil. Fiat is in serious trouble, with big losses, and part of its recovery strategy involves making Martin Leach, recently resigned boss of Ford in Europe, its new head, but the Americans are insisting that Leach honour a clause in his contract preventing his joining a rival maker for two years. Fiat and Ford high-ups were expected to be locked behind closed doors at the show trying to thrash out a deal.

Even prestige names are not exempt from concerns over bottom line figures. Jaguar revealed its new X-Type Estate with a fervent if unspoken hope that this model would boost sales of the firm's entry-level executive car, which have not been achieving the confident predictions of a year or so ago. Another historic name, Lancia had its new Ypsilon on show against a background of rumour suggesting that if this car doesn't sell the famous Italian badge, already gone from the UK, could disappear altogether.

Not all was gloom of course. Mazda revealed its 3 family hatch, an Astra, Golf and Focus rival and one that the makers of those three will take serious note of now after the Japanese firm's recent performances, while Kia was even more confident, revealing a smart supermini at a time when its UK sales are up a massive 75 per cent.

One name was conspicuous by its absence from the show – MG-Rover. While the cost of a stand likely put off a maker watching its budgets very carefully, you have to wonder at the wisdom of staying away from Europe's biggest showcase at a time when the British firm is launching such important cars as the CityRover.

So differing aims - some makers hoping to build on recent success, others trying to rediscover such fortunes, one or two fearing for their survival. And no matter how much glitz and gloss was on display in Frankfurt, in the end it all comes down to one thing – whether you out there like what you see, and buy the cars...
VW's all-new Golf, the fifth generation, is in many ways the latest of an established line but in others it's very different. It's grown again, bigger in all directions than the old one and a world away from the first Golf of the mid-1970s - today's Polo is the size of a Mk1 Golf. But clearly VW wants to recapture the image of the most famous of Mk1 Golfs, the GTi - this version was among the display. We'll see the Golf, but not yet a GTi, in showrooms from February next year.
And this is the new Golf's equally-new rival, Vauxhall's latest Astra, unveiled in production form with an Opel badge. So far we've only seen the five-door and while not quite the slinky wedge of the concept we saw at Geneva in March, to this writer it appeared a more sporty-looking car than the VW. UK sales begin in March and expect a coupe closer in tone to the concept to follow.
Both VW and Vauxhall will be carefully watching the threat from this, Mazda's new 3, replacing the long-running 323 and in showrooms in January. The car is actually built on the same platform, known as C1, that will be under the next generation Ford Focus set to appear sometime next year. The three-door and five-door versions of the Mazda3 are very different, with their own specific body designs, and after the success of the 6 family car and 2 supermini, Mazda has reason to feel confident.
The Focus C-Max, on show a few weeks before its UK launch, marks the blue oval's long overdue entry into the compact people-carrier market dominated by the Renault Scenic and Vauxhall Zafira. It sits on Ford's new C1 platform, also under the Mazda3, though the next Focus on the C1 won't appear until 2004.
A new contender in the small car ranks, Citroen's C2, launching in the UK just a month after the show. Despite sitting on a shortened version of the larger C3's platform, the C2 is highly distinctive and will definitely build its own image.
Fiat staged a grand launch for the curiously-named Idea mini-MPV and the Panda supermini, calling on the services of Michael Schumacher and waxing lyrical about the return of a classic Fiat name. But actually it was never intended to be a Panda, but a Gingo. Renault argued this was too close to its own Twingo, not sold in Britain, and many in the industry felt Fiat backed down too quickly. Due in the UK early next year, the Panda is vital to Fiat's future.
Shaking up the small car market from early next year will be this, Smart's first four-seater called, naturally enough, the ForFour. Many got their first view of this car at Frankfurt but of course if you are a regular viewer of this site you'll know that this correspondent had seen it a couple of monthe earlier, in a special preview at Zurich airport – click here to access that story.
The Picanto is the new small car from the industry's current high-flyer, Kia. The firm beat its 2003 UK sales target of 13,000 vehicles in August, encouraging MD Paul Williams to up that target to 20,000. But speaking on the eve of welcoming all Kia's UK dealers to Frankfurt Williams said; "I'll be disappointed if we don't get 21,000." Those dealers will be selling the Picanto from next Spring in a sector in which they've never had a competitive model before.
Alfa Romeo's stand boasted females in striking outfits recreating the vee badge, a stunning concept and these two new models. The GT Coupe is a four-seater created from the 156 and on sale from December. Most obvious on the revamped 166 is the new front end with the trademark deep vee grille.
No Jaguar doesn't provide a lift-off body with its new X-Type estate. Last used by fellow Ford Premier Automotive Group member Volvo at last year's shows to display its XC90 off-roader, this device showed off the engineering excellence of the Jaguar, which the Coventry marque's bosses hope will impress buyers and overcome the horror of traditionalists who have in the space of months seen the leaping cat badge applied first to a diesel and then a load-lugger. Jaguar's fellow member of Ford's PAG, Land Rover, revealed a new Freelander at Frankfurt, basically the same mechanically as the old one but with many styling changes borrowed from the rather more upmarket Range Rover. Expect the price of the new model, on sale from November, to rise accordingly. There's also to be a Sport version, with lower suspension and more performance for those owners who like 4x4s but wouldn't dream of taking them off the road.
Volvo's S40 made its public debut at Frankfurt, an all-new model designed to be more upmarket than its predecessor. It's also the first Volvo to be built on a Ford platform, in fact the same C1 underneath Ford's Focus C-Max, the Mazda3 and reputedly the next Land Rover Freelander!" Not surprisingly Volvo plugged the crashworthiness of the S40, with the slightly used version pictured above.
BMW's portable
building like no other in the central square housed three major new models – the heavily revamped X5 off-roader, its all-new smaller sibling the X3
and the equally new 6 Series, bringing back the famed coupe line.
The X3 goes on UK sale next May though
BMW has already taken orders for 4000 of the 6000 available to British customers next year.
Opinions remain divided on the styling of the 6 Series but the pre-order book on this is healthy too, ahead of its December on-sale date.
Now the Seat Altea may be a concept, and a stylish one at that, but it won't be for much longer. The production Altea, coming in March, will look very like this, as Seat joins Ford in bidding for a slice of the compact MPV pie. Launched with not too much fanfare and overshadowed by the Astra, the Vectra Estate is nonetheless an important model for Vauxhall. On sale from October it will greatly increase the options for buyers of Vauxhall's rep-favourite.
This is the next weapon in the recovery plan of now GM-owned Daewoo. It's called the Lacetti and will be in showrooms in the early part of next year. Styled like most recent Daewoos by the Italian house of Pininfarina, the car will be crucial to European sales growth that Daewoo boss Nick Reilly admits has been slow, blame don't he fact that the entire sales network had to be rebuilt after GM bought the Korean maker. He's confident for the future, especially in a couple of years time when Daewoos appear with new diesel engines made by fellow GM company Vauxhall/Opel.
The little 4x4 in the front of this picture could soon lead a remarkable comeback. It's the Lada Niva, the Russian maker's cars not seen in the UK for some years. Mind you it might not be badged as a Lada when it gets here, but as a Chevrolet, or even a Daewoo. The Niva sells for less than the equivalent of £6000 in Russia but the current plan is to fit a Vauxhall/Opel diesel in it for European sales.
As the Cabriolet and Sport Tourer versions of Renault's highly distinctive new Megane go on sale, Frankurt marked the launch of yet another family member – the Grand Scenic, offering seven seats tot ake on the likes of Vauxhall's Zafira.
More to come...

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