It seemed, for a moment, almost as if the years had been wiped away and the good old days of the motor show were here again.
Many of the world’s biggest car makers gathering together in one spot to preen and pluck their colourful feathers in front of one another, showing off new cars of both varieties – some ready for production and sale; and some destined to be thought of in years to come as a missed stylistic opportunity.
And then reality hit, with repeated dire warnings about the future of the European car industry in the face of anticipated legislation and the constant nagging worry of competition from China.
Speaking of which, the Chinese car companies were rather quiet at the Munich motor show, or the IAA Mobility Show as it’s more correctly called, which stands for Internationale Automobilausstellung, or International Car Revue, and it’s been running since 1897, mostly in Frankfurt until Covid tripped that up, forcing a reinvention in Munich.
RM Block
Across Munich might be a better phrase, as instead of being all in one location, the IAA is scattered across the city, which sounds like a nice idea in theory, but the diffuse nature of the layout tarnishes the edge of anticipation, and you start to long for the vast, anonymous exhibition halls of Geneva and Frankfurt, RIP.
Still, there’s no doubting that for the first time in a while, a big European motor show has seen some properly exciting global debuts. Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Cupra, Skoda, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Renault, Leapmotor and Polestar all had brand-new metal to showcase.
True, some had been revealed in the days running up to the show’s opening, which is always a disappointment for us correspondents who prefer the thrill of genuinely seeing something new for the first time. But it’s probably a good way to stir up some interest amid the show-going public.
Volkswagen Group, across its multitude of brands, had a good, solid go at dominating the Munich show. While the phalanx of new compact electric crossovers – VW ID.Cross (in concept form), Cupra Raval (still under a disguise wrap), and Skoda Epiq (actually the real thing) – are probably more firmly in line with modern customer tastes, the bigger news was that the much-hyped electric small hatch, originally set to be called ID.2, is now going to be the ID.Polo.
[ German stars turn out for Munich motor showOpens in new window ]
VW is slowly bringing its electric and combustion model ranges together, and the ID.Polo is in the vanguard of that process, although those assuming that the big ID.3 update due for next year will become the ID.Golf will be disappointed – it’s at least a few years before an ID.Golf will hove into view, and it will be riding on VW’s all-important new SSP electric car platform, which has been designed to be more technologically advanced, but also crucially cheaper to build, than the current MEB electric car platform.
Perhaps that’s not a surprise – MEB was fast-tracked (which is to say, underbaked) in the wake of the dieselgate scandal. It won’t be until SSP arrives that we can truly see how good a VW Group electric car can be.
The ID.Polo won’t use SSP. Instead, it uses a modified version of the MEB platform, switched to front-wheel drive, but is also gets a really attractive body, slightly but significantly altered from the ID.2all show car, which absolutely screams “Polo” on that car’s 50th birthday, and which looks, I reckon, subtly desirable which is exactly what VW needs right now as it struggles with waning profitability and the impact of Trumpanomics.
Better was to come from Audi and Skoda, though. Oddly, the profitability of those two brands has been reversed – Audi was once a profit juggernaut within the VW Group, but it has faltered of late, while Skoda has romped ahead.
Still, nothing distracts from a reddened balance sheet like a concept sports car, and Audi’s Concept C – electric, with a targa-style convertible roof and achingly cool styling – should morph into a replacement for the dearly departed TT soon. The original TT turned Audi from a maker of stolid German saloons into a company capable of style iconography, not to mention those massive profits. Maybe the same trick can work again?
Speaking of style, Hyundai and Renault seem to have swapped places. Renault was showing off a new Clio, which doesn’t go on sale until 2027, even though it keeps the chassis and engines of the current model. You’d think that would speed up the production process.
It at least gives you a year and a half to buy a current, attractive Clio because Renault seems to have made its first styling misstep in a while, with an overly aggressive look that, dare we say it, has a hint of old Citroen about it?
Hyundai, meanwhile, was showing a concept version of its new Ioniq 3 electric hatchback, which looks achingly cool – like a Hot Wheels toy blown up to full size. Please, Hyundai, keep the see-through ducktail spoiler for production. Please?
BMW and Mercedes battled with long-range electric SUVs, with the new iX3 beating the new GLC EQ into second place, thanks to an 805km range that would mean the BMW can, in theory, reach a destination some 100km clear of the Merc.
However, car makers were more united when it came to declaiming the European Union’s proposed 2035 ban on the sale of new combustion engines.
Head of Stellantis Europe Jean-Philippe Imparato said the potential destruction of the European car industry – which, according to analysts EY has seen 50,000 job losses in Germany this year alone – is nigh.
[ BMW unveils the Neue Klasse - the first of its next-generation electric vehiclesOpens in new window ]
Volkswagen Group’s chief executive and head of Porsche, Oliver Blume, echoed those comments, while before the show the boss of Mercedes had been ringing alarm bells.
Ola Källenius is not merely the chief executive of Mercedes-Benz (and indeed the broader Daimler-Benz company), but also the current head of the industry lobby group, ACEA.
Speaking to German newspaper Handesblatt, Källenius has issued some dire warnings, claiming that if the ban remains in place, the European car industry could “collapse”.
“We need a reality check. Otherwise, we are heading at full speed against a wall. Of course, we have to decarbonise, but it has to be done in a technology-neutral way. We must not lose sight of our economy” said Källenius.
Källenius’s argument seems to be that, in advance of the ban coming in, customers will rush to buy those cars that they feel safe with – petrol, diesel, and hybrid models – and that this will not only harm the environment, but also produce a cliff-edge of sales, as car makers enter 2035 with battery-powered cars that only a few want to buy. If, at least, hybrids and plug-in hybrids are still allowed after that cut-off, it may give car makers and consumers a softer landing.
That’s an argument that seems to be landing equally softly with EU legislators, who previously might have been deaf to such pleas, and the 2035 legislation is up for review at periodic intervals.
The only major holdout was Michael Lohscheller, the boss of Polestar and former Opel chief executive, who told assembled journalists: “Weakening targets now would send a signal that Europe can be talked out of its own commitments.
“That would not only harm the climate. It would harm Europe’s ability to compete.” It probably didn’t hurt that Polestar was showing off a dramatic new 884hp electric super-saloon, called the Polestar 5.
Even so, while EV sales are climbing, European buyers remain wary of going fully electric. Perhaps Skoda and Cupra can offer a potential solution. Cupra’s Tindaya concept car featured something we’d not seen before – an extended-range plug-in hybrid set-up with 500hp, a 300km electric-only range, and all riding on that SSP platform, which, until now, had been assumed to be designed around electric power alone.
Across town, Skoda was showing a dramatic Vision O concept car, which previews a future Octavia estate. While its incredibly taut body panels and minimalist shooting brake look probably won’t survive the accountant’s scalpel on the journey to production, a combination of that sleek and practical body with the Cupra’s hot-rod plug-in hybrid system could make a tantalising mixture of power, performance, electric range, and the welcome safety net of liquid fuel when you need it.
Perhaps then, a half-electric estate might be a better answer to Europe’s future car sales conundrum than another phalanx of fully-electric SUVs? Well, concept cars allow you to dream, I guess, and I’ll definitely be dreaming of the Skoda Vision O. Car of the show, hands down.
