Beijing Motor Show 2010

Audi A8 L W12
%AThe Audi A8 L reflects the Chinese rear luxury trend by increasing rear legroom by 130mm over the regular A8 and offering options including a footrest that fold-downs from the back of the front seat, fully reclining rear seats and a mini desk for making important business notes. It will also go on sale worldwide.
%Awww.audi.com

The volcanic ash hovering over Europe might have curtailed some Western exhibitors' plans to visit the 2010 Beijing motor show, but that didn't stop the event from being hailed as another massive global success. Not only were key cars unveiled by established Western carmakers but there were a number of increasingly convincing models displayed by Chinese manufacturers.

China officially became the biggest car market in the world in 2009 -- and not just through massive sales of low-budget transport. The country is now Audi's second biggest market and the third most important for Bentley. No surprise then that both marques chose this year's Beijing event -- officially known as Auto China 2010 and held between April 23 to May 2 across a whopping 200,000 sq m exhibition space -- to launch significant models. The cars in question also reflect two of the key trends of the show: ever-expanding rear-seat luxury for limousines (in the shape of the long wheelbase Audi A8 L) and bespoke editions for the local market (the Continental GT Design Series China).

The first trend is a natural progression of the Chinese market's long-standing appreciation of well appointed and spacious rear seating in saloons and limousines which signify business success as well as being important places in which to conduct business and relax when travelling between meetings. Chauffeurs are inexpensive, and as a result Chinese businessmen rarely drive. The stretched Audi A8 L reflects this demand with options that include a footrest that folds down from the back of the front seat, fully reclining rear seats and a mini desk for making important business notes.

The second big trend is making special editions just for the Chinese market. In Bentley's case this included an extension of the luxury rear-seat trend, with interior cushions in the Flying Spur Speed China plus China-only exterior badging and paint colours for the Continental GT Design Series China. As slight and subtle as it sounds, many auto experts believe the trend has legs. Speaking at the Interior Motives China Conference 2010, design director of Beijing Auto, Shan Wei declared that China means, "not simply importing a car. Automotive design must combine with Oriental culture, so that Chinese consumers accept it." Not since European sports car makers wooed American buyers in the 1950s and 60s with special editions has the industry focused so specifically on one particular market.

Alongside a plethora of local market hybrids and EVs, Ford arguably unveiled the concept of the show in the appealingly rounded shape of its sub-100g/km CO2 Start city car. Still capable of more than 100bhp via a tiny turbocharged 1.0-litre engine, it also features a dashboard controllable via a plug-in smartphone and recyclable composite exterior body panels.

With yet more vehicles -- notably the Citroen Metropolis and General Motors' trio of EN-V future mobility concepts -- unveiled at the 2010 Shanghai Expo a week later, China's status as the most important and increasingly sophisticated auto sales market is no longer in doubt.

BMW Gran Coupe
The Gran Coupe was billed as a 'concept' but looks highly production-feasible as a four-door variant of the next 6 Series and a competitor to archrival Mercedes' very successful CLS (which started the whole 'four-door coupe' trend). Expect production models in 2012.
http://www.bmw.com

Bentley Continental GT Design Series China
This China-only special edition features a one-off exterior colour, bespoke exterior and interior badging and on the Flying Spur model even Bentley-badged cushions for the rear seats.
www.bentleymotors.com

Cadillac XTS Platinum concept
Super chunky all-American sedan-styling with highly credible plug-in hybrid powertrain likely to reach the showroom given that the technology is almost production-ready in General Motors' sister brand and model the Chevrolet Volt.
http://www.cadillac.com

Ferrari 599 GTO
0-62mph in 3.4-seconds and a 208mph top speed makes the 599 GTO the fastest Ferrari road car ever. Based on the 599XX experimental track car, the Italian brand will sell just 599 examples of the V12 GTO, for circa £300,000 each.
http://www.ferrari.com

Ford Start
A beautiful example of superb small car design, the project was undertaken by Ford's California-based Strategic Concept Group and led by design boss Freeman Thomas (also incidentally one of the key designers behind the original iconic Audi TT and reborn VW Beetle).
http://www.ford.com

Geely Emgrand GE
This ambitious brand is one to watch. Last year it showed a shocking Rolls-Royce rip-off concept; this year it's bought Volvo and showed numerous much more credible concepts at Beijing including the GE - featuring perhaps the ultimate luxury rear-seat statement -- a single throne seat with multiple accessories and a taxi partition to block out any chauffeur chat from the front.
www.geely.com

Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce Chinese Edition
Narrowly beating Bentley's Chinese editions for the longest car model name ever, only ten versions of this Murcielago will be made, each one bearing a numbered plaque with the owner's name engraved on it. For the hefty 768,000 Euro price tag you also get a bespoke flat grey and orange livery and other special detailing, but it doesn't go any faster than the 'regular' LP 670-4 SuperVeloce.
http://www.lamborghini.com

MG Zero
Passable exterior styling hides a much bolder and futuristic interior package that suggests what a 21st century MG could look like, implying Chinese stewardship of the once-iconic British brand could ultimately result in a fine sporting small car.
http://www.mgmotor.co.uk

Maybach 57 & 62
If you want seats with optional Swarovski crystal detailing in the piping, wireless internet and a 19-inch cinema screen look no further than the facelifted Maybach 57 and 62, a car that seems to have found more friends in the Far East than it has in Europe.
http://www.maybach-uk.com

Mercedes Shooting Break
Following on from the F800 in Geneva, the Shooting Break concept explores further design directions for the three-pointed star and gives heavy hints of a possible estate version of the next-generation CLS.
http://www.daimler.com

SAIC Leaf
MG parent company SAIC (short for Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) showed this highly blue-sky concept with a leaf canopy complete with photovoltaic solar cells that angle towards the sun for maximum energy collection to then assist the electric motor. Unveiled at the Shanghai Expo, the SAIC Leaf is not due on sale anytime soon.
http://www.saicmotor.co.uk

Citroen Metropolis
Designed by Citroen's studio in Shanghai, this whopping 5.3 metre-long saloon was unveiled not in Beijing at Auto China but on the French Pavilion of the Shanghai World Fair on May 1. Its plug-in hybrid powertrain promises only 70g/km CO2 emissions but the equivalent of V8 power when brisk overtaking is required.
http://www.citroen.co.uk

GM EN-V concepts
A trio of futuristic mobility concepts were unveiled by GM at the Shanghai World Fair, running from May 1 to October 31. The Jiao (Pride), Maio (Magic) and Xiao (Laugh) represent three different characters of the two-seater 1.5 metre-long electric vehicles that propose a new kind of solution for increasingly congested cities that can be driven manually or autonomously.
http://www.gm.com