mike spinelli: hey, it's roadtestament, i'm mike spinelli. this is leo parente herewith me today. and we are not stopping. we are doing this live, so idon't care what anybody says. leo parente: let me bucklein before we go. mike spinelli: buckle in. you never know what's goingto happen here. on road testament today, we'retalking geneva auto show, where chris harris is.
yes, you love chris harris. chris is at the autoshow with a camera. and he's doing some stuff. we're going to see thatin a little bit. leo parente: i've ranall the comments. so-- mike spinelli: yes. what comments? that everybody loveschris harris?
leo parente: no, everyone lovescommenting about chris harris stuff. mike spinelli: yeah. because chris is awesome. yes. and you can comment there @driveon twitter, just so you'll know. we say it every show,but whatever. i mean, just in case you didn'tknow that, there it is.
leo parente: blood's pretty muchcoming out of my ears, i don't know about you guys. mike spinelli: exactly. leo parente: repeatafter me, @drive. mike spinelli: after the genevaauto show stuff, we're going to be talking about sportscars, mid-engine sports cars, and a possible sportscar renaissance happening very shortly. leo parente: i like that.
mike spinelli: cool. so the geneva auto show,what's happening there. and this is happening there. leo parente: it begs thequestion "why?" but go ahead, what is that? mike spinelli: right. those mulsanne-like headlightsprobably tip you off that it's a bentley. it's the new bentleyexp9f suv.
leo parente: and the f standsfor-- not what you think i'm going to say-- whatdoes it stand for? mike spinelli: falcon. leo parente: falcon. you said falcon? leo parente: i said falcon. mike spinelli: i don'thave a boston accent, so i say falcon. leo parente: why is it that?
why is it falcon? mike spinelli: well, i'mguessing because in the middle east falconry is somethingthat people do there. and a giant market for thiswill be the middle east. leo parente: there you go. so this is not a carfor america. mike spinelli: i'm sureamericans will buy it. by the way, this is justa prototype for now. we will see somethingin production.
leo parente: yeah, [inaudible]concept. but-- mike spinelli: you knowit's gonna, yeah. leo parente: ok. what has it got for anengine, do you know? mike spinelli: well, they'retalking about either the w12 or the new v8 that they'redoing, or "wee-8," as they say in germany. mike spinelli: but you noticethe little interesting
turbine-like intakes or arethose running lights? i actually don't know. leo parente: we have no idea. mike spinelli: because this justcame out this morning. hit the internet lastnight i think. but honestly i-- leo parente: what'syour point here? mike spinelli: i don'treally have a point. i really want to hear what youguys have to say about a
bentley suv. i know that hating on suvsis kind of a cool thing. leo parente: it seems volkswagengroup is just bent on doing suvs. leo parente: with the volkswagenstuff, the porsche stuff, audi, now this thing. leo parente: i kind of get it. mike spinelli: china, russia,and the middle east, big, big, big luxury suv markets.
so emerging markets, a lotof stuff happening. leo parente: i actually readsomething about some high net worth guy talking about how whenhe needs to carry stuff around the neighborhood,park the sports car and drive this stuff. so it may not be for us. but i guess it's for someone. and i think it's goingto be way up there. leo parente: does it looklike a bentley to you?
mike spinelli: it looks likea bentley, sort of, to me. leo parente: so itfits the family. mike spinelli: itfits the family. i mean, this is gonna be a realhigh-end suv, i think. i think this is really going tobe maybe the most high-end suv out there whenthis is done. i'm gonna get the chinesecomments. because i understand the chineselove chrome and bling in the cars.
and this thing isfull of bling. did you see the tailpipesand the turbo inlets? oh, my god. mike spinelli: it'spretty flashy. leo parente: this ishome for dinner. mike spinelli: all right. next thing from geneva,the aventador j. leo parente: so apparentlythis is the "let's not be practical" show.
mike spinelli: well,it's an aventador. you know, the geneva show isreally all about design and making a statement, being verycontinental and racy. and here is what lamborghinidid with that. it's basically an ariel atomwith a 700-horsepower engine. and this sort of carbon fibermeets fiberglass-- leo parente: so catch me up. is this a one-off or arethey gonna sell this? mike spinelli: it's a one-off.
and as a matter of fact,it was just sold. $2.8 million this one-offwent for. and lamborghini's not sayingwho bought it. but somebody did. this guy. leo parente: look at that. mike spinelli: boba fett. leo parente: so the pointof this was-- wow, ok.
it's a festival of carbon. mike spinelli: the pointis two things. right, carbon. so they have this thing calledcarbon skin on it. it's like carbon fiber. it's an epoxy resin overa weaved carbon skin. leo parente: because lamborghinidid some big technical investment in newcarbon technology for automotives.
so this saves a little bitof weight, obviously. i mean, of course, takingthe rest of the body off saves weight. but it's about saving weight. leo parente: by the way, i thinkthis is the first road car with the swan-neck racecar wing attachment. mike spinelli: ah. so aside from all that,it's also an homage to the 1970 jota.
leo parente: see, that's whyi like mike spinelli. because there's a googleassignment to go connect the dots of that old-schoollamborghini and this new-school-- mike spinelli: well, yeah. it was a version of themiura, i believe. leo parente: ooh. leo parente: cool. mike spinelli: anyway.
so now, chris harrisfrom geneva. let's see what chrishas to say. chris, what's up? chris harris: so this is thenew jaguar xf sportbrake. i think it's a great-lookingcar, isn't it? how long have we waited for ajaguar xf that has got an estate boot? five mil longer thanthe saloon. 1,675 liters of spacewith the seats down.
doesn't mean anythingto me either. but the fact is,it looks good. but to start with, only comeswith diesel engines, two liters and three liters. pricing? well, they say in linewith current market. so about two to three grandmore than a saloon. i don't think jaguar's going tobe able to make enough of these for europe.
right. now i know there are hundreds,thousands, tens of thousands of people that want this car. it's concept at the moment. it's an evoque convertible. to me, it's the chocolate[inaudible] of the automotive world. i don't want a convertiblesuv. what's the bloody point?
utterly pointless. in fact, i'd go so far as tosay it's an absolute [beep] box. so let's go over and lookat a proper land rover concept, the dc100. this is much more like it. we've seen it arounda bit before. it's been doing the rounds ofthe motor shows for the last year or so.
i think it's a crackingconcept. it's a new defender,in essence. but hopefully will spawnmultiple platforms, really. so you'll end up with a veryutilitarian agricultural car, but also something that'sfunky and looks cool for being on road. this beats that convertiblething hands down. the thing i love about geneva isthere are cars that before you get here that you're quiteapathetic about, the
m6 is one of them. for me, two-door m5, don'tsee the point, really. because the m5 is more practicaland just as fast. the m6 actually lookssuperb in the flesh. it's a better proportionedcar than the saloon. 552 horsepower, the old carbonroof from the previous car. so the center ofmass is lower. i think this looks fantastic. and the gold brake calipers,proper bling.
ok, leo. one for you here. this is the new bmw dtm car. i know absolutely nothingabout it. i haven't driven it. i can tell you it looksvaguely like a three-series coupe. and i suspect it's gonnabe quite good. [inaudible] great things aboutgeneva as a motor show.
the first of which is that it'sactually quite small. so you can get around it withoutfeeling your legs are gonna break off. but i love the fact that not allthe people represented are big car manufacturers. alpina, for example, have beenin this space since i first came to this show 14, 15 yearsago, occupying the same square meterage with the samewonderful cars. behind me here, a b5biturbo saloon.
you probably can't see it, butthe green paint on this car is just like liquid. alpina are on a resurgencein europe. they've got this carcalled the d5. it's not quite as potentas an m550d. but i think it's going tobe a big sales hit. and the cars just look-- they look spot-on. they have ride comfort.
i quite want to driveone of these. oh, dear god. i'm gonna be a bitof a pussy now. because on the one hand, i wantto go onto the mansory stand and rip the piss out ofits ridiculous mclaren mp4-12c and its lamborghini aventador. but anyone that blings up carslike this, i think has connections. and i suspect i might goout in a body bag.
so i'm gonna stand here now withtheir pr man about a yard away from me and say i thinkthese cars look fantastic with a big smile on my faceand say they're actually complete [beep]. oh, look. there's another specialedition fiat 500. have you worked this out? if you want to have a reallyunique fiat 500, just buy a normal one.
because they're the onesthat seem to be rarest. 190 euros for somemaserati shoes. i think on this occasion, no. of course, when it comes downto it, new cars are a bit boring, aren't they? this is in an original rufturbo from the late '70s. about 300 and somethinghorsepower, a load of torque, and an rsr wing on the backof it, in a kind of dark metallic green.
i honestly think if you offeredme five cars to drive out of this hall today, thiswould be one of them. it just looks gorgeous. because i'm a rigorousjournalist, i can't even tell you what this honda designconcept's called. but it's absolutely weeny. and it doesn't havea steering wheel. it has a couple of sort-ofjoystick things. very, very cool, remindsme of a beat.
i mean, obviously designedto look like a beat. but stuff that and let'sgo and look at the nsx concept, come on. and here it is, the newaudi r-- uh, no, no. it's an nsx. honestly, that wasmy little joke. but there are elementsof audi r8 in this thing, aren't there? sleek, low, just build it,would you please, honda?
because we get quite a lot ofthis concept nonsense and they never reach the street. this one, it sounds like it'sgoing to reach the street. so we'll lay offfor the moment. i'm still a bit too rawto talk about that. because i drove one for 12 hoursyesterday in the snow. so we'll come back to it. thanks, chris. next year i am going there.
and i'm taking a morganroadster. leo parente: no, next yearyou're going there and you're taking me. mike spinelli: me and youin a morgan roadster? leo parente: that soundsway too road trip. it's like ishtar for cars. mike spinelli: wow. google ishtar, right. what do you got?
what's next? mike spinelli: so next, i'mgonna show you something. check this out. leo parente: this isnot a supercar. mike spinelli: no. it's a nissan micra. but what does this car haveto do with this car? take a guess? leo parente: that's it.
that's the end of it? mike spinelli: oh. ian gave it away [inaudible]. no, no, no. leave it. ian gave it rightaway, all right. leo parente: yeah, but if youhang around with add people, you really don't have to wait. ok.
so the bottom line is, this isa chevy volt with a better look using a nissan engine fromthe micra to energize all the batteries and electricity? mike spinelli: and theframe of an evora. leo parente: and theframe of an evora. mike spinelli: stretchedtwo inches. what do you think of that? leo parente: wow. where was kevin baconin that one?
six degrees, you know? mike spinelli: yeah, yeah. i got it. i bring this up because you hada lot to say about this car recently. leo parente: oh, yeah. well, i was hoping you weren'tgoing to go there. because no one's mentioned thatred bull engineering and adrian newey have beeninvolved in this.
or red bull technology, whateverthe right term is. but it's all uk, by the way. leo parente: it is uk. and so what you're saying isit's really the collaboration of the engineering side ofnissan infinity and the lotus energy recapture technology. also using a little bit ofthe frame the evora. leo parente: and a micrain the trunk. mike spinelli: and a micra inthe trunk to drive the thing.
so this is something that cameout of geneva today. but we've seen it before. and there were the patentsketches that came out. leo parente: and it'ssupposed to be fast. it's supposed to be track quick,not a track car, but just a fast sports car. so isn't that cool thata micra goes fast? mike spinelli: well, 0 to 60in four seconds, right? 402 horsepower.
leo parente: lightweightevora aluminum tub? however, i want to show youwhat came out last year in geneva, was the essenceconcept. so the essence was the gt car. mike spinelli: just as the newemerge is the sports car, the mid-engine sports car. leo parente: obviously, there'sno question that infinity is trying to makea design statement. leo parente: the emerge is anextension of this fluidic
look, the whole brushpen thing. leo parente: but they're movingthe technology, not just making pretty cars. and we're going to use this asa jumping off point into what we think is going to be arenaissance of mid-engine sports cars. a lot of it is a littlebit of greenwashing. because you're going to seea lot of hybrid stuff mixed in with this.
but at the end of the day-- leo parente: take me onthe journey, michael. mike spinelli: a lot of newmid-engine stuff coming. now this one is about columbus,ohio, right? so we saw this in detroit. leo parente: it's the nsx. mike spinelli: the nsx. it's a concept. but they've announcedthat they're going
to build it in ohio. so an american-built supercarfor the world market. leo parente: but it's also thepoint you're making, this is a collaboration of supercarand green tech. leo parente: because it'srunning just like emerge. mike spinelli: it's rightjust like emerge. leo parente: electricin the front? mike spinelli: well, it'sa little bit more complicated, right?
so they're using thesix-cylinder-- 3.5-, 3.7-liter six, right. leo parente: and the engineis powering the wheels? mike spinelli: the engine isactually powering the wheels, thank you very much. leo parente: unlikeemerge, ok. mike spinelli: unlike emerge,which is like the chevy volt, a range-extended hybrid, thatthe only thing powering the wheels are the electricmotors.
mike spinelli: this will haveelectric motors spinning the front wheels. leo parente: it's the audir18 le mans car. so you bring that up, but again,we're going to start probably seeing more of thesecars on the racetrack. or cars that have drive trainsa lot like these on the racetrack, because of new rulesand that stuff that you've been talking abouton shakedown. leo parente: well--
and watch me try to playup to the host-- because i think that in europe,as le mans goes with this green technology on therace track, and the sporting mindset of europeans, havingsupercars that have that green language will be more acceptedversus maybe americans that sometimes seem to be very myopicin our perception of what should and should notbe green and racing, or sporting and that. mike spinelli: if you want todo a sports car, it's got to
have some kind of greenwashingon it right now. leo parente: well, thatseems to be the trend. i mean, ferrari and the f12seem to be an exception. but even they talk about lesscarbon, more efficient, lighter weight. leo parente: they just didn'tthrow in the electrics yet. and i'm not saying thateverybody in america is into the green stuff-- well, maybe they're into thegreen stuff, but not exactly
this stuff-- not everybody is into it, it'sjust that when the media-- leo parente: my mom'swatching. don't go there. mike spinelli: when themedia's on to it. leo parente: oh, i know. mike spinelli: youknow what i mean? it's a very trend thing. leo parente: what does thathave to do with these?
mike spinelli: well, let'ssee what's next. i'll tell you exactly. jag. leo parente: and honestly,i'm making the statement. this is my favorite car. and i got a couple of reasons. but tell us about it. so it's the jag cx75. came out where?
paris, like last yearor two years ago. it's been a long time. another range-extended hybrid. but instead of an internalcombustion engine it has a turbine, or thesemicroturbines. leo parente: there's two. there's two microturbines. mike spinelli: sorry. two microturbines.
originally, when they announcedthat they were going to produce this thing, itwas going to have a more traditional drive train rangeextended by way of-- leo parente: some ice engine,internal combustion. mike spinelli: internalcombustion. leo parente: but-- mike spinelli: butyou go ahead. so they're little microturbines,there are two of them in the back.
and they were talking about howthe technology is getting close to being productionready. then they announced ice. but they made improvements. the tolerances, theygot right. you said it was like how? mike spinelli: like a 20thof a human hair. leo parente: think about that. mike spinelli: i mean,seriously.
the tolerances inside theturbine, it's amazing. leo parente: so they're goingback to a limited run of turbine-powered electric energyrecapture built by williams engineering. leo parente: how do you notbuy this car, go to a restaurant, try to pickup a girl and say, want to see my jet? and all you're doing is goingout to the parking lot. that's cool.
i love this car. mike spinelli: this is wheretech and racing and sports cars have to meet. i don't know. i'm a little bit lessenthusiastic. just because-- leo parente: oh, by the way. it's freaking sexy. mike spinelli: it is.
leo parente: look howcool that is? mike spinelli: itis pretty cool. leo parente: and it lookslike a jaguar. mike spinelli: it does. is it central? no, it's not central. leo parente: i'm not sure,i don't think so. because there are two seats. and--
leo parente: but it'sgot jet engines. mike spinelli: it'sgot jet engines. it's a sports car withjet engines. leo parente: it'sgot jet engines. mike spinelli: but it'sgoing to be made. they're going to build it. i mean, 0 to 60 in less thanthree seconds, with an electric motor. go ahead.
leo parente: i don't carehow fast it goes. mike spinelli: so stayon the jet engines. no, honestly. this is tech being sexyin the car world. that's got to happen morethan it's happening now. leo parente: is thatthe only one? mike spinelli: yes, it was. but here's what we're going totalk about for a second. so we mentioned the evora, thelotus evora, in talking about
what infinity was doing. but lotus as you know, a fewyears ago in paris showed off a bunch of new cars that theywould like to produce. leo parente: i met danny bahar,we had an interview. mike spinelli: you did. leo parente: without soundingarrogant about saying that. but we talked aboutall these cars. leo parente: and now it'smaybe two years later. mike spinelli: two orso years later.
two-ish, maybe, almostthree this year. the lotus esprit-- leo parente: v8, right? mike spinelli: v8 witha kers hybrid system. leo parente: so mike, letme ask you a question. you're talking about all thesecars, these supercars being green, having more technology,being more sophisticated. and lotus has always beenabout being simple and lightweight.
and they're getting hammered fordrifting away from that. but if the world is movingtoward a more sophisticated car, does that help lotus? mike spinelli: well, i mean,lotus has to do it. they have to buildawesome cars. and yes, they're going to gethammered by die-hard fans who see the company as an extensionof colin chapman's simplify it and addlightness thing. right, but modern cars can'tbe simple and they can't be
light, unless they're especiallycars like a caterham or something. leo parente: theycan't be simple. so they're just goingwhere everyone else is going with them. mike spinelli: they're goingwhere they have have to go. and that's where the 911 is. and that's where the lamborghiniis, and ferrari is, and mclaren now is.
that's what they have to do. but in this category of sort-ofgreenish supercars, i think they had to add the greenpart of this just to make sure that they're therewhere everybody else is too. and kers, by the way, is in thef1 world, they're in the f1 world, that'sa tie-in, too. mike spinelli: ian,go ahead one more. oh, we got a couple more. so just to sort ofwrap this up.
again, audi e-tron. who isn't building a mid-enginesupercar, sports car with some kind of hybridelectronic stuff going on? leo parente: thisis close from a production standpoint, right? leo parente: a year away? two? mike spinelli: so i've heard. yeah, i mean they'll be madein neckarsulm in 20--
leo parente: i didnot know that. mike spinelli: that's sortof how you pronounce it. leo parente: don't ask me. mike spinelli: 2013,'14 kind of thing. ian, what's next? ford gt. leo parente: and why arewe showing this? mike spinelli: because rumorshave been going around for while that ford is workingon the next gt
and it'll be a hybrid. an all-wheel drive hybrid, kindof like every car we've just been talking about. so my point is that we areentering some kind of supercar, mid-engine sportscar renaissance. but only this time it's greenand electronic and stuff. leo parente: well, that wasa wonderful journey. mike spinelli: i thinkit was, wasn't it? @drive on twitter.
what do you think? did we leave anything out? or did we screw itup or something? other than me not finishingsentences. did i finish all ofmy sentences when you wanted me to? thanks. hit us up next week. leo parente: and wehad chris harris.
mike spinelli: and wehad chris harris. leo parente: from geneva. mike spinelli: what morecould you want from us? come on. [music playing]
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