Paris motor show 2010: a reader review

Over the next 48 hours globe-trotting CAR reader Mark Hamilton (car4mh) will be blogging live from the 2010 Paris motor show, filing his thoughts on all the new cars unveiled in the French capital. All his live updates will be posted on this page, so keep coming back for more of his blog. Top tip: the latest updates are posted at the top, so start from the bottom and read up.

Both the south west German automotive titans brought two-wheelers to the show, in the form of the Smart E-Scooter, and the Mini Scooter E...hang on.  No, that's correct.  Both feature iPhone integration, electric motors and trendy millenial kids riding them on and offstage.  Times like these you remember it's only a couple of hours' drive between BMW HQ in Munich, and Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart. 

There is a new CLS, and a new 6-series.  Both of them are not bad, although they reflect somewhat conservative evolutions of what were more daringly-styled predecessors.  They could be really radical and call the new CLS a sports-saloon now, as it has eschewed much of the chopped-roof, banana-curve 'coupe' style of its predecessor for a more angular look.  Meanwhile BMW reached right back to the original, beautiful E9 CS coupe of the late-60s to explain the graceful if less brutally-contemporary form of their new 6 series.  They didn't burden the introduction of the new big coupe with too much ED buzz either, no doubt believing that the hoffmeister kink and long-nose proportions will provide all the assistance a thrusting BMW driver needs to attain peak performance.

Maxi-Mini puts its WRC gear on
Mini was good value this time around, laying off the dancers from previous shows and providing a straightforward rock band to accompany the Countryman WRC launch.  Out came Rauno Aaltonen to tell us about how great the original Mini was as a rally car, and that the new slammed-softroader Countryman will do well.  Then it was Jean Todt, who congratulated Mini on rejoining the WRC.  At least it's one move Ferrari are unlikely to protest to the FIA about. 

10.30am: Rosbif, well done
I've been handed a roving brief by online editor Tim Pollard this time around, allowing me to avoid following the rolling-wave of media following the press conference schedule (tune in for Tim and Richard Webber's live blog content for the 'live from the trenches' vibe). This means more time to explore the show at a relaxed pace, and follow coverage in the intimate surroundings of the press portakabin- err, press centre.

However, I take a dip back into the shark pool for JLR since I am here representing a British publication.  Motor show bookings being what they are the two TATA-owned firms are still operating in the shadow of slimmed-down Ford, who might have divested itself of its Premier Automotive Group and shares in Mazda, but can be comforted (or haunted) by the brands remaining parked nearby.

If you wannebe Range Rover, you gotta get with my friends
First up, the RR Evoque launch, and it's Gerry McGovern doing the talking as the Baby (err, sorry, I mean Posh) Range Rover rolls on stage.  It's a car that has polarised opinion and offended many a Land-Rover or general car enthusiast with its Victoria Beckham marketing links and metrosexual front-drive layout.  And yet I like the look of the thing - it must make Jeep execs weep to see the Evoque in comparison with their ill-starred attempts to take Jeep on-road (Compass and Patriot...shudder).   

Dan Dare, Your supercar has arrived
Next door then to the launch of the Jaguar C-X75 concept.  It's all hands on deck with Ravi Kant and Carl-Peter Forster from parent company TATA looking on as Ralf Speth (JLR CEO), Mike O'Driscoll (Jaguar GM) and Ian Callum (Jaguar Design Director) launching the car through a clever retracting stage (literally - the car appears to stretch through the top of the retracting box before being revealed).  Oddly, Advanced Design Director Julian Thomson stays offstage, although I think I may have ended up in a quick shot of the crowd he took with a handheld digicam. 

The rundown of the future powertrain technology embodied in the car is both exciting and a little too far beyond immediate feasibility to take the C-X75 entirely seriously.  But as a high-tech flight of fancy and a 75th anniversary present to Jaguar fans the C-X75 sure beats the special edition variants of the existing range shown to date.  Leaving the swarms of camerafolk to jostle for shooting room, I depart with a handsomely-designed but rather last-century brochure and media CD.  Will head back later for a more detailed view.

08.55am: Press Centre
In the meantime Jaguar has seen fit to offer a proper surprise, Lamborghini has ceased issuing teaser pics and got to the point already, and we now have power and running internet so I'm off to check out the show.

There's nothing like a power outage to start the day, and make us realize that the assembled scribes, presenters and camerapeople are almost entirely dependent on the Internet to function. Cloud computing? You can keep it until we get seamless coverage and mobile data without crippling roaming charges.

I've taken the scenic route to Paris, with stopovers in Australia (drove a Ford Falcon to the Holden Museum, naughty) Singapore (caught F1 practice thanks to a flight delay) Hong Kong (saw the Peninsula Hotel's fleet of bespoke RR Phantoms) and Tokyo (visited Nissan's new HQ in Yokohama).

By Mark Hamilton