Here Are Some Of The Strangest And Best Cars From The Now-Dead Geneva Motor Show

Things were better in the old days, so often goes the call. And yet sometimes, it’s true. In the case of the Geneva International Motor Show, that’s very much the case. It was once a prestigious stage upon which the finest (and often strangest) automobiles would debut, and yet, today, it lies dead. But let’s remember it for the good times, and all the brilliant cars that starred there over the years.

The Geneva show was often lauded as more of a level playing field than some other major international auto shows. It was hosted on neutral ground, with Switzerland itself lacking an automotive industry of its own. In spite of a relative lack of local content, it became a focus for the international auto industry when it came around each year. The Salon, as it was known, was first hosted in 1905, and became a major fixture on the automotive calendar for more than a century.

Sadly, though, the magic didn’t last forever. After the 2019 event, the show went on hiatus for four years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2024 return should have been triumphant, but instead it became the last ever. In its years away, tides shifted, new shows came to prominence, and automakers turned their focus elsewhere. In May, it was decided that the 2025 show would be abandoned. Instead, the organizers announced their plans to move on to a Qatar event in future.

Big Name Hits

Until 2024, big name automakers flooded Geneva each year to show off the latest hotness. A debut there was a surefire way to make a splash as the automotive media turned its gaze Swissward each year.

While only a handful of automakers attended the final show, it still had some quality content. Leading the pack was the Renault 5 e-tech, which was shown for the first time in production-ready form. Its retro throwback design made huge waves in concept form back in 2021, with the magic still very much present in the finished product.

The fully electric car wore the neo-retro look well. The model is still a year away from hitting the market. It’s expected to drop with range in the ballpark of 250 miles, while Renault has been keeping motor specs and other details under its very fashionable French hat. It’s rare to see a concept reach production spec so faithfully, but Renault pulled it off. It was nice to see something so bright and cheerful at what would eventually be Geneva’s last hurrah.

Naturally, though, not every Geneva darling can reach production. Audi once showed up with the Le Mans-inspired R8 TDI, which delivered 493 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque from a monstrous V12 turbodiesel engine. That was too expensive and too cool to ever happen. As was the Dodge Demon, a sweet compact roadster that hit the stage in 2007. With 172 horsepower from a 2.4-liter inline-four, it was to be the company’s answer to the Mazda MX-5. With the concept landing in the dying days of the Daimler-Chrysler era, however, it was never to see production.

A personal favorite of mine was the Toyota Yaris Cabrio concept from 2000. It seemed to ape the lines of the popular VW Golf Cabrio, but with a pleasant charm all of its own.

Sadly, Toyota didn’t see fit to make something this fun a reality, no matter how well the drop-top body style meshed with the Yaris design.

Going back even earlier, I’d like to tip the hat to the Jaguar Kensington. Sure, we typically focus on the multiple fumbled supercar projects from the perpetually beleaguered British automaker. But they dropped the ball on more stately cars, too! In the late 1980s, Jaguar was still limping along with product from the 1960s, and it desperately needed to get with the times. Italdesign stepped in, penning the Jaguar Kensington. It was intended as a thoroughly modern revival of the XJ, with a look absolutely ready to take on the 1990s. It debuted at Geneva in 1990 as a full-sized mockup, with a fully-functional prototype shown later that year at the British International Motor Show.

Rocking a classic Jaguar V12 with 295 horsepower, you might have expected this to be a spritely executive sedan. Sadly, by modern standards, it was anything but. Lumbered with a laggardly 3-speed automatic transmission from GM, it would achieve the zero to 60 mph sprint in a humbling 7.9 seconds.

Sadly, Jaguar had no real interest in putting Italdesign’s work into production. The hilarious result was that the design was reworked and used as the basis for the Daewoo Leganza. Yick.

The Alternative Set

At many big-name auto shows, the focus is primarily on the major automakers. Meanwhile, there are those that cater to the alternative and aftermarket, like SEMA and Tokyo Auto Salon. Geneva always had a bit of both, catering to major automakers and many smaller makes as well.

Rinspeed is perhaps one of the best-known outfits in this regard. The concept car builder is based in Switzerland and makes its business working with supplier partners to put together innovative builds that look to the future of automotive transport. In any given year at Geneva, you could expect to see something new from Rinspeed—from the practical to the downright whacky.

The Rinspeed Presto from the 2002 show was a darling little thing—a two-door roadster that could literally extend its body to become a four-seater. It kind of makes one look like they’re driving a shoe, but it looks undeniably fun at the same time.

One can only imagine the whole point of the Presto was to say “Hey, presto!” when you extended the wheelbase for more room. It was a concept that has, to our knowledge, never caught on in real production cars. Still, being able to shorten the car for pointier handling and easier parking is definitely appealing. You could parallel park in the tiniest spots and still take three friends out to dinner!

The Rinspeed Exasis was a striking off-road buggy with a design reminiscent of the latest Oakley sunglasses in 2007. It was built in partnership with Bayer MaterialScience AG to show off its high-performance transparent plastics.

Perhaps most memorable, though, was the Rinspeed Splash. Debuting at the 2004 Geneva show, it was a fully-functional amphibious car. It used hydroplanes to minimize drag, giving it an impressive top speed of 80 km/h on the water. Its 750 cc engine delivered 140 horsepower running on natural gas, and would propel the vehicle up to 200 km/h on land.

The Splash made waves, both figuratively and literally. It would go on to appear on Top Gear, with Richard Hammond putting the vehicle through its paces on land and sea. In 2006, a modified version of the Splash would go on to cross the English Channel in 3 hours and 14 minutes, claiming a Guinness World Record for the fastest hydrofoil amphibious car to make the crossing. It was actually a relatively slow time compared to other amphibious cars. The Splash suffered damage early in its transit and also had to contend with heavy traffic in the world’s busiest waterway.

Rinspeed weren’t the only small fry out there having a go. The 2019 show saw the debut of the hybrid Puritalia Berlinetta. The debut car for the upstart manufacturer, it evolved from an earlier concept called the 427 Roadster, itself a modern interpretation of the classic AC Cobra. It combined a supercharged 5.0-liter Ford Coyote V8 and a YASA axial-flow electric motor into a performance hybrid drivetrain. Puritalia claimed the combined output was a lofty 952 hp, with the Ford V8 delivering 740 horsepower on its own. Drive was sent to all four wheels via a 7-speed automated manual transmission.

The Berlinetta was a plug-in hybrid, though with a tiny 5.2-kWh battery, it only had an all-electric range of just 12 miles. Initial plans were to build 150 examples, though precious little has been seen of the Berlinetta since its grand appearance at Geneva five long years ago.

2019 also brought the Fornasari Gigi 311 GT to the show floor, though it had first appeared as a prototype in 2013. A carbon-fiber bodied sports car, it looked like some kind of swoopy classic car from Grand Theft Auto. Despite its distinctly Italian vibes, it drew heavily from the C6 Corvette, including its engine and interior. Still, that got you a V8 engine that offered 641 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Fornasari reckoned it would do zero to 60 mph in around 3.5 seconds.

Step back earlier to 2002, and you might have seen the Yak. It was an oddly angular crossover from little-known Italian design house Fioravanti. Led by ex-Ferrari designer Leonardo Fioravanti, it produced a number of interesting concepts over the years, albeit little that went further. 1996 had seen the design house build an ultra-streamlined take on the Fiat Bravo under the name “Flair,” while the 2007 show would see the debut of the Hidra people mover.

Fioravanti’s designs were eye-catching, to be sure. By and large, though, they were either too unappealing or too out there to gain much traction. One highlight that it could wear with pride was the Ferrari SP1, a special one-off supercar built in 2008.

Death Knell

The end of the Geneva show is sad, but perhaps not entirely surprising. The official statement really says it all.

“This extremely regrettable decision should not detract from the efforts and determination with which we have tried to regain our success. However, it has to be said that the lack of interest shown by manufacturers in the Geneva Salon in a difficult industry context, the competition from the Paris and Munich shows which are favored by their domestic industry, and the investment levels required to maintain such a show, sound the final blow for a future edition.”
– Alexandre de Senarclens, President of the Comité permanent du Salon international de l’automobile Foundation.

I’ve cherry-picked a few of the hits here today, but there were many more besides. These were the weird and wonderful cars that caught my eye, but you’ve probably seen plenty of others over the years. If you had some hot new car and you needed to get eyes on it, you’d go to Geneva. That was how things worked back in the day!

Now, it’s often easier for automakers to just throw a few JPEGs or WEBPs (ugh) on a press release and call it good. The realities of digital communication mean that it no longer makes sense for auto magazines the world over to fly their journalists into Geneva to get the scoop on the ground. Much is simply done remotely at much lower cost. Given the financial state of the modern automotive media, it’s perhaps no surprise.

Still, for over a century, Geneva was the place to be, once a year in March. It may be over now, but we can always appreciate it for what it was. Vale.

Image credits: Fioravanti, Rinspeed, Fornasari, Puritalia, Jaguar, Italdesign, Toyota, Audi, Renault