The highlights of the 1993 Geneva Motor Show – From the Old Box

Unfortunately, it has been four years since we were last able to experience a Geneva Motor Show. In 2020, the fair was canceled at the last minute due to a certain virus and then it didn’t happen in the years that followed. Again, we have to do without the traditional stock market bustle in March. There will be a ‘Geneva Motor Show’ in Qatar later this year. Yes, that’s what they really call it; the ‘Geneva International Motor Show Qatar’. Thirty years ago, the largest fair in Qatar was still a cattle fair – don’t quote us on that – and there was still a Geneva Motor Show in March. There we found some important (and slightly less important) newcomers.

Mercedes Benz Coupe Concept

Retroactively Mercedes-Benz had perhaps the most important news of all on the exhibition floor in Geneva. Although it was not yet a production car, this Coupe Concept would prove to be a very important harbinger. With this, Mercedes simply showed the nose of the first E-class designated as such, even though it only came more than two years later. With its coupé coach, it was also a preview of a car that came even later; the first CLK. This thirty-year-old concept car heralded a new era in which Mercedes-Benz started working with four headlights. It was not until twenty years later that the E-class would again abandon those headlights that were cut into two parts.

Peugeot 306 three-door

A lot less shocking, but certainly also important, was the Peugeot 306 above. It was the first three-door Peugeot 306 that we could see in person. The three-door compact mid-size car is all but extinct these days, but in 1993 it was still a popular choice, especially for those who wanted a flashier appearance. At Peugeot they also often looked quite a bit sportier than the more practical variant and the 306 did not disappoint in that respect either. It must be said that Peugeot immediately showed it as the S16, the sportiest 306 before the arrival of the GTI. Did you know that the Peugeot 306 had its world premiere at the AutoRAI in Amsterdam earlier in 1993 as a five-door?

Lancia Delta

Lancia hadn’t even got around to showing its new compact mid-sized car and pulled it out of the top hat in Geneva. Although we found the new Delta somewhat ‘squashed’ in appearance, it also ‘radiated power’, as we wrote. The standard equipment of the Delta was also in good order in our opinion, with central locking, electrically operated front windows, tinted glass and power steering. The wait was mainly for a first driving test with the HF versions, because the 190 hp 2.0 sixteen-valve certainly promised wonderful performance. Despite everything, this Delta would remain a relative rarity in the Netherlands. In the best year, 713 were sold.

Aston Martin DB7

It was perhaps the most important Aston Martin of the last century: the DB7 that made its world debut in Geneva in 1993. Not only was it the first DB since 1971, it was also the first Aston Martin to be put on paper by Ian Callum, marking the start of a very successful period. The design of the DB7 laid the foundation for its quite timeless successor DB9 and actually even the DB11. Incidentally, Aston Martin was there early by revealing the DB7 in March 1993, because the actual production only started in September 1994.

Bugatti EB112

A little further on we found a car that took even longer to arrive. Or no, he didn’t even come at all! The Bugatti EB112 was an intended sister model of the equally controversial EB110 with which Bugatti reincarnated in the early 1990s. Where the EB110 was a bloody fast supercar, the EB112 had to be a kind of Porsche Panamera. avant la letter become. A lightning-fast four-door with an extremely slippery carriage. In the nose was the (basically) the same 3.5 V12 as was screwed into the EB110, only that in the EB112 was good for a slightly more modest 445 hp. Partly thanks to the four-wheel drive, it is good for a 0-100 time of just 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 300 km / h. No Veyron figures yet, but already impressive. Unfortunately, the reborn Bugatti went out of business again in 1995 and the EB112 never came to series production. The Italian businessman Gildo Pallanca Pastor bought parts of some prototypes and later built two more examples of the EB112.

Nissan Terrano II/Ford Maverick

Finally, there was this perhaps not too obvious collaboration. In 1993, Nissan and Ford jointly presented a new off-road vehicle, each with its own logo and name on it. Nissan presented it as Terrano II, Ford as Maverick. Essentially it was a Nissan, namely the Nissan Mistral intended for the European market. It was called the Terrano II at Nissan, because there was already another Nissan Terrano elsewhere in the world, the car we knew here as Pathfinder. Although Ford could quite easily piggyback on Nissan, it turned out not really a success story. The Maverick remained a relative rarity compared to the Terrano II and the Terrano II was also given a significantly longer life.