For the last few years, Spyker's cars have been overshadowed by the automaker's
struggle to revive the now-bankrupt Saab brand, but exotic cars are again at the
forefront with the debut at the Geneva Motor Show this week of the B6 Venator
concept.
Though technically a concept car, the midengine sports car is destined for
production and is scheduled to arrive in the U.S. in fall 2014 with an expected
price in the range of $125,000 to $150,000.
Spyker sports cars have had a certain outlandishness, with the various C8 models
sporting turbine-style vents aplenty and an extravagant interior design. The new
B6 Venator concept's appearance is relatively conventional in comparison.
There's a large oval mesh grille, and the two-door's profile and roofline recall
Lotus' Evora sports car.
The B6's design incorporates a number of aircraft cues -- a nod to Spyker's days
of making airplanes at the beginning of the 20th century -- like a glass-canopy
roof, LED taillights designed to mimic a jet afterburner and 19-inch fan-style
wheels.
The aeronautic theme continues in the cabin. There's an ignition switch on the
upper portion of the dashboard that initiates a pre-driving light-check sequence
before the car is started, and the turned-aluminum dashboard is meant to recall
classic airplane instrument panels.
The air vents look like miniature jet turbines, and the exposed gear selector
linkage is another nod to airplane design.
With an aluminum chassis and carbon-fiber body, the B6 Venator concept tips the
scales around 3,000 pounds. The midmounted V-6 is positioned transversely and
drives the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission. Spyker claims
power is in excess of 375 horsepower.
Ford hopes small SUV can drive European sales
At the Geneva show, Ford pulled the sheet off the European version of the
updated global small hauler EcoSport designed in Brazil and on sale in South
America. It is destined, says the company, for other world markets such as India
and China, but no mention was made of the U.S.
EcoSport is a key new product for Europe, where Ford is being hit hard by the
economic mess. When it goes on sale there at the end of this year, the EcoSport
will be a smaller sibling in the lineup to the recently launched Kuga (as the
Escape is known in Europe). Ford is expanding its Euro SUV line in response to
increased popularity of the vehicles there and in 2014 will launch an upscale
version of the next-generation Ford Edge. Ford says it also will begin building
Explorers in Russia this year and that it hopes to sell a million SUVs in Europe
in the next six years.
EcoSport powertrains for Europe will include the tiny 1.0-liter EcoBoost, headed
for the U.S. as an option in the redone 2014 Fiesta small car (which shares the
vehicle platform), as well as 1.5-liter gas and diesel engines.
The Euro EcoSport will feature the Sync voice-activated infotainment system.
Safety systems include electronic stability. And for stick-shift-centric Europe,
there is a hill launch assist.
Carmakers try to excite buyers amid Euro gloom
It is a tough time to be a European carmaker. Profits are falling as factories
produce more costs than cars and fewer consumers are buying.
Despite the gloom, automakers rolled out an array of new models at the Geneva
show, from hybrid supercars to sedans to smaller SUVs. All are being done in an
attempt to lure buyers back -- or at least capture their imaginations. "Our
industry is not an industry of rationality. It's also an industry of emotions.
It's about brands, it's about attractive cars, it's about power, it's about
handling, it's about opinions, it's about status," said Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn
in Geneva, according to the Associated Press.
But Europe's carmakers are finding it harder to recover from the collapse of the
car market in 2008 than their rivals in the U.S. and Asia.
New car registrations in Europe dropped 8.5% in January -- more than anyone
expected -- and that is on top of a decline of 7.8% last year to 12.5 million
vehicles. Even bedrock Germany, the engine of Europe, was suffering: Sales there
fell 9% in January and 10% in February.
Auto execs are split over when the European car market will bounce back -- or
whether it will. Ford Europe's Stephen Odell and Ghosn said it will be at least
three years.
"Europe is going to be a very tough market for a while," Ghosn said. "The only
question is, is it going to be bad or very bad?" But Fiat and Chrysler CEO
Sergio Marchionne expects a turnaround as soon as next year, adding that "a lot
of it depends on the political resolve of the Europeans to find a way out of the
quagmire."
In the last year, Ford Europe has begun union talks to close factories in
Britain and Belgium to reduce capacity 18%, or 355,000 vehicles, by the end of
next year. PSA Peugeot Citroen has announced it would cut about 8,000 jobs and
close one factory, despite government and union resistance. Toyota Europe and
Fiat are shifting their manufacturing footprint to better capture demand.
But unless European consumers start buying again, the industry remains on a
collision course.
Marchionne calculates that four of Europe's biggest automakers -- Ford, PSA
Peugeot, Fiat and General Motors -- lost a combined 5 billion euros (about $7
billion) in 2012. Their global operations have been subsidizing the European
losses.
Marchionne said that if demand doesn't return and carmakers don't do more to
reduce unused factory capacity, which hurts margins, "there will be structural
failure."
He put the chances at "less than 50%," saying he expects there would be
government intervention before any player is allowed to fail, but the fact that
it was on the lips of European auto executives means the industry is not out of
the woods yet.
Ghosn, who also runs Renault's joint venture with Nissan, agrees that European
governments won't allow failures of car companies, important employers and
economic mainstays. "I don't see a collapse of a car manufacturer, but I see
probably more government intervention to prevent employment tragedies," he said.
Hanley reports for Cars.com's Kicking Tires. Contributing: The Associated Press
