Page 161 - Bespoke Issue

to communicate with an Italian company, Ferrari, and they just don’t speak the same language. It looks like they’ve found a translator and I can’t wait to drive the production model.
Other gems from Geneva were the kahn brand ‘The Chelsea Tractor Company’ showing an awesome six wheel Land Rover Defender and the Hennesssey Venom V5 which continues John Hennessy’s special vehicle line of giant slayers. The Alfa Romeo stand was brilliantly imaginative with designers working live for all to see in a lounge-like area, which was a great compliment to the very pretty Alfa range of motors.
Conspicuous by their absence was Apollo who launched the stunning Intensa Emozione last summer, they had chosen to display their car in the grounds of the Hotel La Résreve which was open for all to see, the car made regular runs around Geneva stirring up a lot of attention. I asked Norman Choi and Ryan Berris about their decision to stay out of the show. They both remembered the days when they would look longingly at the cars from behind the shows barriers, but access was limited, so they wanted to open up the Apollo to anyone who could track them down by their proli c social media to come along and see it up close, but also actually be able to hear it run – they wanted to meet real people that loved cars as they did.
The 2018 Geneva show didn’t really showcase any big new models, but its general undercurrent was alternative power. Every brand had an electric version of something, there are even murmurings at Modena of electric power. Bentley had the hybrid Bentayga all the regular everyday cars had an ‘e’ version. The other notable thing that illustrated the shift that is happening in the industry was the distinct lack of alcoholic beverages. Tuesdays press day was business as usual, but Wednesday was fairly dry. Ferrari’s bar was stocked but none of it was open, the same at Rolls Royce, much to the chagrin of one of my contacts there whom I saw near the JLR stand as he proclaimed “there’s no fucking Champaign! What am I supposed to do with my customers?”. It was the same at JLR, great food, but no alcohol. It certainly seems there is a sea change in the motor industry, no drinks, a notable lack of ladies on the stands from a lot of companies – times are changing, but I’m sure some of it could have used a little more consideration before they all jumped on the band wagon. We will see if the sudden move from these huge corporate conglomerates has been thought through or is just reactionary measures bought in through focus groups. What are they going to do when we all share an electric car to go to work and ownership is something we talk about nostalgically. As the man said, Times they are a changing...
BESPOKE IS THE
NEW LUXURY AND AN ELECTRIC CURRENT IS CHANGING THE INDUSTRY
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