Dream machines for the lucky few

GENEVA IS traditionally a show awash with dream machines that we’ll never, ever see, let alone buy, and this year’s exhibition…

GENEVA IS traditionally a show awash with dream machines that we’ll never, ever see, let alone buy, and this year’s exhibition is no different.

We’re not just talking about mainstream exotica either; Geneva is the show to visit if you’re looking for the sort of low-volume hand-built machines that result in you becoming a friend of the CEO.

Spyker and Gumpert both had new models on display, both using Audi to power their supercars.

For the Spyker, the real dream is liquidity, the firm introducing its C8 Aileron with the hope that it’ll bring some black ink to the balance books. Impressive as the 400bhp Aileron looks, that’s a tough brief.

READ MORE

The Gumpert doesn’t bother with looking good, the dream in this case is about getting places as quickly as possible. With a top speed of 360km/h and a 0-200km/h (yup, that’s 200) time of under nine seconds, you’ll care little what the Apollo Speed looks like. The outside is the stuff of nightmares though.

A wander over to the Koenigsegg stand usually brings with it some fantasy metal – or should that be carbon fibre – but the surprise wasn’t some 1,000bhp supercar powered by sunflower oil; instead, the company unveiled an electric concept, the Quant, which promises a 500km range from a 15-20 minute charge.

It’s powered by Flow Accumulator Energy Storage, this system allowing repeated charges without any loss in capacity. Dream machine? Perhaps, but then nobody believed that Koenigsegg would ever deliver on its claim to beat the Bugatti Veyron’s top speed and it achieved that pretty easily.

Speaking of the big Bugatti, another special edition showed up in Switzerland to tease the bankers.

The Bleu Centenaire lined up alongside its Grand Sport open relative, the two-tone coupé celebrating 100 years of Bugatti in 2009.

The firm is boasting that 250 Veyrons have been ordered to date, 200 of which have been delivered; though at this rate it looks like every one of the last 50 sales Bugatti is aiming for will require a special edition model. How much? The Bleu Centenaire weighs in at a scary €1.35 million before taxes.

The “mainstream” supercar manufacturers weren’t to be outdone, with Ferrari and Lamborghini showing massive performance models.

Ferrari brought its 599XX, which, like the FXX before it, offers a handful of extremely wealthy Ferrari fans the opportunity to shape the future of Ferrari’s road car range. A track-only development model, the 599XX isn’t cheap at €1.1 million, though that does include six fully factory supported track events.

Lamborghini, too, ignored the financial crisis and brought along its new LP 670-4 SuperVeloce, a lightened, be-winged 670bhp Murcielago that will only be built in a series of 350 dream cars – dreams sadly unlikely to ever be fulfilled by all but a very lucky few.