Don't look! ...
Sport compact enthusiasts should, at all costs, avoid pictures (like the one to the right) of the new, not-available-in-the-U.S. Honda Civic. This European-market five-door hatchback, shown in near-production form in Geneva, boils off all the small-car functionality from the previous design, leaving only a gorgeous streak of glass and steel, a flagrant, glowing arc from the front bumper to the rear. Awesome.
SAVvy at Ford
Ford also gene-spliced some sex appeal into functional cars with its minivan concept, the SAV. As slick and geometric as a Japanese hero robot, the five-seat "sport-activity vehicle" looks terrific and seems perfectly scaled for the American market, which I predict is on the verge of a mood swing regarding big vehicles. With gas prices predicted to increase to $3 per gallon in California, the domestic market is going to develop an appetite for vehicles like the Ford SAV.
Aston Martin move
Speaking of California, Geneva debutantes included the Beverly Hills-bound Aston Martin V8 Vantage, a Porsche-911-sized exotic powered by a 4.3-liter, 385-hp V8 and wrapped in a miniaturized version of the Vanquish's sheet metal. Built in the new facility in Gaydon, England, the V8 Vantage will be the company's volume seller, with about 3,000 units per year but, at around $110,000, will remain fairly exclusive.
Bold and not so bold
BMW took the wraps off its new 3-series -- the official car of Santa Monica -- and it's a very strict design effort, with none of the flamboyant "flame surfacing" of the Z4 and 5-series; the face-lifted 7-series is also more conservative. Nearby on the BMW stand was the 130, a small hatch powered by an enormous engine, the 3.0-liter, inline six-cylinder producing 258 hp;
and the wicked-looking M6, the 6-series coupe with a big, 500-hp V10 stuffed under the hood.
Middle East Rolls
For the most exclusive zip codes, Bentley unveiled the production version of its Flying Spur, a version of the wonderful Continental GT with a second set of doors artfully grafted to its midships. As in the GT, a 6.0-liter, twin-turbo, 552-hp 12-cylinder motor powers the car to near 200 mph. And for those who found the Rolls-Royce Phantom lese majeste, the company unveiled the Phantom stretch, with rear doors nearly a foot longer than the standard Phantom. Finally, the car has the grandeur of the old Mulliner- and Hooper-bodied cars. Unfortunately, the $385,000 vehicle is being sold only in the Middle East and Asia. When the exchange rates start pricing out Rolls buyers, you know there is trouble ahead.
Automotive critic Dan Neil can be reached at dan.neil@latimes.com.
