► 10 of the oddest cars from Geneva 2015
► From lightweight sports cars to 6×6 leviathons
► Any we’ve missed? Comment and let us know
The headlines at Geneva 2015 were dominated by supercars and surprise crossovers, but delve a little deeper and there were more than a few hidden gems. Check out the Top 10 leftfield designs that caught our eye on the Swiss show floor:
1. Touring Superleggera Berlinetta Lusso
It’s a Ferrari F12 underneath, but the Berlinetta Lusso’s clean, mildly retro bodywork is so much more elegant, don’t you think? It takes centre stage on Milan-based styling house Touring Superleggera’s stand (alongside the Mini Superleggera concept from spring 2014, still doing the motor show rounds) with a limited production run of five cars planned. Mechanically it’s unchanged from the F12, powered by the same 730bhp 6.3-litre V12 and with 0-60mph done with in around three seconds.
2. EDAG Light Cocoon
German engineering outfit EDAG has a fine tradition of building oddball show cars to show what it can do, and its latest effort doesn’t disappoint. Its bodywork is formed of branch-like, skeletal structures created predominantly by 3D printers, believe it or not. They’re clad in weather-proof textiles, covering a host of LEDs which gently change colour, revealing the spider-web like construction beneath.
3. Mercedes-Benz G500 4×4²
It’s quite hard to ignore the mutant G-class towering over the Mercedes stand. The G500 4×42 takes its monster truck suspension and portal axles from the six-wheeled G63 AMG 6×6. Excessive in the extreme, but there’s no questioning its ability – extremely dextrous axle articulation and multi-storey ground clearance means it really is virtually unstoppable off-road – as long as you don’t need to fit through any narrow gaps. Officially it’s a concept, but a production version will almost certainly go on sale later in the year. Handy for the school run in the Himalayas.
4. Kahn Flying Huntsman
Bradford-based Kahn Design has clearly decided that anything Mercedes can do, it can do just as excessively. The Flying Huntsman like a ghostly pirate ship but is in fact a six-wheel drive Land Rover Defender powered by GM’s 6.2-litre LS3 V8 with nearly 430bhp. As well as an extra axle it adds another 1.2 metres in length to the Defender 110 it’s based on. Kahn’s touting the Huntsman as a concept but that’s not to say a few keen Geneva punters with stout chequebooks and stouter taste in cars won’t be able to order one.
5. Italdesign Giugiaro Gea concept
Since driverless cars seem an inevitability, Italdesign reasons they may as well be stylish. This electric luxury saloon concept has a conventional driver’s seat and steering wheel for manual driving, and a cabin designed to be as roomy as possible, with the right-hand seats able to convert into a bed when the car’s in ‘piloted’ driving mode. Otherwise the interior and exterior are relatively conventional, apart from those incredible 60-spoke wheels which measure a gargantuan 26 inches in diameter. Good luck getting to sleep on bumpy roads…
6. NanoFlowcell Quant F
This swoopy gullwing-doored prototype is the Quant F, the creation of Lichtenstein-based electric car specialists NanoFlowcell. It’s an evolution of the Quant E coupe displayed at the same show last year, with an ambitiously complex battery storage system. Its four electric motors are said to churn out the equivalent of 1075bhp. The firm also unveiled a concept for a smaller city-friendly version, called the Quantino.
7. Magna Steyr Mila Plus
Austrian engineering company (and supplier to various high-profile) car makers Magna Steyr brought along this pretty two-seater hybrid sports car concept as a demo for its aluminium architecture and bonding expertise. It’s four-wheel drive, with a three-cylinder petrol engine and two electric motors taking it from 0-62mph in a theoretical 4.9 seconds, with an equally theoretical electric range of 47 miles.
8. IED Syrma concept
As university projects go, this is quite an impressive one. The work of eleven Masters students at the Turin Instituto Europeo di Design (with a spot of guidance from Lead Designer at Pininfarina Luca Borgogno), it’s a 1:1 scale model of a hybrid supercar with a Macca F1-style 1+2 seating layout. It’s a safety conscious kind of supercar, designed with maximum crash protection in mind and with cameras to help eliminate blind spots.
9. DFSK C37
The catchily named DFSK C37 caught quite a few people’s eye for the wrong reasons. Squint a bit (and not particularly hard) and it bears more than passing resemblance to a 2006 Ford Transit. Alongside the C37 on the Chinese firm’s stand was the Glory, a suspiciously Volkswagen-esque people carrier.
10. Phiaro P75 Cypher Concept
Japanese engineering group Phiaro is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion it’s given a group of its engineers and designers free rein to create the Cipher. The story goes that it’s a car they’d been doodling and discussing for some time in tea breaks before convincing top brass to let them make it a reality. A lightweight weekend toy with a part-exposed tubular spaceframe chassis, there’s only 140bhp on tap from its 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine, but given it weighs just 596kg it’s unlikely to feel slow.