Trendsetters on stage, Part 1

The 85th Geneva Motor Show

The motor show in Geneva has a long history going back over 100 years. The show was initiated by Paul Buchet, chief agent by Michelin Switzerland, businessman Albert Vassali and Jules Megevet, an engineer. The first event with 59 exhibitors of automobiles and motorcycles took place in 1905 at the Geneva polling location "Batiment Electoral" and gained much success attracting more than 17.000 visitors. In subsequent years the show was presented occasionally but ultimately became a fixture where such models as the Clement (1905), Alfa Romeo 8C 2800 (1932), Ferrari Dino (1965) and Lamborghini Miura (1966) were launched. Today, the international Geneva Motor Show makes its home at the Palexpo at the airport, providing an impressive program making it to one of the five greatest auto shows in the world.

Lac Leman-La Cote

Since I discovered the beautiful surroundings of Lac Leman I have fallen in love with the picturesque villages, such as Rolle, Morges, Nyon and Montreux.

Fun in Montreux at the boardwalk with a Mercedes 'Gullwing'.

On the way to Montreux

Sunset from my friend's balcony in Montreux.

These ancient 'fishing port' villages are nestled along the shore around the lake.

Rolle, ready to enter Lac Leman by ship. 

The climate is mild and the French border is next door. I highly recommend a visit to the historical public bathing beach "Bains de Pâquis" in Geneva, which has a fantastic food and a breathtaking view at the fountain which is the town's landmark.

The piscine, also a place for relaxing

View from the Piscine

The look is very nostalgic!

Any automobile enthusiast should make sure that he or she attends the international Motor Show, which takes place in early march. 

Destiny or a reason to travel?

The auto show boasts a fantastic atmosphere, priding itself with many smaller luxury car makers, accessory suppliers and noble tuning specialists such as 'Nimrod Luxury Cars', 'Soleil Motors', 'Marussia Motors', 'Wiesman', 'Apollo Gumpert', 'Spano', 'Pagani' and many others. An additional bonus is that there is no rationing and buyers are free to purchase a single car rather than being expected to purchase in quantity.

Nimrod Luxury cars (2013)

What makes this show stand out from the rest is the way that bespoke featured brands are are uniquely positioned between the larger more well known premium brands which gives a nice blend as all exhibitors are given equal space to represent themselves.

Me in an Apollo Gumpert (2013)

Apollo Gumpert (2014) 

This unique combination of exhibits annually attracts a huge number of potential buyers,visitors, automobile enthusiasts and media representatives. This year the motor show attracted around 682,000 visitors over eleven days, 11,300 media representative attended the press days and 220 exhibitors from 30 countries presented their newest trendsetters.

One of the hightlights was the special exhibition "100 Years of Motorsport" by the Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer who also celebrated their 30 year collaboration with McLaren. To keep the quality on such a high level and maintain its status as a crowd magnet  the motor show is very selective in inviting new exhibitors. In order to even be considered for inclusion in the elite group, they must have an etablished brand with at least five years track record and a dedicated media representative in posession of a formal press pass. So I was very pleased about receiving short in time my journalist credentials for my online magazine "CarsInFashion".

Outfit selection for the motor show

With only five days left to the preview day to arrange everything. But I was prepared in time and I was happy to arrive to Geneva on Swiss time to start my work covering this fantastic event. To present myself to the automotive world as a fashion designer and journalist I choose a classy grey knee-lenght skirt from my own collection and went shopping for a jacket and a top.

I was more than lucky, I found a gorgeous black leather- wool jacket by STEVEN K. in a trendy "Rocker Style" (at a great price) and an eye-catching yellow top by Zara in A-shape. I love dresses, because they are very combinable with tights and leggings, so I included also my 'little' black dress from Paris. My shoe selection was my beloved, blue Pura Lopez shoes with low heel, some elegant heels in a modern black and transparent style and a pair of brown boots. In March it was still cold, so I brought along my unisex green army parka with. 

"Sleeping cars" at the preview day

One day before the first press day kicks off the doors open in the early afternoon for media representatives to sneak a peek at the cars, catch up with colleagues, pick up the program for the press days and to award the prize to the best-selling motor car of the year. The "Car of the year" competition has a longstanding history, having been founded 1964 by various European automobile magazines. This year's winner among the seven finalists (the BMW Series 2 Active Tourer, Citroen C4 Cactus, Ford Mondeo, Mercedes-Benz Classe C, Nissan Qashqai, and the Renault Twingo) was the Volkswagen Passat. I arrived by train at the Geneva airport around 3pm and walked with my luggage to the trade fair, which is just a few minutes away.

I spotted a crowd of media representatives in front of the stage for the "Car of the Year", but an closed wardrobe so I decided to look for the Glickenhaus car, the amazing SCG 003C. I was very anxious to see it in real life, because in our article "A Shark Dressed Like a Tank", we had introduced the main, upcoming features and details of this unique concept car. Another characteristic at the show I like very much, is that the auto show committee tries hard to threat any exhibitor the same way.

The fact that all the brand names are uniformly written above their stand looks sometimes devilishly funny as I noticed like the Scuderia Glickenhaus stand with the "Opel" sign visible in the background.

DMC without light!

Preview day is a fascinating, busy, unsorted jumble of "sleeping cars", barriers, cranes, half -finished stands, security people, well dressed men in suits and non-working escalators!

A true quite bizarre adventure to walk around and discover all the new arrivals covering two floors.

RUF cars! 

Photo Credits @Jul Krabetz and @Patrick Gaugler