text and photos by Richard Dredge (07 Mar 06)

How can it be that the best European motor show takes place in a country that doesn't have any car industry of its own? Get caught enjoying yourself behind the wheel and it's a hanging offence - for Heaven's sake, you can't even wash your car on a Sunday without getting locked up and the key thrown away!

Despite Switzerland's lack of love for the car, the annual Geneva Show brings with it all the glitz and glamour that's been so conspicuously absent from our own motor show for so long. This year's event was better than ever, and if there was one word that summed up the whole affair, it was diversity. You could choose between ugly cars or beautiful ones, ultra-cheap or hyper-expensive, green or Earth-killing - the show was one big collection of paradoxes. Whatever you wanted, as long as it was on four wheels (or occasionally just the three), you'd find it at Geneva 2006.

The greatest paradox of all was to be found at DaimlerChrysler, with the company's boss blasting onto the stage in the 1971 Spa-winning 300SEL. Dieter Zetsche burst into view in the red beast, before getting out to declare that the company is keen to build as many cars as possible which are "environmentally compatible".

This was after announcing that AMG is to become a far more prominent division of Mercedes, churning out even more behemoths with massively powerful engines - but they'll all be good for the environment of course, in the way that only a 6.3-litre V8 can be . . .

It wasn't only Mercedes that was having an identity crisis; Lotus has somehow managed to build a people carrier. Okay, so the APX isn't something that Lotus will build itself, but the very thought of the Hethel company producing anything that isn't stripped out to the max must have Colin Chapman spinning in his grave.

At least the new Europa (pictured) remains reasonably true to the company's ideals, but it's not a pretty car and looks like an overblown Elise. The original Europa was pig-ugly - and it bombed as a result. Does history teach us nothing?

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