Geneva Car Show

Thursday, March 8 2012

Even though we hadn’t yet been to the famous Geneva car show, we were all too familiar with it because it nearly prevented us from coming to Geneva in March of 2010 on our “look-see” trip (the trip the company sent us on to help make our decision on whether to move to Geneva a few months later).  We’re pretty sure that we booked literally the last double room available in all of Geneva that week-- just to give you an idea of how popular this event is.  With this being our last year in Geneva we decided it would be a crime not to visit the show during our time here, so 2012 was our year!

So what does one see at a car show?  Having no experience at such an event, we didn’t really know what to expect.  When we first arrived, our inexperience showed, as we were a little too interested in the car parts on display (see Ang next to the giant rack of tires).  How were we to know this wasn’t the main attraction? :)  We saw a handful of ridiculously nice cars scattered here and there so that made it even more convincing.  It wasn’t until we reached the huge room of cars when it started to make more sense.

Picture every car company displaying their latest and greatest models in an airplane hanger-sized room larger than several football fields and you might start to realize what this was like.  It was sensory overload and we aren’t even car fanatics!  The fun part is that you have the ridiculous makes (Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Ferrari, etc.) in one section and right next to them you’ll have the more common Fords, Hondas, and Subarus.  While we didn’t dare touch the expensive cars, we did get inside some of the more familiar models (by the way, in our saddened opinion the 2012 Subaru Legacys, Outbacks and Foresters are not that great).  :(

Another fun part of the experience is that our friends Goran and RaeAnne (who we attended the show with as well as a handful of other coworkers) were absolutely enthralled by the Tesla Model S.  They hung out in the showroom model for a good 20-30 minutes talking with the sales rep about how awesome this car is.  The car (from what they told us) is 100% electric, so much so that it removes the need for a large engine under the front hood (so they added another small trunk there) as well as an exhaust system.  It has a touch screen the size of a laptop computer on the dashboard, which controls all of the car’s functions.  Apparently the car doesn’t need to shift so when driving it just smoothly accelerates to top speed without hesitation.  You can get about 190 miles on a full battery and to charge it you just need a regular outlet (although it does take some time to do so).  All this for just $95,000!  :)  No, we won’t be buying one at that price any time soon, but we will keep an eye on the technology of cars over the next 10 years and see what happens in this field as it seems really interesting.

We’re not sure how to end this post other than just showing random pictures of the cars we thought were cool, weird, and everything in between.  If you’re ever in the area during the month of March, you should definitely consider checking out the Geneva car show!