Frankfurt Autoshow

["Paul F. Kunz" <pfkeb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

   Some final notes from my visit to the Frankfurt Auto Show (IAA:
Internationale Automobile Ausstellung)....

- - I woke up in the Saturday (the 18th) morning in France, just across
  the border from Geneva, at 5am to pack my bags and head for the
  Geneva airport for my 7am flight to Frankfurt.   By 9:45am I was
  inside the Frankfurt Messe (fairgrounds for the show) having left my
  bags in my Hotel near the HauptBahnHof (main train station) and
  walked to the show.   It was not difficult to find as street signs
  point the way and besides all one had to do was follow the crowd.

- - The Frankfurt Messe consists of 10 Halle (buildings) of various ages
  and sizes.  BMW, MB, and VW have Halle near the main entrance, while
  the French and Italian cars are much further away.  Curiously, Open
  is also further away.  The tuners and assecory vendors are on the
  2nd and perhaps 3rd floors of some of the newer buildings.  The
  Halle further from the main entrance were considerably less crowded.

- - BMW was in Halle 3 and in a tent just outside (like at the '97
  show). It was very crowded, even at that time in the morning.   BMW
  pronouceed themselves as "BMW Group", which meant not only BMW brand
  products but also those coming from Rover.   Last time ('97) BMW M,
  Rover, and BMW motorcycles were in Halle 2 while  the tent was pure
  BMW.   This year both areas had products from both.   To make things
  worse, the tent contained a large area for a song-and-dance show,
  thus limiting even further space to show BMW automobiles.   All this
  was disappointing to me as BMWs are about driving, no?   I think BMW
  had the largest song-and-dance area of any vendor at Frankfurt.

- - My first encounter was with a 323Ci in Halle 3 that was tricked out
  by //M.  Front, rear, and side airodynamics aides.  To my artistic
  judgement they looked real good, much better than the treatment done
  on the design study M3 in the tent.  This car also had metalic
  pedals done by //M.  In Germany, all this stuff could be installed
  by the dealer after the car was delivered.

- - Also in Halle 3 I encountered a 7er badged "L7".  This was a 750iL
  stretched another 6 inches plus with a gap between the front and
  rear doors (like one sees on an American stretched Lincoln). It was
  a product of BMW Individual.  This car included a bulkhead between
  front and rear so a window could be closed between them.  In
  America, we call this a Limousine, but the same word is used more
  lightly in Europe.

- - Another product of BMW Individual was one of the two X5 displayed
  in Halle 3.   This one wasn't the same one I saw at Geneva Autoshow
  earlier this year, but it also had the headrest back TV screens to
  entertain the kids while one was driving.   Curiously, the
  speedometer of this car was in Miles.   Does this indicate that BMW
  Individual might be coming to the States?

- - BMW at Frankfurt likes to demonstrate it is high tech company.  Last
  time it was internet connections in the tent.  This year it was
  Compaq hand-held computers you could carry around with you.
  Infrared transmitters on the ceiling downloaded its display with
  info on the model you were looking at in either English or German.
  If you wanted more info, just click on the e-mail icon.  I tried it
  on one display and got an e-mail message with PDF attachment, but in
  German.

- - New models at the show were the 330d, the 740d, the 3er Touring, the
  Z8, and the E46 M3.   First time displayed in Germany were the E39
  M5, the X5, and restyled Z3.

- - Some high tech electronics were also introduced.  One is low
  pressure tire sensor which works by using the ABS sensor to detect
  that a wheel on a deflated tire has a smaller radius thus is turning
  too fast compared to the others.  Very clever, no additional
  hardware.  Another was Adaptive Lighting Control (ALC) which aims
  the headlamps around an upcoming turn.  It knows to do this because
  the GPS navigation system knows where you are and the highways have
  been digitized.   Hmm, great idea, but suppose there's a detour, or
  the road changes and your highway maps on CD-ROM are out of date?
  I also wonder if the GPS system is connected to the tire inflation
  system so that if all 4 tires are low the systems could detect that
  one is moving slower than the ABS sensors indicate?   And then there
  was the mobile Internet connection with voice activated controls and
  system to read your e-mail for you.

- - Outdoors near the tent, BMW was showing off producation-ready
  alternate fueled cars.   There was both a Liquid Hydrogen fueled
  750hL and 318hT (the 3er lost its back seat to make room for the LH2
  tank). 

- - The Mercedes-Benz displays were in the oldest Halle.  As the last
  time, one could take an escalator to the top floor and walk down by
  passing buy all the cars on display.  That is, if one had enough
  time to stand in line for 20 minutes to reach then start. In the
  open area on the way up, various vintage MB were on display.   It is
  as if MB was saying "we're the oldest car company in the oldest
  Halle, who needs high tech".   The biggest excitement at the MB
  display, however, was the super high tech MB SLR roadester.   Two
  were on display, softtop and hardtop.

- - In the VW Halle, were the VW owned Rolls-Royce, Bently, and Bugatti
  marques.   The Bugatti prototype coupe had a grill considerably
  scaled down from the one shown earlier this year in Geneva.   Now if
  you see one in your rear-view mirror, you wouldn't have fear that
  you are about to be swallowed.   The coupe still ports the W18
  engine; six 3-cylinder engines joined at the crankshaft.   There was
  also noise of a 16 cylinder engine, but I can't keep track of all
  this.

- - Overall, this was my second visit to the Frankfurt show.  I think I
  like the Geneva shows better.   At Geneva, all the vendors are in
  one absolutely hugh building, with a second building housing only
  the trade stuff.

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