Apparently today is day one, and so yesterday must have been day zero, and the press launch would have been day minus one. I apologise for any confusion this may have caused.
Yesterday's interesting little factoid about SUVs brings us to the question which I intend to skirt around and eventually fail to answer in this blog - is the motor industry starting to move in the right (low emissions) direction, or is the occasional bit of good news just greenwash to keep the likes of me happy whilst everyone else gets on with the serious business of getting a bigger, shinier car than their neighbours? Motor shows are supposed to give you a feel for what the cars of the near future will look like, so what sort of future is on display at the Excel centre?
There are a few electric cars here from specialist companies, and lots of manufacturers are beginning to produce hybrid models with significantly lower emissions than their pure petrol powered counterparts, but that itself is a puzzle - whilst electric vehicles may not be the comprehensive solution for sustainable transport, why is it that the major manufacturers will only put an electric motor in a car if they can put a petrol one next to it? I shall ask and report back later.
But on a less technical level, are the ghosts of traffic jams yet to come generally getting more eco-friendly or not? Starting with the more distant future, the motor show has a display of 'famous' cars from the big and small screens. Most of these are from sci-fi or fantasy films, and perhaps they give us an insight into what 'blue skies thinking' comes up with on the automotive drawing board.
We'd better hope not, as this sort of blue skies thinking isn't going to do much for keeping them blue. The smallest car in this section is a Jaguar (Del Boy's Reliant van must have been unavoidably detained), and there are Land Rovers from Tomb Raider, Judge Dredd and a more lightly armed one from Emmerdale Farm. What struck me particularly was the continuing fetish for long phallic bonnets - I'll save the freudian analysis for my planned entry ' Girlz on the hood - spokesmodels past and present', but there is something worth looking at here. Two of the 'famous' cars, from Thunderbirds and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, are pretty much the batmobile on viagra, and the worrying thing is that they are echoed in the manufacturers' concept cars (a concept car is, I think, a prototype which won't go into mass production).
Mercedes have produced something called the 'Exelero' which is built on the chassis of the Maybach limousine - the largest and most expensive car Mercedes make. This is a two seater sports car approaching the length of a stretch limo. Apparently the Maybach's 12 cylinder biturbo 5.6 litre engine needed extensive work in order to provide sufficient power. Why would such a car be necessary? As a fire engine for formula one racing? Nipping to Waitrose when you live in Outer Mongolia? As a demonstration that SUVs aren't really that bad? Nothing so practical - the Exelero was designed to test bus tyres at high speeds. Allegedly.
These are the people who'll make CSR statements about environmental protection being their top priority. That and safer bus tyres.
Peugeot also has a twelve cylinder monster sports concept on display, long, black and very shiny, but they've covered their backs with a relatively efficient diesel hybrid concept. Guess which one is hidden away at the back of their stand?
I'm hoping that all this is just some sort of folorn last hurrah from car designers realising that their dream vehicles are going to have to stay in the realm of concepts, but it's alot of money to spend on a lost cause.
Tomorrow, back to the reality based community.