Motor shows on press days are crazy places. Within moments of arriving at the Porte de Versailles for the 2012 Paris Motor Show you are discarding layers of clothing as the heat from the lights – and, no doubt, the ‘hot air’ coming from some of the stands – is turning the vast pavilions of the Parc des Expositions into huge saunas.
It’s difficult to move about as there are so many people here. And then there’s the noise.
Every stand has vast screens showing videos accompanied by a musical soundtrack… which has to be turned up to the max so as not to be drowned out by a neighbouring stand. It’s an attack on all the senses!
A little peace descends on the Nissan stand, though, to allow journalists to hear vice president Andy Palmer give an update on electric vehicle sales and to underline that within a generation there will be millions of electric vehicles on our roads.
He also reveals the latest Nissan concept, TeRRA, a full-size four-wheel drive SUV powered by a futuristic fuel cell stack. Driven by hydrogen, the only emission is water.
General impressions? TeRRA looks great but the real interest surrounds the fuel cell. All we need is for hydrogen to be available at every fuel station…
In the meantime, the next chapter in Renault’s EV story is about to begin. In front of a huge audience – everyone wants to hear what Carlos Ghosn thinks – the head of the Alliance introduces ZOE, Renault’s new all-electric compact city car.
This is a car that will make a big impact: good looking, practical, great to drive and with zero emissions, if everyone in Paris drove a ZOE, the streets would be quiet, clean and cool. The exact opposite of the pressure cooker that is the Paris Motor Show, in fact.