Sports Cars at the Geneva Show

Since 1905, Geneva has come to be the world’s most important auto show. We can’t show you all of them, but here are some of the more notable sports cars displayed. We find them alternately weird and wonderful. Some you’ve already heard about; some not. You did hear this morning about the good, the bad and the ugly from our own tgriffith. He also wrote earlier about the Infiniti Emerg-E concept (above), which is not only stunning but breaks new engineering ground. Enough with the latest Ferraris, Porsches and Aventadors! Infiniti has created something light, fast and electric with an assist from Lotus. Details are here, but basically power derives from a 3-cylinder range-extender engine (47 hp) plus over 400 hp from electric motors driving the rear wheels. Top speed is limited to 130 mph, which is certainly sufficient, and 0-60 mph comes in 4 seconds. Now if they would only change the goofy name.

Another beauty overlooked in all the blather about supercars is the reworked Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster. Steering, brakes and chassis have been upgraded. The great naturally breathing V8 (430 hp) remains, and a 7-speed automatic has been added. Recommended retail price in the U.K. is £84,995 ($133,818 U.S.). All the noise about Aston’s V12 Zagato, also at Geneva, won’t obscure the fact that the V8 Vantage Roadster is one of the world’s most gorgeous sports cars, still. Check our listings for a few nice used ones and save big bucks.

You still like those maxi-cylinder engines? A new Spanish V10-powered sports car, the Spano, boasts 820 hp and 708 lb-ft of torque to get you to 60 mph in under 3 seconds. Yes, and GTA Motors plans to build 99 of these things. No, we don’t have one in our listings yet.

Finally, and tragically, the NSX concept has come back, now with Honda badges and some slight body reworking to be sold in countries without Acura distribution. We described this botch of a car in January, but Honda didn’t take our criticisms to heart and, in fact, made it look worse.