Mad Max

I have a love-hate relationship with international motor shows such as This Week 's spectacle in Frankfurt

On The One hand, if you like cars, if you have a single drop of petrol in their blood, it is impossible not to be impressed by the range of awesome engineering on the display. And of course this is The General idea.

manufacturers spend enormous sums of money in the development of their latest four-wheeled fantasies, loaded with up-to-the-minute electronic gadgets, which seems to do everything For You to brush apart the teeth. You want them to be impressed.

But there is a very big disadvantage. The Sheer scale of these events is stunning. Hundreds of exhibitors and hundreds of thousands of visitors are herded together in a series of huge pavilions, each the size of many football fields.

press On the day, each manufacturer has its own presentation, complete with flashing lights, wall-to-wall video and a booming soundtrack. Many of them happen at the same Time .

It is hot, stuffy and very, very loud. The movement is a major chore, especially in Frankfurt, where you can take 20 Minutes to get from one side of the map to The Other . I went More Than eight miles (13 km) yesterday, only the change between interviews. As a colleague put it, "why does BMW still bloody postcode?".

So why go to the trouble? Well, for starters, it is a good way to see The Pulse of the industry, to what people think, and what you are concerned. I was much too many of these shows, in my career, But each was different.

for many years, the dominant themes of the electrification and automation.

In the case of The Major European shows in Frankfurt, Geneva and Paris, there were endless speculations about the necessity of the development of battery-powered cars, and how we are to live with self-propelled machines.

But here in Frankfurt, what used to be speculation has become a reality. The market launch of the Volkswagen-ID. 3 is considered to be a landmark moment. Not because it doesn't look particularly flashy or Exotic - it is - But since this has produced The First purpose-built Electric Car the German giant, is The First fruit of the €30 billion (£27bn) Investment programme, designed to make The Company a leader in electric cars.

There is an irony here, of course. Four years ago, Volkswagen was a completely different company. It was during the 2015 show in Frankfurt, the U.S. environmental protection authorities dropped the bomb on me, he accused of manipulating German society aware of emissions tests. Executive heads rolled, billions of dollars were paid in fines, and The Company began a very different business strategy.

Now, the VW-fighting group is well positioned to generate in order to hit The Front in a race, electric cars, other manufacturers have to join had no other choice, even though the established players are expected to be in the market for affordable electric vehicles such as Renault, Nissan, and Kia, for each sale.

the New EU rules, the step-wise from next year, the manufacturer requires a reduction in the average emissions of their vehicle fleets dramatically, or face hefty fines. Because The Rules do not apply for new car registrations, you will be able to have an Alibi-low-emission models, and leave it in a dark garage somewhere. You actually have to sell them.

It is fair to say, this makes some car companies a little nervous. One problem with electric cars at the moment, apart from debates on issues such as load points, is that they cost more to build than conventional cars. This means that the prices are higher, But they are less profitably sell to. This may come to change as the market develops, with economies of scale to the game, But at the moment it is a Problem.

the manufacturer, then were spending a lot of money in the development of new cars that produce you will probably lower profits than the previous models, at a Time when the industry as a whole faced is, to a slowdown in the world economy, falling sales in key markets and the impact of mounting trade tensions. The Chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover , Ralf Speth , told me that it summed up everything to a "perfect storm" for the industry.

Perhaps it is no wonder that this show has seen, less flashy concept cars than other recent events. I have the usual crazy fantasy models that show the claim, such as self-driving cars integrated into our Lives - how.

Not so This Time . Manufacturers are more concerned now with electric cars in the production and sale than indulging in futuristic dreams. Of course, automated technology is still developing at a frantic pace and advanced systems such as lane keeping assistance, find your way to the cars in the showrooms. But most of the really sci-fi creations were put Away .

Not all of them, though of them. Audi still has to be AI: Trail taken, a concept for a future self-driving off-road vehicle. It looks pretty awful - a cross between a moon buggy and something out of a Mad Max movie. With drones for the spotlight.

If The Future is really, dystopia, Audi will at least be ready for it.

Source of news: bbc.com