The French have the fastest trains in the world but how many know that they have the world's biggest motor show? This weekend it opens in Paris and in the run of Mondial de l'Automobile, over 1.3 million visitors and nearly 11,000 journalists will be attending with 60 world car premieres for their delectation. No other motor show comes near in terms of attendance though Frankfurt does have the biggest exhibition area.
PSA, otherwise Peugeot-Citroen, will be to the fore in seeking attention for French home produce. The Citroen C4 is one of the big show debuts, taking over from the lacklustre Xsara and entering a crowded lower medium segment dominated by cars like the VW Golf, Toyota Corolla and the Ford Focus. The Mark Two version of the best-selling Ford is also making its first show appearance.
Citroen hopes to give the C4 competitive advantage with an unusual mixture of distinctive styling, high-tech features and unique gadgets. There's a novel steering wheel whose rim rotates around a fixed centre boss. Buyers are also offered features such as an alert that warns you when you drift from your lane on the motorways, directional Xenon headlights that turn with the wheels and a low tyre pressure warning system.
There are actually two C4s, a three-door coupe and a five-door hatchback. The petrol and diesel engine line-up starts with a 90 bhp 1.4 litre unit that is likely to account for most Irish sales. C4 will be here in November.
From Peugeot, the excitement is the 407 coupe, an alluring good-looker that takes over from the Pininfarina-built 406 coupe, itself much acclaimed for its styling.
BMW will be still trying to keep the excitement going about its compact 1-series that has just been launched on European markets, including Ireland (see page 2). But fresher news in Paris will be the 320Cd convertible, a model specifically designed to capitalise on the popularity of soft tops and diesel economy. It is powered by a 2.0 litre 150 bhp engine.
Opel is enhancing its Astra family with a stylish three-door profile. The Sports hatch has distinct coupe looks. In spite of its sporty pretensions, it comes with an identical engine-line up to the five-door.
From Honda, there's a new compact MPV called the FR-V that, like the Fiat Multipla, offers three plus three seating. Lexus has a new smart looking GS saloon while Volkswagen is showing the GTi version of the latest Golf and even more exotically, Porsche is making a twin affair in the presentation of the new Boxster and 911.
The show will be brimming with new models but not every car manufacturer is brimming with confidence in the wake of Ford's painful survival surgery at Jaguar.