Frankfurt Motor Show 2015 Highlights

When the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo first emerged as a render several days ago, it almost broke the internet. Then on Monday when the car appeared on stage at the Volkswagen Group Night the web exploded again and rightfully so. We spent an hour at Bugatti’s stand in Frankfurt to take a closer look and talk to the Head of Exterior Design, Alexander Selipanov about this insane project. It is almost unbelievable to that that it took only 4 months to develop and built this car.

This was arguably the biggest star of Frankfurt 2015 and we are confident it will give the brand a major boost in popularity with a younger generation ahead of the Veyron successor launch in Geneva next year.

Lamborghini began teasing the Huracan Spyder days before the show kicked off. We were expecting the Huracan Spyder but what we didn’t know is the fact that it would look absolutely gorgeous! Just like the Gallardo Spyder but unlike the main rivals, it comes with a soft top. At Frankfurt 2015, two examples of the 2016 Lamborghini Huracan Spyder were displayed in blue and orange.

The new Huracan Spyder is powered by the same 602hp 5.2-liter V10 engine found on the coupe. Despite the slight increase in weight due to structural alternations, the Huracan Spyder still does 0-100 in 3.4 seconds. Also at the Lamborghini hall was the new Aventador SV Roadster in white.

Ferrari revealed the new 488 Spider a couple of weeks ago but we only got to see the studio shots. A few snaps have been shared on the internet of the new car driving in various locations but the real deal dropped at Frankfurt Motor Show 2015!

Just like the Coupe, which is still relatively new and fresh, the Ferrari 488 Spider is powered by the 662hp 3.9 liter twin turbocharged V8 engine that rockets it from 0 to 100 in just 3 seconds!

Oh, and the debut video will make you wish you had one already!

Porsche surprised the crowds in Frankfurt with a brand new electric concept dubbed the Porsche Mission-e. It’s purely electric with a 600hp powerplant that boasts a 500 km range. This is the first step by Porsche to building a four door electric sedan, in a segment that is currently dominated by Tesla with the Model S.

Also debuting in the Porsche hall were the new Carrera and Carrera S facelift models. They are powered by a new twin turbocharged flat six engine with a displacement of 3.0-liters. Porsche executives, however, said that the GT3 and GT3 RS will remain naturally aspirated despite the new move by Porsche to turbocharge the 911 range.

This is essentially a convertible version of the Rolls-Royce Wraith albeit with a new name – Rolls-Royce Dawn. The name reminds us of the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn from the 1950s. Despite sharing the same twin-turbo V12 engine from the Wraith that produces 563 hp, 80% of the Dawn’s external parts are unique to it. Expect so see these cruising on the French Riviera in the Summer of 2016.

It’s been hyped for months and visually Jaguar stayed true to their word. The new Jaguar F-Pace will fill a niche besides the Land Rover and Range Rover sister brands. It be quite affordable with the base model going for around $41,985.

The entry Jaguar F-PACE model is powered by a 178 hp 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel while the range topping model gets a supercharged V6 with 375 hp. Jaguar also showcased the C-X75 concept which was used in the 007 Spectre movie.

Mercedes-Benz always likes to put a concept car at the center of the attention on the Frankfurt Motor Show. Following noteworthy launches of the Mercedes-Benz Vision GT car and the revolutionary F015 Luxury in Motion at Frankfurt Motor Show 2015, the German manufacturer revealed an aerodynamically optimized concept dubbed “Concept IAA”.

IAA stands for Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile, it has a dynamic “Long Tail” mode that adds 390 mm to the car’s length enabling it to achieve a drag coefficient of just 0.19. Beneath its polished skin lies a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine coupled with an electric motor that gives a total of 275 hp.

But there was more to see and enjoy in the Mercedes-Benz Hall including the all new Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe and the S63 AMG Cabriolet were launched here too.

This is the car that has the media bubbling with anticipation, not because it’s the most exotic, fastest or the most powerful but because it brings a more exotic dish to the table. It’s a direct competitor to the people’s favourites – the BMW M3 and the Mercedes-AMG C63.

That said, the new Alfa Romeo Giulia QV is powered by a Ferrari-made 2.9-liter V6 engine producing 503 hp, just about the same amount as the new Mercedes-AMG C63 S. The 0-100 time is 3.9 second which is the same as the AMG competitor. It comes standard with a rear-wheel drive configuration and all-wheel drive as an option.

This was another exciting surprise at the show, the new racer from BMW Motorsport in form of a BMW M6 Coupe. Teams like BMW Team RLL are now considering shifting from the BMW Z4 GT3 to the new M6 GT3 – of course, the rules might differ in some racing series. Nonetheless, the new car will compete directly with the Bentley Continental GT3. It’s powered by the M6’s 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine and has an overall weight of just 1300 kg.

Elsewhere in the BMW hall, the new BMW 7-Series made its global debut joined by the 600hp BMW M6 Competition.

Close your eyes and imagine an SUV version of the Flying Spur, that’s right, the new Bentley Bentayga is very similar to the GT models internally and powertrain wise. Bentley had a clear mission with the new Bentayga – to make the fastest and most expensive SUV.

The Bentley Bentayga is powered by a 600 hp twin-turbo V12 engine that enables it to sprint from 0-100 in just 4 seconds. It can attain a top speed of 300 km/h. This particular one display car had a Breitling clock that costs around €170K in addition to the vehicle’s marked price of approximately $230K.

Exhaust masters Akrapovic had a stand full of new goodies for various supercars. There was a Porsche 911 GT3 and a Lamborghini Huracan which were both fitted with their titanium exhaust system. They recently revealed a new exhaust system for the Lamborghini Aventador but the main news was the company’s new offering for AMG with the new Mercedes-AMG S63 Coupe system on display in Frankfurt.

The Brabus stand was glowing as always, and this time they brought even bigger guns to the game. First was the Mercedes-Benz Benz G500 4×4², then a Mercedes-AMG GT S with 600hp, a Mercedes-AMG C63 S, a Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG and the newest Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S tuned to produced over 800hp.

Startech – a subsidiary of Brabus – had a barrage of new cars on show too. They displayed a new Bentley Continental GTC and a Flying Spur as well as the new Land Rover Discovery Sport.

Mansory took the IAA 2015 by storm with two stands in hall 5. Mansory had a couple of new debuts including the new S63 AMG Coupe, Bentley Continental GTC and their showstopping Lamborghini Huracan Torofeo. On the other stand of SUV specialist Mansory Switzerland a Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Macan, both with significant power upgrades, were on display.

As stated in the beginning of this list, Bugatti was not the only manufacturer displaying a Gran Turismo car. Hyundai brought its ‘A’ game to Frankfurt Motor Show 2015 where they launched a new sub-division for high performance cars called “N”. To highlight this new division properly, they unveiled their Vision Gran Turismo car which is styled like a modern Le Mans prototype.

Beneath the skin are two fuel cells and a super capacitor producing 670 hp and 201 hp respectively thus making it a proper hydrogen fuel cell racecar.

Finally, it’s hard to admire all these cars without noticing the glamorous girls standing next to them. We snapped a few of them from hall to hall, check out our full selection of Frankfurt Motor Show 2015 Girls