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Geneva Motor Show 2016: the latest news and most insane cars

Whether it's pushing speed and performance boundaries or redefining expectations of luxury and technological advancement, the cars of the Geneva Motor Show are invariably leaders in their class. All the big companies prioritize this one week in March as a time to show off their very best and most advanced automobiles, and Geneva rarely disappoints. This year's edition features a new special edition Lamborghini, a successor to Bugatti's Veyron, Aston Martin's DB11, and a variety of other unveilings and innovations. To keep up to date with all the happenings from the show floor, stay tuned right here.

  • Sean O'Kane

    Mar 3, 2016

    Sean O'Kane

    Olympic skier will use a car and a jetpack suit to become the fastest man on skis

    Jaguar is trying to help Olympic skier Graham Bell become the world's fastest man on skis, the company announced at the Geneva Motor Show. Bell hopes to reach speeds upwards of 180 miles per hour next year, which would break the world downhill speed skiing record by more than 20 miles per hour.

    Bell won't just be using gravity to generate that speed, though. First, he plans to have an all-wheel-drive Jaguar XE tow him to 100 miles per hour, an art known as "skijoring." (Seriously.) Once he passes 100 miles per hour, small jets on his ski suit will ignite to take him the rest of the way to a world record. Yes — Bell wants to literally jet ski.

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  • Mar 3, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    Geneva 2016: the most extreme cars of Europe's hottest auto show

    The Geneva Motor Show this year was a return to form for one of the most indulgently excessive exhibitions of human engineering. Cheap oil has made huge engines trendy again, and the luxury sports coupes that dominated the Detroit Auto Show have now been joined by future classics like the Aston Martin DB11 and Bugatti Chiron. Lamborghini also had a car to show off that featured its most powerful engine ever built, though the Centenario is exclusive even by Lambo standards, with all 40 having already been sold ahead of the event. Join us for a quick look back at the highlights of Geneva 2016 before you dig into our StoryStream containing The Verge's full coverage of the best and baddest automobiles at the show.

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  • Mar 3, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    BMW's i8 is even prettier in Protonic Red

    Let's be honest, the Geneva Motor Show is a beauty contest above all else. None of the cars here move, very few are ever allowed to even make a sound, and the majority of press coverage is built around their appearance. This is why every new car here has to look new, and it's also why companies with no immediate novelty to announce are introducing special editions or fresh design options. BMW has chosen this grand Geneva event to give us our first in-person look at the Protonic Red BMW i8, and it looks stunning.

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  • Mar 3, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    Apple CarPlay pulls ahead of Android Auto in Geneva

    This week I've been kicking the tires of the finest, most exclusive, and most exotic cars at the Geneva Motor Show, and I've spotted two emerging trends: cheap oil is bringing huge gas guzzlers back into fashion, and Google's Android Auto is falling behind Apple's CarPlay. Android Auto isn't a complete absentee from the show, of course, but the headline-grabbing cars, the cream of Geneva's crop, have all gravitated toward Apple's solution and ignored Google's alternative.

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  • Jordan Golson

    Mar 2, 2016

    Jordan Golson

    The Hyundai Ioniq is a three-pronged attack on the Toyota Prius

    Since last year, Hyundai has been trickling out news about the Ioniq — the hybrid it hopes can dethrone the Toyota Prius.

    Now we've seen it in person at the Geneva Motor Show. The car is unique in the industry because it uses three different powertrains on one platform: hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and full electric.

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  • Jordan Golson

    Mar 2, 2016

    Jordan Golson

    The €2.4 million Chiron will make a profit for Bugatti (and that's a big deal)

    The €2.4 million Bugatti Chiron will make money for Bugatti, and thus, parent company Volkswagen, according to Bugatti President Wolfgang Dürheimer during an interview with The Verge at the Geneva Motor Show today.

    "We did our homework in every dimension," says Dürheimer. "This car over its lifetime, with 500 cars and a base price of € 2.4 million, is adding into the bottom line result of Bugatti and we are making money with this project."

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  • Mar 2, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    I love this Ferrari-red Lamborghini

    The blood-red Italian sports car in front, the super expensive one that goes really fast, is a Lamborghini. In spite of being Ferrari's signature color, red is also a standard option from Lamborghini, the other Italian super sports car manufacturer with a glorious history and a penchant for marvellous aesthetics. Having been torn between Ferrari and Lamborghini at last year's Geneva Motor Show, today I've found my perfect combination of the two in the Ferrari-red Lamborghini Huracán. It's everything good and gorgeous about sports cars.

    The epic Centenario was, of course, Lamborghini's star of the show, but there's something to be said for a good, basic, bright red Lambo. Join me, if you will, in celebrating the crimson beauty of one of humankind's most indulgent creations.

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  • Jordan Golson

    Mar 2, 2016

    Jordan Golson

    Fiat’s Abarth 124 Spider is the best Miata you can buy

    The Mazda Miata is an awesome little sports car. Perhaps the only way to make it better is to send it off to the espresso-filled engineers at Abarth to juice all the go-faster bits.

    The result is the Abarth 124 Spider, a 170-horsepower, rear-wheel drive drop-top that should deliver the best of Italian style with a Miata-sourced interior and chassis. It uses the fantastic little 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the Fiat 500 Abarth (and the standard Fiat 124 Spider that was announced last year) and, lest the driving purists bang down the gates of Abarth's Turin HQ, it's available with a six-speed manual.

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  • Mar 2, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    This is the insane motorcycle of Batman's wildest dreams

    The Maserati Quattroporte is a large sports saloon that can accommodate and transport four people in sumptuous luxury. To do that, it needs a big and powerful V8 engine. You know what doesn't need a 4.7-liter V8? A motorcycle. But for Ludovic Lazareth, designer of the Lazareth LM847, need is not an important consideration. His new four-wheeled bike is literally built around Maseratti's Quattroporte engine, and the only reason for it is that he just liked the look of the engine. Just because you can, thinks this brazen Frenchman, absolutely means you should.

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  • Chris Ziegler

    Mar 2, 2016

    Chris Ziegler

    There's a new Forza game being announced at E3 this year

    Microsoft

    You might remember that Forza Motorsport 6 was announced at a car show — NAIAS in Detroit last January — and now, Microsoft's Turn 10 Studios is doing it again: it just announced that there's a new Forza game in the works, and the hyper-limited Lamborghini Centenario, announced in Geneva this week, will be the cover car. But this time around, Turn 10 isn't saying what that new Forza game is; it's saving that particular bit of news for June's E3, the year's biggest game show.

    Presumably, this won't be Forza Motorsport 6: Apex, because that's not big enough of a deal to tease like this. The most obvious guess is a new Forza Horizon, the open-world companion to the original Forza Motorsport series. The original Horizon debuted on Xbox 360 in 2012, while Forza Horizon 2 launched in 2014. Typically, Turn 10 (and the UK's Playground Games, which has worked on the Horizon series) have alternated between Horizon and Motorsport releases in the past few years — and with last fall's Forza 6 release, that means it's time for Horizon 3.

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  • Jordan Golson

    Mar 2, 2016

    Jordan Golson

    The Bentley Mulsanne Grand Limousine is opulence on an astonishing scale

    Vlad Savov

    The Bentley Mulsanne is perhaps the most elegant way to be chauffeured around, insulated from the hoi polloi. There's plenty of legroom, massaging seats, and curtains to close out the world and get some privacy, or perhaps just a nap on your way to an important business meeting.

    But the back of the Mulsanne only has two seats. What if you have more than two people to haul around? Bentley's bespoke Mulliner division has you covered.

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  • Mar 2, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    The Apollo Arrow hypercar is Gumpert's glorious resurrection

    Gumpert might not have been a company many people heard of, and its exotic cars were even rarer to see in person, but it offers a proud heritage of road-going race cars that the new Apollo is now building on. Revived from bankruptcy and rebranded to Apollo in 2015, the new company is staking its future on the Arrow hypercar that's been unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this week. The Arrow is extreme both in performance and looks — as every hypercar must be — though it goes further than most with the number of fins, flares, and scoops in its exterior design. The wheel arches are more exaggerated than usual and the front comes to a sharp point, giving this car a profile that lives up to its name.

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  • Jason H. Harper

    Mar 1, 2016

    Jason H. Harper

    The indefensible supercar

    Oh, you shameless, unrepentant hedonists. Baubles of billionaires, playthings of playboys. You are the supercar, and in this age of environmental calamities and have-everythings and have-nots, you are indefensible.

    Are you not our petrol-burning Kardashians? Should we be embarrassed by our obsession, our inability to look away? Should we try and quit you?

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  • Jordan Golson

    Mar 1, 2016

    Jordan Golson

    The retro-futuristic Morgan EV3 could almost be a Star Wars pod racer

    Are you in the market for a car that has charm, panache, old-school design, and zero emissions? Allow me to present the Morgan EV3. It's an all-electric version of the wonderful Morgan three-wheeler.

    With a 20kWh lithium battery, the 64-horsepower, 1,100-pound trike can get from 0 to 60 in well under nine seconds, and can reach nearly 100 mph. In "eco" mode, Morgan says it's good for 150 miles, or 50 miles in the driver-focused "sport" mode — think faster acceleration, better throttle response, and much more fun.

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  • Mar 1, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    Aston Martin unveils the stunning DB11

    You'd think after seeing the latest Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Koenigsegg have to offer I would be feeling jaded by this point, but Aston Martin's DB11 has me thrilled and excited all over again. Unlike the extraterrestrial supercars unveiled earlier in the morning, the DB11 is within reach for mortal Earthlings. It has four seats (albeit with negligible leg room at the back), a trunk that can fit two golf bags, and a comfortable interior decorated with a Bang and Olufsen audio system. Oh, and it looks absolutely stunning.

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  • Chris Ziegler

    Mar 1, 2016

    Chris Ziegler

    Watch a diesel scandal protester storm the stage at Volkswagen's press conference

    Dieselgate is still hurting Volkswagen, and as time goes on, the symptoms are getting stranger. A random guy wearing a Volkswagen uniform got on stage during the German auto giant's Geneva Motor Show press conference Tuesday, carrying a "cheat box" prop that he placed underneath the Up! compact that was in the middle of being presented. The exchange that followed between the man and Volkswagen's passenger car chief Juergen Stackmann — who was on stage at the time — is kind of amazing:

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  • Chris Ziegler

    Mar 1, 2016

    Chris Ziegler

    Aston Martin's DB11 is the gorgeous Bond car of the future

    Aston Martin

    There are few car badges in the world with deeper history than Aston Martin's DB line, made most famous by James Bond's beautiful, tricked-out DB5 in 1964's Goldfinger. Now, there's an all-new DB ready for its debut: the DB11, complete with a 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V-12 that's good for 600 horsepower. Unsurprisingly, it's enough motivation to make this the most powerful DB model Aston has ever produced.

    The company's press release notes that the DB11 is "heralding a new design era for Aston Martin," and it's pretty difficult to argue — the unusual offset roof strakes, enormous side vents, and striking taillights contribute to a design that's unlike anything in recent Aston memory. The company's trademark grille carries over, but everything else about this car looks new and unique.

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  • Mar 1, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    Koenigsegg's Regera is the hybrid nemesis of Bugatti's Chiron

    Probably the wildest thing about Bugatti's new 1,500hp super sports car is that it's not alone in being able to produce that much power. There's also the Koenigsegg Regera. This car was one of the stars of 2015's Geneva Motor Show and it returns today in an even more splendorous cherry red, with over 3,000 changes under its belt and a lighter and more efficient form.

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  • Mar 1, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    Lamborghini's Centenario is a gorgeous celebration of an extreme legacy

    2016 would have been the year of the 100th birthday of Lamborghini founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, and the storied Italian carmaker is celebrating the occasion with an extremely limited edition of 40 Centenario hypercars. This one-off design is built around a carbon fiber monocoque and Lamborghini's most powerful engine to date. It can produce 770hp, which seems almost quaint by the epic standards of the 1,500hp Bugatti Chiron and Koenigsegg Regera, but it propels the Centenario from 0 to 100km/h in just 2.8 seconds. That's fast by anyone's standards.

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  • Jordan Golson

    Mar 1, 2016

    Jordan Golson

    The Bugatti Chiron is the world’s fastest road car

    The Bugatti Chiron is ready to claim the title of world's fastest car, declared Bugatti President Wolfgang Durheimer at the unveiling of the car today at the Geneva Motor Show.

    Though the Chiron is electronically limited to 261 mph in road mode, with all the restrictions lifted the car should go considerably faster — though Bugatti won't share what it thinks that highest speed will be.

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  • Jordan Golson

    Mar 1, 2016

    Jordan Golson

    The Rolls-Royce Black Badge turns ‘murdering out’ into an elegant art form

    Rolls-Royce

    A Rolls-Royce can be customized — made bespoke, in RR-speak — in a nearly infinite number of ways.

    From custom paint and leather colors to the starlight headliner (which can be built to illuminate the night sky of a particular day and time), nearly anything is possible. But sometimes even the standard blank slate isn't enough for Rolls-Royce's most demanding customers.

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  • Chris Ziegler

    Feb 29, 2016

    Chris Ziegler

    Volkswagen's Phideon is a big luxury sedan that you can't have

    Remember the Phaeton? In many markets, Volkswagen's big, ultra-luxe flagship sedan is still sold — but sales in the US ended years ago. Now, there's a Phaeton successor, sort of. Except you can't have it, unless you happen to be in China.

    Meet the Phideon, which will be built in China through VW's local partner, SAIC. It's described as a four-door coupe — a paradoxical term used to describe an ever-growing number of cars like the Mercedes CLS, BMW 4 Series and 6 Series Gran Coupes, and the Audi A7. Basically, that just means it's a sedan with a slightly swoopier look than your typical four-door.

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  • Chris Ziegler

    Feb 29, 2016

    Chris Ziegler

    The unbelievable €2.4 million Bugatti Chiron in pictures

    There are many absurd facts about the Bugatti Chiron that was just introduced today ahead of the Geneva Motor Show. Its top speed is electronically limited — limited! — to 261 miles per hour. It can reach 125 miles per hour in 6.5 seconds, which may very well be faster than the time it takes your personal vehicle to reach half that. And the base price is an astounding €2.4 million ($2.6 million), which you can presumably run up with options and customization. Nothing about this rare machine (just 500 will be made) is for the faint of heart.

    We've already given you all the details about this ridiculous machine — but Bugatti, in its infinite generosity, has provided a huge and extremely awesome set of photos to go along with it. We thought you might enjoy some of them.

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  • Feb 29, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    Bugatti's $2.6 million supercar has diamonds in the speakers

    As if 1,500 horsepower, a $2.6 million price tag, and two metric tons of carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium, glass, and leather weren't enough to set the Bugatti Chiron apart, this new supercar also comes with speaker tweeters made out of diamonds. Each of the four tweeters in the car features a one-carat diamond membrane for what's supposed to be unsurpassed precision and aural fidelity. The company recruited by Bugatti to provide these ultra exclusive speakers is Accuton, and it has a helpful explainer of the benefits of using diamond as a material for reproducing high-frequency sound.

    It's an established fact that traditional loudspeaker cones suffer from distortion when pushed to their limits, which has led companies to experimenting with either exotic materials or entirely different technologies, such as with planar magnetic headphones. But diamonds? What were the alternatives considered when designing these tweeters, unobtainium and kryptonite?

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  • Feb 29, 2016

    Vlad Savov

    Bugatti’s Chiron is the beastly, faster-than-fast, 1,500hp Veyron successor

    Bugatti

    How do you introduce a car like the Bugatti Chiron? This is the successor to the Veyron, the most epic exercise in over-engineering that the car world had known until today. The new Chiron turns the Veyron's extreme specs up another notch: 0 to 100km/h in less than 2.5 seconds, four enlarged turbochargers, and a total power output of 1,500hp. Maximum speed is limited to 420km/h for road use, the tires have been specially developed by a Bugatti-Michelin partnership, and the 8-liter W16 engine of the Veyron has been completely redesigned. Only 500 Chirons will be produced, and a third of them have already been sold for €2.4 million apiece. The Geneva Motor Show will play host to many debuts this week, but none will outdo the Bugatti Chiron's combination of performance, luxury, and exclusivity.

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