World’s largest motor show: a flood of electric models and return of an icon

German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the world’s largest motor show in Frankfurt this morning. Numerous new, electric cars make their debut there. We take you along the most important news from the fair.

Car shows seem to have fallen into free fall, as fewer and fewer car manufacturers want to set aside money for it. And whether staying away from several brands is not enough, the opening of the show was also disturbed this morning by environmental activists.

One of the demonstrators wore a mask with the face of Chancellor Angela Merkel at a BMW on which a fake license plate was stuck: “SUV = climate killer.” Other demonstrators carried signs with, among other things, ‘Caps with gasoline and diesel!’

Volkswagen ID.3

Despite these setbacks, there is more than enough news for visitors to Frankfurt this time. Frankfurt remains one of the most important and visited car shows in Europe. Volkswagen, for example, awards the ‘Internationale Automobil Ausstellung’ (IAA) the scoop of the ID.3. With this, VW adds the third chapter to the rich history of the brand. After the Beetle and the Golf, this is the first electric Volkswagen, which, like its famous predecessors, is intended for the general public.

With its length of 4.26 meters, the ID.3 is about the same size as a Golf, but its spacious interior is reminiscent of the much larger Passat. A caravan cannot find it behind, but those who wish can have a towbar fitted; it has a maximum load capacity of 75 kilos and is therefore primarily intended for transporting bicycles, for example.

Volkswagen reports that the ID.3 will get winking headlights, which will greet the driver as soon as he or she walks towards the car. The ID.3 also communicates on the inside utilizing LED lighting: under the windscreen, there is a light strip with which the vehicle can give instructions about imminent danger, instructions for navigation or information about the charging status of the batteries.

Volkswagen delivers the ID.3 of your choice with three different battery packages. According to VW, he comes a maximum of about 550 kilometers per load. At 100 kW, it takes half an hour to add 290 kilometers of action radius. This richly equipped introduction version is based on the middle battery size (58 kWh, maximum 420 kilometers) and includes a panoramic glass roof, voice control, and unique alloy wheels.

In November the first ID.3s roll off the band in Zwickau, Germany. The car, for which more than 30,000 reservations have already made, will cost less than 40,000 euros and will be available from 2020.

Electric Porsche

Another member of the Volkswagen family, Porsche, also gives Frankfurt the scoop of its very first, fully electric model. The Porsche Taycan surpasses the popular Teslas with its high loading speed, but when it comes to the range, it still loses out. The first versions, the Turbo and Turbo S with a 93.4 kWh battery, will be in the showrooms at the end of January.

Next autumn there will be a cheaper version with less battery capacity (80 kWh). Every Taycan has four-wheel drive, and at the end of next year, a Taycan Cross Turismo will also appear, showing slight features of an SUV and break version.

The Taycan Turbo S (560 kW, 761 hp over-boost engine power) accelerates from a standstill to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, the Taycan Turbo (500 kW, 680 hp) completes that sprint in 3.2 seconds. Both variants have a top speed of 260 km/h. The range (WLTP) of the Taycan Turbo S is 412 kilometers and that of the Taycan Turbo 450 kilometers. For comparison: a Tesla Model S comes up to 610 kilometers away.

It is notably the loading speed of the new Porsche that impresses. This is the first electric production car with a system voltage of 800 Volts. This makes it possible to charge the batteries of a fast charger within five minutes for a new range of 100 kilometers. Under ideal conditions, Porsche promises that the cells can be charged from 5 to 80 percent in more than 22 minutes. It owes all that to its maximum load capacity of 270 kW. A home-garden-and-kitchen socket brings a maximum load capacity of 11 kW.

Sweet

Not the Volkswagen family, but also a fully electric newcomer is the small Honda E. Its headlights look sweet and somewhat helpless into the world, and the large glass surface and the somewhat cuddly proportions do the rest.

The Honda E is a five-seater with a rear seat, four doors, recessed handles, and slightly smaller wheels than hoped for. The interior looks warm and retro and very ‘premium’. With a full battery, the car comes ‘more than 200 kilometers away’, according to Honda.

Opel also presents a fully electric car in Frankfurt, based on the new Corsa. The Opel Corsa-e comes in March and costs € 34,999 as a well-equipped ‘Launch Edition’, including six years of free maintenance. It has a 100 kW (136 hp) electric motor and a range of 330 kilometers according to the WLTP standard.

Iconic

With the flood of electric models, you would almost think that it is over with gasoline and diesel cars. But they are also in Frankfurt, such as the new Ford Puma, an SUV based on the Fiesta and the even cheaper, small Hyundai i10. One of the most talked-about debutants in Frankfurt is the new generation of the iconic Land Rover Defender.

After no less than 71 years it seemed an impossible task to lift the angular and oh-so-loved primal Defender to this century. The modern interpretation now chosen brings many new technologies and is – just like the original – as strong as ever in the field. It will be available in the first quarter of 2020.