Paris motorshow

The 30th of september saw the annual paris motorshow take place, one of the most exciting and important shows in the motoring calendar. this year the show was packed with hundreds of new concept cars, some very conceptual and artistic, and somne that could well be on the roads within 12 months. one of the most interesting things at this years show was the radically different routes taken by lamborghini and jaguar as they looked at the next generation of supercar.

Lamborghini's centerpiece for this years show was the "sesto elemento"(meaning 6th element) a completely carbon-fibre creation, designed around a 5.6 litre v10, and taking their existing angular, sharp and edgey design language (currently seen on the lp640 and lp560) to the absolute extreme:

At the other end of the scale however, jaguar has designed their new concept: the C-X75 to be an enviromentally friendly supercar. jaguar have the design focused around it being a diesel electric hybrid, 2 concepts seen as totally opposite to speed and performance, which may seem odd, but in actual fact it makes some sense. Jaguar took note of how porsche stole the 2010 geneva show with the 918 spyder, another enviromentally friendly supercar, and so have gone to great lengths to convince people about the radical technologies to make their diesel electric hybrid work. the design of the C-X75 is very different to what we have seen from jaguar recently. its wide, open front grille, small, high headlights, huge, striking wheels and radical back end give it a much more "love or hate" look than the recent XF, XJ and XK models, which seem to be more appealing to a wider audience.

it is certainly interesting to look at how these two manufacturers have taken such massively different approaches to effectively the same problem: the next generation of supercars. lamborghini have taken their existing ideas and designs, and adapted them to be evermore extreme and striking, giving the brand an instantly recognisable product and shape. wheras jaguar have approached the problem from a whole new angle, hinting that the entire set of problems that lay behind designing a supercar are set to change, and that they are ahead of the pack in tackling them.