Chat Transcript

<Edmunds_Moderator> Bonjour! Welcome to our Special Event Chat with Edmunds.com's Senior Editor, Neil Dunlop. He's just hopped off the jet and is here to chat with you about his site-seeing adventures at the Paris Auto Show! Submit your questions and he'll answer as many as he can. Thank you for joining us!

<Neil Dunlop> Hello, it's great to be here this evening

<Edmunds_Moderator> Neil we understand you just now got back from Paris! We'd love to hear about your trip before we get started with the questions. Aside from the Paris Auto Show, can you give us some highlights of your trip?

<Neil Dunlop> Well, the first thing I noticed about Paris is how small the cars are and how many are diesel

<Neil Dunlop> But with gas around $6 a gallon, you can imagine why.

<Neil Dunlop> Also with the size thing, it's not uncommon to see cars parked on the sidewalk, literally parked bumper to bumper

<Neil Dunlop> A Lincoln Town Car would be completely lost on the streets of Paris.

<Neil Dunlop> Although surprisingly,I saw a great number of Jeep Cherokees and other SUV'S

<Neil Dunlop> The French also LOVE their cars...their cars, especially brands like Renault and Citreon and Puegeot are so much more stylized than American, Japanese and even the European imports we get here.

<Neil Dunlop> Kind of along the lines of the Ford Escort, which of course was a big European car before it came here and became an normous hit. It would be exciting to see some of that panache come to this side of the Pond.

<Neil Dunlop> Also: if you think the PT Cruiser is odd-looking, they've got models there that make it look as normal as a K car.

<Neil Dunlop> For instance, a Fiat minivan/stationwagon/delivery van with headlights directly below the windshield, sitting on top of the hood.

<Neil Dunlop> It looked like a frog.

<Edmunds_Moderator> shaliac: What about the sports cars? I'm a fanatic. What was the hottest thing you saw and how much??

<Edmunds_Moderator> Fun FAQ: France was the birthplace of the automobile, and it was in France that the FIRST auto show was staged!

<Neil Dunlop> shaliac, the hottest was the new Ferarri 550 Barchetta Pinin Farina, brand new this year. (Barchetti means 'open car' in Italian-- there's literally no roof)

<Neil Dunlop> about 400 of these cars will be made. They're strictly for fanatics and Ferrari
collectors. The price wasn't mentioned, but you can expect it would be at least
$500,000, if not more.

<Neil Dunlop> Just to show you what kind of person is buying them, french film star Jean Reno was hanging around the show car when I was there.

<Neil Dunlop> by the time these cars are produced, starting January 2001, they'll all be sold.
If you're a fanatic, get your order in now!

<Edmunds_Moderator> paul: Can you tell us about some of the hottest World and European premieres you saw?

<Neil_Dunlop> paul, I spoke about the Ferrari and the Porsche earlier

<Neil_Dunlop> what you might be talking about is the Concept Car.

<Neil_Dunlop> Like any other auto show, that's the chance for the manufacturers to go nuts

<Neil_Dunlop> it's like playtime for the design room

<Neil_Dunlop> among those is the Hyundai Neos which looks very similar to a Plymouth
Prowler but with gull wing doors.

<Neil_Dunlop> also Volvo showcased a concept version of its brand new S60 sedan called the S60 High Performance A near 300 Horsepower Volvo that will take on the M3.

<Neil_Dunlop> Also, BMW Z9 aims to raise the bar on automotive electronics by connecting every car control (other than steering and acceleration) into a kind of joy stick and LED screen.

<Neil_Dunlop> Also, with the introduction of Audi's Z12 A8 and Steppenwolf All-Wheel drive concept, the effort to build bigger, faster, and tougher cars shows no sign of slowing

<Edmunds_Moderator> shaliac: are SUVs made by European automakers? Just wondering how popular they are.

<Neil_Dunlop> shaliac, yes, SUVs-- there are several. Land Rover is the grandfather of all SUVs.

<Neil_Dunlop> There's even a Lamborghini SUV.

<Neil_Dunlop> You probably know Porsche's SUV called the Cayenne is due out shortly. If Porsche is making a Sport Utility, that speaks volumes about how popular they are.

<Neil_Dunlop> Europeans aren't terribly different than Americans in that the ride high and wide status of SUVs is appealing

<Neil_Dunlop> Also, Rally Driving is HUGE in Europe, so anything with off-road capabilities is admired.

<Edmunds_Moderator> ryan: You touched on this with the BMW, but what else is new with onboard electronics? I am interested in what you saw in terms of cellular phones, radios and other gadgets.

<Neil_Dunlop> ryan, the car of the future is the wired car.

<Neil_Dunlop> Cars will soon have their Palm Vs, cell phones, and other satellite hookups wired directly into the dash.

<Neil_Dunlop> Also significant is the use of sophisticated electronics in cars.

<Neil_Dunlop> For instance, VW will be using something called E-Steer in a European model, which is Electric Steering

<Neil_Dunlop> Basically, there's no steering column...it's by wire,as opposed to mechanics.

<Neil_Dunlop> also BMWs' Z9 concept car features a whole raft of electronic gadgetry that I just mentioned.

<Neil_Dunlop> The car of the future will probably have far less mechanical parts.

<Neil_Dunlop> They'll be mostly electronic, as opposed to today's mechanical models.

<Neil_Dunlop> Goodbye Flintstones, hello Jetsons!

<Edmunds_Moderator> gladstone: Are the car concepts in Europe something that we won?t see in cars built here in the US for a while, or are some of the new ideas from over there going to be introduced in American cars in the near future?

<Neil_Dunlop> gladstone: Concept cars (like the ones I've been talking about) rarely go into production.

<Neil_Dunlop> More interesting would be if some of the current European models were introduced here.

<Neil_Dunlop> We're unlikely to see many European makes here again, such as Alpha Romeo, Renault, Peugeot (because they were sold here at one time) due to market forces.

<Neil_Dunlop> What would be interesting is if some of the more avant garde European models were sold in North America.

<Neil_Dunlop> We saw the success of Ford Focus.

<Neil_Dunlop> Ford also introduced the Mondeo wagon which looks a lot like a Passat wagon. It might not be exotic, but it's sexy for wagon!

<Neil_Dunlop> that's what a lot of European cars are about.

<Neil_Dunlop> They're small, but "ooh la la"!

<Edmunds_Moderator> tbirdman68: Did they show any TBird Concept cars?

<Neil_Dunlop> tbirdman, no, but I'm sure you're well aware of the upcoming T-bird, which debuted in Detroit 2 years ago I believe...

<Neil_Dunlop> T-birds don't have a lot of resonance in Europe where Ferrari, Mazzerati, and Porsche are King.

<Edmunds_Moderator> shaliac: With the Concept cars, is it kind of a way for them to gauge public reaction before actually putting on assembly lines??

<Neil_Dunlop> Well, that's what the concept is. Concept car is basically the creation of the manufacturers design team.

<Neil_Dunlop> it's a combination of fancy and corporate direction. Ultimately, it's the kind of car the company would *like* to produce

<Neil_Dunlop> Sometimes, as in the case of the PT Cruiser, Plymouth Prowler, and Porsche Boxter, public reaction is so positive the car gets made.

<Neil_Dunlop> Showing concept cars at auto shows is an attempt to gauge public reaction.

<Edmunds_Moderator> heidi: Did you see any of the mini-cars there? I've heard about them and was just curious about them.

<Neil_Dunlop> heidi, there were many of the new Minis on display

<Neil_Dunlop> One word: H-O-T

<Neil_Dunlop> oh, make that three words: HOT HOT HOT

<Neil_Dunlop> That is one cool buggy.

<Neil_Dunlop> Yours for probably under $20,000.

<Edmunds_Moderator> allison: Did you see any new all-terrain vehicles?

<Neil_Dunlop> allison, actually yeah...I'm not sure of the name of it, but it looked like a bubble, with four stick legs and A-T-M wheels on the end (seriously, it looked like a bug or something!)

<Neil_Dunlop> I don't think the US government will let it into the country!

<Edmunds_Moderator> ted: You mentioned earlier you saw a lot of SUV?s in France. Do those vehicles seem as popular over there as they are here in the states, even with the emphasis on smaller vehicles in Europe because of space?

<Neil_Dunlop> No, they're not as popular

<Neil_Dunlop> don't forget, I was in Paris, where some roads are so narrow, you have to fold in your side mirrors to get down them.

<Neil_Dunlop> also: street parking is the norm and some cars are literally the size of shower stalls.

<Neil_Dunlop> imagine a Ford Excursion in this environment

<Neil_Dunlop> if it barely fits in most US parking lots, imagine it turned loose on the streets of Paris (zut alors!)

<Edmunds_Moderator> tbirdman68: I would like to know...what would YOU pick as your favorite to drive away in?

<Neil_Dunlop> tbirdman... good question!

<Neil_Dunlop> I'm a huge Porsche fan. If I thought I could have driven that GT out of the Expo and down the Champs d'Elysee, I would have been through the Arc de Triomphe and through the French countryside like a bullet

<Neil_Dunlop> "Au Revoir, suckers!"

<Edmunds_Moderator> Thank you for joining us Neil, what a great time you must have had! We look forward to chatting with you again soon!

<Edmunds_Moderator> Members, thank you for stopping by and joining this Special Event Chat with Senior Editor Neil Dunlop! Let's give him a big round of applause!

<Neil_Dunlop> Thank you. The emphasis at Paris was on faster, smaller, and more economical. The car of the future, or the ideal car of the future will have to burn less fuel but be more fun to drive.

<Neil_Dunlop> If we can send a man to the moon, we should be able to do this.

<Neil_Dunlop> It would be great, instead of letting the Europeans push the envelope, if some ofthe North American manufacturers led the way.

<Neil_Dunlop> Then again, nowadays we're all in it together. Tout le Monde!

<Neil_Dunlop> Thank you for your great questions, good night!