It was, or is, a gargantuan automotive feast. But the Paris motor show was only living up to its reputation of being the biggest motor show in the world: over 1.5 million bodies will have passed through the turnstiles when it closes on Sunday week next. It's hard to beat the French polish, says Andrew Hamilton
There were no fewer than 50 world premieres at the press preview days, held at 15 minute intervals. It being a very French affair, pride of place in the giant exhibiton centre at Porte de Versailles went to the French marques.
They are doing extremely well just now on their home and world markets. Renault, Peugeot and Citroen account for 60 per cent of the domestic scene, and only one of the top-selling 10 cars isn't French. Chauvinism - or is it patriotism? - is still a Gallic trait.
There was no shortage of personalities for pressing flesh and caressing the metal. The show was opened by France's great soccer hero Zinedine Zidane, while Kylie Minogue created huge early morning excitement doing a strut around for Ford's Streetka.
Her main task was to autograph the bonnet of a car that will be auctioned for charity.
Streetka is a cute 1.6 litre roadster that will be built in Italy at a rate of about 20,000 a year. We should see it in Irish showrooms in the early part of 2003: a hardtop SportKa is also coming.
Some of the concept cars at Paris are not too far away from production and that's certainly true of another Ford, the Focus C-Max. It's an MPV, an area where Ford has been conspicuously absent.
It's hardly likely that the concept we saw at Paris could be totally akin to the real thing for the show car came with a lot of advanced technology (multimedia system with DVD, electronic handbrake, and so on) and the elegance of a line of made-to-measure leather luggage. It does have a spacious living space because there are only four seats.
Probably another chair will be added for the production car so that it can compete more effectively with family MPV market leaders like the Renault Scenic and Opel Zafira.
Eddie Murphy, Ford's Irish boss, thought the new-look Focus wasn't arriving too late at the party: "We will have it on sale next year and the huge success of the Focus is bound to be an influential factor. As well, it has ultra-smart looks that are smarter than any other MPV in the segment and that should attract buyers."
Ford control Mazda so it was no surprise to learn that the Mazda2 is built on the same platform as the Fiesta and that production is at Ford's Valentia plant in Spain.
Mazda2 is the successor to the Demio, and Mazda promises a much sportier look and feel.
Engines are also the same as used in the Fiesta with some modifications. There are 1.4 and 1.6 litre versions of Ford's 16-valve petrol units and a 68bhp 1.4 litre common-rail diesel that is sourced from Ford's joint venture with PSA (Peugeot-Citroen).