This is Leo Parente here with me today.

And we are not stopping.

We are doing this live, so I don't care what anybody says.

LEO PARENTE: Let me buckle in before we go.

MIKE SPINELLI: Buckle in.

You never know what's going to happen here.

On Road Testament today, we're talking Geneva Auto Show,

where Chris Harris is.

Yes, you love Chris Harris.

Chris is at the auto show with a camera.

And he's doing some stuff.

We're going to see that in a little bit.

LEO PARENTE: I've ran all the comments.

So--

MIKE SPINELLI: Yes.

What comments?

That everybody loves Chris Harris?

LEO PARENTE: No, everyone loves commenting about Chris

Harris stuff.

MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.

Because Chris is awesome.

Yes.

And you can comment there @drive on Twitter, just so

you'll know.

We say it every show, but whatever.

I mean, just in case you didn't know that, there it is.

LEO PARENTE: Blood's pretty much coming out of my ears, I

don't know about you guys.

MIKE SPINELLI: Exactly.

LEO PARENTE: Repeat after me, @drive.

MIKE SPINELLI: After the Geneva Auto Show stuff, we're

going to be talking about sports cars, mid-engine sports

cars, and a possible sports car renaissance

happening very shortly.

LEO PARENTE: I like that.

MIKE SPINELLI: Cool.

So The Geneva Auto Show, what's happening there.

And this is happening there.

LEO PARENTE: It begs the question "why?" But go ahead,

what is that?

MIKE SPINELLI: Right.

Those Mulsanne-like headlights probably tip you

off that it's a Bentley.

It's the new Bentley EXP9F SUV.

LEO PARENTE: And the F stands for-- not what you think I'm

going to say-- what does it stand for?

MIKE SPINELLI: Falcon.

LEO PARENTE: Falcon.

MIKE SPINELLI: Falcon.

You said Falcon?

LEO PARENTE: I said Falcon.

MIKE SPINELLI: I don't have a Boston

accent, so I say Falcon.

LEO PARENTE: Why is it that?

Why is it Falcon?

MIKE SPINELLI: Well, I'm guessing because in the Middle

East falconry is something that people do there.

And a giant market for this will be the Middle East.

LEO PARENTE: There you go.

So this is not a car for America.

MIKE SPINELLI: I'm sure Americans will buy it.

By the way, this is just a prototype for now.

We will see something in production.

LEO PARENTE: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE] concept.

But--

MIKE SPINELLI: You know it's gonna, yeah.

LEO PARENTE: OK.

What has it got for an engine, do you know?

MIKE SPINELLI: Well, they're talking about either the W12

or the new V8 that they're doing, or "wee-8," as they say

in Germany.

LEO PARENTE: OK.

MIKE SPINELLI: But you notice the little interesting

turbine-like intakes or are those running lights?

I actually don't know.

LEO PARENTE: We have no idea.

MIKE SPINELLI: Because this just came out this morning.

Hit the Internet last night I think.

But honestly I--

LEO PARENTE: What's your point here?

MIKE SPINELLI: I don't really have a point.

I really want to hear what you guys have to say about a

Bentley SUV.

I know that hating on SUVs is kind of a cool thing.

LEO PARENTE: It seems Volkswagen group is just bent

on doing SUVs.

MIKE SPINELLI: Yes.

LEO PARENTE: With the Volkswagen stuff, the Porsche

stuff, Audi, now this thing.

MIKE SPINELLI: Right.

LEO PARENTE: I kind of get it.

But--

MIKE SPINELLI: China, Russia, and the Middle East, big, big,

big luxury SUV markets.

So emerging markets, a lot of stuff happening.

LEO PARENTE: I actually read something about some high net

worth guy talking about how when he needs to carry stuff

around the neighborhood, park the sports car

and drive this stuff.

So it may not be for us.

But I guess it's for someone.

MIKE SPINELLI: Right.

And I think it's going to be way up there.

LEO PARENTE: Does it look like a Bentley to you?

MIKE SPINELLI: It looks like a Bentley, sort of, to me.

LEO PARENTE: So it fits the family.

MIKE SPINELLI: It fits the family.

I mean, this is gonna be a real high-end SUV, I think.

I think this is really going to be maybe the most high-end

SUV out there when this is done.

LEO PARENTE: OK.

I'm gonna get the Chinese comments.

Because I understand the Chinese love chrome and bling

in the cars.

And this thing is full of bling.

Did you see the tailpipes and the turbo inlets?

Oh, my God.

MIKE SPINELLI: It's pretty flashy.

LEO PARENTE: This is home for dinner.

MIKE SPINELLI: All right.

Next thing from Geneva, the Aventador J.

LEO PARENTE: So apparently this is the "let's not be

practical" show.

MIKE SPINELLI: Well, it's an Aventador.

You know, the Geneva show is really all about design and

making a statement, being very continental and racy.

And here is what Lamborghini did with that.

It's basically an Ariel Atom with a 700-horsepower engine.

And this sort of carbon fiber meets fiberglass--

LEO PARENTE: So catch me up.

Is this a one-off or are they gonna sell this?

MIKE SPINELLI: It's a one-off.

And as a matter of fact, it was just sold.

$2.8 million this one-off went for.

And Lamborghini's not saying who bought it.

But somebody did.

This guy.

LEO PARENTE: Look at that.

MIKE SPINELLI: Boba Fett.

LEO PARENTE: So the point of this was--

wow, OK.

It's a festival of carbon.

MIKE SPINELLI: The point is two things.

Right, carbon.

So they have this thing called carbon skin on it.

It's like carbon fiber.

It's an epoxy resin over a weaved carbon skin.

LEO PARENTE: Because Lamborghini did some big

technical investment in new carbon technology for

automotives.

MIKE SPINELLI: Exactly.

So this saves a little bit of weight, obviously.

I mean, of course, taking the rest of the

body off saves weight.

But it's about saving weight.

LEO PARENTE: By the way, I think this is the first road

car with the swan-neck race car wing attachment.

MIKE SPINELLI: Ah.

So aside from all that, it's also an

homage to the 1970 Jota.

LEO PARENTE: See, that's why I like Mike Spinelli.

Because there's a Google assignment to go connect the

dots of that old-school Lamborghini and this

new-school--

MIKE SPINELLI: Well, yeah.

It was a version of the Miura, I believe.

LEO PARENTE: Ooh.

MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.

LEO PARENTE: Cool.

MIKE SPINELLI: Anyway.

So now, Chris Harris from Geneva.

Let's see what Chris has to say.

Chris, what's up?

CHRIS HARRIS: So this is the new Jaguar XF Sportbrake.

I think it's a great-looking car, isn't it?

How long have we waited for a Jaguar XF that has got an

estate boot?

Five mil longer than the saloon.

1,675 liters of space with the seats down.

Doesn't mean anything to me either.

But the fact is, it looks good.

But to start with, only comes with diesel engines, two

liters and three liters.

Pricing?

Well, they say in line with current market.

So about two to three grand more than a saloon.

I don't think Jaguar's going to be able to make enough of

these for Europe.

Right.

Now I know there are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands

of people that want this car.

It's concept at the moment.

It's an Evoque convertible.

To me, it's the chocolate [INAUDIBLE]

of the automotive world.

I don't want a convertible SUV.

What's the bloody point?

Utterly pointless.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's an absolute [BEEP]

box.

So let's go over and look at a proper Land Rover

concept, the DC100.

This is much more like it.

We've seen it around a bit before.

It's been doing the rounds of the motor shows for the last

year or so.

I think it's a cracking concept.

It's a new Defender, in essence.

But hopefully will spawn multiple platforms, really.

So you'll end up with a very utilitarian agricultural car,

but also something that's funky and looks cool

for being on road.

This beats that convertible thing hands down.

The thing I love about Geneva is there are cars that before

you get here that you're quite apathetic about, the

M6 is one of them.

For me, two-door M5, don't see the point, really.

Because the M5 is more practical and just as fast.

The M6 actually looks superb in the flesh.

It's a better proportioned car than the saloon.

552 horsepower, the old carbon roof from the previous car.

So the center of mass is lower.

I think this looks fantastic.

And the gold brake calipers, proper bling.

OK, Leo.

One for you here.

This is the new BMW DTM car.

I know absolutely nothing about it.

I haven't driven it.

I can tell you it looks vaguely like a

three-series coupe.

And I suspect it's gonna be quite good.

[INAUDIBLE] great things about Geneva as a motor show.

The first of which is that it's actually quite small.

So you can get around it without feeling your legs are

gonna break off.

But I love the fact that not all the people represented are

big car manufacturers.

Alpina, for example, have been in this space since I first

came to this show 14, 15 years ago, occupying the same square

meterage with the same wonderful cars.

Behind me here, a B5 Biturbo saloon.

You probably can't see it, but the green paint on this car is

just like liquid.

Alpina are on a resurgence in Europe.

They've got this car called the D5.

It's not quite as potent as an M550D.

But I think it's going to be a big sales hit.

And the cars just look--

they look spot-on.

They have ride comfort.

I quite want to drive one of these.

Oh, dear God.

I'm gonna be a bit of a pussy now.

Because on the one hand, I want to go onto the Mansory

stand and rip the piss out of its ridiculous McLaren MP4-12C

and its Lamborghini Aventador.

But anyone that blings up cars like this, I think has

connections.

And I suspect I might go out in a body bag.

So I'm gonna stand here now with their PR man about a yard