Gallery: Our Favorite Flights of Fancy From Frankfurt
Peter Orosz01mercedes-benz-125
Mercedes-Benz 125 ----------------- It's been 125 years since Karl Benz invented the automobile with his three-wheeled [Benz Patent-Motorwagen](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/03/three-wheelin-through-time/?pid=746). To mark the occasion, Mercedes-Benz rolled into Frankfurt with the 125! concept. It is an unapologetic dream of the not-too-distant future, circa 2025. It features a hydrogen fuel cell, for electric motors good for 313 horsepower and glorious blue chaise lounges. And, of course, the one design element that [everyone lusts for: Gullwing doors](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/reviews/2011/07/benz-gullwing/). *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2011/09/Mercedes-Benz-125-concept.jpg) Is there anything so glorious as gullwing doors? No. No, there is not. *Photo: Daimler*
Peter Orosz02cadillac-ciel
Cadillac Ciel ------------- Engine downsizing is big right now, with automakers squeezing more power from smaller engines that offer better fuel economy. So instead of a V8, you might see a V6, as in the Cadillac Ciel concept. But the Ciel isn't an exercise in downsizing, it's an exercise in breaking hearts. The Ciel hearkens to the days when Cadillac was synonymous with the open road, when it built big cars for a big country with big dreams. It is nostalgic for a bygone era, and for that reason, among others, it will remain but a concept. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2011/09/cadillac-ciel-concept-car.jpg) Cadillac says the Ciel was inspired by the open road. *Photo: General Motors*
Peter Orosz03jaguar-c-x16
Jaguar C-X16 ------------ We haven't seen a V6 supercar from Jaguar since 1992, when it launched the [incredibly fast XJ220](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2010/09/jaguar-75th-anniversary/?pid=199). The gorgeous [Jaguar C-X16](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/09/hello-kitty-jaguar-unveils-sexy-hybrid/) falls a wee bit short of the XJ220's performance, topping out at a mere 186 mph, but it's no less impressive. The 3.0-liter supercharged V6 is good for 375 horsepower and 332 foot-pounds of torque. That's quite nice, thank you, but so much better when mated to a kinetic energy recovery system and 94-horsepower electric motor. Hit the gas and the red button on the steering wheel and you'll reach 62 mph from a standstill in 4.4 seconds. All this and 33 mpg? Sign us up. Like all good Jaguars, the C-X16 is low, elegant and menacing. Perhaps not quite as exciting as the Alfa Romeo 4C, but if this is what hybrids will look like, we won't complain. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2011/09/jaguar-c-x16-reveal.jpg) The C-X16 is gorgeous from any angle. *Photo: Jaguar*
Peter Orosz04land-rover-dc100
Land Rover DC100 ---------------- This is the DC100, the vehicle that might replace the [venerable Land Rover](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/reviews/2011/08/land-rover-lr4/) Defender that's been kicking around since 1948. You'll see something based on the DC100 in showrooms by 2015. Which means this is more than an awesome field ambulance. It's a bold gaze into Landie's future. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
Peter Orosz05frankfurt-auto-show-ipads
iPads, iPads and More iPads --------------------------- Here's a major shift in the car industry: most of the automakers did away with their glitzy video display terminals and simply used Apple iPads. Not that it's a bad idea, because automakers have always been better at building cars than designing user interfaces. The iPad craze extended into several prototypes as well. Cars like the [Ssangyong XUV 1 concept](http://www.autoevolution.com/news/ssangyong-xuv-1-concept-fully-revealed-in-frankfurt-38733.html) jettisoned most of the dashboard for an iPad mounted in the middle. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
Peter Orosz06audi-urban
Audi Urban ---------- Audi was strangely quiet this year, which is odd considering Frankfurt is the company's home show. Sure, Audi had the usual assortment of fantastic sports sedans and coupés, but nothing earth-shattering. Except for the Urban, an electric waterbug of a city car with styling that brings to mind the love child of a space pod and a 1930s Auto Union race car. The Urban is a tiny little thing, weighing just 1,058 pounds. It's a mere 126 inches long, with room for two. Everyone climbs in through a canopy that slides open like an old airplane. The bodywork is carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, and before you go whining about safety, the passengers sit in a carbon-reinforced polymer and aluminum monocoque. Of course it's electric, with a 7.1 kilowatt-hour battery and a pair of electric motors good for a whopping 20 horsepower. Zero to 60 comes in almost 17 seconds, which makes this sleek city car about as quick as a VW Beetle. A first-generation VW Beetle. Relax, though. It's just a concept. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2011/09/Audi-Urban-concept.jpg) Yes, there's room for two in there. *Photo: Audi*
Peter Orosz07citroen-tubik
Citroen Tubik ------------- Cars like the [Citroen Tubik](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/09/a-trippy-citroen-concept-quelle-surprise/) call to mind the wonderful, wacky Citroen of old, the company that built dreamy space-age cars like the DS and the SM and the GS, with its birotor Wankel engine. The Tubik is fundamentally a gullwing bus on industrial quantities of magic mushrooms. The seats are felt and silk, the floor is leather and everything is purple and red. The driver is ensconced in something Citroen calls a "cyclotron." And of course it's a hybrid. We love it, and we lament the fact there's no chance in hell Citroën will ever build it. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
Peter Orosz08porsche-911
Porsche 911 ----------- Porsche's incoming 911 looks rather like Porsche's outgoing 911. Perhaps that is why the company decided to launch it alongside the first-gen 911 (on the right), which made its debut here in 1963. The old car was driven on stage by rally god Walter Röhrl. The new one? Who knows who drove it. It's a 911, but slightly better in every way. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
Peter Orosz09alfa-romeo-4c-3
Alfa Romeo 4C ------------- You've got to love Alfa Romeo for following the path Lotus seems to have abandoned, bringing us a simple, lightweight sports car that promises more fun than you'd ever think possible. The tiny 4C two-seater concept will be real car by 2013. It will have a 200-horsepower engine, which may not sound like much until you realize this whispy little thing weighs all of 1,850 pounds. *Bellissima!* It's a modern-day Fiat X1/9, which is a very good thing. And would you look at those rear wheelarches. Hot! *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
Peter Orosz10ford-evos-concept
Ford Evos --------- [Ford's cloud-connected Evos](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/08/fords-cloud-connected-evos-concept-is-a-stunner-and-a-secretary/) is a design study showing where the Blue Oval is going with future models. The plug-in hybrid with rotationally symmetric dihedral doors and grandiose high-tech dreams about turning the car of tomorrow into a nanny, an amusement park and Facebook. We'll see how Ford manages all that. What matters at the moment is the next-gen Mondeo — a very popular saloon sold in Europe — will look something like this. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
Peter Orosz11bmw-i8-concept
FRANKFURT, Germany — If you were to plunge into the Frankfurt Motor Show — all 3.5 million square feet of it — with an uncritical eye, you could be forgiven for thinking the future is now and it is electric. This year's immense show, which stretched about a mile across, featured more batteries and power cables than the Consumer Electronics Show. Everywhere you looked automakers promised to mend our fuelish ways, usually with a super-cool concept or prototype. The coolest [BMW](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/tag/bmw/) on the floor had a [blue power cord and an electric motor](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2010/11/bmws-75-mpg-plug-in-sports-car-is-a-go/) in the front. The sweetest [Mercedes-Benz](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/tag/mercedes-benz/) had a carbon fiber body, gullwing doors and a hydrogen fuel cell. And the coolest [Porsche](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/tag/porsche/)? Well, Porsche, bless its heart, offered nothing more than the [new 911](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/08/porsche-unveils-newest-911/). But if our future is indeed electric, the Frankfurt auto show offers more questions than answers. When will batteries offer more than 100 miles of range? [Where will plug in](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/08/ev-charging-infrastructure/) when we aren't at home? And why do cars of the future look so much like cars of the past? There weren't any answers to these questions on the show floor. So it is perhaps best to consider the Frankfurt Motor Show the new-car equivalent of the vintage Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is a feel-good, anything-goes escape from a world of boring regular cars. It is, after all, a delicious flight of fancy to imagine kicking back in the purple interior of Citroën's trippy Tubik space bus, motoring silently into the future without burning a single molecule of hydrocarbon. With that in mind, here are 12 of our favorite flights of fancy from Frankfurt. __Above__: What's fascinating about BMW's i8 coupé is not its dihedral doors, its twin engines, or its laser headlights, but that it's going to become a production car in the next few years. First shown in 2009 as the even more concept-y Vision Efficient Dynamics, the i8 will be joined by the electric-only i3 in [BMW's new i range of eco-friendlier cars](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/02/bmw-i-brand/). The i8 will have the i3's electric engine in the front, a 220 horsepower [three-cylinder](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2011/09/three-is-the-new-four-as-engines-downsize/) turbo in the rear and lots of lightweight composites in between. BMW promises 0-60 in 5 seconds paired with fuel consumption of 80 mpg. In its current state, the i8 remains too gimmicky to be viable, but let's hope the translation into production car will be no worse than how the [Lamborghini Marzal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWeIVUjIS6Y) became the Lamborghini Espada. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
Peter Orosz12frankfurt-past-meets-future
The Past Meets the Future ------------------------- As Frankfurt's press days drew to a close and the assembled mass of moto-journos prepared to go home, Audi was still humming away. The company's orb of a display stand featured a circular track. As dusk descended on Frankfurt one night last week, a lone R8 Spyder kept lapping the circuit. There aren't many children to be found during a motor show's press days, but this one proved that, electric dreams aside, we will always have a place in our hearts for fast machines that make visceral sounds and hint at danger. *Photo: Peter Orosz/Wired.com*
