The Frankfurt Motor Show was a depressed one, forcibly electric - and therefore still far from the reality of the market and of current mobility - and cut short by the absences of most of the manufacturers who no longer consider it interesting to invest in exhibitions that seem to have done their time.
Someone, like Renault, chose to be in Frankfurt anyway, having an important product to present (specifically the new Capture), but only with a very sad external stand in the style of an electoral tent, a perfect mirror of the current reality of the automotive world: undecided, worried and resized in its prospects.
The situation seems quite clear: the progressive detachment from traditional energy sources is affecting the market and according to the latest report by Standard & Poor's, registrations of cars and light commercial vehicles will decrease by 2-3% this year, without there being any prospect of a rise next year or in 2021 due to the worsening of global economic conditions, the trade war between the United States and China and especially the high cost of the transition to electricity. It is not for manufacturers - it is worth repeating - a voluntary revolution, but an obligatory solution to avoid the very heavy economic sanctions provided for by the EU (quantifiable in about 30 billion euros in total) for those who do not fall within the limits of CO2 emissions imposed. And here the figures are dramatic. In 2018 there were about 200,000 electric vehicles registered in Europe: according to some calculations they will have to be more than 2 million, even ten times as much, in 2021 to meet the required standards. But as Max Warburton, an analyst at Salford C Bernstein, recently confirmed, the problem is that "there are currently no marketing studies that confirm that there is the ability to sell electric cars", still too expensive and too little supported by a charging network agile enough to make them attractive on a large scale.
So the car industry is screwing itself into a crisis that eliminates margins - given that for at least another 5 years the production of battery-operated cars is expected without profits - and makes the future smoky, built today only by computer with imaginative projects of virtual mobility and perfectly sustainable but, in fact, completely unreal.
As the average range of battery-operated cars and the infrastructure for refuelling them grows, the fundamental step towards customs clearance for electric mobility can be the production of models that are accessible from the point of view of price. And here the Frankfurt Motor Show actually marked a turning point, presenting, after dozens of masked prototypes, the final version of at least two real cars ready to be driven.
Four years after the Dieselgate scandal that cost it more than 30 billion dollars in fines, Volkswagen has updated its e-up! Increasing its range to 260 km and repositioning the price: now the small city car starts from 23,350 thousand euros, which, with state incentives and regional contributions in Lombardy, for example, become just 6,500.
Going up the category, Volkswagen in Frankfurt has officially christened the ID.3, a model similar to the Golf (4.26 meters) but 100% electric and cheaper, since it will cost 30 thousand euros in Italy and will enjoy state incentives (to date up to 6,000 euros for this category of cars). The declared autonomy is 420 km, production will begin in November and will be on the road in less than nine months. The ID.3 has already received over 30,000 bookings divided between Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, not a few considering that the pre-order (non-binding) provides for the deposit of 1,000 euros. With the ID.3, a new era opens for Volkswagen. It is the first model in a whole range of all-electrically driven cars that the German manufacturer will introduce to make electric mobility attractive and sustainable for many.
Honda also lifted the veil on its new zero-emission city car two years after the first Urban EV concept was exhibited right here in Frankfurt. Honda and will soon be on sale starting at 35,500 euros (excluding state incentives) in some markets: the first deliveries are scheduled for next summer. Square, nice and original in its vaguely retro shape, it is the first car introduced by the Japanese manufacturer in the European market to be powered exclusively by electric motor and represents a further step towards the goal of marketing in Europe only cars with electrified technology by 2025. According to Simone Mattogno, director of Honda Italy, "with a length of less than 4 meters, 220 km of autonomy when 50-60 are the maximum daily needs of metropolitan customers, 150 hp, rear-wheel drive, high-definition digital cameras instead of mirrors and a great agility of use, Honda and can become one of the pioneers of zero emission mobility on a large scale.
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