Lapping the Frankfurt show

Two years ago I walked more than 20 kilometres in two days to cover every single brand and car at the Frankfurt Motor Show, from the towering five-story Mercedes-Benz pavilion to the tiny space reserved for Kia at one of the remotest corners of the exhibition centre.

This year, I confess, I was less attentive and active. I still hit all the stands, but I did not return for a second or third lap. Instead, I decided to concentrate on the big stories. Not necessarily the big brands, but the cars which point to the future of motoring.

I could not avoid Audi, BMW and Benz and their electric heros but I also walked to Peugeot to look at the French version of Mitsubishi's iMiEV and I checked out the hybrid Corolla which could eventually become the single most significant car of Frankfurt '09.

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Why? Because the petrol-electric Corolla shows that Toyota really is serious about its plan to build one million hybrid cars every year, and to do it with a hybrid version of every single model it makes. So far, the world's number one carmaker has only built two million hybrids in total - the Prius and a range of petrol-electric Lexus models - in more than 10 years. It's a start, but it is nothing like the number that will be required to begin to wean the world off petroleum-based motoring.

If Toyota is truly serious, and if it is going to get other brands beyond Honda to join it, it must prove to people that hybrids are more than just convenient green washing and a belt-and-braces solution to a challenge which needs simplicity and elegance.

There are plenty of straight-out electric cars in Frankfurt, and Better Place updated the world on its plans for the plug-in stands and battery-change stations to support them, but we are still at the beginning of the volt age. Right now, on September 18 2009, there is not a single electric car in the world that is more than a science experiment.

That will change and change fast as battery technology develops and carmakers turn more and more of their attention to motoring beyond the oil age, but we are still at the beginning of a road which snakes well into the future through dips and turns that we cannot even begin to imagine.

Still, Frankfurt is a major turning point and we have the first of the news stories from the show today in your Carsguide. There will be more in coming weeks and you can get daily updates at www.carsguide.com.au as we unravel the stories behind the cars in the spotlights. It's exciting stuff, I can tell you.

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