[Nate4641]

As a car guy I've been pretty lucky that I was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Stuttgart and Munich are only hours away by a super efficient train system, Nurburgring was only a couple hours away by car, and I was able to go to this years Frankfurt Auto Show. As I'm set to leave Germany next week I almost didn't make it to the show, but man am I glad I did. The only other car show of this type I had been to before was in San Diego at the end of 2011. San Diego doesn't even come close. This show makes San Diego look like a High School car show. Here is a map of the show layout. Those halls are not small by any means as you'll see in the photos below. Audi even built their own structure for their display.

I didn't take pictures of a lot of stuff because either I just didn't care about the new model of the Dacia Sandero/ Euro only Fords/ cars that just don't interest me or the crowds were just too big to get near. Whoever planned this place out must not have accounted for the HUGE draw that Ferrari/Maserati/Aston Martin pull and there were very narrow pathways around these. There must have been dozens of fire safety code violations as you were basically herded around in a giant mass of people trying to get close enough to snap a photo.

All in all the show was amazing. It took me about 7 hours to get around the whole place. Both BMW and Mercedes had a full on entertainment show to advertise their new cars. BMW got a little weird with some models/dancers dancing around in front of giant screens interacting with the words or pictures. I'm sure there will be a youtube video of this soon. And then there was that i8..... I was a little let down as a Z4 owner that they didn't really have much Z4 representation. Their hall as a whole though was amazing, and those frozen blue M cars are gorgeous.

It took me a good 20 minutes to get from the entrance of the Mercedes hall to the top of the escalator and then around to where I could catch the next show. I'm not a big fan of most Mercedes, but like their museum in Stuttgart, it was well worth checking out.

Most of the new concept cars that we've all been seeing on the car blogs were just as cool in person as I've been reading about. The Lexus LF-NX is just as ugly too.

Heres the photos. I'm grabbing the URL from my facebook so I apologize for the size. You should be able to zoom out in your browser if it is an issue.


































This is the line to get into the Audi building. This is still pretty early in the show, it got worse.


Kia Niro concept











NSX Concept









They had a new 'Vette that you could actually sit in. I didn't expect such a huge crowd around all the Chevy and Cadillac cars. Stingray yes, the rest of them was a shocker. I didn't sit in it as there was a long line and no one regulating it and telling people to make it quick. No trucks or SUVs from chevy out there...




Cadillac Elmiraj concept







Rolls Royce Wraith



In the BMW hall they had a stage set up with stadium seating. I just missed the 4 series show and stuck around for the i3/i8 show. As I said above, this show was weird. The dancers were pretty funny to watch as they interacted with the screens. Part of the elevated track that BMW built in there came across the stage and the cars would stop in the middle then drive off or just drive around.
























They had a racing simulator where you are actually in the car. The car moved up and down and the wheels actually turned as you turn the steering wheel. There was a screen outside that you could watch whoever was in the car and what they were doing on the "track"





The Celestial Phantom


WRX Concept













One thing that surprised me is that Nissan let you get into this GTR. At the San Diego show I went to Nissan wouldn't even open the doors or pop the hood so you could take a peek inside.


Nissan Zeod RC race car





Crazy Hankook tire design



Lexus LF-NX concept. the headlights and back are kinda cool, but that grill..







I tried to get into the Ferrari Store part of their set up, but apparently you needed an invitation. On top of that the Ferrari Store wasn't actually a store where you can buy anything. You can look at the stuff then go online and order it Butthurt by this and frustrated with the 4-man deep wall of people surrounding the Ferrari stand I decided to move on.








Jaguar CXD concept








Hamann's crazy ass designs



Mansory's even crazier designs. You can see the sea of cattle herded people around the booths.






This is where I started in the line for Audi at the back corner of the building

10 minutes later I got to the front of the building

Looking back to where I started

Then the line I was in, and the line from earlier going the opposite direction around the building meet and we go into the zig zag line to get in...

Worth the wait









The "green" area of Audi had a little astroturf hill inside where people were hanging out. Oh, and trees coming down from the ceiling...



Nanuk concept







Dirty ass SLS GT car




The HUGE crowd inside Mercedes. I had to lift the camera over my head to see what was going on.





Part of the show. I missed where her hand was under the car as it drove along as shes singing opera.



SLS AMG Black Series






Mercedes Racing





One hobby I picked up on while out here is collecting 1:43 scale model cars. It started when I went to the manufacturer museums, then became a bit of an addiction. I was able to find some pretty cool models here at the show, but was let down a bit too. I was REALLY let down by the quality that Lamborghini was selling. The Aventador only cost me 6 Euro and it was just a cheap toy. I also really wanted to find a Toyota GT86 since that is what I drove around the 'Ring, but they didnt have anything for sale. There was a Subaru BRZ, but its just not the same. I got sucked into a couple retail booths where they were selling a bunch of models for cheap and couldn't resist there either.

I also picked up another 9 at Nurburgring and another 7 between the Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW museums.


I hope you liked the photos and my short story about this amazing car show.

[Greenkirby21]

wow great pics! Good quality on them as well . THanks for sharing

[Vervain]

Thank you for taking the time to post these amazing pics! These pics are so professional and you got quite close at each stand!

I've had a change of heart regarding the i8. It is worthy of its asking price in my eyes. WOW!