From our envoy to the Paris Motor Show,
“I love the car, I love the car (…) The car is freedom, and all those who condemn it should remember what the Soviet Union was (…) The car is freedom. is France (…) it is our culture. On December 2, 2019, the – already – Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, spoke in these terms at the Automotive Industry Day. Words – in particular the opposition with a USSR fallen since 1991, it is recalled – which could seem anachronistic. Just under three years later, the Paris Motor Show opened its doors to visitors for the week. In the midst of an ecological and economic crisis. And, more cyclically, in the midst of a quasi-national gasoline shortage.
To see the present world, the car is still a dream, thank you for it. But what imaginaries does it refer to today? With as much suspense as for Benzema’s Golden Ball, it is the word “freedom” which largely prevails, coming back almost systematically in the mouths of enthusiasts on site, manufacturers and visitors alike. Especially since the last few months have not been the easiest in this regard. Lyrical flight from the side of Damien, 35, Redbull jacket on his back and heart dedicated to Max Verstappen: “Man is made to explore, discover, move. Freedom of movement is one of the foundations of our civilizations, of which we have been deprived for two years of confinement and curfew. It’s the train, the bus or the metro, but it’s going from point A to point B. The car is infinite points”.
Mobility for all, or for some?
A freedom that must be accessible to all, we still defend. “The car, in the imagination, is use. And the more we evolve, the more specific each use becomes. Little by little, we will go towards the end of the car as a property, for always more different uses. Cars available for everyone, according to every moment and every need”, we imagine at Cosmobilis. On the side of Aixam, number 1 of the car without a license, the idea is that everyone can drive, even those without the famous pink paper: “Yesterday, today, tomorrow, the car offers mobility. People need to see their loved ones, you can’t fight that. The car is the people at hand. »
However, some visitors have chosen to give up their precious four wheels. Against the current of manufacturers, Sophia, 27, imagines the automobile becoming scarce: “The car, for my father, was essential. For me, it was the expense and the ecological guilt. ” At the Alpine stand, she admires the A110 R, designed in 32 copies, at 148,000 euros the baby all the same: “This is perhaps the world of tomorrow: the car as a luxury item, a unattainable dream for ordinary mortals. We all know that in the future, not everyone will fly. Probably no longer the car either”.
Electric or nothing
Because the famous “end of abundance” announced by Emmanuel Macron has taken up residence in the aisles of the show. For the thermal, of course: the stands offer almost unanimously electric models, when it is not a question of the whole of the range presented. And that’s good, that’s what attracts the most. “You would see my grandfather’s car, you would understand that the sector is full of innovation given the change in fifty years, notes Camille with a smile, her Ferrari cap firmly screwed on a head full of hope. For me, the car is that: solutions. Faced with the distance, faced with the price of the train… The car will respond to ecological problems: it will soon be non-polluting. »
“It will change the feeling on the road. Drivers will in particular discover silence, ”estimates on the side of Renault. As for the freedom cherished above, it will also have to adapt. Or at least plan, according to the manufacturer: “The time when we left Paris one evening to go to the beach in the South on a whim is coming to an end. From now on, with the need for charging stations, a trip will require planning, planning stops…”
Marks and Dreams
No more abundance on the side of accessories too: the refined designs attest to it, the race for the gadget, it’s over, or relegated to films of James Bond. “We are only looking for the essentials”, we swear at Dassia, in ode to simplicity.
The car is therefore undergoing profound change, driven by the transition to electric, sobriety… Not so fast. At Alpine in particular, in full description of this famous A 110R model, we recall that behind all its innovations, “the brand remains faithful to its history, its qualities and its design. We have to talk to the people who have been following us for years. Cars are above all enthusiasts talking to enthusiasts. » The final word for Camille: « It’s the nature of the car to have imaginations. A car is a dream. And as long as it makes you dream, the sector will have a future. »