Engineers from Switzerland's famed watchmaking area in the Jura have created this eco prototype, Consomini Evo, that has done more than 2,000km on a litre of petrol
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - All roads in Switzerland lead to Geneva starting today, for one of the biggest events on the Swiss calendar, the Geneva Motor Show.
Happily, compared to a few years ago, a growing number of car enthusiasts are willing to take advantage of good offers from the CFF rail company, and the roads are less congested than in the past.
The CFF is putting an extra 15 trains on for the show.
Some 70,000 people are expected to visit the car show, widely considered the most independent of the major auto shows because it takes place in a country with no major car manufacturers.
Iran has an electric car world premiere, the IEFCV Aryana 800, at the Geneva show
Expect Green: environmentally-minded drivers, once considered a fringe group, are now the target group for scores of new models.
The Green Pavilion this year features 17 world premieres, including some of the most unusual cars you can expect to see at the show.
Migros, which has been backing a number of electric motor projects recently, has a strong presence at the show. It announced Thursday morning 3 March that it is opening 45 new electric recharging stations in Switzerland, as part of its push to encourage electric motors.
Rinspeed's BamBoo
Swiss concept car company Rinspeed, noted for many years for James Bond-style flash cars, is showing green vehicles for the second year running, confirming the growing industry move away from guzzlers to planet-friendly vehicles. Its super-sophisticated waterproof electric urban beach buggy includes a foldup bicycle, but under the icing on the package are some sweet futuristic technical design features.
What to expect, how to find your way around the Geneva Motor Show
Where Palexpo, next to the airport, in Geneva
When Starting Thursday 3 March: 10:00-20:00 weekdays and 09:00-19:00 Saturday, Sunday. Closes 13 March.
Swiss retailer Migros proves that the Geneva Motor Show is about more than cars: electric bike El Moto goes up to 45kph and the Vectrix-VX1 is the world's first electric Maxi-Roller
How to get there By far the best option is the train if you’re from out of town, or public transport if you’re going from Geneva.
If you take the train, go to the top of the steps as you leave the CFF/SBB station and take bus number 5 or 28 to Palexpo (2 stops). The CFF Swiss train company offers special deals to encourage people to use public transport and bus passes are included: 10 percent reduction on the train ticket and discount on the car show. You can buy the combined tickets in most railway machines or order online.
If you’re taking the train only one way the special offers won’t do you any good, and you’ll need to buy a bus pass: note that you have to have the right change for the bus. Consider a CHF7 (after 09:00) or regular CHF10 day pass for public transport if you’re planning to see something of Geneva.
The Motor Show site provides a good “how to get here” page with tips for drivers and those taking public transport.
Entry fee: CHF16 for adults and CHF9 for children; group discounts; tickets can be ordered online.
Number of people who attend each year About 70,000 during the 10 day-event.
What you can expect to see More than 700 car models shown by 260 exhibitors, more than in 2010, from 31 countries. An added plus for many visitors: some of the longest legs in the world, on the young women who show the cars.
Highlights of the 2011 car show
Pagani Huayra, for those who like air
The show is huge and, for first-timers, confusing because there are simply so many cars. Some of the odd and special highlights to look out for this year:
Hyundai: a green routing for navigation as well as the traditional shortest and fastest route options
Ferrari is giving us a station wagon, the FF (four wheels, four seats) which bends the rules of what station wagons are all about
Carlsson is making just 25 of its ultra-sumptuous burgundy C25s, at about half a million euros each
Saab has a new hyrid PhoeniX that showcases technology we can expect from the Swedish company in the future, for the more down to Earth driver.
VW offers a retro car, with a new version of the much loved VW van once so popular with hippies.
Fiat‘s hugely popular 500 model arrives this year with an award-winning engine and a double-bubble top from designer Zagato,who always puts these on his special cars, including Ferraris and Aston Martins.
Rolls Royce, not to be outdone in the Green game, has a one-off 102EX Phantom Experimental Vehicle that carries 640kg of lithium batteries so the electric car can make it 120 km without recharging.
It’s only the end of January, midway through a New York winter, and the city of New York has already had more than twice the snow it usually gets during a winter. The 19 inches that fell Wednesday and Thursday broke a record dating back to 1925 for the most snow in January: 36 inches, or more than a metre, and more than 8 inches above the old record.
The northeastern US has been battered this week by heavy snows that have closed airports and schools throughout the region, and not for the first time this winter. Working parents, according to the Boston Globe, are particularly feeling the stress. The continuing heavy snows are causing a variety of problems, with a parking lot roof collapsing in Boston and trapping two men, who were not injured, while in New York some people found their snowplows blocked inside their garages and the city suspended its rule of alternative side of the street parking. State Regent exams were cancelled and schools didn’t open for only the 9th time in 33 years.
Links to other sites: Boston.com, Huffington Post, New York Daily News
Raw video, AP
Ikea’s grand opening, Geneva-Vernier store 15 September, follows years of wrangling
Ikea Vernier Wednesday morning, before the crowds hit the grand opening
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The grand opening breakfast Wednesday morning 15 September at Ikea in Vernier was just the right kind: copious, with a wide selection of choices. Copious because it accompanied, Swiss-style, numerous speakers who all started by naming and thanking individually each dignitary present.
A wide selection because this is, after all, Ikea. And if the blue and yellow everywhere, including of course Ambassador Per Thoeresson’s tie, wasn’t a clue that Ikea is Swedish at heart, the glass of Schnapps at 07:00, at the end of breakfast, was a giveaway.
Sweden's ambassador to Switzerland, Per Thoeresson
“For me, like any Swede, Ikea represents Swedish values, Swedish culture,” Thoeresson told several hundred early morning breakfast guests, who thanked Sweden’s “other ambassador”, the home furnishings giant which has become an institution for foreigners in Switzerland. “It’s no accident that Switzerland was chosen as the first location in Europe outside Sweden. Switzerland is in the middle of Europe, Sweden and Switzerland share many values—including a sense of design, of functionality.” He added that the two countries “have become a little closer” thanks to Ikea.
It wasn’t always clear this would be the case.
This is the eighth Ikea store in Switzerland, but the 10-year battle to open it prompted one Geneva politician to say over breakfast that “Ikea in Geneva at one point meant ‘obstruction’ but today it’s a good example of working together.” The commune of Vernier repeatedly refused to approve the project, saying it needed guarantees the store wasn’t giving: a major concern was the potential for traffic problems. Protestors complained about future pollution and the canton of Geneva and Vernier commune battled over the number of exits from the store.
Burying the hatchet: what Ikea will bring Vernier, Geneva
The commune finally accepted the project in October 2008, after Ikea agreed to numerous conditions, which increased the bill considerably, and construction moved ahead. Final cost: CHF109.4 million, when the attic area is included.
Opening day shows a store that had 7,000 applications for 300 jobs. Eighty percent of those hired are from canton Geneva and 40 percent from Vernier, making Ikea a key employer in the canton with Switzerland’s highest unemployment rate.
The 31,000m2 (attic included) store has a parking lot with 850 places, but it has made a serious effort to discourage shoppers’ use of private cars: it’s easy to reach using bicycle lanes and public transport: buses 6, 19, 23, 28, 57, Y and trams 14 and 16, train Regio R from Cornavin. If you’re buying furniture you can’t put on the bus, you have two relatively green options: home delivery and Mobilité natural gas rental vehicles.
Ikea is expected to bring the commune tax revenues of up to CHF800,000.
Ikea is Ikea is Ikea, but this is Geneva, where living space is at a premium
Inside the store, everything is familiar to anyone who has visited Ikea elsewhere. It is slightly smaller than the store in Aubonne and the line of merchandise is essentially the same, but the Vernier store caters to a slightly different population. “People in Geneva have a bit more money, but smaller living spaces,” one employee told visitors. The kitchen selection is larger and there are numerous clearly marked sections for people with apartments of 25, 35 or 50 square metres: small spaces.
The rare opportunity to see an Ikea store without customers charmed breakfast guests, but at 09:00 as the grand opening drew near the most impressive sight was scores of employees racing to finish shelves-stocking before the doors opened. And only one protestor showed up.
Ikea Vernier web site, with hours
TSR timeline of Ikea political battle, Vernier-Geneva
Ed. note: GenevaLunch will publish a photo gallery of the new store before it opened, late Wednesday. Watch for the update here!
Lausanne triathlon 2009 (photo: ©2009, Lausanne Triathlon, V Cardoso)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Traffic in the Lausanne area will be rerouted in several places Sunday 22 August, due to the Triathlon, most of which takes place in the area around the lakefront. Traffic will be affected, but to a lesser extent Saturday.
The world championship sprint and team events will be joined by the Lausanne popular triathlon, with several thousand people expected.
A small detail provided by the organizers, with swimming as one part of the event: the lake temperature is 20C.
The Belgique and Ouchy quais have been closed to traffic from the Haldimand tower and the Place du Port since Wednesday morning; they will remain closed until the evening of 24 August for the events and dismantling afterwards.
During the two days of the event, access to the Mövenpick hotel and the Ouchy parking area will be via Avenue de la Harpe. Hotels at the Place du Port and the Beau-Rivage can be reached via the chemin de Beau-Rivage.
Areas where the races are run will have limited access:
Saturday, 07:00-13:00, sprint world championship
pl. Général Guisan, pl. du Port, pl. de la Navigation, av. de Rhodanie (to the bottom of av. des Bains), av. d’Ouchy (to the Croix d’Ouchy intersection), av. de l’Elysée, av. du Denantou, Tour Haldimand, quais d’Ouchy and Belgique.
13:00-19:00, popular triathlon
pl. Général Guisan, pl. du Port, av. d’Ouchy (Croix d’Ouchy), av. de l’Elysée, av. du Denantou, Tour Haldimand, quais d’Ouchy and Belgique.
From 13:00, drivers will be able to enter the Ouchy area normally except for the quais.
Sunday, 06:00-14:00, popular triathlon
pl. Général Guisan, pl. du Port, av. d’Ouchy (Croix-d’Ouchy), av. de Cour, av. de Milan, av. de la Dent d’Oche, Mont-d’Or roundabout, av. Marc Dufour, av. du Belvédère, av. de Provence, Vallée de la Jeunesse, av. Pierre de Coubertin, av. de Rhodanie, pl. de la Navigation, av. d’Ouchy (lower), av. de l’Elysée, av. du Denantou, Tour Haldimand, quais d’Ouchy and Belgique.
14:00-17:00, world championship, teams
pl. Général Guisan, pl. du Port, av. d’Ouchy (Croix d’Ouchy), av. de l’Elysée, av. du Denantou, Tour Haldimand, quais d’Ouchy and Belgique.
From 14:00, drivers will be able to enter the Ouchy area normally except for the quais.
Note that special parking rules and areas will be in effect during the weekend.
RSR public radio and Couleur 3 provide podcasts and downloads of several of the concerts
Crosby Stills & Nash were among the big hits at Paleo (photo: © 2010 Paléo / Boris Soula)
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – And the bands played on! The Paleo Festival closed Sunday, yet again, on a happy note for its organizers, a sold-out event, no major crises, and generally happy concert-goers. The only damp notes were problems with parking lot closures when heavy rains fell at the end of last week, just as the five-day event reached its peak, but given the encouragement the green festival gives to using trains and buses to reach it, this might have a positive result, prompting more people to reconsider driving in 2011.
Many of the concerts are available online from RSR and Couleur 3, depending on rights negotiations with the performing artists.
Big hits for 2010 were old favourites, starting with Crosby Stills & Nash, Johnny Clegg and Iggy Pop, but the Tribune de Geneve argues that hip-hop was the real star this year, performing in every corner of the festival.
The mix of music pulled in 230,000 fans, according to Paleo.
Paleo in 2011: mark your calendars now, 19-24 July.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – There are fewer than 1,000 free parking places in Geneva now, the Tribune de Geneve reports, with Avenue de la Paix, near the United Nations and International Red Cross buildings becoming for-pay parking slot.
The city is under pressure in a number of neighbourhoods from locals who see their free parking used by commuters from outside the city, who park for the day and use public transport to get into work.
Ed. note: the city has not confirmed that it will begin to charge for the newly painted parking slots on the road near the UN.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Commuters who leave their cars on streets in Grand Lancy and Chêne-Bourg for the day while they go to work are likely to find that option disappearing by the end of 2010, or in the case of Grand Lancy, sooner, reports the Tribune de Genève. The city of Geneva is currently the only commune in canton Geneva to sell its citizens monthly parking disks, known as macarons, which allow them to leave their cars on the street for indefinite periods
Expect tight security around the WTO buildings, but mainly at the CICG where the conference takes place
Several thousand in Geneva for WTO meeting, demonstration
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The barriers were being readied in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Thursday 26 November along the lake road in Geneva, and security measures around the area began to move into place for the start of the Seventh Ministerial Conference Monday 30 November, with several thousand people expected to take part.
Hotels have little space, but for local residents the main sign of the global talks will be disrupted traffic.
Detours and road closings begin Saturday 28 November, when 3,000-5,000 demonstrators are expected to take part in an anti-WTO march that starts at 14:30 at the Place Neuve.
Anti-WTO march Saturday after in centre of Geneva
The Vengeron exit (where the road split before the airport) on the A1 autoroute into Geneva, coming from Lausanne, will be closed early Saturday 28 November until the end of the march late afternoon. Traffic will be directed to the airport exit.
The march itinerary supplied by Geneva police:
The city of Geneva has a fairly good Geneva realtime traffic map that allows you to zoom in and see, for example, if it’s better to go from the WTO to Plainpalais via the train station or over the Mont Blanc bridge. You’ll need a cell phone that lets you check web sites if you want to look while in your car – worked on an iPhone when I tried it. But what I found most useful was the realtime report on the number of parking spaces available in city parking garages. Note that the French version seems to work better than the English one, which didn’t allow me to zoom, for example (this could have been a temporary problem).
Geneva, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) - Some of Geneva’s night parking lots will soon charge more because parking tariffs are being standardized in the canton of Geneva, the director of the Parking Foundation, Jean-Yves Goumaz says. The move is provoking opposition in the city, with some renters opposing the increase in parking space rent from CHF80 to 100 a month, saying there is a lack of security and hygiene in the parking garages. There are drug addicts who shoot up in the parking areas at all hours of the night and filth to be waded through in order to reach your car, said one parking space renter.
mini John Cooper, Geneva Motor Show 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Geneva Motor Show is normally one of the liveliest annual events in the region, with huge media coverage from around the world and snazzy new cars making even the least car-oriented people wonder if maybe a new red Alpha Romeo isn’t just what’s needed at home. Or a smaller red mini John Cooper convertible.
This year, the organizers say they are pleased to see all major manufacturers at the show despite the gloomy economic and industry news, but the pizazz of recent years is missing. The focus is a politically correct green.
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Friday has brought snow right down to the level of the lake, and in the mountains more is expected at the start of the weekend.
Road alerts
The snow is good, the sun is expected to come out Saturday and the Geneva Motor Show is on, so expect heavy traffic on the highways starting Friday afternoon.
Geneva is starting to lose its reputation as one of the most expensive cities around, with good reason. The latest competitive prices are from two sister companies. AB-BA offers affordable transfers from Geneva’s Cointrin Airport to dozens of destinations in Switzerland and France, including resorts. Example: Geneva-Verbier, door-to-door, CHF59 a person. Parking-Friend will park your car for CHF15 a day with a one-time handling cost of CHF20. The sites offer cost comparisons and they promise to try to beat lower offers from other certified companies.
Lausanne, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) – Parking metres will cost CHF3 an hour, up from CHF2.50 in Lausanne starting in the next few days, the city announced Friday. It’s the first increase in five years.
Grand-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – Too many commuters are using the streets of Geneva suburb Grand-Lancy to park their cars for the day and the town has decided to act on the problem.
