THE CRANKCASE. was very happy to be invited to the press days of the IAA Motorshow in Frankfurt this year.
It was a great chance to see what's new, exciting and 'a bit dull', as some of them are! in the four wheeled world.

Some pictures showing what attracted our attention in no particular order:

First time to see a BMW i8 close up, some nice modern surface treatments and product inspired styling elements.

Which wasn't really carried over to the interior, making a strong contrast to the industrial detailing around the door shuts.

A little bit scruffy but I like the visible build process which supports the industrial functionality of the concept.

A new Rolls Royce convertible, called the Dawn, looks like you could use it as a boat too, so long as you keep the doors shut.
I could spend days deciding which colours, extras and trim to order.

So much car styled so perfectly that it also looks compact from some angles.

But the Phantom appears almost big enough to live in. What a life it would be?

Mansory showed some surprisingly tastefully 'enhanced' Rolls Royce among their exhibits.

Although the body colour is slightly flashy, the quality and effect of the woven patterning is almost restrainned.

I can't really imagine the Rolls Royce founders would find this style of decoration offensive ?

One of the stars of the show, designed by Martin Petersson at Honda R&D in Tokyo.

Crossover 2/4 wheel project called 'Two Four' logically.

Not really very useful, but hopefully this will lead to an exciting future product from Honda.

And powered by the Moto GP derived V4 engine from . . . .

The recently announced Honda RC213V road bike.

Using exclusively the highest quality manufacturing and parts.

A pleasure to see and surely to own.

An unexpected return to 'bar end' mirrors, makes my 1981 Ducati feel almost trendy again.

The new NSX sports car however looks very unspectacular In comparison, which is a shame because I still love the original.

Ford surprised with this exotic GT Super Sports car, from a distance I was reminded of the Lamborghini Miura which is not far off the mark as the Miura and the original Ford GT40 were often compared.

But close up, the new car seems a bit confused and boxy.

Hyundai knows how to make a stunning Super Sports show car.

Hyundai is also trying to go up market with a new brand and therefore showed a luxury saloon with traces of Aston Martin, Bentley and Jaguar in its' styling.

The Spectre Super Sports car from Jaguar will apparantly appear in a future James Bond film.

Will the plot be as confused as the cars' styling?

Bugatti seem to know how to build a completely 'nutty' car. It's so outrageous, I love it, especially the graphics and the traditional Bugatti blue which luckily overshadows the purple tinted carbon fibre.

Just wonderful and very inspiring while we wait for the next Bugatti production car.

Lamborghini getting a bit predictable with the Huracan, I feel that I've seen it all before, maybe I have ?

Mercedes showed this outrageous Super Sports (seems to be the trend this year ! ).

This angle reminds me of the lightweight Lindner Nöcker racers based on the Jaguar E type.

Not sure at all about this Mercedes concept car, something modern, something 'not new at all' with an ugly front grill but nice clean surfaces- no emotion !

Marketing attempt for MV Agusta with the AMG 'inspired' 675 F3 seems to be just decoration and removal of the 'road legal' parts.

Very interesting to see that Brabus is selling restored classics such as this 300SL roadster,

or a 280SL.

I just don't want to know how much they cost.

New Porsche 911 GT3 RS looks as spectacular as it should with a few new features and details.

In comparison ton the 981 Spyder which is a totally new product clinging to the Porsche design tradition.

Grey could really be the new white.

Interesting Motion e concept, with its' cool pillarless clap doors, which will be sensational if they stay on the production version . .

A much more interesting shape for a 4 door Porsche than the Panamera.
Reminds me a little of the car from Woody Allens film 'bananas' !
just googled it- completely different, of course.

Even though Ferrari showed some 'new' models, both were updates; however I liked the 488 as it reminds me of some 60s or 70s Pinninfarina concept models ?

I hope some of this classic Guilietta image rubs off on the latest Alfa Romeo products because it was one of the cutest cars on the whole show.

No, it's not really working here, the car looks heavy enough without lowering the suspension.

Finally the best car in the whole show and maybe the oldest too.

This beautiful little Alfa Romeo TZ1 race car which looks like a slightly scaled down Ferrari 250 GTO.
Without doubt, the one to take home.