Paris Motor Show 2024: All highlights from this year’s blockbuster eve

Car lovers have descended on Paris’ Porte de Versailles for a week of talking, previewing, and trying out the latest electric vehicle (EV) concepts and models. 

The biennial event, which dates back to 1898, that is showcasing the world’s latest cutting edge auto tech. 

This year, in a return to form since the scaled-down 2022 show and a COVID-19 cancellation in 2020, automakers from Europe, the UK, Asia, and North America showed up in force to show off their latest designs. 

Here’s just some of Euronews Next’s highlights. 

European world debuts

The show started earlier this week with world debuts from Europe’s biggest EV manufacturers. 

France’s Renault unveiled its 4 E-Tech Electric, an electric crossover SUV called a “voiture à vivre” (or “a car for living”) with a 1,045-litre trunk that is “ready to go anywhere”.

Citroen, the French make backed by Italian-American Stellantis, have started what they called “a new era” with four world debuts this week: the revamped C4 and C4X along with the new C5 Air Cross, a “multi-energy” family SUV that is streamlined to be more aerodynamic on the road. 

The manufacturer’s Ami microcar also got an upgrade on its front and back to “enhance the friendly nature” ahead of its market release in 2025. 

From Germany, BMW revamped the MINI John Cooper Works, a classic car that got an energy boost with the “go-kart mode” that lets users put a 20 kilowatt boost of electric power so they can perform “overtaking manoeuvres” and accelerate. 

Among BMW’s fleet at the Motor Show was also the new electric NeueKlasse, a hi-tech EV that projects driving information on the lower part of the windshield and comes with a personal artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. 

The first sedans with AI behind the wheel

The motor show also saw the unveiling of several car models, largely from Chinese manufacturers, that incorporate AI behind the wheel. 

Stellantis’ Leapmotor, founded in 2015, unveiled the B10 – a compact cross-over electric-powered SUV, and the Chinese company’s first global model. 

The car uses an internal “Leap 3.5 architecture” that will provide features like “advanced driver assistance,” a digital cockpit and intelligent driving capabilities. 

Zhong Tianyue, Leapmotor’s head of product planning, said the car will be manufactured in Poland, adding a price will be announced closer to the car’s launch in 2025. 

XPeng, a 10-year-old Chinese EV manufacturer, unveiled the P7+, which they claim is the world’s first “AI-defined” vehicle. 

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Xiaopeng He, the brand’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement that the car helps drivers with an advanced assistance system that will in the future “make autonomous decisions,” to become the driver’s “companion or mobile butler”. 

The AI will also “learn from individual users’ behaviour” on the road and their preferences, which XPeng says will make “driving easier,” and make a more “personalised journey”. 

The car was built with their “Turing chip,” a chip they designed in house to develop XPeng’s AI models. 

The launch of these AI models comes after French President Emmanuel Macron attributed this “difficult moment” for French and EU carmakers to ferocious competition with China.

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Green energy delivery trucks, planes, and go-karts

The auto salon also saw some unique green technology that wasn’t just for traditional EVs. 

Some of France’s biggest car manufacturers brought out their latest “license-free” electric microcars that people as young as 14 can drive without a driver’s license. 

Onlookers saw Renault’s Duo and Bento cars, two-seaters a little longer than a metre-long that has a range up to 161 km before it needs to be recharged. 

Those who attended the show this week also saw an example of a 100 percent green e-plane. 

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