Paris Motor Show: A Jolt From Venturi

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PARIS — Standing in the middle of his company’s display stand here at the Paris Motor Show, Gildo Pastor, chief executive of Venturi Automobiles, ran his hands through his thick black hair and let out a sigh.

His day had been crazy, he explained. Traffic had been crazy. Preparations for the show were crazy. In fact, this interview was a little crazy. The auto show’s two official media days began Thursday but Mr. Pastor had agreed to give me an unofficial tour of Venturi’s new vehicles the night before the show opened.

Electric cars are big news at this year’s Paris show, but few manufacturers seem able (or willing) to top Venturi’s wild creations. The company was purchased by Mr. Pastor in 2001. Having already made his fortune in real estate, he decided to completely break with Venturi’s two decades of experience in building luxurious sports cars and take a calculated risk. The first job was to relocate the business to Monaco, making Venturi the only Monegasque car company.

Most important, Mr. Pastor abandoned Venturi’s lineup of midengine sports cars in favor of focusing all efforts on developing new electric vehicles. Ironically, the first result was a fast and glamorous electric sports car, the Fetish.

Mr. Pastor pointed to the latest example, being shown in Paris. The motor now produces 50 more horsepower — for a total of 300 horsepower — and weighs only half as much as the old motor. Unfortunately, the price tag hasn’t received a similar halving. A Fetish costs more than $400,000.

For those on a tighter budget (and who don’t have a yacht moored in Monaco), Venturi also showed a new electric city car, the Eclectic. Its cartoonlike lines are probably a love-it-or-hate-it proposition; personally, I love it. There is seating for three, with the driver in the center and a passenger to either side. Solar panels are built into the roof, and there is an optional wind-turbine that can be plugged into the car to aid recharging. A regular plug and cord comes standard.

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Tags: electric cars, electric sports car, electric vehicles, Innovation, paris motor show, solar panels, venturi automobiles

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 8:20 pm and is filed under NY Times, Project Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.