Organisers of the 81st Geneva Motor Show are confident that the bumpy road to recovery that recently affected the annual show is now behind them.
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Born in London, Simon is a multimedia journalist who has worked for www.swissinfo.ch since 2006. He speaks French, German and Spanish and focuses on science, technology and innovation issues.
Some 700,000 people, including 10,000 journalists, are expected to pour through the doors of the huge Palexpo exhibition halls from March 3-13 to ogle the new got-to-have cars, which include 170 world and European premieres.
The Geneva show seems to be firmly back on track after the storm affecting the industry in 2008-2009 and a successful 2010 edition.
“For the 81st show we are very confident as we have had great demand from our clients and we have already sold a large number of entry tickets,” Rolf Studer, general manager of the motor show, told swissinfo.ch on Tuesday.
The world premieres include: Ferrari FF, the Hyundai 1040, Ford B-Max, VW Golf cabriolet BlueMotion, new Lancia Ypsilon, Range Rover Evoque, new Peugeot 308, Honda Jazz hybrid and Subaru Trezia.
This year a much larger space has been set aside for 36 exhibitors and their new green cars, not just those with lower fuel consumption but newer technologies, from electric cars to hybrids.
Geneva remains an attractive show for many automakers, suppliers and design firms because it is held in neutral Switzerland, which does not have an automaker of its own to claim a home advantage.
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.