The 4th edition of the ‘Salon de l’Innovation Automobile et des Mobilités’ – Monaco SIAM 2020 (Monaco Auto Show on Innovation and Mobility), promoted by Expo Monaco, was held at Quai Albert 1er (Port Hercules) from the 5th until the 8th March 2020, under the auspices of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. A very special occasion to meet the most recent iconic luxury car models by more than seventy major automotive manufactures. From the most exclusive car models to sports cars, hyper-cars and innovative technologies including concept cars as well as prototypes, conceived by renowned engineering schools.
All that framed in an exclusive red-carpet-style indoor showroom equipped with gourmet corners, recreation and interactive areas where to simulate a road driving of any type of vehicle on board Virtual Speed, a true sensitive simulator designed for leisure and professional use to measure car telemetry.
Everything started up from the visionary idea of Thierry Hesse, former General Commissioner of Paris Motor Show, President of the French Meeting Industry Council – UNIMEV and Member of the French Confederation of Enterprises – MEDEF, who founded in 2017 the Monaco International Auto Show together with his son, Nicolas Thierry, current Chairman. Since the very first edition, a special focus has been devoted to renewable sources of energy inviting manufacturers to promote their electric, hybrid, hydrogen and ionic vehicles, more frequent also in the field of the luxury.
That brought Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Compagnie Monégasque de Banque, Monte-Carlo SBM and then Monaco Economic Board and Monaco Government to support the initiative. Thus, the co-founders welcomed on Thursday morning Olivier Wenden, Vice-President of Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Guillaume Rose, Chief Executive Officer at Monaco Economic Board and Guy Antognelli, Director of Tourism and Congresses, to an official preview visit tour.
HelloMonaco, media partner of the event, collected some relevant feedbacks from key figures. “It is always a great pleasure to join SIAM opening ceremony witnessing the increasing success in terms of participants and, notably, the number of hybrid and electric vehicles that are leading this edition”, highlighted Olivier Wenden – “it is crucial to continue to raise public awareness on environmentally-friendly mobility, like the electric Grand Prix and Formula E, taking advantage of advanced facilities provided by the Principality”, he added.
“What really matters in this edition is to see the strong sense of innovation in the automotive market” pointed out Nicolas Hesse – “despite the critical moment we are experiencing (coronavirus emergency), SIAM Monaco is pushing ecology, innovation and the high-standing with a series of exclusive events showing the increasing interest by luxury brands to invest in green mobility”.
Extraordinary brands like Porsche, Volvo, Toyota, Lexus, Fiat, Kia, Hyundai, Ford were on the spotlight together with the most performant Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini aerodynamic four-wheeled jewels and Alpine rally-style city cars.
Within the SIAM Showroom the renowned German Porsche unveiled on Thursday afternoon its first 100% electric model, Porsche Taycan. “This is the outcome of an innovative project that is lasting for five years to create this unique model whose engine has a range of about 400 kilometres, being very performant and comfortable”, highlighted Nicolas Bonnefoy, account executive at Porsche Monaco – “I do believe that nowadays all car manufacturers are committed in fostering ‘green cars’ to reduce CO2 emissions offering more reasonably priced options”.
Innovation then, as witnessed by the eco-single-seated vehicle realised by a skilled team of junior and professional engineers from ‘Istitut Superieur de l’Automobile et des Trasports’ (High School of Automotive and Transports) set in Nevers, close to the most popular Magny-Cours circuit.
“Automotive goes increasingly hand in hand with ecology, so we decided to think about a car race able to make people changing their mind to perform in a sport competition with reduced impact on the environment”, explained to us Maxime Sanchez and Thibault Skorupa – “we conceived a highly-performant engine that allowed us to attend successfully the annual Shell Eco Marathon competition in London addressed to all kind of energy-efficient vehicles”.
On the same wave, 2CV Méhari Cassis offered a fully sustainable set of that celebrated Citroën ‘vintage’ model that has been reinvented as a total electric-vehicle since 2017.
For lovers of strong emotions, the Monegasque Emotion Automobiles presented Rapture by Radical Sportscars, a well-established British company, combining efficiency, extreme performance and radical tuned engines both for experienced or amateurs’ drivers.
Garage Hotel, finally, disclosed an interesting electronic engine and design system to recreate wonderful vintage-style cars with low-environmental impact devices as well as safety tools and accessories.
Monaco SIAM 2020 was the right place for an eco-friendlier automotive future at our fingertips.
Official Website link: Monaco SIAM 2020, #MONACOSIAM
