MORE than half a million people will descend on the Geneva Motor Show this week to glimpse the cars of the future, which increasingly look likely to be electric.
Observers expect electrified models from premium makers like Audi, Volvo and Aston Martin. Fully battery-powered cars still command steep upfront prices, so the focus will be on plug-in hybrids, says David Bailey at Aston University, UK. Totally electric models won鈥檛 鈥渒ick off in a big way鈥� until 2020, when the European Union鈥檚 new carbon emissions rules for cars bite, he says.
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Absent but looming will be Tesla. Elon Musk, its chief executive, announced on 3 March that the company will soon unveil a new SUV, the Model Y. It will be bigger and more expensive than the firm鈥檚 鈥渁ffordable鈥� Model 3, but will be hugely important. 鈥淚t鈥檚 getting into that mass market. It鈥檚 significant,鈥� says Bailey.
