PARIS, France: The auto show that's held here every even-numbered year is always a little light on real product for North America, and that leads to an inordinate amount of interest in other things that happen in the Place de Versailles.
That was the case this year more than most. A random survey of North Americans at the Mondial de l'Automobile 2000 revealed that the most memorable thing they'd seen was pretty much a random sampling of this and that.
The thing that seemed to get the attention of most people involved BMW's launch of the Mini, the compact car that will debut in Canada in Q2 of 2002 in about 80 dealerships across the continent. The car itself was of interest, of course, but most people talked about how irritating it was that the whole press conference was rigidly done in German, even when questions were put in English to executives who speak English. This particularly roiled the Brits, several of whom walked out in a huff, and the French.
For me, it was the brand new Opel Corsa that had been filled full of real live bullet holes by a French artist as part of the subcompact's world premiere. No one from Opel or GM could explain the significance of this, and no one else I spoke to noticed it. They did, however, see the Corsa right next to it, since it had been turned on its end so you could see the drawing of the woman sunbathing topless. Hey, c'est la France.
A bunch of stuff debuted here to the public, but will be old fromage to the folks who follow the business closely-the Mini, the Mercedes-Benz CL, and so on. Others are for Europe only and-sacrebleu!-should we be glad. On the other hand, the revised Mondeo looks great and makes me wonder if Americans might be more accepting of the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique versions if they looked like this and shared these increased dimensions.