This is the fifth year of showing a concept model from the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) of Turin. This latest - the Maserati Chicane - is a very competent piece of work, displaying a degree of professionalism that wouldn't disgrace many OEM stands, yet the concept car was designed by two students of the 5th RSP Master in Transportation Design, Dmytro Zyubyairov and Oscar Palladino.

In essence, the Chicane is a rebodied Alfa Romeo 8C with a 2+2 layout. At 4400mm, it's 400mm shorter than a Gran Turismo GT and it retains a lot of Alfa 8C character in the design, especially around the rear haunch. Shown here as a milled hard model, the side view is characterized by three Maserati portholes in the doors (rather than the fender as on the Gran Turismo) and a light creaseline that runs forward from the door handle, then loops back on itself. Interestingly, this line is similar to the new ‘blade' motif promoted by GM on the Meriva and GTC concepts, except this is a positive section rather than negative.

The front end is the best part. There's a lovely integration of the lean-forward nose, where the edges of the grille snout continue into two vertical slots carved out of the front fender forward of the wheels. Upper and lower branches of the fender grow outwards to meet the wheelarch. Nestled high-up in these slots are the headlamps and an accompanying white ‘swiggle' LED motif. Against this fresh sculpture, the grille itself is a bit basic and unfinished, with its flush horizontal slats finished in gray. A similar dark gray color is used on the OZ 5-spoke wheels, which are a development of the current Trident design on the GranTurismo GT.

The Concept A-Star previews a new 109g/km C02 model from Suzuki that is based on the Suzuki Splash/Opel Agila launched last year. Significantly, it will form a key part of their commitment to lower C02 emissions and will be built by Maruti Suzuki in India. For the Concept A-Star, designers from Maruti Suzuki joined with the Japanese design team to bring a unique Indian aesthetic to this project.

Perhaps most obvious is the use of a bright magenta accent that's used throughout the design, including the cheater panel housing the rear view cameras, inserts in the wheels and the upper eyebrow area of the headlamps. Up close, this eyebrow comprises an arabesque pattern that becomes back-illuminated at night by LEDs. The rear features two boomerang-shaped rear lamps with the magenta-colored DI lamps hidden behind the tailgate glass, a trend we first spotted last year on the VW Up! and Seat Tribu. Other features include the sharp crease on the rear fender that curls down onto the bumper and the Suzuki diamond-shaped logo which pushes up into the tailgate glass.

The Concept A-Star is particularly notable for its interesting bodyside section, despite the inevitable width restrictions of an A-Segment car. A small overhanging shoulder below the windows dives into a softly-sculptured surface with a deep lightcatcher low down near the rocker panel that flicks up into the wheelarch and successfully breaks up the depth of the bodyside. We also noted the two sharply recessed slots for door handles that puncture the surface, a theme repeated for the exhaust outlets at the rear.

The interior is finished in black and light beige suede. Most interestingly, the IP is completely split into a pair of upper and lower wings, with a magenta-illuminated cavity between them and a high-mounted gearshift lever.

Previewed as a concept in Detroit 2007, the XC60 is Volvo's bid to compete with compact SUVs such as the BMW X3 and Land-Rover Freelander. More sculptural than the XC90, the new XC60 is the first full project overseen by Design Director Steve Mattin and very much reflects his taste in design, according to former colleagues from Mercedes. The front face features the new bolder look that Mattin will introduce across the range. This comprises a 6-sided grille with satin silver frame, black egg-crate mesh and much larger Volvo ‘Iron Mark' emblem. Slim running lamps are mounted between the headlamps and grille, to provide a new night-time signature for Volvo. The rear view is also unmistakably Volvo, with the swoop-down bevel in the rear bumper echoing the striking lamp graphic and its blade of red light down the center.

The most notable achievement on this car has to be the fine quality of the surfacing, particularly the way the soft shoulderline cones wider towards the tail lamp - the exact opposite of most cars - and the way that adjacent undercut feature line fades out by the rear door handle. Indeed, the overall fluidity of the design is exemplary, with a great combination of soft surfaces and beveled edges right around the car to keep the eye moving and to add interest wherever one looks. The two launch colors - ‘Terra Bronze' and ‘Lime Grass Green' suit the car well and are said to be inspired by the fashion industry.

Safety is taken to new levels with the world premiere of ‘City Safety' low speed auto brake, where the car itself brakes if it detects a collision with the vehicle in front. This supports other innovative safety aids pioneered by Volvo including ACC, BLIS, Lane Departure and Distance Alert. Overall, this is a very handsome new Volvo.

Bocanegra - the name given to this show car from Seat - means 'black mouth' in Spanish, referring to the blacked-out front of the car. This is essentially a large 'mono-graphic' encompassing the upper grille, the lamps and the broad lower grille. Within this black area, the lights and bumper beam are covered with one clear plastic mask, giving a unique and rather menacing appearance.

Previewing a forthcoming production design, the car's new face also joins the new interpretation of Seat's prominent side feature lines. Starting as the shut line between headlamp and hood, the front line sweeps backwards to the lower part of the rear fender ahead of the rear wheel in a single, very dynamic sweep. Where in previous Seats this has arced rearwards, now it slashes backwards with far less curvature. The way this is controlled in plan and elevation so that the slight curve accelerates backwards evenly from every angle it is viewed, is impressive. Another curve picks up just behind the door handle - a little abruptly - and arcs around into the rear tailgate, not into the top of the light as does the front feature line.

For some reason Seat was granting limited access to the interior, which is a shame as it appears to have had a lot of effort lavished on it. Looking in from outside the car, we could see non-geometric asymmetric air vent apertures covered in a metallic mesh - also used for the forward edge of the IP - a lot of high gloss black, exquisitely detailed instrumentation and a seemingly high level of quality.

The Bocanegra previews the replacement for the small Ibiza that is based on the Volkswagen Polo platform. And it also shows us how Seat are set to deliver a little more convincingly on their "auto emoción" brand statement with a more dynamic and expressive design. 

This was the biggest surprise of the show. Ken Okuyama, one of the industry's more prolific designers having held senior positions at GM, Porsche, Pininfarina and Art Center College of Design, announced a new car company producing his new sports car: the K.O7.

Taking inspiration from the Lotus Super Seven, the minimalist K.O7 is conceptually closest to the Ariel Atom and the KTM X-Bow; with its transverse mid-mounted four-cylinder engine, ‘cycle wing' fenders separate to the main car body and no windshield. The sister K.O8 coupe shown adjacent to the K.O7 differs in having integral fenders to the body a windshield and a detachable single-panel roof. Series production in Japan will begin later this year at a rate of about 100 per year at a price of approximately quarter of a million US dollars. This is a lot for such a minimalist car, but the K.O7 is dense with high-value design details.

Made of carbon fiber, with polished aluminum used for some core surfaces and structural parts - such as the roll over hoops and exposed door beams which double as door pulls - the car weighs just 750kg. The collaboration with Tag Heuer is evident inside the cabin, with the instrument dials having been influenced by the Swiss watchmaker's timepieces. There is a Spyker feel to the pleated red leather seats and the exposed polished aluminum toggle switches, handbrake and gear lever - all exquisitely detailed, and a long way from the crude execution typical for low-volume minimalist sports cars.

Wearing Ken Okuyama spectacles and sitting in a Ken Okuyama chair, Ken told us how he originally gave himself 20 years working for other people before he planned to set up on his own. And now, 22 years after he started at GM, he has his own brand producing his own designs, joining an elite few who are CEOs as well as chief designer at their own car company.

Previewed as the Iroc concept back in 2006, the production Scirocco gives VW Group a new Golf-based coupé that sits below the Audi TT in the line-up. The long-roof ‘shooting wagon' profile has few direct rivals in the marketplace - the Volvo C30 is the most obvious, the new Saab concept a possible future competitor - and provides the Scirocco with a comfortable four-seater package.

The side view is characterized by the elongated DLO shape and a pronounced light-catcher in the lower door, complete with a neat black bodyside protector strip at the base of the door. The doors feature frameless glass and a B-pillar hidden behind the rear glass surface. Compared to the Iroc, the front end is quite different, with the 'Wappengrille' ditched in favor of a horizontal dark headlamp and grille graphic, sitting above a deep lower grille with big diamond pattern mesh. Notice too, the VW badge that is located up on the hood rather than within the grille, as on most current VW models. Significantly, according to Walter de'Silva, this new front end face will be used on other VW models in future.

Sitting in the car, we were impressed by the comfortable seats and generous space for two rear passengers, although the integrated headrests and shallow glass area all restrict visibility somewhat in the rear. The trunk has a high loading sill but a useful deep volume of 292 liters and can be extended with fold-down rear seats.

The IP keeps the basic hardpoints from the Golf, but with a revised upper surface that is lower to suit the faster screen angle of the Scirocco and a new shape to the vents. While the console and center stack will be familiar to Golf owners, the new door panels are particularly nice, with large triangular door grips separated from the main armrest surface.

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Volkswagen Iroc concept - Paris 2006

We've seen the Verve concept in Frankfurt when Martin Smith told us that this was very close to what we should expect for the new Fiesta. And he was right. This new production design is 25mm taller and differs only in detail to the Verve. And, just as the Verve was presented in a strident violet hue, the two Fiestas displayed in Geneva were in equally big statement colors: 'Squeeze' acid green, and 'Hot Magenta'!

Smith took us around the car, highlighting the 'linen' finish to the slush molded IP, and also its expressive form. He is clearly particularly proud of the way the whole design evidently combines high perceived quality with a relatively extrovert design identity from the Kinetic Design language he introduced with the Iosis concept.

The exterior, by Chris Hamilton, starts at the front with the inverted trapezoidal grille shape, lipped in chrome and set low down, as on a sports car. The lamps sweep back and roll over the side edges of the hood, which in turn becomes a clamshell design as it reaches the windshield. At the sides there is the expected prominent undercut feature line and dynamic 'son of original Focus' DLO, plus a vestigial lower side line that sweeps up much as it does in the Mazda 2 (with which the Fiesta shares its platform). All of this is consistently executed, but slightly let down by the rear three-quarter aspect, which is reminiscent of the Mercedes A-class in theme but awkwardly resolved at the intersection between the rear light, tailgate, upper tailgate spoiler and rear window.

'Sassy' is a word that sums up the overall identity of this Fiesta well, and it was universally regarded as a very good bit of design by the designers we spoke to. We also think that the new Fiesta is very well judged for the market.

This concept previews a compact production coupé from Renault that would be a direct rival for the new VW Scirocco, so it was interesting to spot a couple of Renault designers looking closely at the VW, taking notes. Not that they need be too worried: if a couple of recent Renault concepts have been surprisingly disappointing, the Megane Coupé goes some way to establishing Renault Design back near the top of the pack in terms of concept cars, even if some of the ideas are developments of those seen on the previous Altica and Nepta concepts.

Renault has always been very active to explore new door hinge ideas on their concepts and the Megane Coupé takes things to a new level. Here, the upper door hinges up gullwing-style, while the lower bodyside dramatically hinges up on a massive cantilever from the rear seat headrests to reveal a bright Fire Red laquered inner sill that subsequently develops into the front and rear seat shells. The rear end is more characterful than the front and is notable for rear lamps comprising a pair of square tubes sitting within two air scoops in the rear fenders. The V-shaped rear window is fixed, while the trunk has a new action: it pulls open and then raises to minimize vertical lift, thus echoing the kinematics of the doors.

The interior is said to be influenced by contemporary furniture with instrumentation inspired by aviator-style watches. The IP can be divided into two sections: the red laquered main structure and black inserts which can store small items. The sides of the console feature a ribbed texture, echoing that of the headlamp modules. Seats are very deeply sculpted and finished in black nubuck leather, as are the door panels and the deeply-dished steering wheel. Carrying over from the interior, there are hints of red used on the exterior too, including the cantrails, foglamp surrounds and exhaust tailpipes, while the satin finish ‘Dragon Grey' body color is said to compliment the dragonfly doors.

Saab first showed a 9-X concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2001, a sports estate car that introduced new Saab design themes. It was also the first new Saab designed under then recently-appointed Director of Design, Michael Mauer. The 9-X launched at Geneva yesterday shares its namesake's estate sports car conceptual design, but is GM Europe Design center's take on what a lower-medium Saab should be (using the 'Delta' platform in GM speak; as per the Opel Astra) .

Like the Saab 9-4X shown in Detroit, the 9-X is clearly close to production in its design intent, if not exact surface detail. At 4424mm long, 1382mm high, 1826mm wide, it is a useful 172mm longer than the conceptually-similar Volvo C30, which gives the car more of a sports 'shooting wagon' and less of a standard hatchback feel. This is helped also by the more upright tailgate and the near horizontal base line to the DLO. And this relatively deep DLO is perhaps the strongest feature of the design.

Speaking with Chief Exterior designer Boris Jakob about this aspect of the car, he told us: "Everyone is going for this wedgy, high belt line, but I'm not a big fan. I think you need a close relationship between the DLO and the rear wheel".

The interior also progresses themes we've seen before - notably in the Aero X - as well as introducing new ideas. Speaking to Richard Shaw, Chief Interior Designer, we learnt how the front seats are white and the rear dark gray because it gives more of an appearance of a two-seat sports car, which is how he envisages the car being used most of the time. One great detail, which is hard to see from any pictures, is the tiny 'turbo vane' motif of the white printed foil on the IP and door inners, which has a few metallic flakes imbedded to subtly catch the eye. Another is the way that metal ribs rise up slightly in the boot floor to act as sliders for luggage being loaded.