This is the third generation Sportage, a ground-up new design that was previewed in theme by the 2007 Kia Kue concept - one of the first Kia designs to have emerged since the appointment of Peter Schreyer as Kia Design Director in July 2006. Like the concept, the production design has a clean and simple design language, the antithesis to the ‘fluidic-sculpture' of cars from sister brand Hyundai as well as being an aesthetic that might have been expected from Schreyer.

Relative to its predecessor, the Sportage is significantly longer, wider and lower - proportional changes that mean that this latest design will compete directly with European market-orientated lower medium SUV-crossovers such as the Nissan Qashqai. Just like the new form language, this subtle but significant shift in proportions and thus class of car, is indicative of Kia's strategy to respond quickly to the market and not allow its immediate heritage to affect its current direction - a typically Korean approach.

Interesting design features include the polished metal appliqué running up the C-pillar at the trailing edge of the DLO (day-light-opening), the way the main façade of the IP sits recessed within the outer IP surface, and the confident use of orange on the door inners.

The car was well received by the design community on the show floor in Geneva. As befits the brand, it's not a radical design, but it is distinctive, well resolved and progresses the brand's design signatures such as the ‘toothy' grille and lamp graphic. It seems very likely to build on the achievements of the Soul in elevating the Kia brand and helping it reach new types of customer. An impressive design.

The 3-RC is a single seat, three-wheeled, zero emission urban concept vehicle which occupies the space between a car and a motorbike. Overall form is dictated by the seating position of its rider - similar to that of a scooter rider, with feet forwards and knees together. The body divides into a series of elements, a central spine consisting of the nose and canopy, a lower body area which wraps around the driver providing weather and impact protection, which together sit on top of the encased drivetrain, with single rear wheel, and twin front wheels lying outside of the footprint of the upper passenger ‘capsule'.

With the canopy closed, the 3R-C takes on a much more distinctive and attractive form - the rounded central section, flanked by car-like lights, rising sharply from the nose, up over the instrument panel, where its surfaces is continued uninterrupted by the clear canopy, tapering toward the rear. When closed like this, the 3R-C has a much less scooter-like aesthetic, adopting instead a much lower, accelerative stance - reminiscent of the type and form of future vehicle depicted by many sci-fi films. Viewed thus, the 3-RC feels fittingly futuristic and new - although its three-wheel form and white colour scheme endow it with a certain ‘son of Aptera' appearance from certain angles.

It is interesting to see Honda using its strong pedigree in both cars and bikes to explore products like this. It is easy to categorize the 3R-C as a bike initially, largely thanks to the motorbike wheels - but the enclosed mechanicals and treatment of surfaces and details sits more in the automotive realm. Overall it complements the other vehicles Honda showed here - the EV-N, U3-X and FCX Clarity - which when judged together, suggest that the manufacturer is looking at the wider future of personal transportation, one that goes beyond simply fitting an electric battery into a standard automotive package.

In recent years the Geneva show has seen several attempts to revive great automotive names of the past - last year's Frazer-Nash by Guigiaro comes to mind, and this year sees the return of Hispano-Suiza - a legendary name from the 10s and 20s, but a name we've seen in Geneva as recently as 2004, with the HS21. Or does it? Developed by former Volkswagen designer Erwin Leo Himmel, the team behind the car are in fact keen to point out that this car and name bears no relation to Hispano-Suiza's of the past (a name owned by a French aerospace group), a point emphatically emphasized by the new, non-hyphenated name plate.

Essentially a rebodied Audi R8, the Hispano Suiza is a clearly aimed at people who look at the V10 version of Audi's supercar and think it's underpowered. The mid-mounted V10 therefore has had a pair of superchargers strapped to it to boost power to more acceptable levels.

The Audi roots are betrayed through a windshield, roofline and interior largely lifted from the R8, but the rest of the bodywork is thoroughly different to the donor car. While the proportions have a strong sports car theater to them, seen against the glasshouse of the R8, the body looks outsized - the frontal treatment giving the car a nose-heavy feel, with the aggressive shark-inspired lights and lower grille area creating a drooping 'beak'.

The deep, horizontal shoulder conveys a strong sense of the car's powerful mid-engined nature, flowing neatly from the top of the fender into a much broader rear deck and neatly resolved rear, but the surface treatment between the wheels is less successful, with a strange crease below the shoulder line, which introduces a degree of weakness into the side of the car, and feels very contrived as it flows into the cheaply-detailed air intake ahead of the rear wheel. Inside, the familiar R8 IP and center console are retrimmed in orange leather, and augmented by the addition of three circular air vents on top of the center stack.

This Hispano Suiza is more successful and convincing than many concepts showcased by small or fledgling companies. However, judged against the rumored €700,000 price tag, and the rich history of the hyphenated name it so clearly references, we - along with many of the designers we spoke to - find it mildly disappointing.