Every Must-See Debut from the 2019 Geneva Auto Show

Anyone who thinks that modern auto shows are dying a slow death-particularly after this year's downright boring Detroit auto show-needs to fly themselves to Geneva, Switzerland, at take in that city's international motor show. The 2019 Geneva show was huge, with an alluring mixture of new-car debuts, fanciful concept cars, and more low-volume supercars than you can shake financial crimes at.

Okay, so travel to Switzerland and accommodations in a city best known for having a lake and being a destination for banking and watch purchases isn't cheap, nor is it likely to be quick or easy. That's why we went, and while in Geneva not swimming in the lake, banking, or purchasing watches, we sorted through the auto show's myriad vehicles to find the ten that matter most. Swipe through for the list, and be sure to see everything else from the show in our full-throated coverage.

Pronounced "toe-nah-lay," this Tonale concept is Alfa Romeo's vision for a new, smaller crossover destined to join its lineup beneath the compact Stelvio. You can tell from the Tonale-for the last time, it's not "toenail"-that it is front-wheel drive–based, not rear-drive like the Stelvio or the Giulia sedan. Besides entering Alfa Romeo into the lucrative market segment that also includes subcompact luxury offerings such as the BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA-class, and Lexus UX, the Tonale promises to offer a plug-in hybrid powertrain when it eventually goes on sale. That makes it Alfa Romeo's first-ever hybrid model.

Among a flotilla of new supercars and supercar-like show cars Aston Martin debuted in Geneva, the Vanquish Vision concept rose above the rest. First off, this will be the tamest of the coming flood of mid-engine Aston Martins, which also includes the 003 and the Valkyrie, yet will still have a new V-6 engine and hybridization like those cars. Its focus on road performance, rather than all-out track acumen, means that its body is free from most of the wings, slats, slits, and other distractions on its more powerful siblings and thus is somewhat prettier. Either way, get ready, because Aston is taking the supercar fight to McLaren and Ferrari's doorsteps.

Audi's electric lineup continues to expand, at least if you count the volume of concept cars the automaker has unveiled in recent years. So far, only the e-tron has made it to market, but this smaller Q4 e-tron won't be far behind. Promised for 2021, the eventual production Q4 e-tron likely will closely resemble this concept. It also is said to arrive with around 280 miles of driving range per charge from its 82-kWh battery pack, one drive motor per axle (providing all-wheel drive), and a bullseye on its tailgate from Tesla's upcoming Model Y compact electric crossover.

Lucky for you, the opportunity, such as it is, to purchase the most expensive new car for sale in the world today has passed you by. Bugatti has already sold the $12.5 million, Divo-based La Voiture Noire to the customer who special ordered the all-black hypercar. For the extra $9 million and change this one-off creation costs relative to a run-of-the-mill Chiron, Bugatti's special buyer receives a rolling homage to the 1930s-era Type 57SC Atlantic owned by Jean Bugatti himself and said to be lost before the onset of World War II. The frenchy name literally translates to "the black car," and black this Divo creation is, with a dark-finish carbon-fiber-weave body treatment, stripped-down ornamentation, no rear wing, and several body openings and vents closed up. Oh, and it has six exhaust outlets lined up in a row poking out from its butt.

Ferrari won't say for sure that the F8 Tributo is its last new vehicle powered by a non-electrified V-8 engine. It will say, however, that "the next one" likely will be hybridized. However you parse that, Ferrari's adoption of hybrid technology and other electrification techniques for augmenting internal-combustion engines is nigh. So enjoy this F8 Tributo (which means "tribute" in Italian), because it literally might just be a celebration of the V-8 engine Ferrari has near perfected for it. Borrowed from the high-performance Pista, the F8's engine makes the same 710 horsepower and motivates an altogether prettier evolution of the mid-engine 488 supercar.

The Honda e Prototype is one of the cutest cars we have ever seen, and the fact that it will go into production essentially unchanged makes us love it even more. The EV has been designed with Europe in mind, and it rides on a new rear-drive electric platform. Total range will be a bit more than 124 miles, so it’s no Tesla-beater when it comes to efficiency, but the Honda’s retrofuturist interior knocks every other electric car out of the park. (Hell, it’s better than most mainstream car interiors.) Sadly, it’s only slated for European sales at the moment, but the new platform will spawn other EVs that could make their way to our shores. Hopefully they’ll look as good as this one.-Daniel Golson

Ignore the curiosity of the Mazda CX-30's name-no other current Mazda's numerical marker breaks into the double digits, and the CX-30 is among its smaller offerings-and focus on what it is: A lifted Mazda 3 hatchback wearing unique black plastic body armor. Technically, this places the CX-30 in the awkward, tiny space between the subcompact CX-3 crossover and the larger CX-5. Visually, however, it has more of a car-like appearance than either of those two SUVs, almost like an Audi Allroad or Volvo V90 Cross Country. And it's darned attractive, so who really cares what it’s called or whether it overlaps a bit with existing Mazda products?

Qu'est-ce que c'est? Les voitures françaises are coming back to the U.S.? If you haven't heard, Peugeot has formally announced plans to re-enter the U.S. market by 2026, marking the return of French cars to our shores for the first time since the 1990s. So we took an extra-close look at the Peugeot stand in Geneva, finding a lot to like, from the stylish 508 sedan and wagon to the new 208 small hatchback. Just recently redesigned, the 208 offers a good look at the current state of Peugeot, and it offers a newly available all-electric variant, which fits in nicely with Peugeot's emphasis on electrification going forward.-Joey Capparella

This is no Ferrari, even if it sort of looks like one. But that's hardly an accident. Pininfarina once designed nearly all of Ferrari's new road cars (their design has since moved in-house at Ferrari), so the all-electric Battista can be forgiven for looking like a Ferrari; in fact, let's just say certain Ferraris look like the Battista. Anyhow, the low-slung EV is actually based on Rimac's electric supercar, and Pininfarina took great pains to ensure adequate cooling for that running gear without sacrificing aerodynamic performance. Like most things Pininfarina designs, the Battista is very, very good-looking, and its 150-car production run is already on its way to being sold out.

Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh thinks that the company has been at its best in the U.S. when it has offered emotional, fun models like the original Beetle, Microbus, and New Beetle. So it's no surprise that VW has attempted to tap into this retro aesthetic with its new electric-vehicle concepts, namely the Microbus-inspired I.D. Buzz and now this electric dune buggy called the I.D. Buggy. Built on the modular MEB platform that will underpin most of these future VW EVs, the buggy essentially puts a simple, doorless and roofless body on top of a big battery pack and rear-mounted electric motor. Throw in some extra ground clearance, a minimalist interior that can be hosed out, and you have the perfect beach vehicle that makes us reminisce about the old Beetle-based Meyers Manxes of yore. VW even says that it plans to work with third-party outfitters to create buggies like this for real, farming out the MEB platform to enable all sorts of customization possibilities.-Joey Capparella