Paris Motor Show 2018

The sports concepts and cars are a part of the Paris Motor Show story, perhaps even the best part. But it's 2018, which means an even bigger part of that story reads electric vehicles, SUVs and crossovers, classic cars and autonomous concepts.

There's a heap of new automotive hardware to dissect from this year's Paris Motor Show. We'll get to the daily commuters in due time, but Paris is first and foremost a world capital of art, fashion and sexiness ... so the only place to start is with the hottest, sportiest cars of the show.

Porsche has announced that the concept study 911 Speedster, shown in June for the company's 70th anniversary, is now going into production. It will be a limited-edition open-top two-seater designed in homage to the company's first car, the 356 Model 1.

The seventh generation of BMW’s most popular global vehicle, the 3 Series, has been unveiled with a new 3 Series Saloon. The new 3 Series is bigger, sports new design language, and will include a new plug-in hybrid iPerformance model as well as BMW’s new personal assistant system.

​Utility three-wheelers are pretty common in much of the developing world. While many are powered by two-strokes, efforts to curb pollution have given rise to natural gas and battery-electric vehicles. Gaius Autos rolled into Paris this week to show off its Rapide 3 electric cargo scooter.​

Driving luxury has long been defined by the chauffeur - being driven, whether in a limousine, black sedan or armored ultra-premium SUV. But how will driving luxury be defined when autonomous vehicles drive everyone? Renault explores this question with the all-new EZ-Ultimo concept.

Vietnam’s first volume car manufacturer, VinFast, has debuted two vehicles at the Paris Motor Show. The global debut for the brand includes an all-new sedan and a new crossover inspired by the Vietnamese people. The company plans to go global with automotive exports.

Last year the Red Cross and Land Rover teamed up on Project Hero, an emergency vehicle concept car that kitted out a Land Rover Discovery with a deployable drone for search-and-rescue operations. Now the custom Discovery has entered active service with the Red Cross in Austria.

Building significantly upon the work it started ahead of Geneva 2017, Infiniti has revealed the latest iteration of its Project Black S sports coupe. Even more high-tech than before, the new prototype employs technology and design trickled down from Renault Sport F1.

Over the past couple of decades, the Smart brand has entered various little city car concepts into automotive shows. These have had varying themes, but all have been built off the idea of the Smart car and its tiny, tiny footprint. This year, an all-electric topless car is the concept.

The new Peugeot e-Legend Concept is a technological showcase in a classically inspired shell. The retro-modern coupe arrives loaded with contemporary and future technologies like a 456-hp electric powertrain and 16-display infotainment system.

It's not often that a Kia is the most memorable vehicle of an entire auto show, but last year's Kia Proceed Concept was definitely in the top tier of Frankfurt Motor Show debuts. A year later, Kia is releasing the production version, a stretched hatch it classifies a five-seat shooting brake.