It’s one thing to see the masses crowded five deep around the premiere of an über-car such as Audi’s new R8 at the Paris Motor Show. It’s quite another to realize, as the event winds down, that manufactured metal celebrities such as this have been mobbed for two weeks straight.

White light, white heat: baking the paint at a Ford exhibit in Hannover.

Defining Excess. Despite the ample natural lighting of the show halls at one recent vehicle show, each exhibit was bathed in so much artificial lighting that air conditioning systems had to be cranked up to overcome the resultant heat.

Forest floors had been excavated from nature to provide a “natural” setting upon which to display environmentally friendly vehicles. Larger companies had custom private restaurants built into the second floor (yes, there’s a second floor) of the exhibits (not the hall containing them) so that exhibitors could woo customers and journalists.

Vast expanses of pavement had been wetted down so that the paying public could witness eighteen-wheel commercial tractors with brakes locked, drifting sideways. Hundreds of thousands of aggregate dollars were spent by exhibitors to have powertrains meticulously cross-sectioned and chrome plated, the elegant cutaways destined for the scrap heap as they are replaced by next year’s components.

Members of the public who wished to test the efficacy of advanced seat belts could strap in to vehicles which were then lifted up and whirled in the air like a circus ride, spinning back and forth to demonstrate that yes, when one is properly cinched in, one’s head is not beaten to a pulp against the interior of the car.

And that was just the Hannover IAA commercial vehicle show, which concluded last month.

The Paris Motor Show (Mondial de l’Automobile), which ends Sunday, is extravagant to yet another order of magnitude. Sleek models in jumpsuits flank next year’s products. Entire vehicles are suspended several stories above the show floors, symbolizing the power that sells so well. Artificial waterfalls and micro-forests have been constructed to provide a natural feel.

More than a million and a half visitors have walked through the gates of the Paris show this year, and virtually all of them walk out carrying bags of swag, much of which is discarded upon exiting the show grounds.

Conservatively estimating the average take at five pounds of marketing material, one may conclude that almost 4,000 tons of paper, soaked in inks and dyes, is sent home with the public. Much of it is likely to end up in a landfill within days. Indeed, one can walk out of the show and down the street on a carpet of four-color debris.

Although exact figures are understandably hard to come by, the same destiny awaits hundreds of tons of construction materials, carpet, flooring, and paint that make up the custom-built exhibits. Strolling through the halls, one is inevitably struck by the newness, the cost-is-no-object quality of every surface, every structure that adorns a show stand. It will all be torn down tomorrow.

Europe, Meet the SUV. The typical North American visitor to Europe cannot help but marvel at its transportation networks. High-speed electric trains crisscross the continent. The cyclist is (usually) respected, and given the right-of-way. Buses are clean and convenient to use. Road tests of new vehicles come with CO₂ ratings in grams per mile.

But if that visitor strolls into the Paris Motor Show this year, they will be greeted by a parallel universe of sorts. With rare exception (Peugeot, Toyota, Honda, and Saab come to mind), most manufacturers have shuttled the eco-cars to the back of the show stands, preferring instead to show solidarity with a wall of sport-utility vehicles.

GM’s fuel-cell prototypes, for example, apparently didn’t make the show—but five Hummers are on display, one being somewhat ironically configured to carry a bicycle.

If this seems odd, it is. Vehicles in Europe are almost always taxed by engine displacement. Larger SUVs such as Cadillac’s Escalade may not even be allowed on Parisian streets, if a proposed resolution is passed. Yet it (and its competitors) are front-and-center in the show halls.

Though smaller, even some “eco-concepts,” such as Citroën’s C-Métisse hybrid (earlier post) and Honda’s FCX Concept, as well as the Lexus LS600lh stretch hybrid, are markedly larger than each company’s current offerings. A Toyota executive at the show admitted that even in Europe, “If we want to respond to the market, we have to build large cars.”

Although few Paris show-goers express a willingness to personally underwrite a sport-utility, it is clear that the automakers know their market: for many Europeans in attendance, the SUV lifestyle is a coveted one. Even Chinese auto manufacturers such as Landwind, Ssangyong, and Great Wall—up-and-comers consigned to a far corner of Hall 3—have biased their displays toward light trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

It’s interesting to note, however, that back home in China, the nation’s construction minister has ordered all cities to reinstate the bike lanes that had been removed in the last few years to make way for the car. Civil servants must either cycle or take public transport to get to work.

In written remarks issued to the press, French Motor Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association chairman Manuel Gomez said that although the French automotive industry is healthy, “our industry is weighed down by sectarian environmental lobbyists...There is cause to review the efforts demanded in terms of their actual benefit for the environment,” given that, in is words, the French market “has practically eliminated pollutants emissions from its new vehicles.” Gomez did not address greenhouse gases.

Logo of non4x4.org, one of the anti-SUV groups protesting at this year's Paris Motor Show

Understandably, vehicle CO₂ ratings were for the most part absent on the show floors, even though several anti-SUV groups staged protests at the Paris show. However, just a day earlier and a TGV train ride away, during a symposium that was held as part of Swiss Energy Week, researcher Thomas Stocker of Bern University had warned that “our climate system has limited stability to perturbations,” and that today’s climactic anomalies are looking “less and less random.”

“This is not part of a cycle,” Stocker warned. “Climate equals resource. Change equals risk.”

Before leaving Paris, this reporter tried in vain to verify whether Saab’s hybridized and bio-fueled convertible prototype did indeed have an plug-in electric receptacle under its hood emblem, as rumored some weeks back. The emblem, however, was found to be securely fastened, and the vehicle’s hood release had been disconnected prior to the show.