厂商日内瓦车展上展示新车型

Automakers presenting their wares at this year's Geneva Motor Show are expressing hope that this year could be a revival year for the industry.

CRI's Liu Yan has more.

Reporter: This year's Geneva Auto Show has a focus on small cars, with manufacturers adding premium design features as they compete with each other for market share.

Analysts are projecting growth in new car sales in Europe at anywhere from 2-to-4 percent in 2014, the first year of gains since 2007.

Consumer appetite will remain mild, analysts say, until Europe can get its economies churning again and unemployment rates down, the only cure to lagging consumer confidence.

Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler and head of Mercedes-Benz, says this means changing target consumer groups.

"We are expanding to newer, younger customers with our compact cars which have been a tremendous success last year and will see significant further growth this year. And now the new C-class, which we are launching here in Geneva is just in the middle of these two, more appealing to younger new customers and at the same time keeping our traditional customers loyal."

More automakers are taking their bread-and-butter small cars to a new level, focusing on fun and styling, not just economy.

It's a road already traveled by the Fiat 500, which is offering an updated version.

A joint venture between PSA Peugeot Citroen and Toyota has resulted in a trio of small-car premiers on the same platform from the same factory: Peugeot 108, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo. This is helping the automakers achieve better economies of scale.

And the buzzword for Volkswagen this year is technology.

Christian Klingler is the General Manager of Volkswagen AG's Board of Management:

"We strongly believe that one of the technologies of the future is plug-in hybrid because you have everything what you need."

Peter Fuss, Ernst & Young senior advising partner for automotive in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, says car manufacturers have done their homework and that could translate into sales.

"We will see again certain growth also for the German car manufacturers. They have been able even during the crisis to spend a lot of money for research and development to do a lot of innovation in new car design, in lightweight design and in reducing CO2 emissions. Also, this makes the car a little bit more affordable so you get more value for the same price. This is very important to attract new customers also in Europe."

The sports car sector is also vying for attention in Geneva, with Lamborghini, McLaren and Ferrari all presenting new models.

This year's motor show runs until March 16.

For CRI, this is Liu Yan.