There are bigger motor shows, such as Paris and Frankfurt, but they must represent national interests of their car makers. Neutral non-EU Switzerland, famous for watches, cuckoo clocks and looking after millionaires' money - and not a car-making nation - is smarter territory.
In its centenary year, the Geneva show hammered home its street cred as the best place to see, feel and touch the best metal. The car-makers' top people were under as much scrutiny, given matters such as GM's $1.5 billion pay-out to Fiat so it wouldn't have to acquire the loss-making Italian operation.
GM and Fiat seem to be still good friends. "We're still co-operating," said GM European boss Fritz Henderson. "All our contracts and agreements are in place and the Multijet diesel engine is made by a joint company. Fiat has asked us if it can get involved in joint purchasing agreements for future parts and we have agreed."
From the GM camp, the iconic US luxury Cadillac car which will be on sale in Europe and Ireland, is to be built in Saab's under-utilised plant in Sweden. The BLS will be produced there at an eventual rate of about 10,000 a year. "We're not thinking of our plants any more as Saab or Opel - they are GM", said Henderson.
Over at Fiat, Alfa Romeo was creating the buzz with the arresting looks of the new 159, successor to the 156, and the Brera coupé. The man most in demand here was new Alfa boss Karl-Heinz Kalbfell who has had Maserati moved to his portfolio from Ferrari.
This 55-year-old German can boast a very formidable CV, working with BMW since 1977 and being variously chief executive of BMW Motorsport and head of central marketing before taking over last year as chief executive of Rolls-Royce.
He spoke to us exclusively for almost half an hour, first giving us the message that he had put out earlier at the 159 and Brera unveilings. "Alfa is one of the world's most exciting, alluring and emotional marques," he said, although he admitted that styling emotion and undoubted performance were not enough. "My job is to convince people who might be doubters. They have to be assured on matters such as build quality, reliability and residual value. I've got to spread a message in Alfa Romeo that our product matches or beats the competition and they have got to transmit it to the customers." If his plan works, Alfa should be in robust order by 2010, selling 300,000 cars a year instead of 160,000.
Is Alfa Romeo too closely associated with Fiat? He didn't think so, saying both could benefit from each other.
Kalbfell has come to terms with driving Alfa's front-wheel-drive progeny. "It's not a problem now, the technology is so good that you don't really get torque steer even when bhp is high. But I have a personal preference for rear-wheel-drive which probably comes from being a long time with BMW."
Over at Mazda, there was surprising enthusiasm for the new MX-5 sports car. The word was that Mazda was prudent to play safe with styling. Designer Moray Callum told us he was merely re-interpreting a classic. It's certain then that the 700,000 MX-5 owners who have seen only one major facelift since 1989, will not be disappointed that there's no revolution. The MX-5, one of the last affordable sports car, proves fun driving needn't be fast and furious.
Ford had us guessing about its SAV concept. Some speculated that it was the next Mondeo and in extended form, the next Galaxy - there are five and seven seater versions. Design chief Chris Bird insisted it was just a design exercise to test dealers and the public, but no all were convinced.
The tiny triplets - Toyota Aygo, Citroën C1 and Peugeot 107 - got lots of attention. The trio are a cooperative venture between Toyota, Peugeot and Citroën to be built at a plant in the Czech Republic. Will these baby cars sell in sophisticated west Europe? The A segment experience to date is of low sales and little growth, especially on the Irish scene. Aygo, C1 and 107 all come to the Irish market in June/July and are likely to proliferate only with knock-down pricing, given the tiny boot area.
Finally a gripe. The Geneva show did nothing for the image of green, clean Alpine Switzerland because of its attitude to smokers. They were everywhere, in restaurants, bars, interview rooms and even the cabin of show cars. It's time Switzerland and the Geneva show cleaned up their act!