SUVs, luxury cars and various levels of electrification will rule the Geneva auto show March 7-17, when Europe’s first big auto show of the year opens.

Like most other recent auto shows, the pickings will be a bit slim at the Palexpo convention center near Geneva airport. The show will host fewer new vehicles, designs and technologies than usual as automakers experiment with ways other ways to announce news.

Highlights will include:

Alfa Romeo

Fiat Chrysler’s Italian luxury brand may show a concept for a sporty compact that will replace its current Giulietta model. The plan is shrouded in mystery, including what mechanical underpinnings Alfa might use for the car. The current Giulietta hatchback is a front-wheel drive hatchback, and FCA doesn’t have a modern FWD architecture that would lend itself to a new model.

Equally intriguing, whether Alfa would try to sell the vehicle in the U.S. The brand desperately needs more models as it struggles to get traction here, but a FWD compact hatchback doesn’t sound like a car that will have American luxury buyers lining up at Alfa dealers.

Audi

Audi’s Q4 e-tron SUV will be the luxury brand’s least expensive electric vehicle when it goes on sale in 2020 or 2021. A concept vehicle at the show is based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB electric-vehicle architecture.

Audi also is expected to show plug-in hybrid versions of several of its current models, including the Q5 midsize SUV. Advance word suggests the plug-ins will have at least 25 miles of range on electric power.

Ferrari

It wouldn’t be the Geneva auto show without a new exotic car, and Ferrari delivers with the F8 Tributo, the most powerful V8 in the company’s history. The 710-hp turbocharged 3.9L midengine V8 accelerate the two-seater to 62 mpg (100 kmh) in 2.9 seconds. Top speed is 211 mph.

The F8 Tributo replaces the 488 GTB in Ferrari’s lineup. The F8 is 88 pounds lighter and 49 hp more powerful than the 488 GTB.

Ferrari says the F8 is the first vehicle to use the brand’s new design theme.

Honda

Honda’s concept cars are notoriously close to the production models, which usually show up in dealerships a few months after the concept bows at an auto show. The little e Prototype is no departure: A production model is expected by early 2020.

Honda promises a battery range of about 125 miles and just an 80 percent charge in 30 minutes.

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Kia

Kia will introduce a new interpretation of its famous “tiger nose” design theme on a four-door electric concept that the company says splits the difference between a sedan and SUV. Kia calls the new look, which includes LED lights running the width of the nose and wrapping around the headlights, a “tiger mask.”

The electric vehicle also features a single piece of glass for the windshield and roof.

Mercedes

A compact luxury wagon called the CLA Shooting Brake and an electric minivan concept are Mercedes’s big news. The CLA Shooting Brake is based on the same architecture as the A220. U.S. sales are unlikely.

The EQV minivan concept is similar to a vehicle Mercedes plans to build.

Nissan

Nissan is about to shake up the looks of its expansive SUV family, and the IMQ concept could be the most dramatic example yet. It reportedly foreshadows the looks of the compact SUV sold as the Qashqai in Europe and Canada, which means the radical drawing may also be a glimpse of the next Rogue Sport in the U.S. The IMQ will also hint at Nissan’s next electric and autonomous features.

Volkswagen

VW is working overtime to whip up interest in its upcoming I.D. sub-brand for electric vehicles. The latest is the I.D. Buggy, an open-topped concept vehicle designed to recall the classic Meyers Manx dune buggy, which used the original Beetle’s chassis and running gear. The concept is 160.0 inches long, 74.4 high and 57.6 high. It has a 104.3-inch wheelbase. Like the Audi Q4 e-tron concept, it uses the MEB electric vehicle architecture.

Contact Mark Phelan at 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter.