Tokyo Motor Show 2009 (2)

This is the second issue on the Tokyo Motor Show.

After checking the Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi booths, I moved to Honda’s booth. As I was walking, I noticed a big display hanged from the ceiling which said “Make something that has never existed”. It looked promising.

I also saw many people disappearing into the space surrounded by those display boards one after another. Within a second or two, their show started. It was about a future city with hybrid and electric cars. The theme was a bit uninspired but when the human-shaped robot “ASIMO” came out half-way through and started dancing with people, I quite enjoyed it.

Next, I moved to Suzuki’s booth. The main attraction there was the launch of their staple car “Alto” with a new concept. The main changes are the new large meters, user-friendly floor shifts, larger luggage compartments, etc. To show the differences, they displayed the first generation Alto next to the newest model to make the evolved one look more attractive. However, I was too busy looking at the beautiful model coming on & off in front of the old model who was the most or the second most beautiful among all the models at the motor show. To be honest, with her rather classical appearance, the contrast between the classic Alto and modern beauty, the old model looked more attractive with the girl as the title of the Suzuki’s legend car.

I checked Mazda, Subaru and Daihatsu after that but they all had similar displays of hybrid and electric cars as well as small demonstrations; was not really impressive. Because of the recession, imported car manufacturers decided not to participate in the show, the size of the show was about half of the last show and only attracted about the half number of people.

To me, the most interesting thing was the exhibition of the 30th anniversary of Japan Car of the Year. From the first winner Mazda Familia to this year’s winner the Prius, they were all on display and they all brought back memories. “Yes, I’ve seen this car!”, “Oh, my friend who had this car looked incredibly happy when it won the Car of the Year”, “Yes, I borrowed this car from an older friend to take a girl out”, etc. There were so many things that came up in my mind.
There were more things there such as Yamaha and Harley Davidson motorbikes and parts manufacturers’ booths but I was running out of time so I quickly checked them.

Most manufacturers were concentrating on eco cars like electric cars, not flash in size and display, the whole show was less costly and eco-friendly. We could clearly see that there would be a big change from petrol cars in the near future. I love cars but I felt a bit worried if there are going to be any attractive hybrid / electric cars come into our life. What do you think?


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(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Tokyo Motor Show 2009 (1)

Last Sunday, I went to biennial Tokyo Motor Show. From past experience, I decided to leave early to get there at 9:30 and have a look at the main booths while it is less crowded.

Before leaving home, I checked the train schedule and calculated the time so that I could get there at 9:30 but the train I was on had trouble. I had to wait for 20 minutes on the train, so I only got there around 9:50.

When I got there, I went straight to Toyota’s booths. They had a Lexus and a Toyota booth next to each other. In the Lexus booth, they had their new super car “LFA” for the first public display in the most prominent spot. Its maximum speed is 325km/h and the price is eye-popping at US$375,000.

At the show, Toyota’s president Mr Akio Toyoda was saying “We tested it on a race circuit so many times even down to the sound of the exhaust. This is our super-sport car with the taste of Lexus.” This was his baby. He was there from the early stage of the development. The numbers produced is limited to 500, so this is a real premium car. During the world recession, I wonder how they go.

Another main product from Toyota was the “FT-86”, nicknamed as “Hachi-roku” (eighty-six in Japanese) and a remodelled popular old car “AE86”. We still get orders from some customers in Europe and although they are more than quarter of a century old, you can hitch JPY 1 million at auction if it is in a good condition. They are still popular. At the show, it was displayed next to the Lexus LFA. When I got there, it was already crowded with people, so I decided to go back later and forgot to take a photo of it. (Damn!)

Usually Toyota had some kind of show, spending quite a bit of money using a famous model or young actor but this year they had none. As well as these cars, they had a Prius, a next generation plug-in hybrid car and an electric car on display. It was just a quiet show booth for display only.

Then I checked the Nissan booth. They had a similar size booth as Toyota but they, too were only displaying their cars. According to the TV, there was going to a demonstration of the car crush using their new safety technology but the staff member there told me that they could not finalise the development in time for the show so they canned it. Sad… The only thing to mention was two GT-Rs, which were the main attraction at last year’s show, were in display next to each other so we could see the the length of the last two years. There was no stage show or anything and less there to see than Toyota’s booths, I quickly walked away.

I also checked the Mitsubishi’s booth next to the Nissan’s. They were having a stage demonstration of their new electric car “i-MiEV”. They are confident that this car will sell. This is an electric car we can actually drive on the road and by showing that you can even charge the battery using a household power outlet, they were making an appeal suggesting a new lifestyle taking the car into everyday life.



★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955