Two years ago, I attended my first Tokyo Motor Show. It was a big affair, with practically every major manufacturer in existence. The M3 saloon, the Nissan GT-R, the BMW 135 motorsport edition, the Lexus IS-F and the Roadster PRHT were featured or premiered there. I'm sure I missed others that were premiered there too. Practically all of Makuhari Messe was used for the show which also featured a lot of buses, lorries and motorcycles.
Flash forward to 2009. Thanks to "hope n' change", the US dollar is in a downward spiral, the automotive world is in a tizzy, no thanks to high oil prices (due to the tanking dollar) and the uncertainty of Government Motors, trade policy (protectionist) and lack of fiscal policy of the current occupiers of Washington DC. As a result, practically every non-Japanese auto company save for Caterham, Lotus and Alpina flaked out on the Tokyo Motor Show this year.
The budget cutting was obvious. Instead of all of Makuhari Messe, the show only covered three halls; almost sounds like a typical show in the states. There were only 1/3 the amount of models to go with the cars and bikes, there was no commercial vehicle section (what vehicles there were wound up displayed by their respective manufacturers) and the featured models that were there were featured in little time blocks, like a show.
They were on stage for exactly 30 minutes...
But that has nothing on the fact that the TMS this year was BORING. Each manufacturer's theme was "how green can we be" with boring or dumb looking electric cars.
An example was Mazda's area, where there were tons of people carriers, compact cars and kei (light) cars. At least 30 of these transportation modules. But the models that Mazda is known for, the RX-8 and the Roadster (Miata), would you like to guess how many they had? Nope, too many. There were one of each. One. Although I guess you could say that there were two cars that weren't boring. They attracted the biggest crowds of the Mazda area. Two cars that have been in production for a combined 10 years.
Nissan was worse. With a stage that proudly bragged "zero emissions", their area was chock full of eco cars. Almost as an afterthought, a GT-R was placed at the edge of their area. Guess where all the people in the Nissan area were?
These people were moving around; not really looking.
That's because they were all here, at the only GT-R on display.
This is the car Nissan chose to feature on its stage. The Leaf, an EV due next year. Yawn.
Toyota/Lexus and Honda had the biggest areas of the show. Honda continued the eco theme ad nauseum but had an interesting exhibit on how they're making their Super Cub a plug in EV but strangely enough, none of their motorcycles are hybrid or electric. Waaaah! They did have their CR-Z concept that premiered two years back as a, you guessed it, an electric car! Toyota/Lexus had the most interesting cars there. A new supercar from Lexus and a concept car that some are saying could be the new Celica. Toyota making fun cars again? Faster please. They also had the usual SUVs and family cars on display. And Priuses. So many Priuses. How much acid rain will fall on Canada due to the increased nickel mining? I wouldn't park my car outside...
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