ENG TOKYO MOTOR SHOW BLOG

Hello. I am Yoshizawa from the Tokyo Motor Show office.

The Auto Shanghai 2007 was held in Shanghai, China from Friday, April 20 to Saturday, April 28, 2007. In this first part of our Shanghai report, we would like to talk about Auto Shanghai. Later, in the second part, which we will uplood later, we would like to tell you about Shanghai and the delicious food there.

The Beijing Olympic Games are coming next year, and China's economy is growing rapidly. China now has the second largest new-car sales volume in the world. I believe many of you, like me, are very interested in what the motor show held in Shanghai, one of the most important cities in China, is like.

When the Beijing Motor Show (Auto China 2006) was held in November 2006, I went to Beijing. I thought I would be going to China again, but I had to stay in the office. I was a bit disappointed.

My boss, Oka, and colleague, Takahashi, visited Shanghai to see Auto Shanghai. I will ask Takahashi to tell us about the motor show.

Hello, I am Takahashi. We asked Yoshizawa to look after the office, and went to Auto Shanghai on the Press Days, Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21, and a Trade Day, Sunday, April 22.

The flight from Narita to Shanghai Airport is under three hours. We took the linear-motor train from the airport into the city center. The train is in the Guinness Book of Records with a maximum speed of 430 km/h. We covered the distance from the airport to the city center in about seven minutes.

(Is the train breaking the world record?)

Shanghai is rapidly developing. There are many skyscrapers, some of them under construction, and traffic jams are everywhere. We felt China's growing motorization in our bones.

On the streets, there are an extraordinary number of cars, many of them are sedans, and the city is very busy and lively. Even when the light is green, it is still not safe to cross the road. (Oka was nearly hit by cars many times!)

Intex Shanghai, where Auto Shanghai was held, is conveniently located near the city center, being accessible in approximately thirty minutes by taxi or train. Intex Shanghai is still under construction, with only about half of the exhibitor halls completed. Still, the indoor exhibition space is 140,000 square meters, 1.9 times larger than Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. In 2010, when all seventeen halls are completed, the exhibition space will expand to 200,000 square meters, almost the same as the Messe Frankfurt.

(The towering entrance is impressive!)

Chinese people do not like to wait in line. Many people cut into the approach for the entrance gates, creating chaos.

(At the entrance gates, guards check your belongings with X-ray inspections, just like at the airport.)

The theme of Auto Shanghai 2007 is Technology and Nature in Harmony.

Unlike European and Tokyo motor shows, where the environment and concept cars are emphasized, most of the vehicles exhibited at Auto Shanghai are already available. Some overseas manufacturers exhibited fuel-cell-powered vehicles and hybrid vehicles though. The wide variety of vehicles included a range from compact cars, minivans, and other recreational vehicles to luxury class cars. At Auto Shanghai 2007, five world premiere models, including BMW's Concept CS, were exhibited. Major automobile manufacturers consider Auto Shanghai a very important automobile exhibition.

(Very crowded even on a trade day!)

Booth attendants, who add some glitz and glamour to exhibitions, were also popular at Auto Shanghai. Like in Japanese exhibitions, many people gathered around the booth attendants, taking photographs. Some were taking photographs with cell-phones. The high level of enthusiasm is the same in China and Japan.

(Many people are taking photos of booth attendants!)

Some exhibitors provided dance, live music and other performances. With the Beijing Olympic Games in mind, some performances were inspired by sports such as swimming and rhythmic gymnastics. Unfortunately, the sounds from the booths were too loud and interfered with each other.

The organizers provided few events for guests. We only saw the opening ceremony. As the Chinese car market is rapidly growing, the exhibition focused on sales.

Apart from passenger vehicles, two-wheel vehicles, buses, and trucks, as well as parts for vehicles, were also exhibited. The booths varied in design. Some were sophisticated two-story booths, while some exhibiting parts looked like prefabs.

(Major manufacturers have booths with sophisticated designs.)

Many booths in the tents exhibiting automotive parts were simple ones with just one attendant and his desk.

Approximately 1,300 companies from twenty-one countries exhibited at the Auto Shanghai 2007. The very busy and lively exhibition had over 500,000 visitors according to the organizer.

During press days, only members of the press could enter. As soon as some enthusiastic automobile fans saw our press cards dangling from our necks, they offered to buy our cards for eighty yuan.

During trade days, 103,000 people visited the exhibition. This was a record figure for Auto Shanghai. The entrance fee for the general visitors during trade days was 100 yuan, twice the price of days when the show was open to the visitors. To put this in perspective, one rice-dumpling is two yuan. The number of the visitors during trade days showed that the Chinese people were enthusiastically looking forward to the exhibition.

(Some visitors took a break, sitting on the floor.)

Auto Shanghai 2007 directly reflected China's vitality. Very enthusiastic visitors thronged the vibrant exhibition.