Vancouver Auto Show 2013

Jeep booth was by the entrance

In Vancouver BC, Canada, we have Auto Show every year in the end of March.

Compare to Tokyo, it is way more relaxed and more brand….at least I though most of the brands we see in Canada today.

But….why was it that relaxed…? Was it because of the Easter weekend or people in Vancouver are simply not interested in cars?

At least, it is good chance to check around randomly at the same time.

Then….what I felt was….Americans are still way too fat for nothing and wasting space a lot.
They are very hard to judge the size from driver’s seat and interior space is not big enough for its size.
Even me 5.8 feet tall did not have enough head clearance in most of American cars.

I spend nearly half a day and 2013 Honda Accord was my favorite…..what is the boring result???

Quite well designed next American standard.
The person next to the red shirt had quite good understanding about American car industry. They need this kind of person for their management.

 

In American cars, I would say 2014 Chevrolet Impala was my favorite.
As I mentioned in a past article, the design is quite well done and so as interior design.
It also had generous interior space on both front, rear and also extremely big size trunk as well.

At least, it was way better looking than brother “Cadillac XTS”.

There were couple of concept models in Chevrolet booth.

This compact Italian super car look model was slightly more popular.

From rear, it looked like small Camaro….

A stuff told me those are only empty body shells for design research and taking votes which we liked.

When I was there, the Yellow one was a little bit more popular. But I could say it was partly because of body color as well.

The gray one would look way better with stronger color as well.

Generally speaking, Vancouver BC has never been to be the place to reveal exiting brand-new models as result, and all I saw was something I already knew from some other media including internet.

But, it is hard to play with so many cars at the same day is very valuable experience and compare to some other big shows like LA, New York or Detroit, it is quite relaxed and I did not have to deal with long waiting line at all apart from Free Cafe ran by Buick.

$15 for this was great deal form me…..

This is where we had the show.

This was built before Vancouver Olympic and now criticized as waste of tax money.

2013 Dodge Dart….American made Alfa Romeo

Dodge Dart was first introduced as a compact car  in 1960.
In 1960, there were some major change in American Automobile industry. First of all, tail fins were smaller than previous year. And also Big 3 started selling compact cars such as Ford Falcon, Chevrolet Corvair and Dodge Dart…..

Dart was discontinued  in 1976 and was replace by crappy Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare which totally ruined reputation of Chrysler.

It has been 36 years and new Dodge Dart arrived to market in 2012 as 2013 year model.
First of all….it does not look particularly anything…..Believe it or not….the platform is carried from Alfa Romeo Giulietta!!

Fiat helped Chrysler when they went bankrupt because they wanted to come back to American market again.

Then, they started selling Fiat 500 and rumor said Alfa Romeo was coming back to America too……Now what we have is this thing which is the first Alfa Romeo since they left North America in 1996.

I was wondering why they did not use Alfa Romeo brand?

When Mitsubishi started selling in North America, they were sold as Chrysler and that was how they failed to build up their own brand image and sales network.

Same thing could happen to Alfa Romeo too.

Today, average American people are not interested in cars. They just buy when they think are reasonable.

I don’t think lots of American people even don’t know this car is Alfa Romeo based.

Then, the service cost would be more expensive than average Americans or Japanese…..that is the end!!

They should have sold as “Alfa Romeo” from beginning if they are really thinking of coming back to the market.

Italian cars have never been good quality and if they come outside of Europe, the maintenance cost is the big problem. In that case, they should give up to sell as “basic cars”. They should sell as “Premium European Sporty Sedan”….actually that is the only way to sell outside or Europe.

Or….they just used Alfa Romeo platform to make up one compact car by easy way.
Also they are testing in American market now with this car…..

I don’t know what is the true story….maybe all true….

At least this car does not look particularly anything at this stage.
I am looking forward to see Alfa Romeo cars with their own brand in North America again not with Chrysler name.

<<Go Back

Cadillac Americn Presidential state car

Cadillac presidential State Car for Obama…it looks like Cadillac DTS…but it is based on fully customized GMC Truck.

This is the current American Presidential state car used by Barack Obama.

Although it looks like Cadillac DTS limousine or something….but believe it or not, it is not based on Cadillac. It is specially build model which is based on stretched GMC Top kick truck and has fully bullet proof body on top.

The red arrow beside Obama shows how thick the body is.

If you see this picture, the interior does not look as wide as you see from outside. I guess it is due to the thick & heavy bullet proof body.

They say the body panel is about 5cm thick titanium or ceramics, the glass is about 12cm thick bullet proof glass….well, it is more likely to be a military vehicle.

Former President Bush was using Cadillac DTS based model.

There has been rumors about assassination around President Obama since he came to White house and that is how this vehicle is made extremely tough and safe vehicle.

Today, American limousine market is dramatically changing. Lincoln Towncar is no more available and using SUV is getting more common.

But in this case, it looks like Cadillac….but it is completely different truck based…..it is really interesting.

But If they think of making bullet proof body, this means they have to completely re-make the exterior panels and in that case, there is not much point using normal Cadillac based body.

Why do they need such a special vehicle? Simply because how dirty behind the politics is.
There is no more open-top limousines after JFK’s assassination.

 

Toyota Cavalier??? End of America_Japane Automotive war

Chevrolet Cavalier was sold as “Toyota Cavalier” in Japan…..but….why?

It was 1992 spring, American President George Bush visited Japan. Believe it of not, Bush brought CEO of GM, Ford and Chrysler with him.

It is very unusual thing civilian business people coming overseas with US President. The reason was clear. They came over to force Japanese market to buy more American cars.

obviously it was political performance before the election in 1992.

Those days, American Big 3 was struggled with the slow sales and Japanese were dramatically expanding their sales in American market. That was how, Americans were trying to sell more cars in Japanese market.

Soon after that, I heard news says GM and Toyota were going to develop a new compact car together and it was going to be next Chevrolet Cavalier and also they are going to sell in Japanese market too.
That  was an exiting news to me.

What I expected was “Toyota car with American driving feel” or “American car with Toyota quality“.
Toyota was a reliable cars….but they are simply uncomfortable, dull & boring.

Then, when I first saw new Cavalier….at least it did not look anything special…..
But, when Japanese model “Toyota Cavalier” came out, All the Japanese media said how beautiful the body shape was.

It was about same size as Japanese family sedans with a little bit bigger engine and more reasonably priced….but it was not popular at all.

It was only “Toyota car with American quality” instead of “American car with Toyota quality“.

In Japanese market, which has full of reasonable compact cars, Cavalier did not have any sales point.

Although it was sold as medium family sedan….it was an entry class in America. So, the interior was cheap, so as the exterior design.

It was reasonably priced….bit Japanese 2nd hands were much cheaper and also better quality/

In that case, why did Toyota have that kind of deal?
I am sure there was Japanese Government behind.

America always criticized that  Japanese market was not open enough and that was reason Americans could not have enough dealerships.

So, Toyota, which has biggest sales network in Japan sold Cavalier which was similar size and price with Japanese cars.

Then, they could prove even Toyota could not sell it….it meant Americans could not sell because they were not making cars Japanese market expects.
Since then, American government stopped complaining about Japanese market and it was the end of the long going America Japan trade war.

Then, what happen to the unpopular over-stocked Cavaliers in Japan?
Most of them were sold to Police dept. or city councils with full of discount and when the fleet lease ended, nobody wanted it and were all exported to New Zealand.

Over there, it was quite popular and the company I used to work sold quite many of them.
But, local Toyota dealers refused to service them and even GM refused to service them because they did not sell them.

All the Cavalier in New Zealand were from Japan. This meant they struggled with poor parts supply and limited service capacity.

At least that design looked attractive to Kiwis…..but they did not know it was American cars at beginning .

Pontiac Firebird & Chevrolet Camaro…Successful budge engineering

Pontiac Firebird

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When we say “Budge engineering” usually, it does not mean very good.
Simply it means replace name plate and sell as different model. Especially 80s GM was known for it and was criticized a lot.

But there are some successful examples too.
Chevrolet Camaro & Pontiac Firebird are one of the successful one.
If you see them, right away you will know they are sharing the platform. But I have never hard people criticizing about it.

Why was it?

This is Chevrolet Camaro.

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First of all, both are quite good-looking. Pontiac is a bit more luxurious or more aggressive front end and Chevrolet is more simple or basic looking.

Second, the price difference was not very big.

This say, as long as cars are attractive and reasonably priced, nobody complains about “budge engineering”.

If the cars are not attractive and badly over-priced, people will criticize about it.

Cadillac Cimaron….this over-decorated Chevrolet Cavaliar was supposed to compete with BMW 5 series….but of course, nobody liked it.

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For example, Cadillac Cimaron was well-known disaster which was only well-equipped Chevrolet Cavariar and priced double..

At least, Camaro/ Firebird relationship lasted until 2002 models when they were withdrawn from market. That was simply because they were attractive.

Now, only Camaro is back in the market and no more Firebird because of  closure of Pontiac division.

American Taxi…..View of American city

Yellow Cab Ford Crown Victoria……This is done by Photoshop on top of the other photo below.

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When you go  to American cities, you will always see Yellow Cabs everywhere.

It is a part of American culture and also a part of American Landscape.

They have been using American Full size sedan for many years and lately it was monopoly of Ford Crow Victoria since GM pulled out from the market in 1996.

American cars are different from rest of the world. They are bigger, wider and softer…it is almost like yacht or something.

For most of tourist, they will be the first American car to experience.

But, Ford Crown Victoria is already withdrawn and now, Toyota is slowly taking over the position.

Yellow Cab…..Toyota  Prius

If you compare those 2 photos……the first one with Ford looks way better than the one with Toyota.

Today, it is getting harder to take Street photos in the United States. This is because of Imports especially Japanese vehicles. Like this example, The same street photo looks way better or more America like….with the Ford Crown Victoria.

Vancouver BC….where I live is now all taken over by Toyota and Prius is one of the most popular cab. Personally, I don’t think Prius is economical to average drivers…but for taxi….maybe that is economical although they spend 10K extra when they buy and spend extra for every service.

Yellow Cab will slowly get rid of old Ford Crown Victoria and shift to Japanese…..that is destroying culture and landscape of America too.

New York City is going to adapt Nissan soon…..but that design is almost as bad as  Air Pollution.

New VPG MV-1 will look way better than that.