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.

ICBC is scam, we don’t want ICBC anymore

In British Colombia, Canada, we have only 1 car insurance company ICBC, which is a part of Government department.

When we say government department, you will think so so price and so so service….but it is not true.

Due to the 40 years monopoly, people only knows ICBC and taking it as granted…..but it is an absolutely horrible place to deal with.

In normal country, when you had accident,  you talk to your insurance company and your insurance company deal with the other insurance company.

But, in BC, Canada, there is only one insurance company….which means your insurance company and other driver’s insurance company are the same.

So….what happen is…..they discuss what is the best way to make biggest profit or least pay.

The they will make you guilty although you are not.

To make you guilty, what they do is….they make you tell lie with funny questions.

They don’t care who is layer or who is right….all they care is money.
They don’t care how much you lie. Bring fake witnesses.! As long as you get a witness,you will always win the case.

They don’t assess or anything.

Sometimes, they make you repair your car as soon as possible to terminate the evidence.

Such a crappy servece…..but it is super expensive too.

To me, 25 years experience and no past record still pay $1800 a year which is including full discount even for $500 car !!

It is more than double even compare to Tokyo.

I can’t drive here in Vancouver anymore. They are just horrible and it is too dangerous to.
Traffic in Vancouver is just in chaos due to the miss-leading of ICBC.

They are thief, they are lier…..but still they are the only choice.

Some says they are quite good…..but it was because you are lucky. But remember how much you paid in the past!

Sometimes they are extremely generous it is because they are so slack. They don’t do proper assessment and you have to pay for that.

In human’s history, monopoly has never been good. Remember Soviet Union.

When I involved into accident and lost vehicle, they did not let me cancel remain of the insurance just because they did not want to refund.

Again, ICBC is thief.  We have to do something!!

Go Back>>

European cars in North America

We used to say 50% of cars in the world was made in the United States, the 50% of the Americans are GM and the 50% of GM are Chevrolet……

Well….as you know, till the early 80s, about 90% of market was dominated by America Big3 and there were just a little bit market for imports those days.

Now, It is hard to see Cadillac or Lincoln on the street and Mercedes or BMW are everywhere…..

This way, people think there are lots of European cars in North America.
But, is it true?

Tell the truth, there are lots of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and VW…….but no other things.

I used to live in New Zealand which is part of British Empire…..we had Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Rover or etc…..

We used to have that kind of cars in North America too in 80s, but all of them have already left from us. What was the problem?

•  Imports are not as economical as domestics.
• Those cars were not as reliable as Japanese.
• Maintenance was dealer dependent.

In case of luxury cars, those were not big problem….but for normal cars, those were big problems and that was how more people bought Japanese instead of Europeans.

Especially the quality of those cars were absolutely nightmare those days. In North America, people used to service cars at petrol station. In that culture, European cars were not really welcome for most of the people.

European compact cars have lots of good things. They are compact, lots of room, good performance and good design….but they did not mean too much to American people because for American people, compact cars are for cheap 2nd grade cars.

That was how Japanese succeeded in North America and Europeans left.

It has been over 20 years since then and what happened to them?

• Europeans are still making cars in their own style.
• Japanese became bigger and bigger….and now they are like dull & boring tasteless creature…….although the quality is still the best…….

To sell in North America, Japanese lost character and Europeans which left American market are still making charming cars.

When Chrysler went broke, Fiat helped them. It was to get back to North American market again.

Now Fiat 500 is sold by Chrysler dealers and I sometimes see those in Vancouver too. The price is starting from $13,000.

I don’t think it is successful at this stage…..but it is better to have something different here.

When we talk about Imports, All we have is Japanese, German and Korean……what’s are boring market !!

I miss Citroen’s driving feel ” Soft like American car,  Stable like German cars and Fast like Sports car…..”