last weekend my friend and i decided to visit the
thailand auto show going on at bitec in bangna. we made the decision pretty late in the day but decided to go ahead anyway, despite warnings that we might not be able to park.
sure enough, the place was absolutely jam-packed. we entered via the front entrance and slowly snaked our way around the parking area, though not actually being able to enter any parking lots. after about 45 minutes we emerged out onto a side road and were directed to turn in further down into a separate parking area.
my friend tried to bribe a parking attendant into reserving a space for us but the attendant gave up, saying that no spaces were available. finally a spot opened up not too far in front of us as we were circling around. total time to park about an hour and 15 minutes.
the main hall was packed with people all walking in different directions, meaning going anywhere in a hurry was impossible. the auto maker booths showed mostly current models, with only a few concept and special cars on display- like a hydrogen powered toyota and an old honda richie ginther formula one car.
a high duty on imported cars means models like this audi tt are sold for crazy prices. a fully-loaded audi tt coupe, going for around us$40,000 in america sells for 4.8m baht, or almost us$150,000.
the french automaker citroen was displaying a lot of their models. this one in particular caught my eye. it was hard to miss as it was covered in...
...fake diamonds. i suppose it might be a good option for any french rap stars out there.
chevrolet had it's new suv on display,
the captiva. it was getting a lot of attention as it is assembled in thailand, so prices start at around 1.2m baht (us$35,000)- much cheaper than imports. the only other competition in the market is the very successful
toyota fortuner that has been around for a few years. looks like gm will finally have a success on their hands in the thai market.
mazda thailand was showing its mx-5 on and around their podium- seems the rx-8 is still available but they aren't holding any stock so it must be ordered. the mx-5, which starts at us$20,000 in america can be yours in thailand starting for a cool 2.4m baht, or about us$70,000.
in thailand import duties are calculated based on the type of car and its engine displacement. the idea is to promote fuel efficiency by using smaller displacement engines, however in reality smaller displacement doesn't always mean better efficiency. for example the nissan 350z pictured above lists for 5m baht (us$150,000) compared with us$30,000 for a similarly-specced model in america. by contrast the competing rx-8 lists for 3.75m baht (us$110,000) compared with us$30,000 in america, even though both cars have very similar fuel efficiency ratings. this is due to the small displacement rotary engine used in the rx-8 versus the big 3.5 liter v6 in the nissan.
as there's nothing inherently evil about larger displacement, it seems more logical that the government would tax according to actual fuel efficiency if that is what they wanted to promote. i can only guess that using displacement is an easy answer, as with fuel efficiency they would have to measure it or (worse yet) rely on european or american government measurements.
next, we wandered over to the motorcycle area. this is another category where regulations make a big impact on the models sold. in bangkok one cannot register a model greater than 150cc, so as a result the anemic looking bikes in the photo above are ubiquitous around the capital.
one of the big draws of the motor show, at least for the guys, are the motor show models or 'pretties' as they're commonly known. wherever there was a group of the models there was a large throng of guys in front taking photos with cameras, video cameras, mobile phones, and whatever else they had handy. in return for a day of smiling and posing the models usually get between 1,000 and 2,000 baht per day (us$30-60) , which is considered very good money for thailand considering the minimum wage for bangkok is in the vicintity of us$150 per month. as such being a 'pretty' is a common part-time job for university students looking to make part-time money.
the show was very crowded on the weekend day that we were there, though i heard that as a whole sales were down about 25% compared with last year. notably absent were some higher-end brands like
porsche as well as importers like
sec. apparently this is due to the rivalry with the
thailand international motor expo held in muang thong thani where they show. i suppose if one wants to see porsche, lotus, mazerati, lamborghini, and ferrari then the easiest option is to take a walk around
siam paragon where they all have a showroom.
aside from the parking headache it was a good experience. if i was going to buy a car in thailand it would be a difficult decision as all of the models that interested me are the ones going for crazy prices. i suppose i'd need to do what i did in the past, buy a used car- and prepare myself for the adventures of used car ownership in thailand.
