Guangzhou Auto Show 11-24-09

Phew, what a long week or two. I've been really busy trying to take care of business here... mostly dealing with banks and cell phone companies... but that's another story. Here are some pictures I took at the Guangzhou auto show on 11-24-09






On the bus to Guangzhou for the car show. It's a 3 hour bus ride for about $5.50.





This is the tallest building in Southern China at about 600-700 ft





The Guangzhou Convention Center. It's humongous! The building must be at least 1/2 mile long and there's an identical one opposite it, left of the picture. There are also many smaller buildings of the same shape surrounding it.





Room #1 The first car we saw was a Morris Garages MG6. There was a big crowd gathered to watch the uncovering of the car. It was very anti-climatic, just an ugly orange passenger car.





My favorite kind of mini- complete with right hand drive. Put a big engine in it and it'll be ready to go. My friends insisted that this was made in 1997 because the plaque said it was done (the paint) in 1997.





Just your standard 325i with some special body panels.





I've never seen this BMW before- a 535i Gran Turismo. Man was it ugly. Almost as bad as a prius.





The Infiniti Essence. It looks sleek, but it will never see production.











Here's some pricing for comparison- 660,000 RMB for a G37. That's $97,000 USD, or almost three times what a G37 costs in the states. Ouch.





Here we have an FX35 starting at 775k RMB, or $114,000 USD.





A new Acura TL. I'm not a big fan of this new bodystyle. They went too Urban/Retro/Star Trek.





BMW Z4 SDrive 35i. I almost missed this one. A great looking car.











Man these would be fun to drive to work.





Here's a well equipped Hummer for 1,780,000 RMB $261,000 USD. You've got to be kidding me.











Bugatti! They didn't bring my favorite car (Veyron) to the show though.





Lamborghini!





A nice convertible Lamborghini phew. You can throw away the hairdryers now.





My favorite of the Lamborghinis.





Me getting a modeling lesson from the car girls. Man their job looks BORING.





I found out that if Peter held the bags and my camera and pretended to translate for me we were able to get access to all the nicer exhibits. We even got in with the ferraris.





Mmmm. That's a nice looking car. It wasn't for sale though. I talked with one of the salespeople and apparently every Porsche they sell in China is automatic. Yech. Time to go check out other cars.





Here's a cool little remote controlled helicopter. I think it was about $65 and it flew really well despite its origins...





Yes, this is China.





Here's a more economical car. A Maple. 48888 RMB or about $7200 USD. Not bad.





Here's a good portion of a .8 liter engine. Tiny!





I believe this was a Honda or a Toyota branch of electric car possibly.





Look familiar?





They oughta call it the Miniature or the Tiny. Pretty Shameless copy.






And the winner of the ugliest mercedes ripoff of the year goes to the pale yellow and blood red chinese car.





OOOO





I don't even want to know what these cost here.





Rast. Robert Rast.





A Quirky Chinese SUV. Complete with windows under the armrests?





well at least it looks cool.





Jack of William Jack Coffee.











The Boys.





Me doing what I do best.





This was really convenient. People here would rather cram into a crowded escalator than walk downstairs... or slide down the handrail.







More pictures to come! I love you all and miss you!