Shanghai Auto Show

Today, Shanghai is preparing for the first typhoon of the season. From Shanghai Daily… “THIS year’s first typhoon alert was issued this morning as Muifa was moving closer to Shanghai, packing winds of up to 162 kilometers per hour and threatening havoc for the next two days, weatherman said.” We will see how this one develops over the next 10 hours. Latest Update on Typhoon Muifa (as of Sunday 9:40 PM China Time) – typhoon did not hit Shanghai as expected, it is going north of Shanghai so no more than heavy rain and winds; some minor damage expected. Our town Suzhou, windy with occasional rain today.  

All this excitement reminded me of our visit to the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show this past April. We visited with a couple of friends; Jorge Fernandes and Richie Adams. Most guys I know love cars; the more radical, powerful and sporty the better. Well, my wife loves cars just as much as I do so it was great for the both of us to be able to visit this world-renowned event.

The Shanghai Auto Show takes place every two years (the first was in 1985) this year they had 2,000 cars and part makers on display. The event took place at the new Shanghai International Expo Center; several huge hangars like structures housed all the exhibits. To put this amazing event in perspective, when you consider that 19 cars made their world premiers you quickly realize how prestigious it is. Going on a Sunday was a big mistake, the number of people in it was unbelievable; in many areas you could not stop and look because the masses just kept on moving. No choice, but to keep on going and hope we do not separate from each other.

Taking good pictures was very difficult with all the people around you trying to do the same, but below I am posting a few for you to get a feel of this auto show. I like to give credit to our friend Richie Adams for letting me use a few of his pictures (his name will be listed under them). Richie  got separated from us and he got to enter the Italian sections; we did not make it, so happy to have some of his pictures to share with you. Here we go…

Nice looking girls were the main attraction for sure. The biggest crowds just happened to be on those displays that had the most beautiful ladies. Hey, I am just reporting. Richie, thanks for the Lamborghini shot!

The Renault Dizir concept car. Really good-looking one. Fortunately, displays on most of the concept card rotated around, that made it easier to take several views of the same automobile.

As I already mentioned, it was so crowded. The masses just kept on coming; I felt that I was on a white rapids...had to go with the flow.

Not a big fan of BMWs. This one, however, was a show stopper.

This one if for my cousin Eduardo Murillo; he is a Peugeot guy. (Richie Adams photo)

The Veyron, from Bugatti; the fastest road-legal production car ever (top speed of 268 miles per hour). If you have a cool 1.7 million USD to spare, you too can take one home. The specs on this beast are just unbelievable, lets just say that if has a 16 cylinder engine with 4 turbo chargers on board. (Richie Adams photo)

 

Renault's current Rally champion. (Richie Adams photo)

Could not leave without seeing the Ferrari booth. Actually we did not make it, this was the most popular of all the buildings we saw. Good thing our buddy Richie battled the crowds and was able to snap this one, among many other ones. (Richie Adams photo).

Just too many other pictures to post, so I close with the reining Formula 1 constructors champion - Red-Bull racing.

Thanks for looking.

F o l l o w   u s