Tokyo Motor Show 2019

 

Luckily, the two typhoons and the heavy rains were gone by the time I got here. I decided on a lightnight trip to the Tokyo Motor Show, remembering how exciting the one in 2017 had been.

Above, the Big Site Exhibition Center in the renovated harbor area of Tokyo.

This show os staged only every other year, and may soon be gone altogether, but that's all a matter of politics. This time around, with the rest of Asia not participating, because of a costly spat between Japan and South Korea, and China not being present either, for whatever reasons, I sense that the remaining exhibition spaces ended up too costly overall. From the rest of the world, only Mercedes Benz was present. A real disappointment to me, since that made the show not only significantly smaller, but also lacking a lot of the technological innovations that those other manufacturers could bring to the table.

 

The totally gorgeous Acura NSX in its latest form, soon to be marketed globally.

 

Following the big splash that the VW Id e-bus made at the last show, Suzuki got busy to createa a competing product.

 

In line with the rest of the relatively mundane and boxy EVs that seem to appeal to the Asian taste, there was this small Suzuki EV sedan. Note the rearview mirrors having been replaced by cameras. Not my cup of tea, because that means you have to watch yet another screen display inside.

 

Nope, not displayed mirror reversed, it's how they wrote it on the side of the SUV. After all, it's not in Kanji or Hiragana and, as such, mostly meaningless, forward or mirrored. I Ido expect that this vehicle will be a success. Definitely in Japan, and because of the price-point, probably internationally. A Chinese copy is surely forthcoming

 

 

While BMW was not at the show, Alpina, a sporty custom derivative, much loved by BMW enthusiasts, was present.

 

The Lexus EV concept. Fabulous, and then the lights dimmed and it looked even more spectacular

 

 

No question about it, the crown jewel of the show

 

 

And a little bit of the creative process of the car design studio shown here in a display case

 

Toyota was also present with this LS500 convertible concept. I'm sure it will be well received

 

And on to Mercedes Benz and their so-called Smart Car. Still in the running and now100% electric

 

Mercedes Benz also presented their futuristic concept of the Vision EQS

 

MB had a number of vehicles here but they were too difficult to get to, other than this beastly V8 AMG Bi-Turbo AWD monster