The 39th Thai International Motor Expo opened this week to a surge of new electric vehicles (EVs) and car brands from newly emerging Asia alongside legendary car brands from the rest of the automotive world.
With 35 car companies and 17 motorcycle manufacturers participating in the expo, car buyers will be spoilt for choice as the design elements of the new car brands, especially from China, cater to the Asian taste.
Of course, for some of these new marques, the temptation to copy legendary models remains irresistible and one example was unveiled in the 4×4 category at the Expo.
It was a déjà vu moment for me when I recalled a decade ago during one of the motor shows in China where a Rolls-Royce look-alike was unveiled to the obvious frustration of Rolls Royce and their red-faced managers also participating in that show.
Another moment of confusion was over the VOLT cars displayed. The Volt car brand is owned by GM which makes and sells the Volt EV in the US. Here at the Motor Expo, these VOLT cars are made by a China car maker and the attraction is that these small city run-arounds are affordable – the VOLT for-four is about RM53,600 – and they are less impactful on the environment compared to the EVs which have huge batteries to deliver neck-snapping 0-100 kph acceleration times and 500+ km range.
The Pocco is another such small-sized, city EV from China. Priced within RM70,000, the models on display were left hand drive models and the strategy is to get market share before delivery by the middle of 2023.
The motor expo was a declaration more than ever that competition is good for car buyers who will have more choices in terms of exterior look, internal furnishing, and instrumentation.
Kwanchai Phatpatphong, the organising chairman, however highlighted how Honda is fighting hard to leap-frog Japan’s lag in battery electric vehicles.
The Honda SUV e:prototype which was unveiled at the expo is a pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) styled like the HR-V hybrid. The front of the car is grille-less like the Tesla which started the trend. Tesla is the world’s most famous and technologically-advanced EV brand.
Some of the new cars debuting in the Expo are the Honda Civic Type R and the Toyota Lexus RX. The pure EVs participating at the expo are the BYD Atto 3, Mercedes-Benz EQS 500 4Matic AMG Premium, Mini EV, Ora Grand Cat, Toyota BZ4X, and the Volvo C40 Recharge pure electric.
There was a thoughtful piece of engineering from Audi which displayed an e-Rickshaw powered by a used battery from an e-Tron. This re-purposing highlights what is not so well known: that an EV battery which has reached its end-of-life in its original installation still has 70% of storage capacity that can be employed to power less energy intensive devices.
The other interesting elements of the Expo were the displays mounted by government-linked institutes. There is of course the Thailand Automotive Institute, the National Automobile and Tyre Test Centre and the Electric Vehicle Battery Testing Centre which is based on the UNECE R100 and UN R136 EV global standard.
Comments may be sent to yaminvong@freemalaysiatoday.com
- FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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