The 39th Thai International Motor Expo opened to a surge of new electric vehicles (EVs) alongside car brands ranging from newly emerging brands from Asia to well-known ones from the automotive world.
There are 35 car and 17 motorcycle brands participating in the expo (from Dec 1 to 12), visitors stand to win one of three cars or a superbike.
Car buyers in The Kingdom are practically spoilt for choice during the expo as car brands, especially ones from China, showcased their design elements which seemed more catered towards “Asian tastes”.
Many of these new brands tend to heavily “adopt” design cues from existing models, much to the chagrin of more familiar and already-established brands. This conjured up a decade-old recollection of an auto show in China where a look-a-like was unveiled to the frustration, disbelief and embarrassment of show participant Rolls-Royce.
China-based electric vehicle (EV) builder Volt managed to create some confusion during the expo since the company’s name is an EV nomenclature created, trademarked and used by General Motors in the US.
One of its compact urban models, the Volt For-Four which has the ability to seat four, has been priced affordably at about RM53,600 with an estimated delivery period of just two months.
Equipped with a smaller battery, it is said to be of a lesser impact on the environment due to its limited use of lithium content for its small battery pack.
The Neta and Pocco showcases featured another two compact urban EVs from China and both have been priced around the RM70,000 range. Unfortunately, their delivery schedules and availability in right-hand-drive configuration could not be confirmed at the time of writing.
The expo was practically a declaration that competition is good for car buyers who will have more choices in terms of exterior look, interior furnishings, and instrumentation.
Thai Motor Expo organising chairman Kwanchai Phatpatphong highlighted how Honda is currently fighting hard to leap-frog Japan’s current lack of participation in the battery electric vehicles segment by unveiling its e:prototype sports utility vehicle.
Styled very much like the HR-V hybrid, the front end is now grille-less, much like US-based trend-starter Tesla – a well-known EV brand based in the US.
The pure EVs participating at the expo included the BYD Atto 3, Mercedes-Benz EQS 500 4Matic AMG Premium, Mini Cooper SE, Ora Good Cat (Haomao), Toyota BZ4X and the pure electric Volvo C40 Recharge.
Audi provided a thoughtful piece of engineering during the expo by putting on display an e-Rickshaw it created by repurposing a used lithium-ion battery from its e-Tron.
The battery which has reached its end-of-life in its original installation still possessed a charge capacity of about 70% and is still able to power up less energy-intensive devices or, in this case, mobility options.
Other interesting elements of the Expo were the displays mounted by government-linked institutions such as the Thailand Automotive Institute, National Automobile and Tyre Test Centre and the Electric Vehicle Battery Testing Centre which uses the latest UNECE R100 and UN R136 EV global standard. – Story and images by Yamin Vong
