Year of the Dragon Concept Car: Beijing Auto Show 2012
Beijing's Auto China 2012 trade show is currently making more noise in the global media than a boy racer's souped-up exhaust. Here we round up the coverage and what will soon be causing gridlock on our city's streets. The event opens to the public from today (April 27) until May 2. If you can't make it along to the China International Exhibition Center in Shunyi, then read on for a truckload of points so you can talk the torque with any petrolheads you may run into.
Dragon detailing has been a big feature this year. Chrysler has said that their Jeep Wrangler Dragon "could become a production model if demand is great enough." Bugatti have produced a one-off Veyron called the Wei Long edition – the reason for it costing over two mill US is its porcelain trim. Aston Martin have also offered their dragon tribute, the Dragon 88 Limited Edition, while Ferrari have updated the 458 Italia with details that include a golden dragon on the hood.
The auto show is a big deal to the fortunes of car manufacturers worldwide. According to CRI, the big news is that sales this year of SUVs have increased (as compared to the same time last year); Bloomberg attributes that trend to the growing number of middle-class Tiger Moms. Presumably, some of those women car owners are also loving the garish chrome grilles that the Wall Street Journal says has become de rigueur for Chinese autos. Beijing has also been a veritable Mardi Gras of outrageous concept cars, as rounded up here in The Sun and including Victoria Beckham's design for Range Rover.
There are a number of slideshows from big media organizations depicting the cavalcade of cars (BBC, Guardian, Detroit Free Press) and lots more coverage besides. Autoblog has a section devoted to the Beijing show, where they cover all of the developments in detail while Motor Trend has wrapped up all of the news you may need on "Over-The-Top SUVs, Dragon Specials, Blatant Chinese Copies."
Image: guardian.co.uk, Yeeyan, PPSJ.com & Inside Line
