Friday the 26th of June there would be a carshow close to the place where we live in Kunming, China. I knew this for quite a while since there were posters hanging on the expobuildings with all the needed information. I had already told myself to be present on the 25th to see if they were busy with setting everything up for the show. That wasn't the worst decision because when I arrived at around 10 o'clock in the morning I could hear some amazing sounds from behind the grown over fence.
The question was if the security would let me enter the premesis. I had first pulled myself up by the fence to get a look at what was going on. Seeing and listening to the amazing exotics making a lot of noise while driving around on the asphalt brought a spontanious smile to my face. My first glance fell on a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 standing next to an Aston Martin DB9! I really wanted to take some better pictures of these beauties so I checked if I could get through the gate. This seemed to be no problem for security since there were a lot more people with cameras. The LP560-4 was driving around in circles and was driven by a driver who really enjoyed the finesse of this car. Looking at the pictures it's quite hard to see, but the driver was wearing Crocs, you know those rubbery shoes/slippers/clogs. This for me was the perfect example of style and no style. Everyone inside was very busy with the set up of the different car brand and car tuning booths. I could also walk around inside without a problem while getting an idea of where everything would be during the show. Because the car show was so close to my house I could visit it a lot during the day and could visit without paying for a ticket. It was really nice to be present while everyone was arranging the booths to perfection. The cars were thoroughly polished and moved till they were parked as planned. There had been a place reserved for a Maybach but it hadn't arrived yet. Later that afternoon I could see that a semi-truck had parked on the premises giving me the feeling that there was a Maybach inside the trailer. It was parked perfectly in the middle of the trailer and had the trailer all to itself. It was as dusty as could be and was right away driven to the car wash to be covered in soap. I got a chance to speak to the driver of the Maybach. This was the first event in Kunming where they would be present.
The next day I had arrived early so that I wouldn't miss anything. I first walked around the parking lot looking for exotics. Most of the ones that were parked there I had already been able to photograph in the city itself. It was about time to inform about the price of the tickets. I had expected them to be a little more expensive than 20 RMB, +- 3 USD. Try doing that in the Netherlands. There were six buildings filled with cars, but one of them filled with the more exclusive vehicles. The booth that was most crowded with people was the Lamborghini booth. Most of the people there had never seen a LP560-4 before. For the average chinese person a Lamborghini is much more exotic than a Bentley or a Mercedes that has been tuned by Lorinser. There were people everywhere trying to take as many pictures and video clips with their mobile phones as possible! I got a really nice chance to capture the huge crowd from a higher angle. At the Porsche booth they asked me if I wanted to enter the closed off booth so I could get better pictures of their selection of exotics!
The weather had turned around. It rained cats and dogs and it didn't look like it would change anytime soon. So I grabbed my umbrella to see if anything spectacular was happening outside. I was happy that it had been a nice day the day before, because taking any pictures today was not really an option.
The modelcardealers were also present with a huge selection of vehicles. The nicest models included a Bugatti, Porsches, and a baffling Lamborghini Reventon! At the Citroen booth they had placed a lifesize version of a Transformer. In China you'll see a lot of mid-class and high-class vehicles with a Transformer sticker on them, so this booth was really busy as well.
It remains unbelievable how China keeps copying vehicles. At this show there was a "Smart" and a "Hummer H1" parked outside! Most of the Chinese do stick to the bigger, more expensive cars. These are much more capable in some of the outdoor terrain which needs to be taken in order to get to the smaller villages. The car industry does see a lot of improvements especially in the sector of the more exclusive cars. I hope that a lot of these cars will be spotted on the streets of Kunming!
