It was interesting to look at Rolls-Royce and Bentley. Displayed close to each other, and both (previously) British brands, but now in the hands of Germany with RR part of BMW and Bentley part of VW. Quite frankly the RR looks like a ponderous pretentious tank and aptly called “The Ghost Majestic Horse Collection”. There is no comparison to the Bentley range, that are also large cars, but ones that look svelte at the same time. If you want to spend stratospheric money, get the Bentley!
While still in the upper ranges of financial impossibility (for me at least) you cannot go past the Aston Martin range. Achingly beautiful, all of them, even the four door Rapide S, though the DB9 is my personal choice. I drove a DB9 a couple of years ago and was guilty of driving with the driver’s window down, just so I could hear the exhaust note. Aural orgasm!
Sold!
At the other end of the scale there was the funky little Japanese FOMM (First One Mile Mobility). This little run-about costs 300,000 baht and is claimed to be the world’s smallest four seater electric vehicle. Not only that, it floats on water. Built on an aluminium and steel frame, it has two sliding doors and a motorcycle style handlebar and twist-grip throttle. Front seats are fine for most sizes of people, but the rear two seats are a bit squeezy. I would tend to call it a 2+2, rather than four seater. Driving range is claimed to be 100 km and the power comes from cassette type lithium-ion batteries that can be recharged from a standard outlet. Certainly worth thinking about for a city run-about.
James Bond’s DB9
The MG6 was presented on a large stand with several styles, including faux racers, borrowing heavily on the racing history of MG since 1924. Their charming British spokesman went to great pains to say that even though MG was owned by SAIC in China, the design and technology was all British. However, there was no price put forward at this stage, as they were waiting to see how much interest there was in the local marketplace.
The Floating Fomm
Let me finish with my usual (annual) Motor Show rant. Why would you go to a motor show and spend your time photographing “pretties”? These are the young girls dressed in ridiculous outfits that pose for anyone who points a camera at them, bending over to show a little cleavage, while pouting their lips. If I wanted to photograph “pretties” there are enough on Soi Half Dozen in Pattaya to keep me going for a month of Sundays and you can touch the models as well! Nuff said!
More on the Motor Show next week.
MG6 “racer”
“Simpering Pretties”
