A glimpse at the Singapore Motorshow

As international motorshows go, Singapore hasn’t figured prominently when it comes to coverage by the Philippine press. For one thing, the regional hub of several manufacturers here is Thailand, hence the greater coverage of the Bangkok Motorshow. And since most of the local manufacturers here are Japanese or American, considerable coverage has been made on the Tokyo and Detroit Motorshows, with a lucky few being able to visit the Frankfurt Auto Show.

Still, an opportunity to check out the motorshow of this island state is never passed up. Which is how I found myself walking the halls of Suntec City in the heart of Singapore to immerse myself in the first of nine days of the 8th Singapore Motorshow (which runs until November 19). No less than 150,000 visitors are regularly expected in this bi-annual event.

Singapore is probably the most cosmopolitan nation in Asia, and the sheer diversity of cars and SUVs available there clearly reflects this. Household names like Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda were out in force, as were more exotic names such as Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. Still, seldom heard names like Volkswagen-owned Skoda, Porsche-tuner Rinspeed, and quirky Japanese maker Mitsuoka were very much present.

The biggest corporate stand, however, belonged to Subaru, which ate up almost half of one of Suntec’s two floors allocated for the show.

Honda and Yamaha bikes were likewise present, as was an incredible Guiness World Record-breaking driving exhibition held by Subaru that left the audience cheering on its feet; thanks to 55-year old driver Russ Swift doing high-speed 180s forwards and backwards, driving on two wheels, parallel-parking between two cars with less than three inches to spare on either end, and for his record-breaking feat, doing 10 donuts (360-degree revolutions) in 14.59 seconds — all behind the wheel of Subaru Impreza WRXs. Imprezive, indeed!

Here now are select snapshots of the ongoing Singapore Motorshow.