Since Erica and I found ourselves extending our stay in Bangkok, we decided to drop by the Bangkok Auto Salon and the Bangkok Big Motor Sale, a joint event staged at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Center (BITEC) in Bang Na District, Bangkok, Thailand. Access to BITEC is very easy. We were staying in the area of Asok Station, while BITEC was at Bang Na Station, nine stops from the station nearest to our hotel.
This makes accessibility worlds apart — much easier and more convenient especially for tourists and out-of-towners navigating their way around Bangkok which, when done at street-level is very daunting.
Compare that to the World Trade Center or SMX in Mall of Asia, where a car is needed. If it floods, you’re pretty much stuck wherever you are in Metro Manila. Meanwhile, BTS Skytrain Bang Na Station connects directly to BITEC making access easy, seamless and convenient.
BITEC is massive: it offers a 70,000-square-meter indoor column-free exhibition space that can easily accommodate 20,000 guests, plus an assortment of smaller halls and meeting rooms totaling 20,500 square meters. On top of that is a massive 10,000-square-meter outdoor parking area that can be turned into a small demo test track / dynamic exhibition space.
It also has 3,905 indoor parking slots and over 5,000 outdoor parking slots. To put it into comparison, World Trade Center Manila only has 16,500 square meters of exhibition area. SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia has approximately 17,500 square meters of exhibition space. Thankfully, there’s light at the end of the overly congested tunnel: SMXcite is an annex to SMX being built across and will have a total of approximately 35,000 square meters of exhibition space. That should push available exhibition space almost 60,000 square meters including other expansion projects of SMX.
Onto the show itself. Erica and I paid 100 Thai Baht each to enter the combined show, which is just under Php180 per person. We first checked out the Bangkok Auto Salon portion to see the JDM tuner cars imported from Japan just for the show. Bangkok Auto Salon is affiliated with the Tokyo Auto Salon, the biggest of its kind in the world, and also has affiliate shows in Malaysia and Singapore.
Big names like Orido 559
Top Secret Japan
RE Amemiya
Spoon Sports
GReddy
HKS
and others had cars brought in from Japan to participate.
While the show itself was small, the variety was excellent and the quality of the builds impeccable.
I’d say the Philippines is easily five to seven years behind Thailand’s own local builds.
Favorites? The Amemiya RX-7 displayed at the Mazda booth of the Bangkok Big Motor Sale
the Top Secret Japan R32 GTR Skyline Stealth build, and the Orido 559 FL5 Civic Type-R.
A soft sentimental spot also goes to the Veilside A80 Supra, being a former A80 Supra owner myself.
Lest we forget, this was an aftermarket customization show, so parts and merchandise were plenty
Even Japanese model car manufacturer Tomica had an official presence, as well Inno64, another model car manufacturer.
Of course I had to pick up a souvenir (or two) for myself. Special models released for this show, or so the vendor said.
Next was the Bangkok Big Motor Sale.
It’s a hybrid trade show and selling event similar to the Manila International Auto Show.
Car companies band together in one enormous venue for a few days for one large selling activity with special offers to woo potential buyers during the event.
The latest models are put on display to showcase the latest vehicles.
It was very busy on the penultimate day we went.
As with the Philippines, many of the Chinese brands were present, with even more brands that have yet to break cover in our country. EV’s were also very popular. Expect to see these brands like Expeng and Denza in the country soon.
Learning points? First was the space. Since each brand for both events had generous space and generous walkways, it was easy to navigate the show floors and take photos. Next was the lack of obnoxiously loud music and crazy flashing lights. It was bright and airy, making photo ands video taking far more easier. 
Third was the lack of scantily clad models. Yes, that’s part of the entertainment for some, but every mature car show forgoes this cheap trick to attract people. And in Bangkok of all places. The focus of the show was thankfully, on the cars and nothing else. No gimmicks. It was a very wholesome and family-oriented event. 
But the absolute biggest difference is the ease of getting into BITEC thanks to the BTS Skytrain. It improves convenience tenfold for show-goers.
If we can connect our next convention center to mass transit, that would make shows far more successful as it would allow more people to conveniently visit the event’s place / exhibition halls without the need for a car and parking. It’s a massive investment, one that needs both private initiative with government support.
Let’s hope we get to the level of Thailand’s infrastructure and progressiveness very soon! I believe that the lack of adequate exhibition space, accessibility, connectivity and the overall infrastructure that supportsd world class car shows and similar events (locally hosted international trade shows ands major conventions) is part of what is keeping the Philippine automotive industry from making the quantum leap to the next level, consistently breaking 500,000 cars annually. 
Until next time!
