Japan - 2025/01/10-12 Tokyo Auto Salon 2025 (東京オートサロン2025)

[virtualmacho]

Jan. 10 AM is for Press and invited guests, Jan. 10 PM thru Jan. 12 is for the General Public.

東京オートサロン2025 in 幕張メッセ | チューニング・ドレスアップの総合展示会

東京オートサロン2025 in 幕張メッセ　2025年1月10日(金)、11日(土)、12日(日)開催！　日本が誇る世界最大のカスタムカーイベント。チューニング・ドレスアップの総合展示会

www.tokyoautosalon.jp

 

[virtualmacho]

I'll try to go on Jan. 11 (sat).

 

[seriously]

I'll be in Tokyo that weekend and plan to join 1/11 Sat!

 

[virtualmacho]

Who else can join the party?

 

[JaviLM]

Who else can join the party?

I will probably join too. I will confirm as the date gets closer.

 

[virtualmacho]

I plan to be there around noon depending on traffic, and stay until 14:00 maybe 15:00. If one or more of them ask me out, I may leave earlier.

 

[virtualmacho]

After spending an hour in the parking queue and then finding out that the parking space has been closed, I headed home to look at all the pictures @Tokion has posted in his JAPAN - TOKYO AUTO SALON 2025 thread.
It has been a long day...

 

[seriously]

@virtualmacho sorry to hear it! Thanks to you I got to experience my first TAS in person. It was totally not on my radar.

A lot of people, many things selling out. Still a fun uniquely Japanese car show.

Most interesting part was everyone writing on the F40 liberty walk car.

 

[virtualmacho]

Most interesting part was everyone writing on the F40 liberty walk car.

Did you draw an Emira logo ?

 

[seriously]

Did you draw an Emira logo ?

That or first edition! A missed opportunity.

 

[Tokion]

I was there both Friday Jan 10 PM hours, and again Saturday Jan 11 AM hours.

Friday it was possible to move around and actually watch cars and move around freely. On Saturday the place was so jam-packed that it was hardly possible to move, and in most cases it was impossible to properly watch and study the cars.

My main observation was that the Lotus exhibit was maintained by LOTUS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIVE LIMITED (who now have set up their own office in Toranomon). Few LCI staff members were present at this show. No Emira or any other gasoline powered Lotus were shown.

I had relatively long talks with Oliver Lee who is a founder and also CTO of a new(2024) Lotus Technology (Chinese) group company called Lotus Chapman Bespoke. He owns at least one Lotus Exige and he is also doing racing. He is 33 years old.

The other key person is Akio Takemura (Japanese) who is presenting himself as the regional sales manager - Japan and Taiwan - for Lotus Technology Innovative Limited. For 14 years he was the leading figure marketing Lamborghini sportscars in Japan. I had a long and interesting conversation with him as well. Very clearly it is Wuhan and not Hethel who is calling the shots.

To both gentlemen I asked them why they think Lotus SUV and sedans weighing up to 2700 kg (a full spec maxed out ELETRE) are what the market needs, when Colin Chapman’s motto was “Add Lightness” Even an SUV can be made much more compact and one could focus and make priority on lightness.

I told both of these Lotus Tech people that true Lotus enthusiasts will neither be interested nor care about these large 2500 kg plus cars, even if they have a Lotus badge.

But still, all the conversations were kept utterly friendly, and I parted with a good luck in finding a new type of Lotus customer that will enjoy these luxury cars.

I also said that I hope Hethel will be able to present the next (electric) 2 seater sportscar, that hopefully will be engineered for lightness

Next door, and ex-Lotus partner, Caterham is in their way to completing their Project V that will weigh less than 1190 kgs. The 200 kW electric motor will come from Yamaha, and lightweight immersion cooled batteries from Taiwan. . Lotus too need an electric sportscar with such focus. It is clearly possible to engineer it. I even spoke to ITAL DESIGN Head of Design Mr. Joaquin Garcia who is supporting main designer Anthony Jannarelly in production engineering the Project V.

My point of talking about the Project V is mostly to show that Lotus could also design and engineer a lightweight electric sportscar like this. But as we have seen in the news, Lotus UK has problems making their business break-even, and we are told about considerable layoff of staff. So under these circumstances, and also Lotus Technology Innovative Limited having other priorities, I wonder if anything will happen, and what path Lotus cars will take

 

[cdn_alien]

It certainly sounds like Lotus is taking a massive change in direction with their electric cars, whether SUV or sports car. I guess time will tell whether they'll be successful or not. But I agree with you, Lotus enthusiasts of Emira and earlier cars have little interest and don't place any added value in a Lotus branded electric SUV. In other words, if I was shopping for an electric SUV, I would lump Lotus SUVs in with all the other electric cars on the market like Hyundai, Kia, Audi, BMW, etc.