BIMS 2016: Bangkok International Motorshow 2016 Officially Launched!

If you happen to be in Bangkok anywhere from March 23rd to April 3rd 2016, you’d be wise to drop by the Challenger Hall 1-3, at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani. It’s the chosen venue for the 37th edition of the Bangkok International Motorshow, which for this year features the theme concept of “No Boundaries Mobility“.

Featuring an exhibition space of 140,000 square meters housed in the biggest exhibition hall in South East Asia, and unique presentation of all participating companies taking part in the show done and dusted, all that was left was to cover the show. I did think carefully about doing something different this year, to be a bit more organised perhaps, you know, model by model, car by car, but all that dissipated the moment i got into Challenger 1…

Anyone with a fear of big open spaces might not want to chance what awaits in the Challenger Hall 1-3, which just happens to be the largest pillar-less hall in SEA. It’s truly massive, and despite being a ‘press day’, hundreds had already packed the hall following the official launch.

As mentioned in my earlier “sneak preview” post yesterday, the all-new turbocharged Honda Civic seems to be getting the lion’s share of the shutterbug action, and it’s easy to see why. Some have mentioned that Honda seems to have gone a tad overboard with the styling of the new Civic, claiming it to be too outlandish, but rest assured folks, there’s always method to their madness. In my opinion, I reckon the new Civic is exactly what the target audience craves. It has all the right elements that the target consumer craves; size, sportiness, aggression and a well-appointed interior…

The rear styling though is going to be a challenge for some to accept, and despite the fact that some claim the rear spoiler is an afterthought, the car does look a lot better with it. Check out more photos in the gallery below…

Elsewhere in the field, Rolls-Royce unveiled the bespoke RR Ghost KoChaMongKol (Elephant) Edition, specifically for the Thai market, bearing elements inspired from sights, scenes and sounds found in Thailand…

Those hand-painted stripes on the shoulder line of the car have a unique addition, can you spot it? More photos in the gallery below…

And just on case you thought this was just a show, don’t forget that BIMS is also a sales event, and would you believe this was one of the first cars sold today? Check out the little sign in the windshield…

While it’s little know back home, the MG brand seems to be making great strides here in Thailand, offering up some pretty radical cars, like this tasty MG5 for example…(more photos in the gallery)

While Aston Martin was not to be outdone, bringing in the ‘Spectre‘ 007 DB11 for BIMS 2016…

Speaking of supercars, possibly the classiest supercar stand was Automobili Lamborghini….again.

In the middle spectrum of the buying scale (don’t forget that everything showcased at BIMS is for sale, and yes I’m referring to the cars and bikes only), Mercedes-Benz proved to be a very popular stand thanks to the new E-Class…

But it was actually this matte-finished-monster that got my attention and held it longer than everything else…

That’s all for now, the camera is fully-charged up again and it’s back to the show! Stay tuned for more coming soon, but in the meantime, here’s the first days’ photo gallery (check out the TATA 4×4!), and a sneak preview of the ‘BIMS Girls‘ gallery coming soon (yes, I could hear you guys wondering if I’d forgotten; I haven’t.) – Ed.