The Father's Day Shift

Please click the photo above to play the daily videoAn early start, and not entirely by choice. Anita had decided, with the gentle immovability she reserves for these things, that I was going to the KL International Motor Show, and so I was. There's little use arguing with a plan once she's settled on it; the wiser course is simply to find your shoes and go along.

I got the rounds done by ten, and by eleven we were at MiTEC — ahead of the crowd, which on the final day of a motor show is the only sensible way to arrive. Parking, that great barometer of one's timing, was effortless, which told me everything I needed to know about how right we'd got it. An hour later it would have been a different and far more tedious story.

The show spread itself across two halls, comfortably uncrowded, and we managed to see most of it without the usual shuffling and craning. It was, tellingly, mostly Chinese and Japanese manufacturers this year — the balance of the motoring world quietly shifting in real time, on a Sunday, in Kuala Lumpur. We spent a good while at Zeekr and Xpeng, the Chinese marques that seem to have arrived fully formed and rather sure of themselves, all clean lines and large screens and an air of having skipped a few steps the rest of the industry took decades over. I'll admit they're impressive. Faintly unsettling, in the way of things that are clearly the future arriving slightly ahead of schedule, but impressive.

The Perodua, for what it's worth, was not bad at all — a perfectly respectable showing from the home side, holding its own amid the imported confidence. There's a quiet national loyalty that stirs at moments like that, whether you mean it to or not.

We were done in a couple of hours, which is about my natural limit for admiring cars I have no intention of buying, and had a quick lunch at the venue before heading off to PJ. The mission there was specific: wagyu cuts for dinner. Because it was Father's Day, and the dinner in question was one I'd be cooking myself — which is, I'm aware, a small and pleasing absurdity. The father, at the stove, on the one day nominally arranged in his honour. I wouldn't have it any other way. The cooking is the gift, as far as I'm concerned. Standing over good beef with a glass of something nearby is not a chore I need rescuing from.

So I cooked, and it was good, and we ate well — the marbled fat doing its quiet work, the whole thing requiring little of me but patience and a hot pan. And then, simply, we relaxed. No more agenda, no more halls to walk, nothing left to see or do. Just the slow settling of a full Sunday into evening.

A motor show I was talked into, a meal I talked myself into cooking, and a day that turned out rather better than its early start had any right to promise. A good Father's Day, by any measure I care about.

KLIMS 2013

I cancelled the morning clinic and was able to start the day later than usual. Finished my morning round by about 11, and then drove into town, heading to PWTC. Destination: KLIMS 2013. That was short for Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show.

I had high hopes for the show. It was not exactly a yearly event - the last being in 2010. I saw that as a decent outing, something that the organiser could build on. So, three years later, have they progressed?

In 2010, I was struck by the effort put in by Proton. They pulled all the stops, even got a concept or two in the mix. They have some really good sales people there who were able to tell the visitors what was in store in the coming year as far as products were concerned. They really impressed me and a few other people.

Welcome!Certainly was a lot of walking

At that time, hybrid was just being introduced, with Toyota and Honda at the forefront. All the four halls were filled and at the end I was exhausted. There was so many things to see.

This year, Proton did not even bother turning up. Rumour has it that they were late in the game and was not able to secure a prime spot as their show space. I begged to differ. There was plenty of space, in fact one of the hall was filled with antique cars which occupied more space that they ought to. Those cars should be placed along the corridors as fillers, not occupying a prime real estate. Somebody at Proton Marketing Department deserved the sack here!

The main player today was Volkswagen. They got all their main models in, and I spent a fair amount of time looking at their new Beetle. They of course had gimmicks and some really pretty models to stand next to their cars.

Toyota and Honda was also there but personally, more just to make up the numbers. Peugeot and Citroen had a few cars, and one whole hall was occupied by Sime Darby Motors, with their Ford and Hyundai range.

The other Prestige European brands? Not a chance! BMW? Mercedes? Volvo? Don’t even dream about Porsche or the other Italian Marque. There were no stars here.

This whole hall was filled by antique cars, and it was half a hall too many!Time for some conceptPut a new spin on the term camper vanAnd the sad truth was there were more models than cars ….. and the majority of the exhibits there were accessories. Which put a new spin to the term motor show. They should just renamed in KL International Models and Accessories Show. And scrap the term International when you were at it!

It had certainly deteriorated, and when asked if I would recommend going there, I told whoever asking to forget about it. This was a half-arses effort at best just to fill the calendar. It did not deserve my RM15 entrance fee. Don’t get me wrong, I support local exhibitions even though people say that I was crazy to because I feel that for us as a nation to flourish we should have an informed society. But this was just schoolchildren effort at best.

Time to leave ....And don’t get me started about the whole exhibition hall filled with American Antiques. Have we gone Counting Cars all of a sudden?

Please don’t hold another KLIMS next year. Because I might just have to turn up and rant again like I was doing now ……. Good Night!