The 2016 Montreal Auto Show opened to the press on January 14th, and I was there for the public opening on the 15th. It runs through the 24th. Montreal’s congress centre is pretty big, so if you’re going do bring good shoes. My iPhone credited me with 15,000 steps that day, and show officials mentioned that an enthusiast show goer will walk between 8 and 10 km from his arrival at the Palais’ door to the end of his visit. My legs believe those numbers.
The Auto Show displays are spread out across multiple floors, with a one-way itinerary through it all. The visit begins on the top floor, where Audi and Porsche shared the smallest “general” room with Lincoln. Audi’s booth was pretty sharp and cars were unlocked, unlike the closed-doors viewing only at their corporate brother. The Q3 is right-sized for Montreal, and I could hear conversations on how little space one gains when moving up to the Q5. The new Q7 was locked, boo. Star of the Audi booth was the new A3 Sportback E-Tron, shown with charging station and plug. Nice, but as displayed, twice the price of my 2015 Golf TDI. Yikes. The new A4 was there, but with styling so evolutive no one really noticed.
Lincoln proved popular with its MKC, MKX and Navigator, the lone car being the restyled MKZ perched high up on a turntable. The car looks nice, but generic – I prefer the original nose job. I wanted to look at the MKT, bud sadly none were displayed, and it seems Montreal is not Continental enough.
Two floors down, the “medium” showroom opens up with Fiatsler, whose booth covered a lot of real estate, with plenty of space to walk about. I learned there that one can option up a Renegade to 40k$, and a Grand Cherokee to 70k$. A few smites here: only manufacturer that did not power its cars, so no way to actually try a seating position – all vehicles were set-up for basketball players. Maybe it’s Italian influence, but product specialists here seemed more from the modeling world than the accounting one (including matching Fiat-themed short dresses). The 200s on the show floor drew pretty good comments from the crowd, and what looked like a loaded 40k$+ car was actually a 32k$ 200C in metallic red over light tan leather. We don’t see them much, but the 200s have great styling and better proportions, to my eyes, than the equally swoopy Fusions.
The Mazda booth was dominated by the CX-3, and my fearless prediction is that a lot of zoom-zoom shoppers will cross-over from the Mazda3 – expect sales of the compact to dip as millennials gobble-up the stylish compact CUV instead, small trunk and all. Steering wheel in the CX-3 seemed to the left of center, giving me an odd feeling that I don’t even get in the Passat, whose wheel is a bit to the right.
VW had a nice display, featuring the Golf Sportwagen Alltrack and a full range of cars, minus all traces of TDI – cleaned of diesels, one might say. Sat in the Golf R, and interior seemed incredibly dark vs my own car. Culprit: black headliner – black interiors usually sport some off-white from the windows up, but the R gets the full coal mine treatment.
The medium room exits through a vestibule that housed Aston-Martin, Bentley, Tesla and Rolls-Royce. Britain’s bests were roped off, of course. Tesla had two Model S opened up for viewing, and to me the interior still spells “kit car”. Some pieces are odd, and the retro steering wheel and giant iPad don’t blend at all. These two were the only electric cars that gathered any attention from the show crowd, and my impression is that if the S was affordable, people would just walk by as they did with the iMiEV, Leaf and i3. Unobtainium attracts.
Smaller rooms and hallway booths connect the major viewing rooms, and that’s where you’ll find vendors, gvt booths and exotic cars. These connections between the main rooms become painful on crowded days, as I experienced on a Saturday last year – try to visit during a weekday, if possible. The next room housed Lotus and Lamborghini, followed by a Powerball-worthy room sheltering megabucks hardware. Ferrari had its full line-up all clad in red, including a LaFerrari, sharing space with proletarian Maseratis, Pagani and McLaren. The Huayra sported the show’s highest price tag, 2.3M$.
If you bring your significant (female) other to this show, be warned that the “tuning & performance” room may turn her off the whole event. Poorly lit with moving club lights and vibrating to the bass of lyric-less dance music, the modded cars ranged from neat builds to lessons on how to waste perfectly good money while avoiding all logic and good taste. Add an array of young girls “dressed” in identical, er, wrap posing for the cell phone masses and you have a perfect recipe for spousal disaster. And there’s no way around that room.
Finally you walk into the main show hall, where a lot of steps are made, and hours spent. Here you’ll find Subaru, Hyundai, Toyota, Scion, Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Kia, BMW & MINI, Buick, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz & smart, Alfa-Romeo, Infiniti, Jaguar / Land-Rover and Honda / Acura.
Subaru had their full range on display along with the Impreza Concept show car in its North American premiere. A few examples of the 2017 Elantra were there, and to be honest the new car presents itself like a bland prequel to the stylish previous car. We’ll see how the market reacts to it. Toyota had the new Prius both on the floor, and high up on the turntable. The floor unit had a dull dark blue colour, perhaps to tone down the sci-fi look. While sitting in that, a local auto journo was on camera next to the car discussing how the hybrid market was overhyped, with no buyers actually wanting these cars. He has a point, sales are tepid. The lone hybrid success story in QC is the Prius V, mainly because of its wagon body. Perhaps the guy should have spent some time around the Rav4 Hybrid, as this one generated some interest.
Scion toned down the youthfulness of their booth a bit, but I still had to laugh as retirees and middle-aged adults asked young hipsters posing as “product specialists” questions about the new iM. Scion is a magnet for older folks, year after year, something that must befuddle their marketing think tank. At least they kicked out the DJs this year. And the barber.
Chevy had a fleet of new cars opened up for viewing: Spark, Cruze (sedan only), Volt, Malibu and Camaro – all the recent launches were there. The Cruze is much nicer and upscale than the new Elantra, we’ll see if shoppers notice. I did sit in a Camaro, and visibility is so poor it’s cartoonish. The Mustang feels like a fishbowl in comparison. Had a look at the trunk of a Yukon XL, and I’m still amazed at how little space these behemoths offer. Trunk is long behind 3rd row, but very high and very shallow. “Shorty” Tahoe has no trunk at all behind 3rd row.
Ford had the revised Escape on display, but crowds mostly gravitated to the three Mustangs, a sinister black EcoBoost Coupe, a yellow ‘vert and one (locked) GT. Nissan’s display was impressive this year, if only for the presence of Godzilla itself, parked on the floor with no fanfare and open doors. Do want. Centerpiece of their display was a Rogue wearing tracks instead of wheels and tires, a conversion done in Quebec. A video of that Rogue has become viral on all auto websites in the US. Taking what seems like an entire wall was a fully tarted-up Titan, wearing two-tone paint and a 73k$ price tag. Bring on the incentives. Mitsubishi had a narrow space, where nobody but me seemed to notice the Euro-spec Outlander PHEV just sitting there. Surprise: the Lancer Sportback is still with us, although it departed the US.
Kia was next. I spent quite a bit of time around the new Sorrento, perhaps the vehicle that mastered best the 5+2 SUV/CUV formulae. The unit at the show displayed a 48k$ price tag, but looked regal in white over black and tan interior. 6 foot me managed to sit in the third row, and I was not the only adult to try. Behind the third row, there appears to be more remaining trunk room than in the Tahoe. Instrument panel integrates the touch screen in a central location while remaining elegant and restrained. Many positive comments around the vehicle, and they do appear to be selling pretty well already. No headrest issue at all, a pleasant surprise, given the reports here. The new Sportage was here, but locked down.
Buick’s conversion to jacked-up luxury was evident, the booth sporting only one production car: a Verano. Otherwise, two Encores, one Enclave and, surprise, two Envisions. The new made-in-China compact luxury CUV is a nice package, with tasteful styling inside and out, and sporting standard start/stop on its turbo 2 litre four. Awd will be standard. No pricing info at this time, but sales reps seemed swamped with inquiries; this should do well. Buick once again had its coffee bar, with hip barristas working genuine Italian machines and handing out free beverages. Free coffee never tasted so good! The elegant Avenir concept was the centerpiece of an elaborate display.
At Lexus, genuine sales reps walk the booth, but I really confused a young woman asking questions about the IS200t, not present at the show. She was told the car had a detuned 3.5 litre V6 from the IS350… which is almost right for the awd version now called IS300 (it's getting a 3 litre V6). Granted, the rwd cars hardly sell, so no wonders they don't know the specs. From static impressions, and with Volvo not being there, of all cars I sat in it seems Lexus buckets have the ideal shape. Best seats in the house! A lot of people around the various NX units, not that many around the new RX – thanks to its extrovert styling and more affordable baby brother, expect RX sales to go down.
M-B’s new GLC SUV got plenty of attention, while the booth’s star attraction lay right there incognito: the sleek C300d 4Matic Wagon, a new Canadian exclusive and my personal Best-In-Show. The wagon will only come with the turbodiesel 2.1 litre four and awd, will base at 46,200$. Longer load floor than GLC. Kudos to Benz for unlocking all of their cars, minus the SL and AMG.
Facing Benz was the elegant Alfa-Romeo display. Only the 4C, but with two spyders, two coupes and a few elegant models walking about, there was plenty to admire.
Jaguar / Land-Rover had their full line-ups, and even the XJ was unlocked. I just had to sit in the back, and pretend I was a baddy ordering my crew to catch double-o seven.
Honda was a crowd favourite thanks to the HR-V – plenty of interest there, the vehicle having the right size and pricing for this market. Hopefully Honda will drop the Civic’s turbo in there. Not that many show goers around the new Civic – it might just have become too big for its core market, and the HR-V will eat up its sales. Acura held the last space next to the show exit, attracting the crowd towards the back with a red NS-X propped on a turntable.
This year the Bad Sport award goes to the sole manufacturer to skip the show, Volvo.
That’s it folks! See ya in 2017!
