The engine is Tokyo's Big Sight
It was another promotional first this week for Scuderi Group as we landed in Japan to take part in the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show (TMS). This was the first time Japanese media and the nation’s engineering community got a chance to see and touch the cutaway prototype model of the running Scuderi Engine. (Not including, of course, those journalists and engineers who we’ve met at other events.)
Japanese media were very interested in the engine.
Like the city itself, the TMS is expansive and is housed in a massive complex containing several “halls” appropriately named the Tokyo Big Sight. At these types of events, car makers pour several millions of dollars into their stands that end up looking more like theatre productions than your typical trade show booth. The real estate here is impressive, to say the least.
Many of the car booths were multimedia productions.
While the event itself has shrunk in size in the last few years, reflecting the global economic downturn that hit the industry hard three years ago, Japan’s automotive market is extremely robust. This all started in the 1970s when domestic demand increased and Japanese companies became more aggressive in expanding sales in foreign markets. Passenger cars exports, for example, rose from 100,000 in 1965 to over 1.8 million in 1975. Production continued to increase over the following decade as more brands went global, gaining a major foothold in the US and world markets.
In 2000 Japan became the largest car-producing nation in the world, however, its market share has decreased slightly in recent years, mostly due to old and new competition from South Korea, China and India. Nevertheless, Japan’s car industry continued to flourish, with Toyota surpassing GM in 2008 to become the world’s largest car manufacturer.
Today, the industry is still amazingly strong, even with the impact of the March earthquake that
Unlike other auto shows, motorcycles were prominent
halted production and decimated supply lines. From our vantage point as we’ve visited OEM R&D centers here, it appears they’ve made great progress rebuilding and repairing but definitely don’t seem close to being back to how things were before March 11. (Power is still limited, resulting in less air conditioning and lighting.)
Producing power and burning fuel efficiently is very much on the minds of the Japanese, so the Scuderi Engine has become very relevant to the media and to the OEMs future plans. Being able to demonstrate significant decreases in fuel consumption and toxic emissions while producing more power has made our introductions at the event here very smooth.
“This engine is the most interesting technology at the show,” remarked one Australian reporter.
Normally lit up in multicolors, energy saving measures now have Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge washed in only white light.
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