There’s a somewhat disturbing trend happening in Shanghai, that’s been making it incredibly hard for us to do our jobs. It concerns noise. The approach of most of the domestic manufacturers seems to have been one of ‘if our music and PA system is loudest, we’ll attract the most attention’. Dishonarable mention here goes to Renault, whose PA system was just intolerably loud – and sat completely at odds with the striking, yet composed voluminous forms of the DeZir.

While this might sound like a journalistic winge, it genuinely creates serious issues and meant we ended up moving off some show stands long before we’d have done given tolerable volumes. To give you some idea of the scenario, think of the last time you were in a club, trying to have a conversation with a friend. You end up yelling down each others ears to make yourselves understood. Now imagine those kinds of volume when you’re trying to interview someone. On video.

So please, to the guys in charge of the show stands, could you turn down the volume? We’ll still come and cover your cars – promise. Then next time, we might be able to get some video of the designers too… and not go home each night with our ears ringing and our heads hurting.

Joe Simpson

Buick is one of, if not the, most successful and well-known ‘import’ car brand in China. GM has reaped the rewards of investing heavily in China so clearly, there’s some logic in taking the brand into the Crossover/SUV space, a market that’s set to mushroom in the next few years. Yet this Buick concept confused many observers, including us. It’s not bad, per-se, yet nor, crucially, does it bring anything new or innovative to the SUV concept party. Most worryingly it also fails to feel in any way authentically Buick.

Strip the clumsily-resolved waterfall grille from the front and you’re left with a car that feels like a mixture of design elements we’ve seen from other OEMs recently, particularly Mazda. It’s clear to see that some of the ideas behind its surface treatment were interesting and powerful in their own right, but zoom in on them and there’s an awkaward clash of lines and some difficult surface intersections. In fact, many of these are so sharp and acute that, considered as a whole with its interior (which in theme and colour and trim treatment reminds us of the ULC concept), we actually think this vehicle would fit better under GM’s Cadillac brand. The question is, does this matter for the Chinese market? Thoughts in the comments please.

Joe Simpson

Anime characters are usually associated with Japan, with seemingly every piece of packaging, advertisement and product endorsed by an avatar.

It’s interesting to note that the trend appears to have taken a hold of the Chinese car industry too. Numerous dashboard toys, mascots and extrovertly human DRGs popped up on many domestic manufacturers’ stands.

Having previously developed super-sophisticated in-car avatars, it’s surprising that Japanese manufacturers haven’t spotted the demand and owned this lucrative space.

Owen Ready

It’s been said that  imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Well there is certainly a lot of  that going on here in China. Though better than in years past, there are still numerous vehicles that are blatent copies of current or former production vehicles on show.

The Changan Chlover isn’t a blatent copy. Instead, it takes a rather successful era of design and attempts to transplant these elements onto a smaller economy car. Somehow I don’t think Marcello Gandini would be flattered…

Eric Gallina

We’ve noticed that several cars on show stands with over-exaggerated ride heights. To our eyes – given the importance of the wheel to body relationship and the size of the gaps in the wheel arch – this looks pretty awful.

However, we’re guessing that it might have something to do with these cars needing to cope with poor road conditions, thus the need for extended suspension travel in certain areas of the country. So is this the case, or is it simply poor design, or something else altogether…? Answers in the comments below please.