Canadian car enthusiasts united this week at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, which sadly, comes to a close this Sunday the 26th. Returning for its 38th year, crowds packed the Metro Toronto Convention Centre scanning the nearly 1,000 cars displayed on the show floor. The most common vehicle at the show? The four wheel stroller.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen so many strollers in one place in our entire lives than during the Auto Show on Family Day weekend.
With more than 125 exhibitors, it’s hard to pick and choose only a few highlights, but certainly the Auto Exotica section in the lower level of the North Building was a huge crowd-pleaser (as it always is). Attendees got to stand toe-to-toe with the infamous Pagani Zonda R that clocked in a Nurburgring time of 6:47:50 and also happens to cost a pretty penny at $2.3 million. Likewise, Top Gear’s Car of the Decade (2000 – 2009), the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, made an appearance accompanied by a consistent flow of photographers.
There was one manufacturer who continues to stand out year-after-year, Subaru, whose booth came armed with the anxiously awaited rear-wheel drive BRZ. It’s an interesting design, and a big change for Subaru in general as it sports a new horizontally opposed 2.0-litre four-cylinder Boxer Engine and the lowest engine position in Subaru’s model line up, giving the car a sizeable boost in handling.
Though the BRZ drew arguably the largest crowd amongst the sport coupes at the show, the urban-adventure-inspired XV Concept and its unique wheel design and colour palette, turned more than a few show floor heads. Meanwhile, over in the South Building, the Eco-Drive Showcase – an exhibit featuring conventional and plug-in hybrids, battery power and fuel cell cars stood out among a myriad of the latest fuel-saving advancements.
But it wasn’t just the cars in Subaru’s booth that kept the flow of traffic steady. Like any show, there’s bound to be a few promotions around the near endless booths.
Among the cookies being handed out in droves, a couple racing games and a gas station pump simulator, was Subaru’s creative Confidence in Art Gallery that featured 17 pieces of original Subaru-themed artwork (encased in epoxy resin giving it that sexy shimmer) that were the result of a contest the manufacturer launched on the online art community deviantART.
A number of the artists, including the first place prize winner, Leonardo Gonzalez from St. Catharines, ON, popped in and out of the booth during the course of the Show. If you can’t make it over to the exhibit this weekend, all 17 pieces of Subaru artwork can be found on the deviantART contest page
The AutoShow runs a for only two more days (until February 26) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
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