GIIAS 2018: Cewek cantik SPG wrap up our coverage

SPG stands for Sales Promotion Girl, and not what you might be thinking about. Now that we’ve cleared that, let’s proceed to a recap of our live coverage of the 2018 Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS). This is our fourth year at GIIAS and as usual, there were plenty of relevant and/or interesting cars from our neighbouring market.

We kicked things off by showing you the new Honda Brio, which made its world debut at GIIAS. Camping out at Honda’s booth instead of following the VIP tour paid off, as we were possibly the first in the world to break the story, with live pics.

President Joko Widodo did not make a full round of the hall, as previous VIPs did. Upon realising that he wouldn’t make it to their corner booth, Honda did a small scale reveal with its own bosses before the car was covered again for its scheduled launch event in the afternoon. That small window allowed us to go live with the first images of the new compact hatch, which is big in Indonesia, India and Thailand.

For once, Nissan had a big new model to launch at the show. The Nissan Terra, a seven-seat SUV based on the Navara NP300 pick-up truck, will take on the Toyota Fortuner and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport in Indonesia, the second market in ASEAN to see the SUV surface after the Philippines. Meanwhile, Lexus launched the new ES and gave the UX small crossover its Asian premiere.

No new models for market leaders Toyota and Daihatsu, but we detailed a couple of models of interest. At Daihatsu’s cheery stand sat a 200 hp Axia Turbo and the Terios Custom, the new range topper of a seven-seater that will be the base for Perodua’s upcoming SUV. Speaking of Perodua, the Rawang carmaker’s Myvi was present as the Indonesian-market Daihatsu Sirion. The JDM Daihatsu Boon Active was also displayed.

Suzuki’s stand was one of the most popular ones at GIIAS, thanks to the new Suzuki Jimny, which Jokowi personally inspected and approved of. The retro modern 4×4 is set to be made in Indonesia. We also showed you the second-generation Suzuki Ertiga MPV and the cool Ignis Suzuki Sport.

Across the aisle from Suzuki was Hyundai, which launched the new Santa Fe at the show. Both the fourth-gen big SUV and Grand Starex facelift (called the H-1 in Indonesia) are expected to be launched in Malaysia in the near future, so you can check out what our neighbours get. Kia was not present at the show, but snuck in a Sportage facelift via a window tint brand.

There’s plenty of buzz surrounding new Chinese entrants Dongfeng Sokon and SAIC-GM-Wuling, which are touting aggressive pricing. The latter was the first to enter Indonesia with the Wuling Confero Low MPV, and has followed that up with a bigger and more upscale Cortez MPV, which takes aim at the Toyota Innova.

Wuling also previewed an upcoming SUV that will be based on the Chinese market Baojun 530. DFSK, which everyone here calls Sokon, has the Glory 580 SUV. The design mishmash has a 1.5 litre turbo engine and is bigger than a Honda CR-V, but starts at half the price. We also learned that the Audi Q5’s wraparound hatch is possibly the most popular backside in China.

Other interesting sights include the Honda Civic Type R TCR race car and the Toyota Vios TRD. The Civic TCR managed to make the outrageous road-going FK8 Civic Type R next to it look tame, thanks to a nice widebody and some serious aero bits.

Seeing the Vios decked out in TRD parts reminded us that Toyota does not sell a TRD Sportivo version of the Vios in Indonesia and Yaris Ativ in Thailand, so this could well be a final prototype for an eventual sporty range topper. Of course, Malaysia is waiting for the new Vios, never mind the TRD Sportivo.

There you have it, a summary of our live 2018 GIIAS coverage. We hope you’ve enjoyed the usual paultan.org level of reporting, done abroad. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for also caring about the main reason why we go to motor shows – you may now proceed to the enticing gallery below. Photographer Sherman Sim and myself signing off from BSD City, till next year.

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