Forgive me readers, for today is about to get weird. Instead of helping with normal day-to-day operations at The Autopian’s Toronto satellite office, I’m back at the Toronto Auto Show (officially called the Canadian International AutoShow), and this year’s event is shaping up to be unlike any other. That’s saying something, because at the last Toronto show, we brought you a Nissan Sentra race car and a neat little tidbit about the Hyundai N Vision 74.
Toronto has historically played second-fiddle to the big shows in Detroit and Los Angeles. but things are different this season. In addition to the adorable honey-I-shrunk-the-blue-chip-classics from The Little Car Company, there’s a whole lot here that we didn’t see in Los Angeles or Detroit. Rimac is here, Volvo is here, Infiniti is here, Porsche is here, Tesla is here, Zagato is here, and VinFast is bringing its, well, everything here.
Needless to say, we don’t just want to see all the awesome cars, we want to learn why the Toronto Auto Show is absolutely booming while Detroit is skipping a year and Los Angeles felt oddly sparse. Sure, it helps that Toronto’s a big fish in a small market, but is there a bigger reason than that?
Basically, fasten your seatbelts and get your poutine ready because this is about to be interesting. Neither of the main show floors have officially opened to the press yet, but the handful of vehicles I’ve seen so far are mighty fascinating indeed. Porsche Vision Gran Turismo, anyone?
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)
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I’ve always loved attending the Toronto show, have been going for 25+ years. Unfortunately the last time was Feb 2020 :/
Now THAT is what cars should look like!
OK… now I’m stoked. I’ll be there on Saturday. First car show since before the pandemic (after going 15+ years in a row), and there might even be cool stuff to see.
I really want to see the Volvo EX30 in person…
Meanwhile at the Chicago Auto Show you can purchase a fake license plate that says “ASSMAN”. So we’ve got that going for us.
I’m taking my kid for the first time tomorrow, he’s about the same age as when I went for the first time. I’m assuming we’ll both be pretty stoked on the Little Car Company, no matter how out of our price range it is.
I’m looking forward to going myself. I took the day off next Tuesday to go.
As a half-Canadian, I spend most of my time with family in the West and Mid-West of Canada, but I really want to visit Toronto, and for some reason have never done so. I even have friends up there!
This would be a good excuse for the future.
I think Toronto is getting the royal treatment from manufacturers because Canadians are just so darn nice and it’s hard to say no when they politely invite you to attend.
Now, now. I’m sure this is going to be an exciting and important event by Canadian standards. And pretty damn sexy, by anglophone Canadian standards.
One of those Bugatti Little Cars is high on the fantasy list were I ever to mysteriously come into Fuck-it money
I’m coming to the show this Saturday. Can’t wait!
Taking one for the team, eh. I am sure the multitudes back in the Autopian Toronto Satellite Office are mighty jelly.
I used to go to the Toronto Autoshow every year, dating back to when my dad first took me in 4th grade.
I haven’t been since COVID however due to so many mainstream automakers pulling out. You can longer check out the latest from Mazda, Honda or VW, nor luxury brands like Acura, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. They’ve found other exhibitors to fill in the floorspace vacated by all those brands, but most of those are either vapourware or very expensive vehicles.
Get in, hoser, we’re going shopping, eh?
Wow! I haven’t been to one in about 40 years, when I got conned into helping at the CASC booth, the high point of the event was finally having a beer in the exhibitors lounge.
Things seem to have changed for the better. (-:
The Porsche Vision Gran Turismo looks fantastic, eh?