Gleanings Of The 2012 Beijing Auto Show: Car Blogging With Chinese Characteristics

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

When it comes to car blogging, China has long bypassed the rest of the world. Even much larger sites than TTAC look like midgets compared to the Chinese giants. Nothing shows that more drastically than the Beijing Auto Show.

TTAC and the Detroit Bureau may be some of the few American blogs that sent in-the-flesh reporters to Beijing. Chinese blogs dispatch them by the truckload. An outdoor section of the Beijing Auto Show is dubbed “Blogger’s Alley.” Here, major Chinese car blogs such as auto.sohu.com have their own multi-story buildings.

Newsrooms of the blogs have been transplanted to the show. Newsmaking is powered by instant coffee and carbonated drinks. At least that one we all have in common

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
 1 comment
  • Daveainchina Daveainchina on Apr 26, 2012

    And yet your average Chinese person knows less about a car than your average American. I find this comical in it's juxtaposition.

  • DesertNative In hindsight, it's fascinating to see how much annual re-styling American cars received in the 1950's. Of course, that's before they had to direct their resources to other things like crash-worthiness, passenger safety, pollution controls, etc. It was a heady time for car designers, but the rest of us have benefited immeasurably from the subsequent changes.
  • Cprescott Aside for how long it takes to charge golf carts since I don't live in a place where I can have my own charger, is the game that golf cart makers play when your battery fails and they blame you and charge you $15-25k to replace them.
  • Legacygt I am somewhat tired of hearing complaints about the fuel economy of 3-row crossovers. Particularly since they all get pretty much the same. In this class, the Highlander Hybrid gets excellent fuel economy. Beyond that, it's hard to complain about one when they're all within a couple mpgs of each other.
  • SCE to AUX "we had an unprecedented number of visits to the online configurator"Nobody paid attention when the name was "Milano", because it was expected. Mission accomplished!
  • Parkave231 Should have changed it to the Polonia!
Next