Tokyo Auto Salon: Small Car, BIG Sound

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Sound Quality is a small specialty store in Chiba, across Tokyo Bay. They equipped a small Smart with sound so big that you can hear it on Ginza when they turn it on in Chiba.

This is a non-exhaustive sampling of the rear sub-woofers There are more elsewhere. They take up so much room that the carlet turned into a Smart for1.

And smart it is. We count six flat screens. The one in the steering wheel hopefully switches automatically from portrait to landscape.

Did we mention that there are more sub-woofers elsewhere?

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.

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  • Bumpy ii Bumpy ii on Jan 12, 2013

    Interesting they started with a 450 instead of a 451. The 450 was imported as a kei car, so I suppose they're easier to find there.

  • Panzerfaust Panzerfaust on Jan 12, 2013

    They might want to turn this over to a local medical university for research purposes. I think you might be able to use this to ultrasonically destroy gallstones, kidneystones and clean the plaque off your teath-simultaneously, whilst listing to your favorite tunes.

  • Arthur Dailey The longest we have ever kept a car was 13 years for a Kia Rondo. Only ever had to perform routine 'wear and tear' maintenance. Brake jobs, tire replacements, fluids replacements (per mfg specs), battery replacement, etc. All in all it was an entirely positive ownership experience. The worst ownership experiences from oldest to newest were Ford, Chrysler and Hyundai.Neutral regarding GM, Honda, Nissan (two good, one not so good) and VW (3 good and 1 terrible). Experiences with other manufacturers were all too short to objectively comment on.
  • MaintenanceCosts Two-speed transfer case and lockable differentials are essential for getting over the curb in Beverly Hills to park on the sidewalk.
  • MaintenanceCosts I don't think any other OEM is dumb enough to market the system as "Full Self-Driving," and if it's presented as a competitor to SuperCruise or the like it's OK.
  • Oberkanone Tesla license their skateboard platforms to other manufacturers. Great. Better yet, Tesla manufacture and sell the platforms and auto manufacturers manufacture the body and interiors. Fantastic.
  • ToolGuy As of right now, Tesla is convinced that their old approach to FSD doesn't work, and that their new approach to FSD will work. I ain't saying I agree or disagree, just telling you where they are.
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