Proton Malaysia: International Xtreme Autoshow @ Stadium Putra, Bkt Jalil

Jyeeaaahh!!

Over the weekend of 26-28 Dec, Kelab Autoshow has brought the International Xtreme Autoshow right to our doorsteps at the Putra Stadium at Bkt Jalil. Backed by solid support in the form Tourism Malaysia, the organisers touted the event as ‘the largest gathering of international extreme modified cars ever.’ The press release placed the full stop there, but I suspect that the sentence should have concluded with the words ‘… in Malaysia.’

If all goes according to plan, this would be just the first in a series of annual Malaysian Motor Shows on par with SEMA Las Vegas and Essen Germany, aiming to attract up to tens of thousands of visitors per year. It’s a laudable goal, but the organisers have their work cut out to bridge the gap with the said benchmarks. Visitors this year were expected to shell out no less than RM30 for admission, though their kids would have been admitted for RM15.

Being supported by Tourism Malaysia, it was no surprise that the event was officiated by Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman. In her opening speech, Azalina noted that Malaysia has become the only country in the Asia-Pacific region organise such a large gathering of extreme customized cars. Extreme, they are indeed, as it is a safe bet that many of the cars in there are unlikely to be road legal.

It’s car-modding mixed with artistry gone berserk, and personifying this mentality is renowned Kustomizer, Big Daddy, who, donning a batik, graced with Wax Daddy and the rest of his accomplices. During the launching ceremony, Wax even charmed the crowd with his brilliant rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way, before Azalina made her way up to deliver her opening speech.

After her speech, the minister was taken on a round tour of the exhibition, which included witnessing the complete burning of an old Volvo 240 to the ground in a stunt called the ‘melt-down’, where a modified Kia Carnival spit exhaust flames over the petrol-doused Volvo, lighting it up in flames and sending plumes of black smoke into the atmosphere. Not one for the green minded, and not a stunt I particularly approve of either.

This motor show is not for those petrolheads who delve into horsepower, top speed and 0-100 times. Indeed, the emphasis is on the term ‘show’ as it is what most of these cars here seem to be built for. They define ‘bling’, they define ‘outrageous’, and they define ‘pimp’ but they have little use beyond that. The most important function that they serve are as means for owners to express their creativity and character.

There exists a huge interest in these ‘bling’ cars, and the Tourism Ministry did well to exploit that as a tourist attraction. However, this year’s edition does not seem sufficient to attract tourists here in any appreciable volume. It’s a good start, but future editions must feature more cars, and have more publicity. If they want to continue this next year, they need to make it much bigger, or don’t bother.