By Richard Campbell
The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Seaport hosted the 2018 New England International Auto Show with the theme Driving the Future featuring a polished consumer centered vehicle line up with a few extra frills. In the standard issue cars Toyota seemed to own the floor in demonstrations and displays revealing it’s Olympic branded RAV4 and the usual line of loaded Camry’s.
There were some clever advertising campaigns, for example the virtual reality Nissan Star Wars box in which both kids and adults could interact with the famous robot characters from the latest installment of that venerable franchise. The Star Wars series of cars included the Rogues, Altimas, and Maximas customized by Lucas Films.
People wishing to see a string of luxury vehicles from Lexus, to Infiniti’s, Audi’s, Porsche’s, Aston Martin’s and Rolls’ Royce’s will not be disappointed. Though as a middle aged male, the interest in sports cars has not waned, I noticed a lot of cars designed out from a sedan model have been increasingly pumped up. Old time American favorites like the Ford Mustang, carved out a space with new monsters like the Chrysler touring cars, traditional jeeps, and not so traditional, Lincoln Navigator. Laden with high tech appointments and powerful engines, the European lines shined with the true glitter and glam.
Real auto heads will like this show for being a little less gimmicky than some past years, and very focused revealing the engineering and design of the vehicles. The line of hyper cars including Bugatti, Ferrari, Pagani, Koenigsegg, and Lamborghini, had these serious clients pretty excited. The show runs Thursday, Jan. 11, through Monday, Jan. 15; Boston Convention & Exposition Center. $15 for adults, $6 for children, and free for kids under six.
