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Auto2018 sidenote: The future of the car isn't completely hopeless

There will be a full video on our YouTube channel about the biggest new car show in 2018 in Finland quite aptly named "Auto 2018". But where it will be concentrated more on the new models, their features and... Well... Sleep-deprived rant about fake exhaust tips, I thought I should say something about modern cars in general. This was our first "Auto" in our "journalistic career", and it really gave us a lot of perspective on our automotive future.

We left Jyväskylä at 11am, after Jerry had slept for five hours and my alarm going after just two. We had no plan, no script, nothing... A bunch of GoPro's, my usual "Mauno Ahonen" equipment, and a cameraman waiting for us at the location. The only preconception we had going in was the normal Finnish car culture image one gets of being a keen driver in our beloved motherland; bunch of diesel Skoda's and Nissan Qashqai's alongside its distant Renault or Dacia relatives. But - as it turned out - while that might be a correct image in some parts of the country, it definitely isn't the whole truth.

We had scheduled our trip on Saturday, which isn't the best possible day for filming or reporting: the "real press" are hung-over from the gala on Friday, and the place was full of regular-Joe's and their families. "The Qashqai people", I thought to myself. But to our surprise, none of them seemed to be hovering around the new(?) Nissan Qashqai. If I didn't know better, it almost seemed as... They were interested in cars..? I know, sounds weird, right?

But I truly think they were! People queued to sit in the Stelvio Quattrofoglio or better yet, to a Lotus Exige S! People were queuing to sit in a car, that has no infotainment, but an Alpine CD/USB -headunit - from the factory! Crumbling over the stupidly high monocoque-chassis to have a feel what it would be like to drive the scattered remains of Colin Chapman.
        Suddenly I felt my sleep-deprivation fade away, and I felt hope glimmering in my petrol-soaked soul. These tens of thousands of people, regular Finnish families, young couples and elderly folks weren't here to have a look at a diesel Skoda, they were here because they were interested in cars!

They were excited to see the electric future, as well as the V8-powered past. They were excited on the driving dynamics, material choices, motorsport... They were excited to see the Lamborghini Urus, the RS Megane Trophy, the all-new Suzuki Jimny and the Kia Stinger GT! And I have to be honest; so were we. The excitement was contagious, and so much so that in the midst of all the new cars that weren't boring SUV's, we fucked up quite badly and managed to lose half of our audio that I recorded with my trusty Zoom microphone. 

But never mind the struggle I'll eventually face with trying to put together a decent audio track without... Well, much of the things I said to the camera recorded. Never mind! Because all the fake exhaust tips, piano-gloss plastics, stupid infotainment systems, or electronic door handles in the world can't shake the fact that car manufacturers are still putting out interesting products. The high number of Quashqai's sold translates in to better GT-R's in the future. The elderly people's interest towards the Honda CR-V means more Nürburgring record attempts from the Civic Type R. And we were surrounded by people, who would rather take a look at the Type R, than a CR-V.








But oh man, what ever happened to Opel?

-Joona
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