On Friday, a group of colleagues and I snuck out a little early to check out the British Motor Show. (Full disclosure: My firm built their new website, and they were kind enough to give us the tickets.)

Unlike the big annual shows in the U.S., this one only runs every other year. But like the shows in Vegas, Detroit and elsewhere, the BSM is massive. Most of the manufacturers were there with huge, expensive displays and the best of their product lines.

I took some photos and stuck them over at Flickr, but these were my highlights:

• Access to Bentley’s display was restricted by an imposing railing. To get in, you had to walk around to the furthest point, and enter past a gauntlet of sales people. But you have to hand it to them: Such a display is precisely on brand.
• Honda’sToyota’s Hybrid I concept car was very cool. I think most people will even love or despise the bullet shape, but I liked it, and it’s definitely a step up (visually) from the Prius.



• Mazda had a small car being carried off by paper machete pterodactyls. There’s a metaphor there somewhere, but I’ll leave you to sort out your own.



• The tiny, environmentally responsible, electric-powered Smart Car doesn’t seem so smart to me. One collision at any speed, and you’re just dead.

Thanks to our friends at BSM for the tickets. We had a ball.

I should also give a hat tip to the ExCeL center (also a client). They put on a great event, and their selection of bars and restaurants on site was a marvel, especially the lovely pub right on the river where we enjoyed the latter part of the evening.

UPDATE: Fixed the place in the post where I identified a car with a big “Toyota” sign in the background as Honda.