Let cars, not models, attract buyers at show

The 16th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, scheduled to open later this month, has officially announced that no models would be seen at the show. This should be considered a welcome move, especially because some auto exhibitions had been blamed for hiring models to "grace" the shows in skimpy clothes to attract more eyeballs. The presence of scantily clad models made many a commentator ask whether the shows were for cars or models.

But is it right to do away with models at auto exhibitions? The international practice is to have models add to the glamour of auto shows. At the Frankfurt International Motor Show, considered by many as "the Olympics of automobiles", models accompanying cars do attract potential buyers; the same is true of the shows in Tokyo, Paris and Geneva. Some of them also make for perfect photographs with the cars, and thus promote their popularity and sales. At these major international shows, there is nothing obscene or erotic about the models because the cars play the dominant role.

So why is the story different in China?