Hobby Expo China – Seeing is believing!
The saying goes that ‘seeing is believing’ and attending the 24th edition of Hobby Expo China in Beijing last weekend definitely endorsed that statement. While the press information highlighted the 70,000 visitors who attended the 3-day expo last year, nothing quite prepared me for the crowds and buzz of this expo. Staged in the Beijing Exhibition Centre, which built in 1954 was alone worth a visit for its architecture, this was Red RC’s first time to visit HEC. Talking to some of our industry friends familiar with the expo prior to making the trip to the Chinese capital, they all flagged that we wouldn’t believe the crowds it attracts. Having been reached out to be Chinese media outlet about doing some videos with them at the show, they too warned me to be prepared for the crowds. While setting expectations high, it was only when I actually arrived on Friday morning that we got the true sense of the scale of the numbers it attracts. With over 300 exhibitors covering two distinct main categories, RC and diecasts, the truth was that it was the latter that had the pulling power but to RC’s benefit. Crowds had started queuing on Thursday night for the Expo’s 09:00 opening time on Friday morning, as collectors sought to get their hands on limited edition static car models, 1:64 the fan favourite. Still while diecast was the big draw, this year’s even bigger visitor count, were also exposed to an impressive display of what the world of RC had to offer and that was another stand out of those exhibiting. Sure many of the exhibitors were unfamiliar brands to us but on taking a look at their offerings I was impressed by both the quality and presentation. There was also plenty of opportunities to try various RC products on numerous demo tracks for onroad cars, drifting, crawling, and construction. Observing the reaction of both young & old as they got their hands on a transmitter was encouraging.
While we always knew that HEC was not going to be like the Nuremberg Toy Fair of years gone by, when competition level RC manufacturers revealed their newest products to the market creating plenty of news for us to share with the world, one brand did use Asia’s biggest hobby expo to give its new flagship product it first public showing. Expo regulars FlySky had their brand new Noble Mix transmitter on display on its large booth, detailed photos of which we were able to take and share on the opening day. With familiar brands like Hobbywing, SkyRC, Gens ace, Surpass Hobby, Savox, Kyosho, and others among the RC exhibitors, attending HEC was more about getting a different perspective on the hobby and discovering what the biggest RC products producing country in the world had to offer. Not just a trade show it was also an opportunity to see what this huge nation’s public interest in RC was like. I can sum up Red RC’s impressions by saying I boarded my flight back to Ireland with a new found level of energy and enthusiasm about the hobby and I wasn’t alone. One of the first people I would bump into on arriving at the Expo as I began navigating my way around the RC halls was Robin Schumacher over on the SkyRC booth, Schumacher Racing being the UK distributor for the huge battery charger manufacturer. Arranging to meet Robin for dinner on Saturday evening, on discussing the Expo he also felt energised by his visit and the crowds. Last attending HEC in 2016, Robin said the show’s growth since then was impressive both in terms of the number of exhibitors, the crowds, and the quality of products on show. Another making the trip over from Europe was Andreas Myrberg who was there on business representing both Ruddog and touring car manufacturer Iris. He last attended 7-years ago and he too told me that the show was now much bigger and had more visitors highlighting he was happy to see such a crowds and the excitement the visitors had for the show. He added ‘just imagine having an onroad or offroad high level event running as part of the Expo, that would be amazing!’
Another familiar face at the Expo was Oscar Jansen, and he greeted me by stating it was great that Red RC was there to first hand see and experience the crowds and the positive state of the hobby in China. Accompanied by Team Cayote’s Marketing Director Mars, we would get into an interesting conversation about some of the product trends at the expo and the potential they present to act as a gateway for getting new people into RC – the more people who play with RC, the more opportunities there is to grow the number of those who progress to RC racing but that in itself is another separate discussion with ‘time’ the key word. Visiting the many booths, talking to the owner of Chinese RC car manufacturer Hobby Plus, who was showing off a new Dakar inspired RC race truck they have just added to their range, he explained that buyers are increasingly looking for products that relate to the real vehicle. His comments got me thinking about the great debate of how modern Touring Car bodies have evolved to look nothing like a car that people can relate to! In addition to their Dakar truck, they also had a 1:10 car licensed by a Chinese EV car brand, and an Audi that is an officially licensed product of a Chinese hit movie called Pegasus 3 which is about a Chinese rally team. While only released in China, ask anyone in the know about the movie and it has generated a huge interest in rallying spawning a range of licensed products – the constant line of visitors looking to get their photo with the actually movie car on the Turbo Racing stand endorsed the movie’s popularity. We will have a separate article on Turbo Racing and how it & similar manufacturers producing Mini RC cars could serve as a gateway to getting more people into RC.
Intrigued by the diecast hype, it was interesting to get an insight from our new Chinese media friends who specialise in this area. Together with Hong Kong site RC Evolution we would return the insight by bringing them on a walk through the two halls of RC exhibitors with Rainee being impressed, if a little overloaded, by how much there was to RC. While admitting there is a crazy level of hype in the diecast market in China at the moment, he explained that 1:64 was big for two reason, low cost and size. These two reasons gave enthusiasts more buying power and needing less space for collections. Another key thing was collaborations that were very obvious at the Mini GT booth with their offering of Liberty Walk models. For those not familiar with Liberty Walk, it is a hugely successful Japanese lifestyle brand born out of the full size modified car scene. Pop Race diecasts also had a collaboration with another iconic Japanese modified car kit brand Pandem. With some exhibitors having queues that ran outside onto the forecourt of the exhibition centre to to join another queues inside, it was mind blowing to see some of the visitors hauls, many struggling to move around with all their purchases. The big question I have been asking myself since attending the expo is how can we make the link from diecast to RC and that is something we will look at in another piece from the expo. In conclusion attending Hobby Expo China was an eye opener.
