Harare - The three-day Zimbabwe Motor Show, which ran from Friday May 11 to Sunday May 13 saw 11 platinum exhibitors participating – up from the six recorded at the 2011 expo.

This was just the second time in nine years that the motor show was staged and all indications are that it will be growing from strength to strength henceforth.

This year’s Zim Motor Show was held at Old Georgians Sports Club in the capital city, Harare.

The two biggest attractions – gauging by the way people flocked to the stands – were clearly the Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing coupe, which was on the Zimoco stand; and the impressive Nissan GT-R, which was displayed by Nissan Zimbabwe.

Zimoco’s display included the brand new W166 M-Class, fresh from its local launch on May 11; as well as the CLS 500, the C350 Coupe, the E300 saloon and the C220 CDI in facelift form.

Also on show was a comprehensive selection from Chrysler, including the lovable Jeep Cherokee, the Grand Cherokee, the Patriot and the Wrangler.

Zimoco’s display also included samples from the growing GWM range which covers everything from city cars to SUVs.

Nissan is vying with Toyota for the title of Zimbabwe’s favourite brand and aside from the muscular GT-R, it had on its stand the new Almera, the funky Juke, Qashqai, Murano, Navara, X-Trail, Pathfinder and the NP200.

Ford too had lots to shout about and gave pride of place to the acclaimed new Ford Ranger, which was recently launched in Zimbabwe.

Included in the display was the 3.2 TDCi double-cab in automatic and manual guises, the 2.2TDCi 6-speed 4x2 and 4x4 double-cabs, and the 2.2TDCi Super Cab with auto transmission.

Not to be outdone, Jaguar brought out its impressive line of cats including the slinky XK Coupe, the XJL, the thunderous XFR and the XF. There was also an announcement of an attractive new support package from the burgeoning PAS dealership.

Fast-growing Hyundai was represented by ADI and had South Africa’s Car of Year, the Elantra, the i10, i20, Accent, Sonata, ix35, Santa Fe and H-100 on display.

Other makes represented included Toyota and Subaru.

Toyota showed off single and double-cab Hilux’, the Fortuner, Prado, the new Avanza and the 200 and 70 series Land Cruisers, along with the evergreen Corolla.

Subaru had on hand the Impreza WRX, Forester Diesel, Tribecca and - for the hot-blooded - Ian Howden’s racing STi Impreza.

Invited guests and those in the trade also get to witness the launch of the new Hino 300 truck series on May 11.