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When I first moved to Spain, I was surprised beer was available in McDonalds, and that people commonly had beer with lunch. But not even here do we have beer available in car show rooms, that seems like the slightly wrong place for that, especially considering how strict Singapore seems from the outside.

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25 years ago I was on a project that was based out of offices next to a BMW factory, so we got canteen privileges, and the food was awesome, and beer was available as one of the beverages.

This was at a car plant for people working in manufacturing.

At the university canteens/cafeterias in Italy they had wine and beer on tap next to the soda. It wasn't very good, but I was amazed the first time I just saw the tap there in the middle of the cafeteria where anyone could just go refill when they wanted.

Car show rooms are about catering to clients, selling them both a vehicle and a lifestyle, plus people are much more likely to make deals when they're offered food and drink.

Makes sense anywhere :)

> Makes sense anywhere :)

Well, almost anywhere. There are places where if you have a beer with lunch and they saw you arrive in a car, they'll ask you for your car keys otherwise they'll call the police on you. Daily life works differently around the world :)

I'm glad I don't live in a place where one beer would cause that. Several, yes, that's certainly an issue. But so much of the world seems to have lost the ability to be reasonable in favor of black-and-white thinking.

For those without religious objections or addictions, one glass of beer or wine with a meal is a complete nothingburger. Yes, it technically impairs your reaction times, but not enough to be a crime.

https://etsc.eu/issues/drink-driving/blood-alcohol-content-b...

Yeah, Sweden is one hell of a place, few places have so many sticklers for rules collected in one place, for better or worse. And it's a very secular place in general, but very "zero tolerance" when it comes to drinking and driving, but completely opposite when it comes to "drinking too much only on weekends".

I just looked it up, and the limits in Singapore would probably let you get away with one or two beers before a drive (assuming an adult male).

Though I suspect the BYD folks would want to avoid any hint of impropriety, so they probably will only let you drink there _after_ your test drive.

But I've only ever ate and drank at their showroom, I never went to the car side of the business.

> There are places where if you have a beer with lunch and they saw you arrive in a car, they'll ask you for your car keys otherwise they'll call the police on you.

In Singapore you wouldn't necessarily arrive in a car (yet alone your own car) when you go to a car showroom. I'm not even sure they'd have enough parking around there.

See https://earth.google.com/web/search/BYD+Zhongshan+Park+1826/... for the location.

And many people bring a companion when they do a test drive. Filling up the companion is perfectly legal and fine.

Yeah, unless it is a subtle message to convey that their autopilot is top notch haha

Why? Just make sure the customer who's test driving has the beer and wine after the ride. And their companions you can fill up before to put them in a good mood.

Getting customers to drink alcohol is a classic sales trick.

Right, but in countries where they're very strict about drinking and driving, you won't see even salespeople trying to get people drunk while selling a car.

"Drinking alcohol" does not necessarily equate to "getting drunk." At least if you're a grown adult and not in undergrad anymore.

Are undergrads supposed to get drunk more easily than older adults? How would that work? Unless you actually meant children and not young adults

Drinking is a skill. It takes time to develop. Teens and the likes - their main goal is to get wasted and fast.

That's a very American view.

Absolutely not. Just that in Europe we start heavy drinking from 12, so by the time we are 16 we know how to properly imbibe.

It’s a fancy showroom, not a car lot. You can’t drive off in one of the products unless you want to make a grand exit through the plate glass windows. Singapore car registration costs as much as the car itself and all they’d do is get you started on the paperwork.

I think they can do the paperwork pretty quickly. And I'm reasonably sure they let you do test drives.

Just need to make sure that the driving customer has the beer after their test drive. You can fill up the companions before, however.

But to strengthen your point: I don't know for sure, but from what I can tell by looking at the place there's barely enough inventory at that showroom to allow some test drives. It's definitely not a car lot.

Aha, I'm not entirely sure what a "car lot" is, but the showrooms from BYD and other car makers here in Spain definitively let you test drive cars there, although you won't buy a car and drive away from it there. Apparently it works differently in Singapore :)

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