Well, the Auto Show in Los Angeles is here and, well… it is here.
Where to start? The show is much, much different than it was even a year ago. It’s scaled back, smaller and given an educated guess, we would say maybe a third less while not as glitzy. The last part is a good thing. Glitziness can get too much with these folks.
The main hall was where all the usual suspects were to be found, Nissan to the right and Hummers to the left. The rumors that GM was only presenting the Volt were exaggerated but not far from reality. What was probably the most striking about this show was that truck, big SUVs, Corvettes and Mustangs were left behind a slew of smaller, fuel efficient cars. None of the behemoths took center stage. In fact, center stage were honoring break through technology in the form of plug-in hybrids, PHEV and other advanced concept cars.
Off the beaten path, the Kentia hall is where you will find the goodies, the after market makers, the little companies innovating and one-off concepts. We found a company that injects hydrogen safely in cars, a little shop that builds a 40 mph electric cars in Van Nuys and the Mecca of sounds, waxes, glimmer and bling bling.
The West hall was mainly FORD, duking it out with Toyota and Honda, along the Scions and other smaller niche market players. The Concours hall is where Ferrari had their skewer of the latest high-performance, with a very beautiful 430 in the right colors and right dark golden colored wheels. Lotus was also there but strangely enough, still does not have an electric car. Bizarre, bizarre…
Our overall impression of the show was mixed. People were not as enthusiastic about big cars, though some social communities still gravitate towards what is big, in the form of gas guzzlers. Yet, clearly the majority stood there, listened but showed little sparkle. The German show floors, a.k.a BMW, VW and Audi were so bright and white, it was almost impossible to read the signs. It was a little too much. Too bad, they had some interesting cars but nothing electric and little in the works of hybrids.
The biggest disappointment was how little electric cars and advance hybrids were represented. We hoped Nissan would bring their NV-02, given their active presence. We saw the electric Mini, the Mitsubishi’s iMIEV, Dodge’s very beautiful EV and other PHEV concepts. Fuel efficient cars took center stage and along with smaller sedans, and a very beautiful hard top version of Pontiac’s Solstice was displayed, much to people’s delight.
We are sad to hear the never stopping RP marketing machines at work describing PHEV as not being hybrids but electric cars with gas engine. Wait a second, isn’t that the definition of hybrid? This has the negative effect to confuse people even more who ask if an electric vehicle, EV has an on-board gas engine. Again EV are 100% electric and are called electric car while hybrids use a gas engine to either propel the car or recharge the battery, and are called… hybrids. You can search our advanced technology 101 and more to find understand the linguo and technology behind.
We were happily surprised with the amazing Alfa Romeo BAT11 concept car next to a recreation of a Scarab by none other than Don Devine. The good news is that the Scarab is ready for sale while the Alfa will get the amazing Alfa Romeo’s 8C Competizione chassis and engine. What was surprising were the amount of younger people who expressed clear enthusiasm with these old and beautiful cars. This proves, again that there is a market segment totally ignored by mainstream manufacturers.
Our personal highlight was driving AFS Trinity’s absolutely amazing 150mpg SUV. We were deeply impressed with the vehicle’s responsiveness, ease of use and stellar performance compared to the stock offering of mainstream car makers. It is befuddling why no big company hasn’t snatched that team of impressive researchers to mass produce their off-the-shelf technology. But then again, big corporations have very strange ways of operations.
We will have pictures ready this afternoon as well as more insight. Stay tuned.