MAY 2013 Number 331
LA Auto Show '11
Steve McCarthy
Other than "Green", which the manufacturers are still exploring, the key style themes seemed to be clearly drawn from current F1 cars. (The Infinity people-who had the best food-had a Red Bull F1 car at their booth!) Lot's of little spoilery things, and chin scoops, and such. I'm not sure how effective they are. F1 doesn't do aesthetics or styling, they do what they need to do, based on wind tunnels. The other big gap is in the middle.
Mike Andrews will probably go on about this later, and it's a point he brought up as we walked about: Why do the designers get to do neat stuff for the high end cars and the cutsey little cars, but with the vast majority of cars people buy, the Camrys, the Altimas, and those of that ilk, why is BORING the order of the day? What makes carmakers so timid? Or is it the public that is timid? Demanding bland carriers that get them from A to B and won't offend the neighborhood council? Are we really THAT dull? The other thing we saw a lot of was the return of "suicide doors." THAT might be a welcome trend.
The most impressive debut was the Fiat Abarth. Fiat gets how to do a launch! Here's the video I posted on youtube, the sound is poor, sorry, but this presentation was neat! Even the jaded press, who'd already seen a bunch of sheets pulled off new cars applauded and laughed! They also had the best swag! Neat little crate, just like the big one on stage, and a limited edition flash drive/keychain in the Abarth scorpion logo. Pretty neat!
Ya think Tina REALLY want's one? Oh yeah!
Gucci Gucci Goo! Yeah, Fiat has teamed with the Italian designer for a special edition 500. It IS pretty neat!
No, they of course don't offer socks!
Other cars of note:
The Doking! This is far neater than the Smart. Reminded us all of the escape pod in "2001". We were expecting it to say "Dave, I can't allow you to turn that way. Dave, what are you doing?"
The driver's seat is in the middle and rotates for access.
Massretta: A little Lotus clone from Mexico that might just go like stink!
Scion; They had a pair of great design exercises, one a pit support vehicle that would be great to have on our Old Car Drives! Comes with floor jack, spare tires, tools, everything. The other is the little boxy one done up in a neoprene kind of covering for Rad Dude snowboarder types. This had a lot of nice touches, such as the huge speakers shaped like ear phones.
Caddy: A BIG ol' luxury sports car with El Dorado tail lights that was, well, interesting.
Jag, Bimmer, Land Rover, and others had some interesting stuff as well. Ford and Chevy? Ho Hum.
Chuck Forward:
Once again, it is time for the LA Auto Show. Some commentator once pointed out that us natives say LA and only out of towners say Los Angeles. The shorten form is certainly easier to type and even the show’s website reflects this (www.LAautoshow.com). Like last year's, the cars that bring the rush of adrenaline are missing in action. No Ferraris. No Lamborghinis. No Maseratis. All the fire has been swept away by the continuous beat of green. That is all except for a small vestige kept alive by the Europeans. The Italian fire this year was represented by Fiat and to uphold the honor of Italian racing greatness, they introduced the Fiat 500 Abarth. This hot-blooded Italian is due to hit the showrooms next February. Those of us that sat in them had a universal complaint that they need to fix the headrests. They are raked too far forward and anyone driving with a hat will be forced into contemplating their bellybutton.
Aside from that, we are confident the scorpion will once again bring terror to the Mini Coopers. Bentley and BMW introduced new convertibles for those that want to be seen on Sunset Blvd. Jaguar introduces an upped horsed version of their sports car in an effort to stay in the wannabe super car category. It was limited to 186 mph top speed. The also had a new concept coupe with a hybrid drive that puts out 380 horses from a 3 liter engine and 90 extra horses boost from an electric motor drive. You would think 380 horses by themselves would be adequate for passing and save the weight of all that electric stuff. Anyway, hope they retain the body for the next generation of the XK line. The overall color of the show this year seems to be white except the American Muscle sporting the retro colors of the 70s. On the other end of the spectrum was the mini car segment by the Japanese with electrified or hybrid versions of their weird shaped shoeboxes. The marketing people were more optimistic with sales up from the disaster of the previous years. This was also reflected in the displays, which were more lavish in contrast of the austere dullness of two years ago. Maybe next year will be even better if the heart throbbing big Italians make a re-appearance.
The Best of the Rest:
Rolls still has wood decks!
But this is still one of the worst looking front ends ever made. Good to see the old adage "Give an Englishman a piece of sheet metal and he's bound to do something silly with it" is still applicable!
Morgans are still one of the Eternal Verities!
They even fixed the cross eyed look!
The new Lotus looks a bit more grown up, but still pretty flashy!
Bently offered a convertible version of the Continental.
Aston Martin's details. Pretty Savage!
