Oh, what's a show got on day 2 that it didn't have on day 1? Plenty….at least in the case of LA Auto Show. The day started off with the Green Car Of The Year Award…and Chevy (oops…Chevrolet?!?!) took honors with the Volt. Not a complete surprise as the buzz everywhere in LA-LA-land was electric.
Then things got down to business with two companies that are chart-topping these days: Hyundai and Audi. The Elantra looks like a winner, as well as a category stealer. The Domestics and Japanese brands will likely continue to lose market-share to Hyundai/Kia. As for VW's luxury brand, all we can say is look out for Audi. The A8 was definitely a show-stopper, the whole line-up is stelar (when is the A1 coming?). Once Americans start to understand that TDI is not clunkety diesel, they'll start to sell even more. Did someone say R8 GT?
Infiniti was also on fire with the M Hybrid and their concept car. The M is definitely the next step in "I'm not dirving a hybridy-looking-hybrid" vogue. It's powerful, has great lines and appeals to their demographic. The brand still doesn't scream "buy me" but they seem to be on their way. As far as concept cars go….
Misubishi seems to have finally broken their (lack of) sales mold from the past two years. Hopefully the product coming up will do the same. The three diamond brand has their electric campaign moving in the right direction so hopefully now it's all about time. But there's one bit of conflict here….in consulting we hammer dealers all day long to remove "I" from their conversations with customers Mitsubishi…there is no "I" in sales…
The rest of the day was torn betwen conversations, phone calls and photographing some of the fantastic (and mundane) future cars of Los Angeles…so there was not enough impetus to check out Chrysler. In all fairness, they had some strong buzz yesterday about the Dodge Durango. Even the 200 still couldn't get me to the booth at noon. Food was more compelling. Sorry Chrysler…maybe NADA or next year's LA Auto Show.
So here's some (subjective) eye candy for those that did make it…and even those that did:
Mazda concept…
2011 Toyota Corolla (Should be a winner)…
Subaru Impreza Concept…
Mercedes CLS63 with enough technology to choke a horse(power)…
Jaguar CX-75 concept…
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