L.A. Auto Show Will Offer Several Key Intros

Los Angeles Auto Show to be held December 4-13, 2009

This week, the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show will begin, with press days scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday followed by the public show on Friday running through December 13th. The L.A. venue is the first major event of the auto show season and will be followed by shows in Detroit in January, Chicago in February, and New York in April.

I attended the 2008 show, but am not able to get to Los Angeles for this year’s show. That’s too bad because I like what the show has to offer, its central location near all downtown activity, and the good weather too. This time of year temperatures should be in the low 70s with clear skies which is my kind of weather!

New Models Debut

Los Angeles always gives automakers a very good opportunity to display their newest models as well as to gauge visitor reaction to their concepts. Quite a few vehicles will make their worldwide debut while a number of vehicles will be shown in North America for the first time, having been introduced in Tokyo, Geneva, Frankfurt, and elsewhere previously.

Volkswagen will unveil a pair of new models, but the German automaker isn’t identifying which models will be featured. 2011 versions of the Cadillac CTS coupe, Dodge Viper, Toyota Sienna, and Porsche Boxster Spyder will debut as will a Honda model – the Personal-Neo Urban Transport.

Visitors will also see the recently announced Buick Regal; a MINI Coupe concept; Chevrolet Cruze; Volvo C30 and C70; several Mercedes models; Kia Sorento; Rolls Royce Ghost; and various other models. Many of the vehicles being introduced are green themed which means that they emit fewer pollutants and get outstanding fuel economy.

Alternative Fuel Vehicles

The L.A. Auto Show is big on showcasing alternative fuel vehicles while allowing journalists to drive some two dozen “green” vehicles toward the end of the second press day. Incidentally, the L.A. is the back drop for Green Car magazine’s Green Car of the Year award which is also announced on the second day of the show.

The 2010 Green Car of the Year finalists are the Audi A3 TDI, Honda Insight, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Toyota Prius and Volkswagen Golf TDI.

International Recognition

Perhaps most impressive about the L.A. Auto Show is that this year the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles (OICA), the world automobile trade association, has officially named it as one of its sanctioned international exhibitions. That distinction puts the Los Angeles show as the top of its game, elevating the show to the same level as shows in Frankfurt, Detroit, Tokyo and elsewhere.

Green Car of the Year Award Date Set

One of the most important “car of the year” awards of late is the one first introduced by the Green Car Journal in 2005. The Green Car of the Year award is the brainchild of that automotive environmental magazine, capitalizing on consumer interest in vehicles that are highly fuel efficient as well as environmentally friendly.

The date for the 2010 Green Car of the Year award has been set — December 3, 2009 — and the venue remains the same: the Los Angeles Auto Show. On that date, which is the day before the show opens to the general public, members of the press will be on hand to hear the recent winner named. Last year, I was in attendance at the show which is held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown L.A., and I was present for the Green Car Journal announcement.

Choosing Los Angeles

“The LA Auto Show is an ideal venue for making this important announcement,” said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com. “California has historically led the nation in automotive trends and environmental innovation, with the greater Los Angeles region often at the heart of this activity. It seems natural that the most environmentally important vehicle of the year should be honored here.”

Last year’s winner was the Volkswagen Jetta TDI, a choice that wouldn’t have been possible just a few years earlier when “clean diesel” technology didn’t exist. Thanks to low emissions and EPA highway mileage of 41 mpg, the Jetta was the winner.

Initial Winners Were Hybrids

The 2006 winner — the first one named — was the Mercury Mariner Hybrid. That model was followed up by the Toyota Camry Hybrid and then the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, clearly demonstrating the thinking of the jurors who voted in some of the most environmentally friendly vehicles in their respective segments.

Although the entrants for the 2010 award haven’t been named, my thinking is that the Ford Fusion Hybrid, Toyota Prius and Honda Insight will be among the finalists.

The Ford Fusion Hybrid was released this past spring, a compact crossover that gets 41 mpg city and 36 mpg highway. The Toyota Prius has been around for a decade, but the 2010 model is all new. It is also the most fuel efficient of all hybrid models sold today.

The Honda Insight is back, the first hybrid model ever sold in the US. The latest iteration of the Insight is larger than the original, returning mileage numbers in the low 40s range. It also carries the distinction of being the lowest priced hybrid sold in America.

Five finalists will be named over the coming months with jurors selected from notable environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council along with celebrities such as Carroll Shelby and Jay Leno.

Source: Los Angeles Auto Show

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Gumball 3000 Rally Is Olympic Bound

Years ago, cartoonists created a show, Wacky Races, which featured the exploits of 11 racing teams who participated in a variety of road rallies. Without fail, Dick Dastardly and Muttley on the Mean Machine team managed to cause much mischief as they cheated their way to the finish line.

Fortunately, the Mean Machine team lost every time.

Wacky Races is still on television some 38 years since the last episode aired, but a real life modern day version of the show (without cheaters) does exist — the Gumball 3000. Launched in 1999, this year’s race will begin in San Francisco and end in Beijing with a stop over in Pyongyang, North Korea.

The race will begin on August 9th and conclude on August 16th during the height of this year’s Summer Olympics. 120 cars, driven by film stars, musicians, sports stars, billionaires, and other starlets will make the trip crossing the Pacific by airplane with their stop in Pyongyang. Stateside, the racers will have overnight stops in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas before taking flight.

In Pyongyang, the participants will observe North Korea’s “mass games” as an international gesture of goodwill. When the games have ended, racers will be flown to Beijing where they’ll be reunited with their cars. From there, the Rally then heads north to Shanghai and Xuzhou, before crossing the finish line in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Saturday, August 16, just in time for the Gumballers to watch a week of Olympic finals.

Participants scheduled to appear this year include David Hasselhoff driving the legendary K.I.T.T. car from Knight Rider, drummer Travis Barker, MTV’s Rob Dyrdek (Rob & Big) in a fully customized ’69 Camaro as well as Johnny Knoxville and the rest of the “Jackass” guys…driving everything from Ferrari Enzos to Bugatti Veyrons, Rolls Royces, old Cadillacs, low riders and even a few electric cars. City streets and boulevards are closed throughout the entire route which organizers hope will make it Gumball’s best event ever.