LA Auto Show Impressions

[papajohn97]

I attended the LA Auto Show yesterday with a very old friend (+50 yrs). We don’t live nearby each other and it’s been a tradition for us and a few other friends who have passed on to “reunion” every year at this show and then share lunch. We last attended the show together in 2018.

Impressions:

1. Less than 1/2 the normal big name manufacturer-exhibitors attended. No Cadillac, Buick, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Honda, Acura, Infiniti, Mazda, Mini, Volvo, Volkswagen….and a few more I’m probably missing. A few of the cars I just listed were on display but it was a local LA car dealer (Galpin) and not the manufacturer. Needless to say, there was alot of empty square footage in both big halls.

2. They had a number of test drive tracks set-up indoors to make use of all the extra space. It appeared that most if not all the test drives were e-vehicles only and patrons were given rides by company drivers (for obvious liability reasons).

2. E-E-E! Big theme this year was electric vehicles nearly everywhere. Many many new e-vehicle manufacturers, too many to list. ICE’s seemed to be the minority / dying product category from a promotion standpoint.

3. Many of the new e-vehicles are huge trucks/SUV/ maxi-van platforms. They all look super $$$ and super heavy. Totally un-appealing to us “old car guys”.

I only took a few pics, the new Z looked good in person and unlike the ongoing trend of making sporty cars bigger, it’s a nice compact size:

Porsche showed this new spec racer, very nice:

This is probably the last auto show I will attend. LA has nearly fully transformed into the scary city from Blade Runner but with many more homeless people and the hassle-factor (traffic, cost to park, crowds) is just not worth it. I think the golden age of automobiles may be coming to a close very soon…..