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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Etc. , Celebrities Click image at right for high-res gallery of some of the beautiful people from Los Angeles. Well, it was only a matter of time before we got around to posting our people gallery from the auto show. Models were pretty scarce this year in Los Angeles, but they were definitely still worth the effort to stop and photograph. We also had a few celebrity sightings again, although none at the press conferences and only one got caught on camera. California's own Governator made it over for his annual tour, but we missed him. The lone celeb in our gallery was Jerry Seinfeld, who showed up at the Porsche news conference with gorgeous blue 550 Spyder in tow. Gallery: LA 2008: People watching Live photos copyright (C)2008 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc. LA 2008: People watching in the city of angels originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Etc. Click image at right for high-res gallery of some random sights from Los Angeles. While we did a lot of coverage of the LA Auto Show this week, there are always some interesting things at the convention center that just don't make into a post of their own. We've collected a bunch of photos that we thought were worth sharing and decided to just dump them into a gallery so you could experience it for yourself. Click on the gallery and you'll see performers that helped Infiniti launch the new G37 Convertible (above), the Mazda3 designer's colorful choice of footwear , Tony Hawk's dream Jeep , a lemon chiffon Rolls-Royce , an unfortunate quality control issue at Maybach , Hell freezing over (for some) at Toyota , and just a bunch of random interesting cars that we've seen before perhaps, but that happened to catch our eyes in LA. We hope you enjoy our farewell to Los Angeles. We can hardly wait for Detroit in January. Gallery: LA 2008...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Tuners , Economy , Hybrids/Alternative , Green , SMART Click above for high-res image gallery of the smart fortwo BRABUS The BRABUS edition of smart's diminutive little fortwo is, as we like to say, officially official as of yesterday when the brand pulled the wraps off the new-for-USA model. Unlike the Europeans who have had access to BRABUS smarts for the last few years, we won't be getting the force-fed 112-horsepower three-cylinder engine here in the States, but that means we get to keep the 41 miles per gallon efficiency of the standard smart fortwo. You win some, you lose some, right? It's a nice package that definitely stands apart from other fortwo models thanks to its unique alloy wheels, monochromatic paint in either black or silver and numerous BRABUS emblems inside and out. Want one? It'll cost you $17,990 for the coupe or $20,990 for the cabriolet, which initially strikes us as a fairly steep sum considering it comes with the same...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Motorsports , Sports/GTs , Mitsubishi Click above for high-res gallery of these fun '70s Mitsubishis We might have skipped the Mitsubishi booth altogether this year at the LA Auto Show if it hadn't been for this pair of eye-catching cars from the '70s. While checking out the neighboring Audi booth we spotted a toad-green FTO and then caught a glimpse of what looked like an old F1 car. The racecar turned out to be the last single-seat racer Mitsu ever made, the 1971 Colt F2000. It actually won the Japan Grand Prix that year. It was powered by a 4-valve dohc 1,994 cc R39B that put out 290 PS. It was also one of the first open-wheelers to use those side-mounted radiators that became the standard in many forms of single-seater racing. The other car was a 1973 Galant FTO GS-R. Fittingly painted toad-green, this little beast had warts all over it. Built between 1971 and 1975 the FTO was a rear-drive coupe that could be had with a number of different Neptune...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , LA Auto Show , Motorsports , Mazda Click above for more renderings of the Mazda KAAN concept It wasn't the number one pick of our readers (earning the silver medal in your voting), but Mazda managed to take the top honors at the LA Design Challenge with its KAAN concept. The design itself is a fanciful look into a future where all the roads in California are paved with... um, sub-level electro-conductive polymer (m'kay), which provides juice to the electronic tires that allow the KAAN to reach speeds of up to 250 mph. Up to 30 KAANs would travel together in formations that would cheat the wind, so MAZDA designed the vehicles so that they could fit tightly together in the peloton. The theme of the competition was to depict what motorsports would be like in 2025. Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles, said that the choice was made because Mazda's entry was "the most innovative and artistic design," and that the KAAN "ultimately...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Etc. Click above for high-res image gallery of the American Modular Tooling by PWM While heading out to our first press conference of the morning here at the LA Auto Show , we spotted this... this... thing. It sort of looks like a car, but is actually an adult Erector Set of sorts. Paul W. Marino Gages ( PWM ) offers this line of customizable shop benches and tools known as American Modular Tooling. The pieces can be put together in virtually any configuration allowing workers to hold any part in just about any position. It's a pretty cool line and allows shops to build the bench they need for the job, then tear it down and build something different for the next one. It should also help businesses cut down on space and expenses by giving workers a sizable bag of building blocks to work from rather than requiring they buy a new bench or holder for each task. To show off their goods at this year's auto show, they did the natural thing and built what looked...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Convertibles , Saab , Special/Limited Editions Click above for high-res image gallery of the Saab 9-3 Cabrio 25th Anniversary Edition A couple of days ago we told you about this special edition 25th Anniversary Saab 9-3 Cabrio . It's a sure sign that there's not much happening when automakers launch these specials in lieu of any real new models. Saab is guilty of this right now. This is the second limited edition of the 9-3 convertible alone this year. At least this one isn't as colorful as the Yellow edition that came out this summer. This latest special edition 9-3 Convertible is meant to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the very first Saab convertible. Believe it or not that was way back in 1983. To celebrate the model, this special edition takes some cues from the Turbo X , like the design of the front bumper and steering wheel plus carbon fiber interior finishes and black floor mats with special piping. Also, like the Aero, it sports dual exhaust...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Sports/GTs , Lotus Click above for high-res image gallery of the Lotus Evora live The "mostly" U.S. version of the "midsize" Lotus Evora was shown today at the LA Auto Show and it looks exactly like the one that debuted at the 2008 British Motor Show back in June. It's just missing its side marker lights. The Evora follows the '70s Lamborghini Urraco, Maserati Merak, Ferrari 308GT4 and its follow-up the Ferrari Mondial in being a mid-engine 2+2 sports car. It's arguably the best looking of that quintet, though. Two adult American males fit up front and there's still room in back for a couple of kids, while power comes from a Toyota-sourced 3.5L V6 producing 276 hp. With a curb weight of just 2,976 lbs., that should be plenty to scoot this puppy along. Expect 0-60 in 5 seconds, a top speed of 160+ and 30 mpg. As cool as all of that is, the interior is what will blow you away, especially if you've ever served time in an Elise...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Crossovers/CUVs , Kia Click above for more live shots of the Kia Soul in LA Kia put on quite a show today, prancing out a slew of new Souls at the LA Auto Show . Expected to drop as an early 2010 model in late '09, the new boxy Soul will go head-to-head with the equally-new Nissan Cube for the affections of ex-xB buyers here in the States. While the Cube really goes after the square-edged look, Kia has softened the Soul. The box's rising beltline starts lower in the front and gradually sweeps skyward at the rear, adding a unique look to the little crossover. A standard 1.6L four banger pushes roughly 120 horses through a five-speed manual tranny and an optional 2.0L unit with about 140 horsepower can be mated with either the stick or a four-speed automatic on uplevel models. Each should exceed 30 mpg on the highway. The Korean automaker promises that there will be an abundant number of customization possibilities for its new Soul and there will be three...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Podcasts , Chrysler, LLC. , Ford , GM , Lexus , Mazda If we were going to continue numbering things, this would technically be Autoblog Podcast #103. We had tried to record this comeback episode once already about three weeks ago, and that turned out to be the only time I've ever toasted an audio file. Pro Tools said "uhh, what?" and that was that - our file was gone. So, before Chris Shunk headed out the door to the LA Auto Show , we sat down and breezed through a few subjects like what's in our respective Autoblog Garages, the new Mustang , the new Mazda 3 , the new Lexus RX crossovers, and of course, the situation in which the Detroit automakers find themselves. It's a slightly rambly hour and only a duo this time around, but we're going to do it again soon with a trio, just like old times. SUBSCRIBE to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes ADD the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator DOWNLOAD the show now w00t! The return of the...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , LA Auto Show , Crossovers/CUVs , Hyundai Click above for high-res image gallery of Hyundai HED-5 i-Mode We first saw Hyundai's rolling CUV shapeship, the HED-5 i-Mode , back in Geneva , but today at the LA Auto Show is the first time the Korean automaker has shown the car in the States. New to the crossover is a 2.0L gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine that Hyundai plans to roll out in production machines shortly. The new Theta Turbo GDI engine puts out 286 horsepower, which is very impressive for such a small powerplant. Hyundai puts its direct injection and turbo technology to good effect and combines these new features with its Continuously Variable Valve Timing (CVVT) to allow for a 15-20 percent fuel economy increase compared with a standard 2.0L four-banger. Expect to see this new engine make its way into a production car sometime in 2010. According to Hyundai, the HED-5 has been approved for production and a new six-seat production CUV will hit...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Motorsports , Volkswagen Click above for high-res image gallery of the Race Touareg 2 This is Volkswagens entrant in this weekend's Baja 1000: a spaceframe-chassis Touareg TDI with 75 cm of suspension travel competing in the top-dog Trophy Truck class and utilizing an oil-burning V12 with nearly 550 hp. That's a long way from the first VW win in 1967 that came courtesy of a VW Beetle converted into one of the soon-to-be-ubiquitous dune monsters. Driver Mark Miller won the Baja 500 last year in the first Race Touareg. Aided by helicopters and eight support vehicles, we'll find out on Sunday if he and navigator Ryan Arciero can take The Big One this year. Gallery: LA 2008: Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 Live photos copyright (C)2008 Sebastian Blanco / Weblogs, Inc. Continue reading LA 2008: VW Race Touareg 2 LA 2008: VW Race Touareg 2 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Lexus Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2010 Lexus RX350 and RX450h Lexus dropped the third-generation RX on the world today here at the LA Auto Show . As before, the RX luxury crossover comes in two forms, the standard issue RX350 and the hybrid RX450h. The 3.5L RX350 gets a power bump to 275 hp while the hybrid engine grows from 3.3L up to 3.5L and 295 total horsepower. Lexus has improved the inverter that converts between DC power from the battery to AC for the motor, making the whole hybrid drivetrain more efficient. The RX450h gets a unique grill and badging to set it slightly apart from the new RX350, while both models get plenty of new gizmos and gadgets including an upgraded navigation and telematics system. For instance, a new controller for the nav system that Toyota calls Remote Touch provides customizable haptic feedback as you use it. A larger brighter OLED display screen also offers an improved angle of vision and a heads up display is available...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , LA Auto Show , Green , Toyota Click for high-res image gallery of the Toyoat CNG hybrid Camry Toyota isn't holding a press conference at the LA Auto Show this year, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have anything to show. The Prius purveyors have built a CNG-fueled Camry hybrid . According to Toyota spokesperson Jana Hartline, the purpose of the CNG hybrid is to demonstrate the versatility of Hybrid Synergy Drive. The car gets 50% better fuel efficiency than the last production CNG vehicle offered by Toyota, which was based on the 2000 Camry. Hartline explained Toyota has no immediate plans to produce either CNG or CNG hybrid vehicles, but the company is looking at all alternatives for the future. Gallery: LA 2008: Toyota Camry CNG Hybrid Gallery: Toyota Camry CNG Hybrid Continue reading LA 2008: Toyota shows off Camry CNG Hybrid LA 2008: Toyota shows off Camry CNG Hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:58:00 EST. Please see...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Economy , Sedans/Saloons , Mazda Click above for high-res image gallery of the 2010 Mazda3 sedan Mazda has unveiled its 2010 Mazda3 sedan here at the LA Auto Show and we managed to snap some nice shots off as it was spinning around on a huge rotating stand. It's a good looking car that Mazda says carries on its "family face" with stylish bulges and creases that attract the eyes, and we're really looking forward to seeing the hatchback version as well. Underhood is a newly-enlarged 2.5-liter version of Mazda's MZR inline-four that offers up 167-horsepower and can be mated to either a 6-speed stick or 5-speed auto. As before, a standard 148-horsepower 2.0L four will be available and can be had with either a manual or auto tranny with 5 forward ratios each. Considering the low price class in which the Mazda3 competes, features like dual-zone automatic climate control, Xenon self-leveling head lamps, push-button start and hands-free Bluetooth...
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