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Story by Shane O' Donoghue : 9th January 2000 [updated Jan 11] The Greater Los Angeles Auto Show has always been considered as second best to the Detroit Auto International. This is not too surprising as Detroit is often considered to be the centre of the automotive world. Of course, if the two shows were six months apart then LA would probably be as important to the car manufacturers. But no, the LA show started (January 6th 2000) four days before the massive Detroit International. |
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That will not stop The Car Enthusiast team from doing our best to bring all the news from both shows to you - Los Angeles is far from just a display of production cars. To date, with international motor shows (London excluded), we have been restricted to using manufacturer's press photography. This year, we have been kindly given permission to use the professional work of www.carpix.net. The most significant production car debut at LA was the Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible. Los Angeles is, of course a very relevant part of the world for this most extravagant of convertibles to be launched. In the Rolls-Royce press release it was mentioned that this may be the last fully new car to be produced at Crewe in England - a sad day for Rolls-Royce. Will the Corniche become a collectors item? It it entirely possible. |
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DaimlerChrysler showed several concept cars, but none we have not seen before. The Java concept has been given a lick of black paint and possibly been brought closer to production. Chrysler could certainly do with a small hatch for the European market. The Plymouth Howler was also on show. The Howler is an extreme V8 version of the fantastic Plymouth Prowler. The Prowler's bodywork has been modified to cope with the extra power and to fit in a set of golf clubs.... Yes, really. The Howler also marks the end of the Plymouth name - it means nothing to the general public these days and is therefore being killed off by General Motors. |
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The Dodge Neon SRT 'hot-rod' was also on display - due to go on sale in America this year, capitalising on the boom in this segment of the market - body-kits are in again it seems. Remember those eighties? Please don't let it all happen again! The Tickford Ford Capri springs to mind.... If DaimlerChrysler was trying a little hard to be trendy, the Japanese tripped over themselves to show off Americanised cars! Toyota showed the all-new Solara convertible - as bland as most mid-sized American saloon-based convertibles of the past ten years or so... The new Avalon is no improvement on the aesthetics front either. It appears that Toyota have written a simple computer design package. Input all previously designed saloons, select "American market" and hey presto, the all-new Avalon is born. I'm sure it is very competent though. A little more interesting perhaps is the Echo saloon in it's production guise. This is a very unusual-looking small car, based on the successful Yaris. It should appeal to the youth of America, if they can bring themselves to drive a car that would normally fit on the flat-bed of the pick-up. I hope they can. |
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Speaking of pick-ups, another "all-new" car is the massive Toyota Tundra pick-up, due to be just as big a hit in the sales department. Mr. Joe English, the builder, wouldn't take it on-site for fear of scuffing the lovely alloy wheels, but it is still an able truck. It is a pity that is not to be it's calling! Now onto more interesting things, and perhaps returning to my earlier rant about body-kits. Feast your eyes on this yellow number to the right. Dodge would do well to take notice! Wow. The "Ultimate Celica" is an unabashed supercar! There are several other Celica surprises in store. The Toyota Celica TRD does what it says on the tin, designed and tuned by the infamous Toyota Racing Development. The bonnet spoiler may be a little over the top, but it can certainly move. The tasty Celica convertible concept (yes, only a concept at present) was a surprise move by Toyota, but a cunning one with the TRD and Ultimate Celica alongside to boost the image. On the image side of Toyota (i.e. Lexus), the IS300 made it's debut (known as the IS200 in Europe and Japan). Should be a runaway success. |
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