Here in LA-LA land, the Auto Show is and has mostly been all about going green. The exception was the celebration of 50 years of Hemi muscle power and the fossil fuel needed to run a quarter mile. At least that was a genuine celebration and not the lip service paid to a pressing need that many manufacturers spouted — leaving bluer skies for future generations. As Driving does at every auto show, we pick the best and worst on the floor. Here are the team’s picks for the shiners and horrors!Check out all of our latest auto show coverage hereDavid Booth was ready to pick Karma’s new SC2 concept. With 1,100 horsepower and a shape that’s sensual enough to make Ferrari jealous, it seemed like a certainty. Then Toyota announced the 2021 RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid. It has 302 horsepower and scoots to 96 km/h in just 5.8 seconds. Fuel economy and performance are wrapped up in an old-faithful of a package. As Herr Motor Mouth opined, “a Gold star for the boys from Toyota.”Andrew McCredie was of the same mind. “Not only does this all-new plug-in hybrid have a full electric range of just over 60 kilometres, it will be the second-fastest Toyota in the automaker’s lineup when it shows up in Canadian showrooms next summer.” The acceleration and horsepower at play that’s fired through a good all-wheel-drive system leaves but one question. “When can I drive one?” My pick as highlight was going to be the Audi RS Q8. How can you not love a high-riding crossover that can run with the RS 6? Sadly, it was not at the show, so I picked the E-tron Sportback. It takes the frumpy and puts some swagger in the e-tron’s all-electric step. It is not going to set a sales record, but the funky headlights complete with the 1.2-million pixel chips that allow five logos to be flashed on the road along with the cool outer façade and the improved aerodynamics sure worked for me.Our resident video guru, Clayton Seams, picked the Ford Mustang Mach-E as the pick of the show. It is “a solid car, with the right variations to cater to a broad owner base.” With two 75.7-kWh models, the EV will be offered in rear-drive and all-wheel-drive. It is a ride many will aspire to for all the right reasons.Curiously, it was also the miss of the show for Seams. “It is just not a Mustang no matter how hard they try to convince people the styling cues like the rear taillights stay true to the original.” Key is the fact that it is more crossover than sports car and the Fu Manchu moustache (the black trim that drapes around the grille) or, as another opined, a very poorly drawn horseshoe. The consensus was it needs to be rebadged something other than a ’Stang! Ford Mustang Mach-E Nadine Filion David Booth’s miss was the Hyundai Vision T concept. “Not because it was ugly (it isn’t) or that Hyundai won’t sell a boatload of them when it comes to market (and it will), but because its press release had not a single iota of technical detail regarding its electrification. All we learned is that it glows blue when it’s recharging and that its styling is “sensually sporty,” but as to the kilowatt-hours of battery, the net horsepower of gas/electric combination or the fuel economy advantage that combo might engender, there was not a peep. Consumers are eager for practical plug-in SUVs. “They want hard, factual information, not a bunch of fluff that wouldn’t pass muster at an art house tea party.”My sentiments echo David’s — Hyundai Vision T plug-in hybrid concept presser was 20 minutes of my life I will never get back. It was full of blah, blah, blah about how the styling is going to set the world on fire, along with promises of transcendental meditation for the inner soul, or some such guff. Not a peep about how the second coming will save the planet with its plug-in technology. Charging port glows blue. La-di-da. Handout / Hyundai Andrew McCredie picked Bollinger as his miss. This Detroit-based all-electric truck builder has been bringing its dog-and-pony show in the form of its retro-inspired SUV and four-door pickup to auto shows for what feels like a decade. “They’re taking orders and speaking with unbridled enthusiasm about the capabilities of their all-electrics, but mysteriously they keep pushing back their delivery dates. A couple of years ago they promised production models by late 2019.” Here we are at the end of 2019 and now the company is saying early 2021. “Call me skeptical, but I can help but think this company is taking a page from the ‘promise-them-the-world-and-get-bought-up-by-a-big-company’ playbook.” Hey, it worked for EV-pickup-rival Rivian and the half-billion investment it got from Ford, so maybe there’s still hope for Bollinger. Don’t bet on it.So, there you have it, some very cool hits at the 2019 LA Auto Show, but sadly the clangers won the day. LISTEN: What do car dealers think about electric vehicles? Are they keen to have them in their showrooms? We talk to Vancouver GM dealer Blair Upton about this and much more during this week’s
Origin: LA Auto Show Hits and Misses
misses
Hits and misses from the 46th Tokyo Motor Show
At every auto show, the Driving team is tasked with scouring the show floor to pinpoint the highlights and lowlights. This years 2019 Tokyo Motor Show was no different. While quieter than it has been in past years with the likes of the Volkswagen Group and Ferrari conspicuously absent among others, the 46th edition of the Show still managed to produce a few gems and some real clangers. Here are our choices for the brilliant and the busts.Motor Mouth, aka David Booth, and Andrew McCredie both picked Mazda and the MX-30 as the show highlight. It is an all-electric crossover with a 33.5-kWh lithium-ion battery in the floor. It delivers a driving range of around 200 kilometres. Now, before the handwringing about the limited all-electric range begins, the MX-30 has an ace up its sleeve: a rotary engine range-extender yes, as in the little engine that made the RX-7 one of the greats along for the ride. It runs on gasoline, but could use hydrogen down the road. The effect would be a clean ride that can be refueled quickly while leaving nothing but water in its wake. It is a future all of us at Driving can get behind!Check out all our latest Auto Show coverageFor me, the highlight and lowlight of the Tokyo Motor Show were one in the same car. The highlight is the Lexus LF 30 Concepts powertrain. Heres a harbinger of what the company that redefined luxury expectations with the launch of the LS 400 in 1989 will do to electrify its portfolio in coming years. The key is found the four in-wheel electric motors that twist out 536 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque from rev-one the instant-on acceleration brings a run to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds and a realistic 500-kilometre electric-only range from the large 110-kilowatt/hour lithium-ion battery. The layout of the motors and the operating logic behind them brings front-drive, rear-drive and all-wheel-drive depending upon the need. And, with the ultimate in individual wheel control, it delivers the very best in real-time torque vectoring. The thought of an all-electric LFA-like ride is a mouth-watering proposition and a potential ambassador for the electric movement if it makes it to market. 2020 Mazda MX-30 EV Handout / Mazda The LF 30s style was the lowlight. Back in 2011, Lexus revealed the then-new GS sport sedan at the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance. It was roundly panned as boring. The criticism spurred the company on to reinvent itself and re-imagine the now-familiar spindle grille. With the LF 30 Concept Lexus has not only found yet another new grille expression, it has invented the spindle car! Sometimes too much of anything is not such a good thing after all.David Booths lowlight was the general malaise and lack of excitement found on the show floor. The fact Toyota did not show the rumored replacement for the GT 86 illustrated the fact. Tokyo, of all shows, is where you expect the hype around future technologies to abound. It could be found, but it required a lot of effort. Andrew McCredie took Nissan and Toyota to task for talking the talk, but failing to walk the electric walk. Yes, Nissan makes the Leaf, but it is aging and is in need of a replacement and the Ariya Concept on display at the Show is just that a concept that wont likely see production. Ditto Toyota. It has plug-ins and hybrids galore, but the promise of an all-electric ride remains just that, a promise. Yes, there is the Mirai fuel cell, but its availability is limited. There is a new all-electric vehicle ride being announced in November that will be based on a current Lexus crossover, but it is not coming to
Origin: Hits and misses from the 46th Tokyo Motor Show
Our hits and misses from the 2019 New York auto show
There were, admittedly, not too many blow-me-away supercar reveals, flashy performance models or boutique sports cars being shown off. Sure, Porsche showed us a 911 Speedster; and Nissan a 600-horsepower GT-R. But all in all, the 2019 New York International Auto Show may have seen the most practical range of new-car debuts in recent memory, with a large part of the schedule dedicated to crossover unveilings. Nevertheless, our team on the floor of the Javits Center have picked apart the lot of close to two dozen new-car reveals and concepts, and come up with a list of the ones that we thought deserve the biggest thumbs up, and the fattest thumbs down, too. Our chief editor Jonathan Yarkony is understandably getting excited for a new Volkswagen truck that may or may not come to the Canadian market, the Tarok; however, the Hyundai fan in him can’t see anything but redundancy in the brand’s new Venue. Speaking of redundancy, Nick Tragianis admits to falling for the new Toyota Yaris, basically because it’s a clone of the Mazda2 with a different automaker’s badge on it. His miss of the show is the Nissan 370Z 50th Anniversary Edition for being an ancient sports car with little more than a retro throwback sticker package. If you ask our classic-car-loving videographer Clayton Seams, it’s hard to top the Nissan 370Z 50th Anniversary Edition, a wonderfully ancient sports car that needs little more than a retro throwback sticker package to set it apart. If only Cadillac would similarly consider taking a step back to its styling from two or three years ago, away from the frumpy direction the new CT5 seems to be pointing the marque, he says. The ever-practical Graeme Fletcher has high praise for Toyotas High-lander and its low, low fuel consumption rating; the car was a hit not only among the Driving editors, but among readers, too. His least favourite was also an SUV, the Atlas Basecamp Concept from Volkswagen, an off-road utility that he can’t quite see many owners taking off-pavement at all. Call him biased – he does own a classic Datsun roadster – but Alex Reid is giving his props to Nissan’s entire heritage-inspired New York display, and specifically it’s GT-R. On the other hand, he’s shaking his head at the Mazda CX-5 diesel—apparently the Japanese brand hasn’t heard diesel is out. Last but not least, Derek McNaughton has a love-hate relationship with the Porsche 911 Speedster. We think he’d be all over it, though, if the German automaker would just leave one in his driveway with a bow on
Origin: Our hits and misses from the 2019 New York auto show
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