LA Auto Show | The Verge

Barbie EV mockup debuts, and on an unrelated note, Mattel’s stock is up

2021-11-17T17:22:41-05:00

Here are some facts. Mattel promoted a new toy Barbie car on Wednesday by showing off a full-size mockup at the 2021 LA Auto Show. The mockup was, according to Roadshow, based on an all-electric Fiat 500e. Not long after, Mattel's stock pared back early-morning losses and finished the day's trading slightly in the green.

Now, are those things related? Probably not. But weirder things have happened, especially lately. Hertz announced a deal with Tesla and hired Tom Brady to make commercials, and then Elon Musk said the deal wasn't done. Rivian passed every automaker in market cap except for Toyota and Tesla despite only shipping a few electr …

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Fisker’s electric Ocean SUV has a rotating center screen

2021-11-17T15:21:23-05:00

EV startup Fisker Inc. has revealed the production version of its first electric vehicle, the Ocean SUV, at the 2021 LA Auto Show. It's largely similar to the first prototype that debuted at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, though there are a few new standout features - including a 17.1-inch touchscreen that rotates from portrait to landscape orientation.

"When you use your phone and type on it, you hold it like this, and when you take a picture or if you want to watch a movie, you turn the phone around," Fisker Inc. founder and CEO Henrik Fisker said while miming a phone during a livestream of Wednesday's event. "In our vehicle we have …

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Audi’s E-Tron GT concept is a 590-horsepower electric sedan powered by Porsche

2018-11-28T18:43:10-05:00

Just two months after the debut of its first electric car, the E-Tron SUV, Audi has announced a new EV called the E-Tron GT Concept. It's a sleek sedan that gets its electric power from the same drivetrain and battery platform that will be in Porsche's first EV, the Taycan.

The concept was unveiled at this week's LA Auto Show, and will go on sale in just two years, with deliveries starting in early 2021, according to Audi. No pricing has been set.

Sitting on 22-inch wheels, the E-Tron GT takes power from a 90kWh battery pack and puts it into two electric motors (one on each axle). In total, that drivetrain creates 434 kilowatts of power, o …

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Rivian’s R1S SUV looks like an all-electric Land Rover

2018-11-27T15:00:15-05:00

One day after unveiling its first vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show - an electric pickup truck called the R1T - Michigan-based automotive startup Rivian is already following up with a second. Built on the same platform as the pickup, Rivian's second vehicle will be a seven-passenger SUV in a style that sits somewhere between a Land Rover and Jeep's more rugged offerings.

Due in late 2020, the R1S will be slightly more expensive than Rivian's pickup truck when it goes on sale, with the base model starting at $72,500. Preorders start this week, with a refundable $1,000 deposit required.

Rivian's SUV is built on the same platform as its pic …

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The all-electric Rivian R1T is a dream truck for adventurers

2018-11-26T08:00:06-05:00

After spending the better part of the last decade operating completely out of the spotlight, US-based automotive startup Rivian has finally debuted its first electric vehicle: a five-passenger pickup truck called the R1T. Announced on Monday at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the R1T is positioned as a dream truck for outdoorsy types, combining the utility of a Ford Ranger or Toyota Tacoma with bleeding edge technology - all while putting out zero emissions, meaning owners can help reduce the harm being done to the natural world the company's vehicles are meant to explore.

A big part of Rivian's long, meticulous road to this debut has been all a …

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Nissan uses Star Wars to help people understand semi-autonomous driving assists

2017-12-04T14:36:33-05:00

Nissan Maxima Kylo Ren Concept | Nissan

What exactly "self-driving" is continues to be the question surrounding new cars. Technologies that take over more and more for drivers - whether it's for safety or convenience - are more available than ever, especially from automakers that sell the most cars.

Nissan is on its way to creating a fully autonomous vehicle, and it has taken its first significant steps this year. Most of its 2018 models will get standard automatic emergency braking, and two will get what it calls ProPilot Assist, which performs some steering and braking functions for the driver at highway speeds. But it also has to explain to customers what that means. Unexpecte …

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Volvo’s SUV subscription plan starts at $600 per month — insurance included

2017-11-30T16:54:38-05:00

New Volvo XC40 - exterior | Photo: Volvo

Volvo announced back in September that it was wading into offering subscription models for its cars starting with the new XC40 compact SUV. This week at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the company finally revealed that those subscriptions will start at $600 per month over the course of a two-year contract - just like how you might buy a smartphone.

Care By Volvo, as the program is called, will start up in 2018, and that monthly price is all-inclusive, save for taxes, registration fees, and gas. Here's what you get:

The all-wheel drive XC40 with a turbocharged 2.0 liter 4-cylinder engine, heated front seats, heated steering wheel, panoramic roof, …

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The futuristic BMW i8 looks even better as a convertible

2017-11-30T15:59:58-05:00

One of the things I loved the most about the BMW i8 when I photographed it for our weekend review road trip three years ago was just how alien it looked. But the hybrid sports car's style caught so many stray glances, struck up so many conversations, and felt so radical at the time that - were I to be gifted $150,000 - I would have second-guessed ever owning one.

At the LA Auto Show this week, though, BMW issued the first big update to the i8 since its inception, and has now split the car into two models. The new i8 Coupe largely looks the same, despite a more contemporary color palette. But it's the new i8 Roadster convertible that instant …

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Is Los Angeles ready to rethink the car?

2016-11-20T15:03:38-05:00

When people say Americans won't give up their cars, Los Angeles is a case study on automotive saturation. Car fever took off during the post-World War II era economic boom, and the sprawling city's far reaching tentacle of freeways make the automobile essential. Culver City speed shops and custom car culture elevated the LA's romance with the automobile to another level. But a new reality has set in, and so far, no one is exactly sure how to stop it.

Los Angeles may be a car town, but there's nothing more brutal than an LA traffic jam and its massive environmental footprint. The state of California has embraced some of the cleanest emission …

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How an auto show about the future will deal with Trump

2016-11-15T14:06:12-05:00

Automobility LA, once billed as the Los Angeles Auto Show press days, kicks off this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year the auto show has rebranded itself as all about the future - but what kind of future that will be after the unexpected outcome of the presidential election is uncertain. The stakes are high as the industry is on the precipice of introducing self-driving cars, implementing better fuel economy standards, and increasing its presence in China.

It's a week likely to be suffused with irony, awkwardness, and many questions after the recent turn of events and the many ways a Trump presidency could alter the trans …

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