The 2023 Los Angeles Auto Present is a wrap — for press, anyway. Meaning it’s time to recap the large launches, unusual particulars, automobiles on show and peculiar absences we observed this 12 months.
The highlights embrace the SUV that’ll make or break Lucid, Amazon’s auto fixation, a pickup that calls Tesla’s Cybertruck to thoughts and a rocket-powered Pontiac Fiero that two gearheads one way or the other launched into orbit (not likely).
The LA Auto Present flooring was subdued this 12 months, thanks not less than partly to the absence of Stellantis, which owns Fiat, Jeep, Chrysler and a number of different manufacturers. As I typed this, whereas plopped in opposition to a wall on the conference middle flooring, a passerby remarked unconvincingly that the day’s turnout was “nonetheless fairly respectable.” The remark appeared to seize the auto business’s shift in direction of standalone and on-line occasions, and the way the development has left auto exhibits in the hunt for methods to pad its halls. And but, there’s nonetheless lots to chew on this 12 months, so let’s dig in.
Lucid Gravity: good-looking and excessive priced
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson and head designer Derek Jenkins sit within the frunk of a the brand new Lucid Gravity. Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch.
Lucid had the most important story of the present, so far as EVs go.
The corporate debuted its considerably low-slung but spacious Gravity SUV, boasting a “projected vary” of 440 miles and a price ticket round $80,000.
It definitely appears to be like like a luxurious SUV, however I can’t converse to the way it feels; Lucid, regrettably, wouldn’t let me sit within the frunk. CEO Peter Rawlinson remarked throughout his presentation {that a} Lucid is extra attainable than you would possibly assume. (As I delay repairing the bent wheel of my roughly $10,000 used Good ForTwo (2013), I reflexively surprise, “what planet is that this man dwelling on?”)
Don’t name it a Cybertruck
Picture credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions through Getty Photographs
A beforehand under-the-radar firm known as Aitekx debuted its RoboTruck at a small sales space by the auto present’s west corridor.
You inform me — does this seem like a Tesla to you? Once I requested somebody on the sales space if the automobile was impressed by the Cybertruck, he responded with a agency “no.”
Fictitious
A fictional rocket-powered Fiero from the Quick and Livid franchise. Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch
A few of the extra memorable automobiles on the present had been merely works of fiction. A Quick and Livid exhibit confirmed off a number of automobiles from the long-running franchise, together with an orbital Fiero and Vin Diesel’s Charger, each of which appeared in F9: The Quick Saga.
Vin Diesel’s Charger. Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch
The movies aren’t about realism. They’re about automobiles. And household.
Amazon’s auto fixation
Picture Credit: Screenshot/Kirsten Korosec
One other spotlight of the present was Hyundai’s tie-up with Amazon.
The web retailer stated it’ll begin promoting Hyundai automobiles in its U.S. retailer throughout the latter half of subsequent 12 months, including that different manufacturers will comply with. It’s not precisely a stunning transfer, seeing because the e-commerce big already sells mainly every thing, together with full-blown prefabricated houses.
Did the highlight dim on EVs?
A combustion-engine Subaru Forester. Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch.
I puzzled this myself going into the present, and to be clear: The highlight’s nonetheless on electrification.
Nearly each automaker in attendance had a hybrid or all-electric automobile on show — Chevrolet illuminated the letters “ev” in its emblem to bluntly drive dwelling this level. (Like, OK Chevy, we get it.) And but, throughout Subaru’s and Hyundai’s displays, the battery-electric automobiles appeared to take the backseat. Their displays devoted extra consideration to gas-guzzlers and hybrids. In doing so, they mirror an business that acknowledges the inner combustion engine’s destiny, but nonetheless relies on them for profitability.
Past Electrification
A sea foam-green Kia idea EV. Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch.
Past electrification, different vital environmental concerns — equivalent to constructing with recycled supplies and powering factories with renewable vitality — didn’t appear prime of thoughts throughout the displays. Final 12 months, Fiat showcased some one-off automobiles that featured recycled gold and reclaimed sea trash. The transfer appeared extra in regards to the spectacle of all of it, however not less than it meant that “recycled supplies” got here up on stage.
This 12 months, as Subaru of America President Jeff Walters exited the stage, TechCrunch requested if he may converse to any environmental or sustainability concerns the corporate would possibly’ve made, equivalent to the usage of recycled supplies, with the brand new Forester. “Not off the highest of my head,” he replied.
Lucid didn’t say as a lot onstage, however offstage Lucid design boss Derek Jenkins informed TechCrunch that the automaker integrated leather-based options, burl wooden and recycled yarn within the inside of its SUV. Jenkins additionally highlighted that renewables make up a portion of the vitality that powers its manufacturing facility.
In distinction, Kia stood out this 12 months when it got here to sustainability speaking factors. The corporate confirmed off two idea EVs, and stated they featured a mushroom-based leather-based different, hemp fibers, recycled materials, pure dyes and bio-plastics. Nonetheless, take this with a grain of salt — these aren’t manufacturing automobiles.