Welcome to Autocar's extended coverage of the 2019 Los Angeles motor show, one of the last major shows of this year's automotive calendar.
As ever, it is a uniquely Californian show that plays home to a varied mix of SUVs, V8s and electric cars. Manufacturers including Audi, Ford and Volkswagen are all in attendance, with major announcements expected throughout the week. Some brands even jumped the gun, revealing all ahead of the show floor opening to the industry.
We were on the ground in LA to bring you all the news as it breaks from the show, as as well as providing insight and comment from industry figures, and first drives of some of the biggest new launches.
LA 2019: show report
Wheeled vastness, electric vehicles and fast-breeding mid-size SUVs were the most visible exhibits at an LA show marked by the welcome arrival of heavy rain and hail to a parched California. Whether this sudden shift was merely weather or a symptom of climate change, there were certainly signs of fundamental change at the show, where the electric Mustang Mach-E is Ford’s surprisingly potent – and fairly pricey, at £40,000 upwards – Tesla fighter. VW’s ID Space Vizzion concept, the E-tron Sportback that makes Audi the first premium player to introduce a second EV, the new-to-America electric Mini and numerous plug-in hybrids will all be able to take advantage of the fact that California’s solar and wind power quite regularly generates surplus electricity in need of a home.
Yet the industry’s growing battle to introduce affordable electric models was overshadowed, literally, by the bombastic trucks littering much of the Chevrolet stand, a spectacular ultra-high-riding, highly modified Ford F250 pick-up in the main entrance foyer and any number of medium to large SUVs. Not all of them from US manufacturers either, Mercedes unveiling AMG versions of its GLE and GLS, Audi its potent RS Q8, Toyota a new Highlander SUV of a size unremarkable in an American context, Land Rover its Defender and Kia its not-for-Europe Seltos. The almost absurd contradiction in all this can be hard to explain, but to understand the big trucks follow the money – these beasts are highly profitable US best-sellers – while the EU’s CO2 squeeze, China’s commitment to EVs and Tesla’s sales success explains the heavy peppering of battery-powered cars at this show.
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Tesla Pickup reveal
So Tesla throws a curveball with the reveal of their pickup!
It looks like it was wholly inspired by the movie Total Recall. It will certainly stand out, that's for sure. I may have liked the styling as a teen back in the nineties, but right now "It's a no from me".
Tesla
Another big reveal, not knocking them but they seem to be doing alot of model reveals yet few have a build date.
There's the Lorry cab, Roadster, Model Y and now the Pick-up truck. This pick-up will be huge in the US IMHO