La Auto Show Preview: Ford, Fiat, BMW, Mitsubishi

This short article first made an appearance within the November. 25 problem from the Hollywood Reporter magazine.our editor recommendsLake Bell Test Drives the Fiat 500 AbarthHollywood's Next Large Vehicle StarsRIAA's Mitch Bainwol Leaves Music Trade Group for Auto Industry Cary Sherman Named New CEOActress Lake Bell Joins The Hollywood Reporter as Automotive Critic It was once that vehicle companies would make use of the La Auto Show to debut the kind of cars symbolic of Los Angeles: swoopy coupes and luxury drop-tops. Meanwhile, its northern border American Worldwide Auto Show, locked in Detroit each The month of january, would obtain the car manufacturers' bread-and-butter (and, more essential, bottom-line-driven) items. However the times of $4-a-gallon fuel and endless belt-tightening have brought to some change. This season, the L.A. show -- which runs November. 18 to 27 in the La Convention Center -- is scoring lots of debuts of cars which are less about turning heads on Rodeo Drive and much more about getting from One place to another in sensible fashion. The exhibition is continuing to grow in prestige since 2006, when L.A. increased its dates to preempt the Detroit event. STORY: Lake Bell Test Drives the Fiat 500 Abarth Throughout the show, La might find the planet or United States debuts in excess of 50 production and concept cars, lots of what are kind of practical automobiles lengthy popular in Asia and europe only now being accepted stateside. That doesn't mean these rides aren't mind-turners or tech tours p pressure. But that will Hollywood embrace? Auto product-positioning expert Cat Stone, someone at L.A.-based Stone Management, and Mark McFann, chief marketing officer at automotive oil company Royal Crimson, offer their assumes four cars which will likely understand onto both small , silver screens. FIAT 500 ABARTH: The souped-up two-seater will get turbocharged The Vehicle:The conventional Fiat 500 packs only 101 horsepower -- hardly what fanatics covet. Enter the organization's Abarth version of these two-door hatchback. Looking for its United States debut in the L.A. show, the Abarth is anticipated to have a turbocharged four-cylinder engine that may released around 160 horsepower, in addition to a retuned suspension. It will likewise fit the part, sporting an aerodynamic body package and also the distinctive Abarth badge, featuring a scorpion. (Abarth would be a race-vehicle maker Fiat acquired in 1971.) Expect a cost premium around $4,000 in comparison using the standard 500 (see review at right) once the vehicle continues purchase within the first 1 / 2 of 2012. Wager on Fiat spokeswomanJennifer Lopezappearing in advertisements offering the Abarth. The Casting Couch:Stone envisions the Abarth driven byCourteney Coxon Cougar Town(ABC) orYvonne StrahovskionChuck(NBC): "I take a look at who's a effective lady -- it's an attractive vehicle. I selected women that individuals may wish to emulate." Small COUPE: The legendary hatchback manages to lose two seats, takes layer of quickest small ever The Vehicle:Since being reintroduced by parent company BMW in 2002, the Small Cooper went onto come in several variants: There's a crossover, a extended three-door or even a convertible. However the new Small Coupe, which continued purchase in October and will also be on show in the L.A. Convention Center, takes the company to an alternative degree of sportiness. The conventional version creates 121 horsepower, but a supercharged S model ratchets up to 181. And also the two-seater tops by helping cover their a John Cooper Works edition (named after Small's in-house tuning division) that creates 208 horsepower. That's great for a -to-60 amount of time in the reduced-six-second range. The JCW version can cost you: It begins at $31,200 -- $10,000 a lot more than the bottom Coupe. The Casting Couch:"The Small am great within the Italian Job, why don't you take it back for that Brazilian Job?" states McFann from the planned follow up towards the 2003 heist film. MITSUBISHI i:The 4-door would be the least costly electric vehicle available in The United States The Vehicle:The 2012 Mitsubishi i made its debut at this past year's L.A. show, which year your final production version from the four-door all-electric vehicle is going to be available. The i, which continues purchase in November, will have a base cost of $21,625 after tax credits, about $6,000 under Nissan's all-electric Leaf. The i's 66-horsepower motor unit propels it to some top speed around 80 miles per hour it'll have a variety of about 62 miles per charge. The 4-seater could be fully billed in four hrs and billed to around 80 % full in half an hour. The Casting Couch:McFann states the i'd work best with Legendary Pictures' Off-shore Rim, the forthcoming Guillermo del Toro sci-fi film starring Charlie Day and Idris Elba. The pic is stated to feature giant monsters, compelling McFann to notice, "I simply have this visual of the cute little vehicle getting squashed with a monster like Godzilla." FORD FOCUS ELECTRIC: The all-electric four-door ride could deliver range as high as 100 miles on one charge The Vehicle:Vehicle beat rival Ford towards the punch within the tech wars using its discharge of the gas-electric Chevrolet Volt this year. However, Ford returns fire by having an electric version of their remodeled Focus. The vehicle, which continues purchase in November, includes a 123-horsepower motor that propels the 4-door to some top speed of 84 miles per hour. Features have an eight-inch touch screen, a navigation system that computes routes according to making the most of range as well as an apple iphone application for monitoring the charging status and range. After tax credits, a completely loaded Focus Electric will definitely cost $32,495. The Casting Couch:Stone thinks the electrical Focus is sensible for that "youthful, stylish and cool" parents on Being a parent (NBC) or Mary-Louise Parker's Nancy on Weeds (Showtime). "Nancy was once inside a Prius, and this is actually the new and version of the eco-friendly vehicle on her character." And Today for SomethingCompletely Different ... it's not electric also it's certainly not petite. The development version from the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 convertible will debut like a 2013 model in the L.A. show, packing a supercharged V-8 that creates 580 horsepower. That's sufficiently good to allow it to be Chevrolet's most effective convertible ever. Muscle vehicle, that will continue purchase at the begining of 2012, is really a solid wager to have an appearance within the inevitable nextTransformersfilm -- Camaros happen to be previously three. The ZL1 is anticipated to begin at about $47,000. There's not sure yet on gas mileage, but when that's of interest, kindly avert your vision. Related Subjects