The L.A. Auto Show took place this week for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. It was a show packed with news and reveals, which hasn’t really been the case with other shows we’ve seen this year, and Autoblog was on the floor covering every minute of it. Well, Riswick and Stocksdale were, anyway. The rest of us were sitting at home in our sweatpants, but hey, we’ll take credit anyway. Let’s get to it.
This is the Hyundai Seven Concept, and it’s meant to act as a preview for an incoming electric SUV for the Ioniq brand. It leans more toward the concept side of the spectrum than a production car, but expect the final SUV to take design cues from the Seven Concept.
The Hyundai Seven counterpart isn’t the only big, bold electric SUV at L.A. this year. Kia has its own take, and it’s a modernized version of the traditional boxy utility vehicle called the Concept EV9. It also previews one of the next production electric cars for the brand, which should look right at home next to things like the Telluride.
As promised, the 2023 Kia Sportage HEV has been revealed. The hybrid powertrain makes the compact SUV the most powerful version available, and it goes on sale next year. The engine is a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder paired with a 44-kW electric motor. Total output is 226 horsepower. The company didn’t give a torque number, but it should basically be the same as the Sorento HEV that has the same basic powertrain: 258 pound-feet. Those numbers are a healthy step up from the 187 horsepower of the base 2.5-liter engine.
If you noticed how extra smooth and suave the new Range Rover looked during its recent reveal, Autoblog’s James Riswick got a design tour that revealed some of the technological secrets to its success. “Less is more” is harder to achieve than it looks.
Fisker has brought the new Ocean EV to the L.A. Auto Show, with a public preview at Manhattan Beach and a presence at the show itself. You can watch the public show reveal above, and see more shots from the show floor below. Fisker says the Ocean will start at $37,499 before incentives. That entry model would be the Sport trim with a single, 275-horsepower motor driving the front wheels and 250 miles of estimated range. It also has a 0-60 time of 6.9 seconds.
This is the 2023 Toyota bZ4X, due to hit U.S. showrooms next year as Toyota’s first all-electric 50-state SUV. No, you’re not imagining things. This is the third time Toyota has revealed its new EV; the first was the prototype, and more recently we saw the Japanese-market model with its goofy yoke. Plus, we’ve seen the Subaru Solterra a few times, and that’s basically the same thing. Today, we’re looking at the Toyota variant that will actually be sold here, conventional steering wheel and all.
Porsche has unveiled the long-awaited (and long-rumored) 718 Cayman GT4 RS. Powered by the 911 GT3’s engine, it’s an ode to driving and engineering that was designed explicitly for maximum performance on the track and maximum enjoyment on a twisty road.
The 2022 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS may already seem like a race car for the road, but the real race car is actually the new Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. Revealed alongside the road car at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the GT4 RS Clubsport is the homologated racer that anybody can buy and use in SRO racing series without any modifications.
Just because the Porsche Taycan is electric doesn’t mean it’s not subject to the same usual menu of additional variants that trickle out every year after a new model or generation is introduced. Having already introduced the base, 4S and Turbo versions, plus the off-roadish, wagon-like Cross Turismo, it was only a matter of time before the next batters in the lineup stepped onto the field: the 2022 Porsche Taycan GTS and Taycan GTS Sport Turismo.
The path to production for the 2023 Nissan Ariya has felt like a long one, but it’s well and truly over, as signaled by the fact there’s official pricing, and you can now reserve one. Nissan is taking a page from the Hummer EV playbook in only offering a select few combinations to begin with, with additional variations going on sale later. Also, the Nissan Ariya has an especially impressive interior.
Another year, another round of Hellcat news. You’d think that the folks at Stellantis are running out of names for further variants at this point, but worry not. Debuting at the 2021 L.A. Auto Show, these are the 2022 Dodge Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody Jailbreak models. Everything in that name prior to “Jailbreak” is old news, so let’s learn what Jailbreak means in Dodge speak. The most important element is that it essentially allows you to go nuts from a customization standpoint, unlocking a truly daunting number of potential personalization combinations. From a performance standpoint, it means 10 extra horsepower from the 6.2-liter supercharged V8. Yes, the Jailbreak versions of the Charger and Challenger Redeye will each feature 807 horsepower instead of 797 horsepower.
Although Mazda is still keeping plenty of the specifics about the 2023 CX-50, its most rugged SUV, under wraps, Mazda engineer Dave Coleman provided plenty of information to give us a much better idea of the size of the vehicle and what it’s based on. Generally speaking, it’s bigger than the existing CX-5, and it’s more capable.
This one wasn’t a kind-of Los Angeles unveiling, but not really, because Nissan has already updated its new Rogue. Sometimes, the development of cars and their engines do not align, which is why last year’s otherwise all-new Rogue debuted with only a mildly updated version of the last-gen engine. It’s also why the 2022 Nissan Rogue, which otherwise carries over unchanged, welcomes an all-new standard engine under its hood. And yes, standard engine, not another option. The good news is, it’s a good engine, and makes the Rogue even better than before.
Subaru is finally taking its first step into the world of electric cars with the launch of the Solterra. The amped crossover is positioned as the EV that will do everything a petrol Subaru does, including ferry its nature-loving occupants to the great outdoors. As such, it’s built with light off-roading in mind, something not many other EVs have addressed.
Say hello to the Mullen Five. The Southern California-based company Mullen is taking a stab at a luxury electric crossover, and the car’s initial reveal just took place at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Like many EV startups, Mullen is claiming big numbers and a reasonably low price. Whether Mullen will be able to bring this idea into a production car reality is an entirely different story and a question that only time will answer.