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World and North American Debuts Headline LA Auto Show; News Conference Schedule Announced for Media Days
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<span class="tt">Thursday December 1, 11:00 am ET[/quote]
<div class="ar">LOS ANGELES, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 30 World or North American premieres will help give the final January LA Auto Show a big send-off on media days, Jan. 4 and 5, 2006, before the show moves to its new dates in November 2006.</div>
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<div class="ar">With the LA Auto Show only 30 days away, automakers are finalizing their introduction plans. Media days begins with Ford's newly-appointed President of The Americas Mark Fields, who will assuredly provide valuable industry-wide insight culled from his multiple global experiences, as the Motor Press Guild keynote speaker. Fields is responsible for all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury operations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and South America.
Volkswagen has one of the first news conferences and will reveal a vehicle that's ideal for the Southern California climate -- the 2007 Volkswagen Eos, an entirely new two-door, five passenger hardtop convertible that makes its North American debut. Volkswagen will also introduce its sporty 2006 GTI.
Toyota will conduct the World premiere of its stylishly new 2007 Yaris subcompact car, while Mazda will showcase 'design, technology, style and versatility' with the Worldwide introduction of its all-new Mazda CX-7 crossover.
General Motors is once again using the LA Auto Show to unveil a significant number of production vehicles. Seven vehicles, six of which are World debuts, will be introduced following its media breakfast.
Additionally, Audi reveals its first-ever SUV, the Q7;
Porsche sports it powerful Cayman S
; Lamborghini pops the top with the Gallardo Spyder; and Mercedes-Benz introduces its all-new S-class. Yet, the most expensive and fastest car to receive its North American introduction is the $1.2 million, 987-horsepower Bugatti Veyron.
BMW Group AG Chief of Design Chris Bangle will follow General Motors' news conference on Jan. 5 to open the Design Los Angeles automobile designers' conference. Affable and always entertaining, Bangle will provide an engaging and thought-provoking look into the world of design. The designers' conference, which is open to automobile designers only, runs concurrently with the manufacturer news conferences.
Mark Fields' and Chris Bangle's presentations are open to all media days' attendees -- including journalists and auto industry personnel.
<pre> 2006 News Conference Schedule
Wednesday, January 4
8:00 Breakfast (open to all registered attendees)
9:00 Motor Press Guild Keynote Address -- Mark Fields, Ford Motor
Company
10:00 Ford
10:45 Volkswagen
11:25 Toyota
12:00 BMW
12:30 Lunch Break
1:30 Mercedes-Benz / Maybach
2:10 Lamborghini
2:45 Fisker Coachbuild
3:20 Lotus
3:55 Porsche
Thursday, January 5
7:30 Media Breakfast -- General Motors
8:30 General Motors
9:15 Featured Design Speaker -- Chris Bangle, BMW Group AG
10:15 Design Challenge Award
10:40 Bugatti
11:15 Ferrari
11:50 Spyker
12:25 Maserati
12:55 Lunch Break
1:30 Saleen
2:05 Yokohama
2:30 Green Car Journal
2:55 Solutia Automotive
3:30 Design Los Angeles -- Maserati Birdcage 75th -- Ken Okuyama,
Pininfarina
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Media days is open to journalists, automobile designers and industry professionals who register in advance. For registration information, visit LAautoshow.com. The show opens to the public Jan. 6 - 15, 2006. <br clear="all" /><hr align="left" width="200" size="0" /><span class="ps" align="left">Source: Los Angeles Auto Show[/quote]
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Any Idea if there will be a
Cayman
Room such as they had in Frankfurt??
Last year Porsche was squeezed into a small room along with Lamborghini, Ferrari, etc. All of the good stuff in one place!
Unless Porsche rents more space than they did last year, and they certainly could afford to,I would not expect a
Cayman
Room at LA. Last year Volkswagen, on the other hand, was trying to push the Phaeton and had a great upstairs lunch lounge that looked a lot like the
Porsche Cayman
Room at Frankfurt. [Note Volkswagen just announced that they will no longer market the Phaeton in the USA!]
Even Mercedes doesn't rent much space at LA. I think the premium European brandslook at the demographics of who is attending the show and figure this is not their target audience. Most serious exotic car shoppers are going to go to the dealer which is a much less hectic experience and where you will get a lot more attention. Nevertheless, the LA show is fun and seeing all of the exotic European hardware in one room is worth the trip. Never made to it to the mini SEMA show on the lower level, but that might be worth a visit this year if you are looking for aftermarket wheels and electronics.
