Car Show Safari Goes to the New York Auto Show
CarShowSafari will be on hand for the press days of the upcoming New York International Auto Show Wednesday & Thursday, March 28th & 29th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, looking for news and items of interest.
New York City isn’t really a car town. Despite crushing traffic that will convince you that everyone who owns a car is driving it right this minute, the city does have a long and deep car-related history. That the NYIAS’s own history dates back 118 years and was essentially the first major auto show ever to take place, is just one tidbit that connects New York to the greater car culture.
This year will also mark the 50th anniversary of your writer’s first visit (as a yoot) to the NYIAS. In those days the show took place in the New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle, and about the only specific memories we have is that we liked the styling of the Rover 2000 TC (a car largely forgotten today) and that the Chevrolet Corvair on the show floor had been stripped of virtually every loose part (radio knobs, cigarette lighter, et al) by light-fingered show visitors.
It’s a different show these days. First, there’s the Javits Center itself, light-years removed from the Coliseum, with so much available space that not all of it is fully utilized by this show, a show that ain’t small by any measure. Second, it has pomp and pageantry not imagined by the marketers at either Rover or Chevrolet in 1968.
Flashy new model introductions are de rigueur for all major auto shows these days, and New York is no exception. We can’t say that we are very excited by most of the introductions planned for the 2018 show, but we’re going to be there to take it all in. For example:
Cadillac will be revealing its XT4, the brand’s first-ever entrant into the premium compact SUV segment. That there is such a thing as a “premium compact SUV segment” itself is not particularly exciting, but there is no question that it is a segment where there is a lot of sales to be made currently. While the car’s formal introduction will take place at the show, you may have already seen it if you stayed awake for this year’s Academy Awards broadcast on March 4, which included a teaser commercial for the new Caddy.
At the other end of the domestic luxury car spectrum, on the first of the two New York press days, the Lincoln Motor Company will debut a production preview of its latest Lincoln Aviator. The Aviator is the first of two new vehicles that Lincoln will bring to market in the next two years as it seeks to grow its portfolio and grow its global presence. By global, of course, what is meant is China.
Not to be left out of the SUV party in New York, Volkswagen will unveil a five-passenger SUV concept which is, in essence, a variant of the seven-passenger Atlas. Planned for production at Volkswagen’s factory at Chattanooga, Tennessee, the new SUV, like the Atlas, is designed and engineered with hopes of appealing to the American market.
Mercedes-Benz will be unveiling an assortment of new cars, including the redesigned 2019 C- Class Coupe and Cabriolet along with the 2019 Mercedes-AMG C 43 Coupe and Cabriolet. Both are updates of existing models, but Mercedes is promising sharper design, digital cockpits, and more powerful engines.
The new 2019 Audi A6 will make its U.S. debut at the New York show, and in this car it appears that the majority of innovations will be in the passenger compartment. The new model is said to feature Audi’s latest infotainment system that includes two large, high-resolution touch displays that replace the rotary dial and the conventional buttons of the previous model, and a “natural language” voice command system. Audi says that drivers can speak requests such as, “I’m cold,” to which the A6 will respond intuitively, saying perhaps “What temperature would you like to set the cabin to?” The car will, apparently, end a sentence with a preposition. As long as it does not say “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Audi does promise a new V6 turbocharged engine under the hood, along with a new standard 48-volt mild-hybrid technology, so we’ll be checking that out, too.
Far more exciting to most car enthusiasts – although completely out of reach for nearly everyone – will be the North American debut of the Bugatti Chiron Sport. The new Sport, with a mere 1,500 horsepower, copes with that power by offering improved handling and agility, achieved in part via a specially-developed dynamic handling package and reduced weight. All you need to buy one is $3.26 million, but a ticket to the show will at least permit you to see one.
But if 1,500 horsepower doesn’t excite you, how about 1,888? The preposterously fast Rimac C_Two (yes, C underscore Two) will be another North America debut at the New York Auto Show. This all-electric hypercar offers a full carbon fiber monocoque with bonded carbon roof, integrated battery pack, merged rear carbon subframe, and crash structures formed from aluminum. The body itself is pure carbon fiber and in addition to the combined 1,888 horsepower from its electric motors it also features an absurd 1696 lb-fts of torque. The result of all this power is a 0-60mph time of just 1.85 seconds and a top speed of 258 mph. Perfect for Manhattan… Kansas.
All told, the New York International Auto Show may offer more than 60 world and North American debuts this year, ranging from mild updates to entirely new models. It will keep us busy for the two press days, and then you can visit when the show opens on Friday, March 30, for a ten-day run through April 8. 
Images selected from the New York International Auto Show Media Room