It’s January, the start of a new year, and one of the busiest times of the year for automotive enthusiasts. This is, ladies and gentlemen, auto show season. The time when just about every automaker in the United States introduces their latest and greatest products and concepts in an attempt to generate buzz that will last them for the rest of the year.

First up on the schedule is the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. Held in Downtown LA, the proverbial heart of Southern California’s thriving car culture, the LA Auto Show will have its fair share of new vehicle debuts – all under the theme “Design Los Angeles.” Recognizing Southern California’s many automotive design centers, “Design Los Angeles” studies and celebrates the region’s global influence on automotive style trends.

AutomotiveArticles.com will be in attendance and reporting from LA’s media days; Wednesday, Jan 5^th and Thursday, Jan 6^th. For those of you in the area, the auto show will be open to the public starting Friday the 7^th and runs through the 16^th. Weekday hours are 11:00 am – 10:00 pm (10:30 on Fridays). Saturday hours are 9:00 am – 10:00 pm and Sunday hours are 9:00 am – 8:00 pm. Adult admission is $10 per person while children 12 and under are free. Parking is $10 at the Convention Center, $25 for valet, and $8 at the Grand Ave. structure (weekends only).  Visit www.laautoshow.com for more information.

Production vehicle debuts include:

2006 Audi A3

2005.5 Audi A4 / A4 Avant

2005 BMW M3 Competition

2006 Chevrolet Impala, Monte Carlo, and HHR

2006 Dodge Vehicle TBA

2005 Ferrari F430

2006 Ford Mustang Convertible

2006 Jaguar XK

2005 Mercedes CLS55 AMG

2005 Porsche Boxter

2006 Pontiac G6 Coupe, Convertible, and the Torrent

2005 Saleen S7

2005 Spyker C8 Spyder

2005 Venturi Fetish

2005 Volkswagen Jetta

Concept vehicles include:

Bentley Show Car

BMW H2R

Chevrolet Nomad

Chrysler ME412

Dodge Slingshot

Ford Shelby Cobra

Ford Shelby GR-1

Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell Hybrid

Jeep Rescue

Mitsubishi Sport Truck

Toyota FTX

Also, with California being the birthplace of the import tuner revolution, it is no surprise that the entire Kentia Hall of the LA Convention Center is devoted to aftermarket automobile accessories and performance products. According to organizers, this is the largest gathering of aftermarket companies at an auto show.

Certainly, anyone attending Los Angeles or simply watching the coverage of this auto show will have a full schedule. Yet this is just a warm up. Immediately following Los Angeles, AutomotiveArticles.com/Automotive Network, Inc. staff will be traveling to Detroit for the North American International Auto Show – the granddaddy of them all. Attempting to keep track of all the Detroit debuts is like trying to count the number of jelly beans in a jar – don’t waste your time, just enjoy it. However, as of this publishing, these are the vehicles on schedule for unveiling:

Production:

*BMW 5-Series AWD
Cadillac STS-V
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Dodge Charger
*Ferrari Superamerica
Ford Fusion
Ford F-150 Harley
Honda Ridgeline
*Infiniti M45/M35
*Kia Rio
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
*Lexus GX 470
Lexus RX 330 thundercloud
Lincoln Zephyr
Lincoln Mark LT
*Mercedes-Benz M-Class
*Mini Cooper S auto. trans.
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Mitsubishi Raider
Saturn Sky
Subaru B9 Tribeca
Toyota Avalon
*Porsche 911 Carrera, Carrera S Cabriolet

Concepts:

*Acura RD-X
*Chrysler Firepower
*Ford Explorer Sport Trac
*Ford Fairlane
*Ford Shelby GR-1
*Ford SYN
*General Motors Sequel
*GMC Graphyte
*Infiniti Kuraza
Jeep Gladiator
Kia KCD II
Lexus LF-A
Mazda Crossport
Mercury Meta One
*Nissan AZEAL
*Opel Astra diesel
*Saturn Aura
Suzuki Concept X
Volkswagen
Volvo 3CC

* Indicates more vehicle debuts are planned, but specifics are not yet disclosed.

NAIAS public days, for those of you in the area, are the 15^th through the 23^rd. Hours are 9am – 10pm, except on the 23^rd when the show ends at 7 pm. Admittance is forbidden during the last hour of the show each day. The cost is $12 per adult, children 12 and under are free. The show is held at the Cobo Center at One Washington Way in Detroit.

2005 is starting out extremely busy and we hope you stick around and see what we’ve got planned in our quest to inform the auto enthusiasts. We promise, it won’t be boring.

Mike Cervantes

AutomotiveArticles.com

Editor-in-Chief.