2011 New York International Auto Show is a rockin’ good time

Apr

2011 New York International Auto Show is a rockin’ good time

Lauren Burgmann Insurance Tips 2011-04-22

The auto show season traditionally comes to a close following one of the Worlds most important shows, the New York International Auto Show. Located in the Jacob Javits Convention Center, the show is open to the public now until May 1. Visitors to the show can expect to see one of the most visually interesting shows of the year.

That being said, it was a bit of an odd show for many members of the automotive media. While press days were on Wednesday and Thursday, a good number of the actual car reveals took place on Monday or Tuesday at private, invite only events. The most notable of these was the launch of the new, New Beetle which happened at a 3 country simulcast event hosted by MTV and saw the Black Eyed Peas perform. Sadly, we missed that show, having arrived in New York on Tuesday. We did however manage to take in Lexus launch of their new LF-Gh concept at a party catered by Iron Chef Morimoto on Tuesday evening. Following that event, we swung over to Fords party showing off the 2013 Taurus. That was a real party, as Grammy award winners Train rocked their way through an hour long set of their hits and a few covers.

The biggest event during the the show was the appearance of KISS at the MINI stand. Many younger scribes moaned about the fact that the iconic rockers didnt sing, but their interaction with the photographers in the front row made up for it. For most of us old guys and girls, it was a thrill to be up close to Gene Simmons!

There were a number of exciting concepts on display. Most notable perhaps is the collaborative effort between Subaru and Toyota. The stories about a rear wheel drive coupe, built by Subaru for Toyota, have been floating around for a couple of years but havent come along with any real images. The coupe finally broke cover on Wednesday as a Scion concept and it was definitely worth the wait. With deeply sculpted lines, the FR-S concept is exactly the affordable rear wheel drive coupe that enthusiasts have been craving.

Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac and Saab all had exciting new concepts on hand and weve got lots of photos of each to share over the next week.

If you are in New York and want to visit the show, you can get more details at the show website.