The Weirdest Cars of the 2018 LA Auto Show
The 2018 LA Auto Show is so broad, expansive, and exciting, it was no problem picking a dozen best-of-show cars. Now, here are our favorite different cars — weird cars, to put a finer point on it — from LA 2018. These are the vehicles with oddly creased surface detailing, massive grilles, or wrongly sized rims for the vehicles riding on them.
Weird doesn’t always mean bad. There’s a Mitsubishi with unusual character lines, a lot of them, and it’s an important and probably successful car. On the other hand, when you take a Ford F-350 chassis and turn into a $2.5 million rolling pleasure palace and game-station (main photo), it’s more than just “unusual.”
The Karlmann King takes its cues from the Stealth Fighter. It's all angles and sharp creases. Underneath, it's a Ford F550 truck chassis. The 6.8-liter, V10 engine has been tuned to produce 398 hp, despite which the top speed is limited to 87 mph.
Inside is where you begin to understand the $2.2 million starting price. The Karlmann King weighs 10,000 to 13,000 pounds, depending on whether you choose the bulletproof version. How much gas does it burn? If you have to ask, this is not your ride.
BMW is one of many automakers who can't make a grille too big these days (a lot of electronics sit behind, BMW says). Audi, Chrysler, and Lexus/Toyota also come to mind. The iNext Vision Concept crossover is BMW's rendering of its electric future circa 2021.
Inside the iNext concept, BMW hints at a future passenger compartment patterned after an upscale (and Spartan) hotel room, meaning special fabrics and woods. The 120-kWh battery is a slice under the cabin, driving 800 hp worth of motors for 435 miles (700 km).
Rivian's look from the front is unmistakable: a pair of vertical headlamp ovals and a horizontal running light band. The Michigan startup plans to produce an upscale R1S SUV with a choice of three battery sizes: 105kW (240+ miles), 135 kWh (310+ miles), and 180 kWh (410+ miles).
From the side, the Rivian SUV looks more mainstream. It has three rows of seating, a near-Tesla size landscape center-stand display, and weight just under 3 tons. 0-60 mph acceleration is 3.2 to 4.9 seconds, Rivian says, depending on the battery pack. The Rivian R1S also has a sibling...
The Rivian R1T truck exchanges the R1S rear seating for a pickup bed. Off-roading is no problem with a motor driving each wheel. Towing capacity is 11,000 pounds. Range with the three batteries is 10 miles less than the SUV. The R1T ships first, priced around $70,000.
Mitsubishi's EVO morphed into the e-Volution concept with lots of creased sheetmetal. But okay. Mitsubishi needs a shot in the arm with a stands-out sporty EV. Mitsubishi says AI will grade drivers' skills and adapt the suspension to maximize performance or the level of driver assistance.
The Jeep Gladiator is also on our 12-best list. Not to offend Jeep chauvinists, but the first view from the side makes it look a little like a Transformer you could unfold into a Jeep, a pickup (Jeep), or a superhero gladiator. There is no doubt the Gladiator will sell. The faithful waited almost 15 years.
The Polaris Slingshot is a three-wheel, ah, roadster and track car. The power to weight combination of a 174-hp GM four-cylinder engine and 1,740 pounds makes the Slingshot name apt. Technically, it's a three-wheel motorcycle. It costs about $20,000.
Los Angeles is the must-see auto show in the US. California is the trendsetter for fashion, style, movies, and cars. LA isn’t swayed by deference to the hometown automakers get in Detroit, Frankfurt, or Tokyo. Southern California is home to millionaires that make the show happy-hunting grounds for Bentley, Porsche, and Maserati. LA has a massive multi-ethnic youth culture. California is the state most concerned about the environment and traffic jams, so buyers pay attention to EVs, plug-in hybrids, and partially (soon fully) autonomous cars.
In 2016, show organizers merged the two press/trade days with a Connected Car Day to create a four-day Automobility LA extravaganza that captures the future of the automobile, not just what’s new this year. Some automakers in parallel created their own daylong tech backgrounders, such as Nissan and the NissanFuture day, to explore personal transportation’s future as well as bring in a well-known Hollywood name, such as Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street, I Tonya). Robbie is Nissan’s brand ambassador for electrification and the Nissan Leaf (see, not everyone in Hollywood drives a Tesla.)
Factoid from the Nissan day: In most corporate buildings with employee parking, the average employee’s share of personal and common space is 150 to 200 square feet. The employee also gets 350-400 square feet outside for parking. In other words, cars take up a lot of space in urban and suburban areas, and maybe there’s a smarter way to move people…without taking away all our cars.
Not all about the LA Auto Show was weird or offbeat. For a moment of serenity, stop by one of the Italian automakers’ booths and look at the upgrade options for seating and upholstery. Here, at the Maserati booth, are 23 leathers to help build a bespoke car.
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