Best Cars of the 2019 New York Auto Show
Hyundai’s upscale sibling Genesis grabbed the most oohs and ahs of the New York auto show with the rollout of a gorgeous urban EV concept car, the Genesis Mint. It set the tone for the Big Apple’s emphasis on smaller cars, mainstream, and premium, some with alternative powerplants. The metro New York Region comprising New York State, Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey is the biggest market for premium cars because of Wall Street, tech, pharma, the part of the media that is not the failing media, and safe-haven internationals who call NYC home part of the year.
The New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) is the last major car show, domestic or international, before the season goes on a long summer break until the Frankfurt show in September. Here are our top 10 cars from the show, including a Kia concept with a world-class name.
The Genesis Mint concept represents what Genesis might do when it launches an EV in 2022. This is a two-seater with a fabulous, minimalist interior. The Mint would travel about 200 miles before recharging the estimated 35 kWh battery is required. Note some Tesla influence in the front end (main article photo, top).
The next-gen Suburu Outback midsize SUV grows in size, including the center stack display: 11.6 inches, portrait mode. A camera watches the driver and scolds if he/she appears distracted. (Get over it. Or pay attention.) Choose either a four-cylinder turbo (260 hp) or a non-turbo flat four (26 mpg city, 33 highway, and a range of 600 miles). Despite being all-new, the exterior looks little changed.
The fabulous Hyundai Kona subcompact SUV won a zillion awards last year, but not for price ($29K loaded). The Hyundai Venue to the rescue, with a sub-$20K price to kick some wind out of Nissan Kicks sales. (Yes, we know the Kona starts at under $20K, too, but you don't drive off the lot under $20K.) The Venue is 159 inches long, 5 less than the Kona.
VeeDub wants to be a player in pickups. Or at least pickup truck concepts shown to gauge reaction. Last year, Atlas Tanoak. This year, the midsize VW Tarok compact pickup (193 inches), on VW's latest MQB platform. The back of the cab opens and you can slide in low objects, allowing a 73-inch one to fit with the tailgate latched. VW has a sharing agreement with Ford, which could also be the source of a pickup.
Best in Show goes to this Kia Niro concept on account of its name: Kia HabaNiro. . It's a concept, an EV (300 miles), Level 5 automation (easy to do in a concept because it's not shipping anytime soon), and butterfly up-folding doors. The Real-Time Emotion Adaptive Driving senses your mood and adapts the car's ambient lighting and HVAC accordingly.
The compact Lincoln Corsair SUV replaces the Matthew McConaughey-promoted MKC and completes Lincoln's SUV makeover: Corsair, midsize Nautilus, full-size Aviator, fuller-size Navigator. Lincoln did its homework on the cockpit. A cellphone can be used in place of a key. It ships this fall on or around McConaughey's 50th birthday.
Stretching the wheelbase to 123 inches and length to 204 inches makes the 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS more comfy in rows 2 and 3, so much so that a Maybach version is pending. The dash has the newest MBUX infotainment controls, dual 12.3-inch displays and — don't check Snopes, this is really true — a car-wash mode the closes windows and hikes the suspension for better underside cleaning.
"Tired of being the American knife in a German gun fight" (thank you, Car and Driver), the compact 2020 Cadillac CT5 sedan will combine luxury, performance, and safety, and then one-up the Europeans with Super Cruise, the best Level 2 autonomous drive system we've seen. Choose a 237-hp four or smoother 335-hp twin turbo V6. The 2020 CT5 replaces both the CTS and ATS sedans as Cadillac reloads.
The Toyota Highlander is bigger for 2020 (and looks it, at 195 inches long). Yet, the 240-hp hybrid version gets 34 mpg combined, 10 mpg better the hybrid version of the Ford Explorer. (Ford and Toyota are first and second in midsize SUV sales.) There's also a non-hybrid gas engine. The center stack display can be up to 12.3 inches. Both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are now standard.
The fourth-gen Ford Escape gets telematics, onboard Wi-Fi, a head-up display, smartphone-instead-of key, and Co-Pilot 360 safety system (blind spot remains extra cost). The rear seat slides fore-aft for more second-row room or more cargo room. Weight is down 200 pounds. The Escape ships this fall; a plug-in hybrid comes spring 2020. The Escape also forms the underpinnings of the Lincoln Corsair.
As is the norm for many auto shows, NYIAS opens midweek with two press days. Then there’s a dealers/charity/heavy-hitters day, and then it’s turned over to from the automakers to the dealers as show hosts. It runs for about 10 days covering two weekends. This year that means open-to-the-public days are Friday, April 19 to Sunday, April 28, 2019.
The auto show and its Javits Center site on Manhattan’s West Side near the Hudson River looks more bustling with the opening of the first phase of Hudson Yards, a $25 billion development with (eventually) 20,000 housing units, 2 million square feet of retail space (roughly 20 Home Depots), 3 million square feet of hotel space (60 football fields), public spaces, and a climbing space (photo above) with 154 interconnected staircases called the Vessel. The project, built atop the Pennsylvania Station rail yard, is a tribute to private enterprise aided by about $5 billion in government expenditures, roughly twice what Amazon would have gotten if it had actually moved to New York City. Hudson Yards is the largest private development in the US, stretching 10 city blocks north to south, three east to west.
The Javits Center now is centered in NYC’s hottest spot to work, live, or party. Many of the media events held at midweek were centered in or near Hudson Yards. The Javits is sprucing itself up, too, and adding space: It currently has 1.8 million square feet, of which 840,000 square feet is exhibition space. A $1.5 billion expansion will add 1.2 million square feet including 90,000 square feet of exhibition space.
This is of import because auto shows are in flux: Los Angeles may well be the world’s center for car culture, but the LA Convention Center is smallish (720,000 square feet of exhibition space). Detroit is moving from January to June (starting 2020) and its Cobo Hall is also compact (723,000 square feet of exhibition space). And Chicago has an excellent facility in McCormick Place (2.6 million space feet of exhibit space) but there are few significant car introductions. So New York feels pressure to keep growing its place.
Automaker employees and media love the Big Apple because it’s a great place to dine, drink, and lodge on somebody else’s dime. The Javits is a great facility when the roof doesn’t leak (the mega atrium is glass). And Javits execs tout the building’s workers aren’t as hard to deal with as in the past when the place was declared to be under control of organized crime. So there’s that.
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