In LA for the Week, for the Auto Show

Took forever to get here.

Plane was 3.5 hours late leaving, it’s a 5 hour flight, so today may be the longest I ever sat still for. It’s not for me.

This’ll be my 3rd time attending the show in 4 years.

Non-car nerds: this is THE car show of North America. If you’re an automaker, and have something special to debut, you do it here.

Last year I was also here with Ford, here’s the show tag.

And last year is when I invented the attack, “The USB to Ego Attack”, here.

Because our plane was so late, we missed Ford’s big Mustang GT reveal, but made it in time for dinner.

Then to a party in The Hills (where they filmed the TV show? Yes Keri). Cool neighbourhood.

Lincoln took over an entire house to introduce its new Lincoln Black Label line. Basically, it’s the highest end Lincoln possible, very chic, will tell you more in a dedicated post.

The guys.

And that’s it for now.

It’s 11pm here, which is really 2am, and I got up at 4am to keep the dream alive, have deadlines tomorrow that take priority, TTY after that.

 

 

The 2013 LA Auto Show

I love auto shows for the pristine-ness of it all,
crisp white carpet, no dust or smudges,
that new car smell practically choking you ahhh.

That’s the media day version though; wouldn’t want to be here on a normal attendance day, too many humans.

It’s intense, an auto show, very fast paced. It’s kinda… you get on a shuttle in the morning, beautiful cars and click click hundreds of photos, lots of laughs, then all of a sudden you’re back on the shuttle, it’s dark outside and you’re going “woah”.

The media room.  All those people leave their laptops just sitting there unattended, while they’re in the show photographing. Nice that it’s possible, I could never.

Click MORE for the cars (warning: big page) [Read more…]

The all-new 2015 Lincoln MKC

Lincoln has been re-inventing their image, “we haven’t committed this much money or people to the brand in decades”, said Jim Farley, Executive VP of Global Marketing, Sales and Service, Lincoln.

This includes a brand new design studio, an all-new styling, and reverting to their original 1922 name, “The Lincoln Motor Company”.

I think it’s working, it’s classy, elegant.

The automaker is also focusing on improving their service. All their dealerships were renovated this year, and they hired the world’s best concierge organization – ‘Les Clefs d’Or’ of Paris France – to re-train all their sales staff.

Their all-new luxury crossover.

2.0L Turbo EcoBoost AWD – 240 hp & 270 ft.lbs
2.3L Turbo EcoBoost AWD – 275 hp & 300 ft.lbs

2015 Lincoln MKC starting at $39,940

See the 5 buttons running down the left of the screen? That’s the gear shift! It’s a new shift-by-wire system, which frees up a lot of space in the centre console area.  Here’s a video I made of the same system in the MKZ.

Lincoln LA Auto Show Hoberman

All soft-touch materials; sharp stitch lines on the doors; paddle shifters are standard; the wood detail is porous and gorgeous; transmission is a conventional auto not a CVT;  3 adaptive suspension settings (comfort / normal / sport); volume knobs NICE; and the liftgate is one piece of metal, formed by water, difficult to do, a Canadian company figured it out (AMINO in St. Thomas, Ontario).

Designed and engineered by the ladies!

Lisa Drake, Chief Engineer MKC and Soo Kang, MKC Chief Interior Designer

2015 Lincoln MKC on sale next summer.

 

The ‘USB to Ego’ Attack

A brief backstory first, to set up the attack.

I arrived at the end of Honda’s FCEV launch, extra unfortunately, because there was water involved, a simulated rainstorm, rare. Like the guy mopping up said, “ya you missed a good one”.

It was in celebration of their latest invention – hydrogen fuel cell technology. Don’t know much about it, you know how I feel about Hybrids, points to Honda for being so bold in their design (coming 2015)…

….but this is a security post, so!

I was taking the below photo, the crowd was starting to thin, and a well-dressed gentleman appeared to my left.

“Hi Keri, here’s the USB key with photos and the presentation, have a good show”. We smiled at one another, he left, I went back to photo-ing.

It wasn’t until later that it hit me, it was so perfect a moment, maybe too perfect.

The Attack:

At a busy event, it’s normal to see a face once and never again, if you notice many faces at all, because cars.

Then an “executive” appears all full of flattery… “hello, I am noticing you, you are a name, so it’s important that you get this information, because you and your opinion matter”… take this USB key, put it into you computer… pretty good right?!

Appear, praise the ego > give a USB key > melt away >
wait a few hours >access target’s computer

NOTE: I’m not at all saying this is what occurred, just that it’s in the realm of possibility (Honda and I know one-another a long time (and if this is the case, USB guy: please LinkedIn me.))

The Defence: 

Never use a USB key you find laying around in public, or from a source you don’t totally trust.