Evoque Convertible, Cayman GT4 Clubsport and more at 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show

By Stephen Edelstein Published October 22, 2015

The 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show is just under a month away, and organizers are expecting this year to be a big one. They say there will be 50 new vehicle debuts, and a bigger tech industry presence than in previous years.

New models already confirmed for the show include the production version of the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Convertible, the 2016 Nissan Sentra, and a redesigned Buick LaCrosse. Mitsubishi will also debut two models: the next-generation Outlander Sport (expected to borrow styling from the XR-PHEV concepts), and the refreshed 2017 Mirage minicar.

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In addition, Infiniti will unveil its QX30, a crossover based on the Q30 hatchback that debuted at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show and the second product of parent Renault-Nissan’s partnership with Mercedes-Benz. Porsche will also debut the Cayman GT4Clubsport, a racing version of the hardcore Cayman GT4 road car.

Some models that were previously unveiled elsewhere will also be making their North American debuts in L.A. The 2017 Hyundai Elantra has already been glimpsed in its home market of South Korea badged as the Avante, while the Jaguar F-Pace and Kia Sportage crossovers both appeared in Frankfurt.

Several other carmakers, including Elio Motors, Fiat, Ford, Mazda, Mercedes, Subaru, Volvo, and Volkswagen are keeping their auto-show plans under wraps for now, and Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, and MINI have North American debuts planned as well. There will likely be a handful of concept cars too, although the only ones confirmed so far come from Scion, which says it will preview a new design direction, and Volvo, which calls its concept a “time machine.”

There will also be several announcements about “alternative fuel strategies, technology partnerships, new product releases,” and other tech news, organizers say. Companies expected to make tech announcements include Volvo, Hyundai, Quanergy Systems, OpenCar, and KMG. The L.A. Auto Show will also host a Connected Car Expo before the main press days for the third year in a row.

New production and concept car debuts will take place during press days, on November 18 and 19. The L.A. Auto Show has the full schedule, and we’ll have full coverage of everything new and noteworthy, so be sure to check back here.

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Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

Cars

Audi halts vehicle deliveries to the U.S. as it mulls impact of tariffs

2021 Audi Q5

If you’d been thinking of buying an Audi, now might be the time. The German brand, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has announced it would halt shipments to the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles.
Audi is currently holding cars that arrived after the tariffs took effect, on April 3, in U.S. ports. But it still has around 37,000 vehicles in its U.S. inventory, which should be able to meet demand for about two months, according to Reuters.
Automakers on average hold enough cars to meet U.S. demand for about three months, according to Cox Automotive.
Audi should be particularly affected by the tariffs: The Q5, its best-selling model in the U.S., is produced in Mexico, while other models, such as the A3, A4, and A6 are produced in Germany.
Holding shipments is obviously a temporary measure to buy time for Audi and parent company Volkswagen. If tariffs stay in place, vehicle prices would likely have to go up accordingly, unless some production is shifted to the U.S. Volkswagen already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. That latter plant, however, isn’t expected to be operational until 2027 and is currently dedicated to building electric vehicles for VW’s Scout Motors brand.
Other global automakers have also taken drastic measures in response to Trump’s tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover on April 5 said it is pausing shipments of its its UK-made cars to the United States this month. The British sports-luxury vehicle maker noted that the U.S. market accounts for nearly a quarter of its global sales, led by the likes of Range Rover Sports, Defenders, and Jaguar F-PACE.
And on April 3, Nissan, the biggest Japanese vehicle exporter to the United States, announced it will stop taking new U.S. orders for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, the QX50 and QX55.

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Waymo faces questions about its use of onboard cameras for AI training, ads targeting

Two people exit a Waymo taxi.

In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as he’s targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.
It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.
Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly ‘connected’, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymo’s robotaxis.
On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymo’s privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.
“Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests,” the Waymo’s unreleased privacy statement reads. “You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it’s necessary to the functioning of the service.”
Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo told The Verge that it contained “placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose”.
Waymo’s AI-models “are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads,” spokesperson Julia Ilina said.
Waymo’s robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.
The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.
But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything that’s somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.

Cars

Waymo’s driverless cars are about to begin an overseas adventure

Waymo Jaguar I-Pace

Waymo’s autonomous cars are about to appear on streets outside of the U.S. for the first time.

The company on Wednesday announced on social media that its autonomous cars will be driving onto the streets of Tokyo, Japan, “soon,” with some reports suggesting the rollout will begin as early as next week.