Autoblog

What would an auto show be without all those lovely models? Although they weren't deployed as numerously as at some other recent shows (Frankfurt, Tokyo and SEMA come to mind) Los Angeles had its fair share of pretty faces representing the various manufacturers. It also had a few celebrities floating around to make you know you were close to Hollywood. Former NBAer John Salley, racer Derek Bell, "The Transporter" himself, Jason Statham, architect Frank Gehry, and California's own Governator made it into our files this year. Aside from the ones in our gallery there were several others who proved too elusive even for our shutterbug corps, which included occasional helper Las de Alwis as well as several AB and ABG regulars. We'll just have to try harder next time.

Click image at right for high-res gallery of some of the beautiful people from Los Angeles.

Wow. One of Ford's employees made it way to easy for KGP's shooter to snap a shot of the new Escape in the buff. Seen in a parking lot in the Detroit area, Ford's redesigned soft-roader gets a more butch nose and, surprisingly, doesn't don the three-bar grille that's infecting all of Ford's recent offerings. The nose is decidedly Expedition-esque, with the rest of the body offering little departure from its big brother, the Mercury Mariner.

In other similarities to the Escape's upmarket sibling, the interior is rather unchanged, with much of the high-end trimmings being toned-down to define itself as the lesser of the two.

We expect the Escape to make its debut at this month's L.A. Auto Show and now that we've seen it, we'll probably skip the press event.

[Source: The Car Connection]

Spyker, the Dutch hand-built exotic automaker, was present at the L.A. auto show for the second year in a row, and Joel managed to get some excellent snaps of the four models that were on the display – The Spyker C8 Laviolette (shown), C8 Spyder, C8 Double12 S SuperCharger and C12 LaTurbie. The Spyder and Laviolette get an Audi-derived V8 that produces 400 hp, while the Double 12 S gets the same motor supercharged to produce 500 hp and the Turb gets a 500-hp W12.

Joel’s photography here is particularly good and we’re mighty impressed with the interior of the Spykers, particularly the industrial look of the exposed linkage of the pedals and gear shift.

DuPont Registry chose Spyker as the Best New Exotic Car for 2006, and those guys should know. The company’s cars were also chosen as one of the 21 Ultimate Gifts for Robb Report’s Ultimate Gift Guide. The U.S. marketing blitz will continue as a Spyker C8 Laviolette will be Sharon Stone’s chariot in Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction when the movie is released this March.

Check out more really good show pics of the Spyker quartet and the company’s official press release, which is actually a good read.

Who knows how serious VW is about giving a green light to a production version of its GX3, a three-wheel concept car that's literally hours old on the auto show circuit. The company's press release, however, states that a case for production all depends on how Americans react to this concept that was conceived and designed in our own California.

Stuart just sent us the official press kit, the contents of which including pics, specs and marketing hyperbole will be located after the jump...

The first report has returned from L.A. and it comes from Joel who attended the Sallen press conference at which the company unveiled its Sport Truck S331. The F-150 features Ford’s 5.4L SOHC V8 and a unique, patented high-flow Saleen Series VI integrated twin-screw supercharger, which enables the motor to produce 450 hp and a monster 500 lb-ft of torque. A non-S/C version will also be available that will make 325 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque.

Tons more pics and info on the Sport Truck S331 after the jump...