A Showcase for Autos’ New Era

The Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, held in the land known for its hydrocarbon haze, is becoming a “green” car show.

Car makers still are firmly rooted in the ICE age--the acronym for internal combustion engine--but most admit that their industry has been forced by California’s anti-smog legislation to pay more than lip service to the idea of clean-air cars.

So the industry is using the L.A. car show, which opens to the public Friday, as a forum to trumpet its environmental efforts and help gauge consumer response to electric vehicles and the new hybrid gas-and-electric cars.

In all, six car makers--the three domestics and Japan’s top three brands--now offer electric vehicles for lease in California. Several others are developing them to meet the state’s mandate that by 2003, 10% of new-car sales be so-called zero-emission vehicles.

“For the first 60 years, the auto industry has been part of the problem, now we are trying to be a part of the solution,” said John Schutz, general manager of research and development for Nissan Motor Corp. USA.

One of those efforts is a prototype gasoline engine by Honda that “drives the emissions to essentially zero,” said Ben Knight, vice president for Honda Motor Co.’s North American research and development arm.

The industry isn’t marching in lock step, though.

Just minutes after pulling the cover off his company’s entry in the electric-vehicle market, Kia Motor America Inc.’s general manager, Greg Warner, commented in an interview this week that “nobody wants these things.”

And Victor Doolan, president of BMW of North America Inc., said there are “more practical, intelligent approaches to resolving environmental problems” than forcing car companies to develop electric or alternative-fuel vehicles.

Doolan suggested requiring trucks and sport-utility vehicles to meet the same emission standards as passenger cars. His company, it should be noted, only sells passenger cars in the U.S.

The car companies that do market electric vehicles all subsidize them heavily.

Schutz said Nissan spends “in the low six figures” for the lithium-ion battery pack that powers its new Altra EV, being introduced this week at the L.A. show. The company expects to lease 30 of the four-passenger station wagons to public agencies in California this year and 90 next year.

Those who see the answer in hybrids, which use a small electric motor to augment a small--and less-polluting--gasoline engine, point to efforts such as Toyota’s. The company already sells a hybrid in Japan and aims to be the first to market one in the United States.

The four-passenger Prius sedan, appropriately done up in a metallic-green paint scheme, is being unveiled to North American audiences this week.

“You can expect to see it on sale here between six months and two years from now,” said David Hermance, of Toyota Motor Sales of America Inc. in Torrance.

While the “green” cars are easy to spot, they are just a small fraction of the more than 1,000 new cars, light trucks and sport-utility vehicles on display at the auto show, sponsored by the 250-member Greater Los Angeles New Car Dealers Assn.

The show will also feature a dozen special concept vehicles with styling treatments that often are precursors of production cars to come. The Dodge Viper, for instance, started life as a concept car.

Additionally, the entire 160,000-square-foot Kentia Hall addition to the Convention Center has been set aside for displays of aftermarket appearance and performance products, ranging from fancy wheels and tires to electronic navigation systems.

But there will be nearly a dozen North American debuts, including Mazda’s redesigned 1999 Miata roadster.

BMW will introduce the three members of its new M-class family--coupe, convertible and roadster--and a new, limited-edition armored sedan the company expects to appeal to a few well-heeled and security-conscious executives and entertainment figures.

A display of several dozen hot rods is being staged as a special event to help mark the 50th anniversary of Los Angeles-based Hot Rod magazine.

Consumers can follow the show--and catch up on the two days of manufacturers’ news conferences that preceded it--by calling up https://www.laautoshow.com on the Internet.