Pickup trucks and luxury cars dominate the Los Angeles Motor Show
The Los Angeles Motor Show opened Wednesday with the presentation of more than 60 new vehicles, rototypes, and upgraded versions, with a dominance of pickup trucks and luxury cars.
One of the most eagerly awaited novelties was the launch of the first pickup produced by Jeep since almost 30 years, for which the brand, which belongs to the Fiat Chrysler group, has chosen the name Gladiator.
During the presentation of the vehicle at the Los Angeles show, the head of the Jeep brand in North America, Tim Kuniskis, emphasized that the Gladiator combines the best of the off-road characteristics that define Jeep, with the capacity of any of the best mid-size pickups in the market.
The Jeep Gladiator will initially have only one engine, the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, which generates 285 horsepower and has a torque of 387 kilograms/meter. In 2020, the vehicle will also be available with a 3-liter V6 EcoDiesel engine.
The Gladiator was not the only pickup to be unveiled on Wednesday at the LA Motor Show.
A new company in the sector, the American Rivian, managed to attract attention with the R1T, an electric pickup specifically designed, like the Gladiator, for off-road driving and with an aesthetic chassis capable of competing with luxury brand products.
The R1T, is ahead of the announced electric pickup that Elon Musk wants Tesla to produce, and has electric motors in each wheel, allowing the front of the truck to be a huge 330-liter loading area.
The heart of the Rivian R1T is the battery, which will be available in several configurations, from the most basic 105 kwh, which offers a range of 350 km, to 180 kwh that take the pickup to 640 km, more than the Tesla Model X.
Kia launched the third generation of the Soul model, a vehicle that for the South Korean brand is almost as iconic as the 911 is for Porsche.
The Soul began to give Kia, at least in the United States, that “cool” image that was later transmitted to other vehicles of the company and that helped the brand to stop being associated with cheap and low-quality cars.
The designers of Kia have maintained, in the form of the Soul, the concept of a rectangular car that marked the first generation launched in 2009. The third-generation gains more than 5.5 centimeters in length although it maintains the same height and width as the earlier models.
Other highlights showcased in Los Angeles included the new generation Mazda 3 compact, the all-wheel-drive version of the Toyota Prius hybrid, the new generation of the timeless Toyota Corolla and Honda’s SUV Passport all-rounder.
