Los Angeles Auto Show

Fuel economy is on display at the sprawling Los Angeles Auto Show, opening to the public Friday, and it's not just cool new plug-ins, hybrids and electric buggies. General Motors Co., once a symbol of gas-guzzling, carbon-belching driving, was there at Thursday's media preview with its Chevrolet Volt winning an award for "green car of the year" and also offering some hints on how its vast array of sedans, sport utility vehicles and sports cars will meet ever more stringent fuel economy standards.

Forget the supercars and green machines. At this year's Los Angeles Auto Show, the emphasis is on affordable small cars and minivans. The auto industry, trying to climb out of its worst sales slump in decades, wants the spotlight on vehicles it can sell -- now. Last month's tepid U.S. car sales only underscored the industry's need to focus on getting consumers to buy cars, instead of trying to impress the auto critics. So the big global debut at this year's L.A. show, which begins Friday and runs through Dec. 13 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, is a redesigned Toyota minivan.

The salesman caught me eyeing the sporty coupe and offered a test drive. "Just looking," I said. "Come on," he said. "Hop in. What have you got to lose?" Ten minutes later, we were breezing down the coast highway north of San Diego. Sunny skies, blue waves and a sweet new ride. "Whaddya think?" he asked when we cruised back into the lot. The two-tone car was cool.

Starting today and for the following nine days, more than a million people are expected to plunk down $10 each to attend the Los Angeles Auto Show. Little do they know, the show is already over.

After two days of media frenzy, the unofficial verdict is in: The most beautiful car at this year's L.A. Auto Show has been out of production for 32 years. The car, a Czech-made Tatra 603/2, was put on display by automotive supplier Faurecia, which makes components for car interiors. The French company rescued a junked 1972 Tatra and restored it, creating a new, drastically modified interior filled with high-tech gadgets and materials -- in essence, a concept interior.

Coming soon to a freeway -- or driveway -- near you: cars that don't need gasoline. American Honda Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. announced plans at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday to put alternative fuel technology vehicles on the road in California in coming months. A few drivers will even get to park them in their garages. Honda and GM's Chevrolet have developed hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars for limited test use, while Ford is producing a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

PORSCHE -- a company associated with environmental friendliness like Wilt Chamberlain is with prim chastity -- is going green. On the company's stand at the Los Angeles Auto Show (starting Friday) is a front-wheel-drive, zero-emission electric car. One version of the car is a series-hybrid -- the gas engine doesn't turn the wheels but, rather, charges the batteries -- and features all-wheel drive. Very cutting-edge stuff.

When BMW introduced its retro-inspired Mini Cooper to Americans in 2001, it did so at Detroit's North American International Auto Show, the biggest tent in the industry's annual exhibit circuit around the country. This year, the German automaker's new five-door version will make its North American debut not in the Motor City but at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Why? Stephen Saward, manager of national sales for Mini USA, a division of BMW of North America, calls it the "numbers game."

Coals to Newcastle? Ice to Inuits? Cars to California? Even in a region where the freeways and surface streets are teeming with vehicles of every stripe, Southern Californians love to get together to ogle the latest wheels. At the Los Angeles Auto Show, which continues its 10-day run through Dec. 10 at the Convention Center downtown, about 1 million visitors are expected to check out the 1,000 models on display. Twenty-one cars and trucks are making their worldwide debuts at the show.