With two international auto shows, New York and Shanghai, overlapping each other – the last of the major shows until fall – the industry is deluged with new product launches this week.
Given their global reach, many of those vehicles are being unveiled the same day at both shows (a few hours earlier in Shanghai given the time-zone difference). New York alone is claiming 35 global premieres.
Among the most significant of the vehicles being launched are the Chevrolet Malibu – which will be sold world-wide for the first time and will be offered only with four-cylinder engines – and the Volkswagen Beetle – restyled to be sportier and thus more attractive to men.
Other global premieres include Subaru’s new Impreza and production versions of the Honda Civic, which has already been shown in near-production concept form.
Chrysler will reveal a Fiat 500 convertible and SRT8 variants of both the Chrysler 300C and the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Nissan is expected to introduce a new Versa and Ford promises to unveil the production version of a new sedan, but is keeping the details secret.
Hyundai’s new Accent, already shown in Canada, will make its U.S. debut in New York and Kia will introduce a sedan version of the Rio.
Near-production concepts will include the Lexus LF-Gh – precursor to the next GS – Infiniti’s IPL G Convertible Concept and Mercedes-Benz’s front-wheel-drive Concept A-Class. Mercedes will also reveal a C63 AMG coupe.
On the green front, BMW will show its battery-electric ActiveE for the first time in North America as well as a four-cylinder version of the American-built Z4.
All in all, plenty of new hardware to keep your showrooms busy in the coming months.
