The winner of the 2019 New York International Auto Show is…

Global Business

The winner of the 2019 New York International Auto Show is...

Spring arrives in New York pretty much the same way every year – the weather warms slightly, the blossom trees bloom, the arts shows open, so do the heritage auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s and that distinctive “new car smell’ rises from the city’s west side.

For this is the week of the New York International Auto Show at Jacob Javits Center.

The New York event comes “hot the wheels” of three similar sized events in Detroit, Chicago, and Washington DC.

So what’s special about it?

CGTN’s John Terrett reports.

Mark Schienberg, President of the show said it’s because springtime is always a positive time for the auto industry.

“People get charged up, come out of winter time ready to have consumers come in and take a look at new products,” Schienberg said.

A key highlight this year is the 2019 World Car Awards – a competition to find the best of the best cars on the planet, judged by 86 expert jurors from 24 countries.

AND THE WORLD CAR 2019 WINNER IS!

The winner is Jaguar’s I-Pace – an electric vehicle or EV – one of 40 on display this year.

Ian Callum heads the team that designed the I-Pace. He’s still loves combustion engines but says he’s never had the freedom to design a new vehicle from scratch like he does with battery operated ones in his 40 years as a designer.

Ian gently pulled back the curtain for me on the design process of his new all-electric baby.

“We actually start off sketching pencil and paper that’s how we start, and we come up with the ideas but of course there are many inputs all the time as you’re creating this vehicle”

IS OWNING AN ALL ELECTRIC CAR FOR ME?

Last year, Americans bought more trucks than the entire world bought electric vehicles, it seems car buyers are still not quite sure about EVs.

Filip Brabec is Vice President of Production Management at the German car maker Audi. He says the firm’s launching TV and online ads to push back some of the worries people have about their ride being powered only by electricity such as length of battery life, rising electricity costs and what to do if you run out of juice on a dark country road late at night with no chargers in sight?

“The thing you have to change in your mindset is you’re leaving with a full battery each and every day. It’s like leaving with a full tank everyday – your house – because you’re charging at your home of course,” Brabec said

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FORD MUSTANG

I’d say its unlikely that Ford will ever make an electric version of the Mustang – that’s not to say they won’t – but it is one of the best-selling petrol driven sports cars of all time – 32-hundred were sold in China last year according to Ford – and the vehicle is 55 years old this week – it was launched in New York at the World’s Fair in 1964.

I’m standing in front of a Mustang in new Twister Orange colors as Ford’s Jim Owens tells me what people love about it – apart 0-60 in 5 seconds that is!

“It’s Americana personified, and it if you think about it, we have Mustang clubs on six of the seven continents and that love and affection is based on it’s not just a car, it’s part of your family,”

And family is very much what the New York International Auto Show is all about, for 10 days car fans will be in here lapping it all up – some just for fun – others planning their next purchase.

The show runs through April 28.