Car Culture, Part 2: Finding America at the LA Auto Show
I spent the day counting EVs and marveling at the auto industry's marketing genius.
“Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike / They’ve all come to look for America…” — Simon & Garfunkel, “America”
This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Car Culture, Part 1: The Battle for Disneyland.
I didn’t expect to find many electric vehicles at last month’s LA Auto Show — not in Donald Trump’s America in 2025. I girded myself for a convention center packed with dangerously oversized gas-guzzlers marketed as symbols of rugged individualism.
Sadly, I was right. But there was plenty of stuff I didn’t see coming — some of it good, some less so.
I wasn’t prepared for all the Disney and sports cross-promotions. Or for Volkswagen’s attempt to capitalize on the Los Angeles wildfires.
Most of all, I was surprised by California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin’s answer when I asked him whether it’s still possible to meet California’s goal of ending the sale of gas-only cars by 2035.