Guest post: The 3 most exciting announcements of the LA Motor Show

Porsche Macan

For the car enthusiast it doesn’t get much more exciting than a major motor show, and recently the motoring world was treated to a veritable cornucopia of automotive innovation in the autumn sunshine of Los Angeles. The 2013 LA Motor Show offered up a wide range of new cars that will be introducing themselves to our roads in 2014 and no doubt finding themselves in the Ken’s Autos garages soon enough – here are our highlights.

Porsche finally unveiled its SUV 

It feels like we have been waiting for this baby SUV for a long time having been fed various titbits of information over the last few months, but it was at the LA Motor Show where Porsche finally unveiled its latest creation. They hope it will overtake the Mercedes GLK and BMW X3 as a major player in the sports utility vehicle bracket, bringing together cues from a number of other Porsche models, including the Cayenne, Boxster and even the 911.

A ‘Final Edition’ Mercedes SLS is on the way 

It may have been pricey but the Mercedes SLS was an absolute winner, with the uncompromising performance (0-62mph in an impressive 3.8 seconds) more than matched by the ride and handling, so imagine our excitement when we heard the announcement that the German automotive giant was producing a ‘Final Edition’ version to see it off before consigning it to the Taroni’s Motor Salvage scrap heap. There was no information released regarding the particulars of performance, however we can no doubt expect bucketfuls of extra power.

Audi’s new concept

You could argue there isn’t much point getting excited over a concept car – after all you’re not going to be able to actually get behind the wheel – except that we’re feeling pretty enthusiastic about the Audi Nanuk Concept that was on show in LA. It was the only offering from the German manufacturer, but what an offering, with a bold styling that is unlike anything else Audi has produced in recent years. It suggests a brand new direction for future models that could potentially fill a currently uncatered for niche. The Nanuk itself features a 5.0-litre twin-turbocharged V10 TDi diesel engine capable of delivering 536hp and 1,000Nm of torque – powerful. What forthcoming cars are you most looking forward to for 2014? Let us know in the comments below.

John Rooney blogs about the news and issues effecting the British and global car industry, including everything from new the latest luxury vehicles to classic cars.