The New York International Auto Show of last week brought little in terms of new models on the East Coast, as most of the vehicles had already been presented at either the Detroit event or in Geneva. Yet, as usual, the sheer number of vehicles and car makers displaying in the Big Apple was enough to impress anybody.
At a moment when all that was worth saying had already been said and in a place where the competition had probably something better to offer, there was little any car maker could do to stand out from the crowd. Uniqueness, for all intents and purposes, was the only way to go.
Since in terms of design little shocks these days, and since most of the vehicles manufactured worldwide have begun bearing a strange resemblance to one another, the only thing that could set one's car apart from the next guy's was the power train. This year, in New York as elsewhere as well, EVs have had the better part of the attention.
The Nissan Leaf was named during the New York show the World Car of the Year, but that apparently was not enough for the Japanese. They wanted the public to know that their car of the year is in no way just another car, but a unique one.
The first electric vehicle to receive the honor also got a sizeable billboard in New York, one that emphasizes the uniqueness of the model, on a huge scale and, why not, in some type of 3D graphics. See the very short video of the billboard below.
At a moment when all that was worth saying had already been said and in a place where the competition had probably something better to offer, there was little any car maker could do to stand out from the crowd. Uniqueness, for all intents and purposes, was the only way to go.
Since in terms of design little shocks these days, and since most of the vehicles manufactured worldwide have begun bearing a strange resemblance to one another, the only thing that could set one's car apart from the next guy's was the power train. This year, in New York as elsewhere as well, EVs have had the better part of the attention.
The Nissan Leaf was named during the New York show the World Car of the Year, but that apparently was not enough for the Japanese. They wanted the public to know that their car of the year is in no way just another car, but a unique one.
The first electric vehicle to receive the honor also got a sizeable billboard in New York, one that emphasizes the uniqueness of the model, on a huge scale and, why not, in some type of 3D graphics. See the very short video of the billboard below.