Spotlight USA: autoevolution's Return to NYIAS 2022 Was a Once In a Lifetime Experience

A decade and a half later, I walked into the same Jacob K Javits Center for the same event and picked up my press pass in the venue's iconic Chrystal Palace in the early morning of April 13th.

This time, it was as autoevolution's press representative at its first in-person coverage of the NYIAS since 2011. No pressure, surely. But as it happens, my experience at this year's show wasn't an eight-hour-long panic attack.

Said anxiety melted away as soon as I squeezed myself out of a stuffy New York City 7 and 1-line subway train station at 34th Street and Hudson Yards needed to get from basecamp at a good friend's apartment in Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood.

All that pent-up angst about waking up at 5:30 in the morning to ensure I arrived an hour before NYIAS 2022's first of two press days melted away at this moment. The Jacob K Javits Center's "Chrystal Palace" front entrance is a grand opening for any occasion, so this at least makes sense. They run Comic-Con here as well for a reason, after all.

As you'd expect, the ongoing health crisis has made it so that the oldest motor show in North America is profoundly different in layout than even in very recent years. With sizeable floor space and a reduced number of brands present, social distancing was at least achievable.

That was, until the unveiling of any one of the concept cars, new models, and other assorted good n plenty revealing themselves to the frantic New York crowd. With less than a full capacity of manufacturers at hand, the bigger players in the biz like Ford, GM, Stellantis, Toyota, Hyundai/Kia, and Volkswagen had free reign to do some pretty spectacular things.

Not the least of which is the multiple test indoor tracks on which Electric Vehicles could be driven without fear of choking the waiting with noxious fumes. As it happens, EVs are a bit of a theme with this year's NYIAS. There's a sense that roughly half or even more of the floor space at the Javits Center this year is dedicated to some form or another of battery EV technology.

As we delve further into the nitty-gritty of this year's event over the next 11 days of the show, we'll get to show you just how the all-electric revolution we've all been promised will take shape. You'll find it's a pretty easy trend to track, much more so than you might first think.

There'll no doubt be crossovers, SUVs, and pickup trucks galore in the electric future. Nearly every single manufacturer on the showroom floor made a point to prove. We can't wait to see the Ford vs. GM vs. Ram debates of days gone by evolving with the times well into the future.

The performance numbers that EVs can throw down will no doubt be grander than the good old days, assuming they ever stop putting 1000 horsepower Hellephant motors into Ram 1500s at some point, that is. The point is, the level of acceleration that even the most basic F-150 Lightning or Hyundai Ioniq 5, is enough to turn skeptics into believers and cynics into satiated consumers.

An in-depth analysis of our experiences in the front seats of these two EVs will be a key focal point of our coverage of this year's NYIAS. But make no mistake, we're gonna throw some love in the direction of ICE as well.

Heavyweights like the Gazoo Racing Toyota Corolla, the all-new Nissan Z, the Ford GT, C8 Corvette Z06, and the Lexus LX 600 display right beside their EV brethren this year. Safe to say, there's a little bit of everything for all tastes.

All the in-depth coverage of everything there was to see this year at this year's New York International Auto Show is all coming flooding over the next week and a half. But to start things off, I figured it's at least worth mentioning just how much of a landmark moment in my life this year's show feels to me.

Doing this assignment for all of you is a dream come true. Rest assured, it's only the beginning. Whatever your stance on electric cars (including if you think they're the work of Satan), we've got you covered for the 122nd running of the NYIAS and so much more right here on autoevolution. But please, let me take a shower and a nap first. I think my feet are about to fall off.