2006 Los Angeles Auto Show: Day One

Cars are the lifeblood of Los Angeles. Here, vehicles symbolize the landscape and the culture, from freeways that dissect our geography to the social status of our citizens and the heritage of our communities. No other event better represents the tires and exhaust pipe puzzle of So Cal than the annual Los Angeles Auto Show, and this year’s show is no exception. Day one’s notable debuts, such as the Bel Air billionaire’s Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, the college kid's Toyota Yaris and the working man’s Saleen F-150, all represent the divergent role cars play in Southern California. This year’s show reveals our addiction to fast, furious cars – and our need for dependable transportation.

As a group, we're wrapped up in our cars, rolling along on four wheels and tuned into everything that matters -- how they look, how they ride, and how we look riding in them. Our vehicles represent freedom. Individuality. Creativity. Like no other region across the nation, we escape into our private worlds every time we open the door and turn the key. No boss. No parents, spouse or kids. Just the road, the sun and our dreams.

Yet sometimes those dreams are nightmares. We are tops in the nation when it comes to teeth-grinding traffic jams. And as more of us move farther away from our urban workplaces, the daily gridlock we face gets worse, longer and more desperate. Add to that our crumbling roads and higher-than-average fuel prices, and autos in Southern California face a daunting series of demands.

We don’t want to be pestered by bad roads. We want our three-hour commutes to slide by like sweet corn. We want trendy, efficient cars that handle it all, because we also have the exhilaration of the Pacific Coast Highway on a crisp January day, the sweet sultry mood of Pasadena on a summer evening and mountain roads perfect for carving. Our cars are everything, our lifeblood indeed, so it’s no surprise that we have what is possibly the greatest collection of individual car collectors in the world. It's appropriate, then, that LA is first in line when it comes to the uniquely American tradition of gawking at new cars – which is really what an Auto Show is all about. What better place is there to introduce the very finest automobiles in the world, and, at the same time, the most popular cars on the freeways? We are the grind and the glitz, and automakers have come to a city of angels where no one walks and have invited all of us to marvel at their vast range of beauty, form and function.