 At auto companies all over the Southland, the majority of employees are forbidden to walk through the doors of the studios where future car designs are drawn, sculpted and modeled. So it is a rare treat, indeed, for those of us who aren't industry insiders to see the actual sculpting of a future Mazda3 model at Mazda's exhibit on the L.A. Auto Show floor.
The design is the result of what you could call an "American Idol" for young, undiscovered car designers held on Facebook.com. This search for the next generation of automotive design talent asked entrants to come up with their concepts for what a Mazda3 would look like for model year 2018. The winner, based on votes by Mazda designers and Facebook members, was Mallory McMorrow, a 21-year-old University of Notre Dame industrial design student.
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 What wonders awaited Angelenos who strolled into the 35th Los Angeles International Auto Show at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium?
The Times' 1957 special section on the show reveals that cars were becoming so smart they could almost drive themselves! Automatic transmissions, push-button seats and windows, and electric eyes in some cars that automatically sensed when to dim the headlights.
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 The cleaners have been busy at the Porsche auto show stand, mopping up drool from around the Cayman S Design Edition 1. This is a limited-edition model, only 777 of which will be made, with 250 earmarked for the U.S. It comes in black, with matte black stripes.
Well aware of merchandising's potential 35 years ago, Porsche launched its design studio to come up with sleek and expensive watches, sunglasses and so forth. One timepiece, the Chronograph 1, is the inspiration for this car's interior, clothed in black leather and Alcantara with several black-painted features. A nice touch is the standard-issue accessory kit consisting of a briefcase, quartz chronograph, pocket knife, sunglasses (one pair), pen and key ring -- all styled by Porsche Design.
Power is unchanged at 295 horsepower. The Design Edition 1 costs $69,900, compared with the $58,900 MSRP of the standard Cayman S. But it will be somewhat exclusive, and it looks even better in three dimensions.
-- Colin Ryan
 Where to go when the kids you've taken to the L.A. Auto Show start whining that they're bored? Here are a few tips for when the cars stop doing the trick:
Toyota's exhibit has two video games. One is "Professional Fishing Challenge," in which players face a video screen and apparently use a lifelike fishing rod to try to hook a big catch. The other is the "Tundra" game, in which players drive a truck around a rural area, picking up rocks and hay bales and whatnot. One hopes that the real Tundras have better steering than the video Tundras, which didn't seem to want to turn left or right (but also didn't crumple when you crashed them into things).
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 From a future 50 years ahead -- one filled with robots that do our bidding -- comes the winner of the 2007 Design Los Angeles Challenge, presented today at the L.A. Auto Show. The Volkswagen Slipstream is named after a special freeway lane from a time that has not yet come.
Once in this traffic-free lane the Volkswagen tilts into a super-aerodynamic shape to achieve speeds in excess of 250 mph. When parked, the Slipstream feeds power back into the grid with its hyper-efficient solar panels (perhaps to fuel other robots that can make us a club sandwich).
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 So let's take a few bets on which vehicle was just named Green Car of the Year 2008 at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The fabulous new Honda FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle, whose only emission is water? The 35-mpg, super-clean Mercedes-Benz E340 Bluetec, the first California-compliant diesel in years? The sensible, space-conscious Smart Fortwo? Maybe just the good old Toyota Prius? Or something that guzzles gas at the rate of 21 mpg?
Prepare to slap palm against forehead while experiencing a brand-new hybrid of tearful sadness and nauseous incredulity. Ladeeez and genullmen, the Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid.
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 If there are any multimillionaires out there who feel that life has passed them by because they didn't get to purchase the limited-edition Ferrari FXX super-car, then here's some good news. Ferrari has decided to produce more FXX models into 2009.
And because the original model provided plenty of feedback from client test drivers -- including the findings of seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher -- the second generation features a few refinements to the formula. Like shaving two seconds from its best lap time at Fiorano, Ferrari's own test track (now 76 seconds). And the car's aerodynamics have been revised to be 25% more efficient. Which is a good thing, considering this car can exceed 200 mph.
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 The words "Lexus" and "sporty" rarely share the same sentence, except perhaps when describing antitheticals. Lexus is synonymous with luxury cars: big, soft, quiet things. And yet the company has just launched a hard-core (that description seems like hyperbole right now, but read on) version of its IS compact sedan.
Previously, the most muscular IS was the 350, powered by a 3.5-liter straight-6. This one’s nose contains a 5.0-liter V-8 driving the rear wheels via an eight-speed gearbox. Yes, eight -- a world’s first for a sports sedan.
The apex predator of sports sedans is the new BMW M3 (also powered by a V-8), which has 414 horsepower. The IS F has 416. It hits 60 mph from a standstill in 4.6 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 170 mph.
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 The great thing about America is that there's something for everyone. There are people for whom oil is a precious and dwindling resource that should be eked out and used efficiently, sparingly. They're the ones carpooling in a Prius. And there are others who believe that it's already too late, that the gasoline-fueled apocalypse is upon us, so we might as well have fun while we still can.
They'll be driving the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10.
The Viper has always been a gloriously over-the-top muscle car, with its lightweight fiberglass body and V-10 engine from a pickup truck. The new version offers 600 horsepower (up 90 from the previous model) and 560 pound-feet of torque (25 more) going to the rear wheels. The extra grunt comes from enlarging displacement to 8.4 liters from 8.3, improving engine breathing and tweaking engine management.
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BMW’s compact 1 Series has been on sale in Europe in hatch form since 2004. When it comes to America in spring 2008, it will be a coupe (at least initially), powered by BMW’s impressive straight-six 230-hp, 3.0-liter engine (the 128i), or its much-lauded, award-winning, twin-turbocharged, 300-hp, 300lb-ft, 3.0-liter six (the 135i).
 At the same time, a 128i Convertible will also be available, although a more powerful 135i soft-top won’t arrive until the summer. Both cars have electro-hydraulically operated hoods, taking just 22 seconds to run the sequence, even on the move (up to 25mph).
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At auto companies all over the Southland, the majority of employees are forbidden to walk through the doors of the studios where future car designs are drawn, sculpted and modeled. So it is a rare treat, indeed, for those of us who aren't industry insiders to see the actual sculpting of a future Mazda3 model at Mazda's exhibit on the L.A. Auto Show floor. 
