What happened at the 2012 New York Auto Show?

First and foremost... I know I talked a good game about attending this car show, but financially I couldn't attend. Yes, New York is my hometown and I'm typing from Atlanta, GA. But I do have financial common sense- meaning I wasn't going to piss away my money to pay my mortgage to attend an auto show where I knew that Auto Blog (the top automotive blog out- which means they hire photographers who know the difference betweeen manual and automatic) This year, I'm being a bit smarter with the shows I attend, meaning I won't attend smaller shows or auto shows. I rather put money towards attending bigger car shows and automotive rallies where you have to search hell and high water to get the photos. And unlike blogs that have automotive sponsors but can't write an original automotive post to save their lives (Think of a certain DJ that has sponsorship from Ford), I won't plagerize Auto Blog's words. Paraphrase- yes. Plagerize- no. You might ask what's the difference- plagerizing is a glorified word meaning "stealing". Paraphrase means to borrow aspects from the original source, and giving them credit.

The famous Auto Show tour made it's stop in one of the most important cities. Besides the fact that I'm from New York, New York is one of the most important cities because the manufacturers do have special unveilings at this stop, and every manufacturer shows up to New York, even if they're based out of the country, and even if they don't have anything new to show.

The 2012 New York Auto Show fell a little short this year. Every car that was shown either had minor enhancements or the major enhancements has been shown previously this year at another auto show (except Atlanta's auto show).

(If you're wondering- the guy kissing the vehicle is the reason why the Viper is back. His name is Ralph Gilles, President of SRT and obviously a great salesman)

The biggest debut of the entire show was Dodge bringing back the Viper and it will be available later this year. It has 640 horsepower with a V10 engine. Autoblog says that it is not as powerful as the Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari F12, however it is more powerful than the Lamborghini Aventador. The previous two statements summed up everything that you need to know about the Dodge Viper. The MSRP will be announced soon, but until then, just drool over the photo.

Honerable mentions include...

New Yorkers got to see what their new yellow taxis will look like

Porsche unveiled the Cayenne Diesel. It was originally available overseas, and this is the first time it arrived in the United States. Auto Blog says the turbocharged 3.0-liter V6, rated at 240 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque. Mated to a standard eight-speed automatic transmission, the automaker says it will run to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds and on to a top speed of 135 mph. The Cayenne Diesel is rated to tow a segment-leading 7,716 pounds and boasts a highway range of 740 miles thanks to its 28 mpg highway rating.

Fisker showed off their Fisker Atlantic- a more affordable version of the Fisker Karma. Fisker thinks the Atlantic is a more family friendly car. This isn't the type of vehicle where you'll allow your four year old to drop juice in.

Chevrolet made the Impala attractive again, by borrowing the looks of the Camaro and applying it to the once drab midsize sedan. Great move of Chevy's part, and that would definitely increase sales, especially if they still offer the Impala in the SS trim level.

Hyundai released TWO editions of their popular Santa Fe CUV, and it looks sooo much better. The sport edition can fit 5 people and the Hyundai Santa Fe LWB can fit 7 people. It's like when GMC released the Envoy and the Envoy XL.

Jeep presented the Altitude trim level for the Grand Cherokee, the Compass and the Patriot. The Altitude trim level is a blacked out trim level. Black exterior, black interior, with black wheels. Purrrrfect.


But the most important unveiling from the entire auto show...

Shelby presented the most powerful production car ever to come out of Carroll Shelby's mind- the 1000. The muscle coupe comes in two options – the 950 horsepower street version and the track-only 1100+ horsepower S/C. Shelby is only willing to produce 100, each of them at the MSRP close to $200,000. Some say that this is too much power for a Mustang- but you have to remember- the Shelby edition has been around as long as the Ford Mustang, although Shelby took that 37 year hiatus, folks are still buying them. Ford Mustang fans are as hardcore as New York Yankee fans, Dallas Cowboy fans, and Los Angeles Lakers fans. It's not for everyone to understand but Shebly fans and Mustang Fans will understand.