Kia North America CEO Seungkyu (Sean) Yoon with other executives pose aside the 2027 Kia Telluride.

The LA Auto Show, held in the LA Convention Center, featured the shiniest from the industry, writes Janam Gupta.

Eyes closed, now picture a new car. A button-less minimalist dash, dominated by screens and tech. It’s the Tesla formula, and carmakers, both startups and established, jumped onboard. However, is that really the case? The LA Auto Show provides a breath of fresh air.

Food trucks, test drive events, and a display of one of the most hyped vehicles, Scout, welcomed the attendees. Scout, a VW Group company, had one main task: to out-Rivian Rivian. These EV off-roaders featured a rugged styling and massive wheel arches but the interior still had all the modern niceties. They even come with a feature that puts Tesla to shame: physical controls. 

Team Siliconeer at the LA Auto Show

Once inside, there were all sorts of extravagant displays from automotive giants like Porsche, Ford, Volkswagen, Maserati, Rivian, Subaru, Nissan, and Toyota, just to name a few. Nestled in between all this was the “Hall of SPARQ,” with SPARQ showing off their portable OBD Scanner and software, where you can essentially talk to your car. If that didn’t float your boat, they had blasts from the past with old GTRs and SLR McLarens posing aside modern hypercars and racing vehicles.

Kia and Hyundai dominated the real estate in the convention center, with good reason. Both automakers have been killing it. The brand-new Hyundai Palisade interior resembles that of a 6-figure Land Rover and their CRATER Concept looked nothing short of something made for Mars. Kia’s unveiling of the all-new Telluride was the highlight of the show. A vehicle with an extremely versatile lineup, from a luxurious, two-tone, leather-trimmed people carrier to an off-roading beast in the X-Pro variant. If that wasn’t exciting enough, Kia also unveiled a K4 hatchback. Stylish, powerful, and practical, Kia had me on my toes. And yes, all these cars had physical buttons, thank goodness.

One key takeaway – don’t sleep on the Koreans. Maybe this is a wake-up call for the no-show brands like Audi, Mercedes, and BMW. C’mon, show us what you got next year.

 

Click here to view more photos of Automobilty 2025.

 

All images: Janam Gupta & Vansh Gupta/Siliconeer