Quick Take: 2025 New York Auto Show

As I get ready to fly back to the Motor City, I wanted to drop a few thoughts on this year's New York International Auto Show (their 125th!) before I deep dive things for a more formal writeup--and, yes, if I can figure out how to pull it off, there's a video, too!

The good: There was news! Honest-to-god press conferences and product announcements, including a couple of surprises. That stands in sharp contrast to the Detroit Auto Show, where the press day was sadly lacking in any automaker press conferences. And it was nice to see a lot of brands represented on the floor, even if some of them were dealer exhibits rather than a formal corporate presence.

The bad: No real complaints, aside from connectivity inside the Javits Center. My AT&T cellular signal was dodgy, and there's no free wifi on the show floor, so I scrapped plans to do a live-feed tour of the show. There's free wifi there, but only in the lobby area--and I have to give a special shout-out to Genesis, who offered free wifi at their exhibit.

WHAT'S NEW?

Subaru Trailseeker (photo: Adam Bernard)

The biggest surprise at the show was the Subaru Trailseeker; knowing that Toyota and Subaru are collaborating on a new small SUV, I assumed that's what we'd be seeing here. Instead, we got a "Grand Solterra"--a supersized variant of the Solterra compact SUV EV. Although we didn't get official specs, it appears the Trailseeker shares the Solterra's platform, battery, front end sheetmetal, doors, and interior, with a 1" taller roof and 6" more rear overhang. It's a quick and dirty way to add a midsize SUV EV to the portfolio, and the black trim and off-road oriented tech adds additional differentiation from the Solterra. Well played, Subaru!

Subaru Outback Wilderness (photo: Adam Bernard)

Well, you can't win 'em all... Sorry, Subaru, but I think this is a step in the wrong direction for the Outback. You might recall the original Outback, launched 30 years ago, was a butched-up version of the Legacy midsize sedan. Well, the Legacy dies at the end of this model year, so Outback becomes a standalone wagon. Arguably, that gives you more design flexibility, since you're not tied to a sedan, but this...? Someone raided the Aztek parts bin to slap a whole lot of admittedly sturdy but ugly cladding, and, combined with the blunt front end and slab sides, it doesn't work for me. The carryover boxer powertrains are equally uninspiring. The one bright spot is the much nicer interior with reworked infotainment and the availability of SuperCruise-like hands-free highway driving.

Kia EV4 (photo: Adam Bernard)

Kia's EV4 wasn't a global debut--it broke cover last year--but instead a North American launch. Kia's first electric sedan is rather avant-garde, with a dramatic fastback profile (and correspondingly tiny decklid instead of a hatch) and very distinctive lighting. It uses the new lower-cost 400V EV platform shared with the EV3 small SUV EV and China-only EV5 compact SUV EV. Two batteries are available, with Kia targeting 330 miles for the larger one. It launches early next year, pricing TBD.

Genesis X Gran Equator concept (photo: Adam Bernard)

Surprise! I was expecting to see the new Genesis GV90 flagship SUV, based on some reports in the media, but Genesis pulled a fast one with the X Gran Equator concept. This is Genesis going after the Land Rover crowd with a vehicle designed for overlanding and boasting a cool, extremely analog interior. I thought the proportions were perhaps a bit too extreme, but this is a concept, so I could let it slide. No official production plans, but a very slick potential addition to the Genesis portfolio.

There's more to come--including a video--so watch this space!