The Greater Los Angeles Auto Show 2005 was held in Los Angeles, California for ten days between January 7 (Fri.) -16 (Sun.), 2005. The Show venue, Los Angeles Convention Center is located close to downtown Los Angeles and the venue site provides 76,000m², roughly the same venue size as the Tokyo Motor Show.

The venue was divided into five halls. The two main halls in South and West housed around 40 brands, including major American and European manufacturers. From Japan, Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Infinity, Honda, Acura, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Suzuki and Isuzu exhibited there. Porsche was housed alone in a small hall in the same building as the West Hall, working to create its own unique exhibition space.

As South Hall and West Hall are separated by a road, a roofed bridge provides access between the two halls. Exhibition halls are also located within this bridge and these were taken up by sports cars such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Brabus, Venturi and Spyker, and Carrozzeria displays. Exhibitions from tuning makers, accessories and parts companies were housed on Floor 1, South Hall.

More than 24 new models, including 12 world premieres, were on display at the Show. Perhaps because the Show was being held in environment-conscious California, there was a high interest in environment-related issues, with many hybrid cars and hydrogen cars on display. Japanese carmakers also followed this environment-friendly trend.

On the second press day, the organizer incorporated a completely new event called “Design Los Angeles.” With 14 design studios of European, American and Asian car manufacturers located in Los Angeles, and with Los Angeles being the home of the Art Center College of Design, the organizer held a design competition and conference based on the “Design Los Angeles” theme. The aim is to differentiate this Show from others in America and the organizer hopes to make this a part of the Show for years to come.

To prevent the Los Angeles Auto Show from clashing with the auto show held in Detroit, the LA Show will be held in November from 2006 onward (held in January as well in 2006). This will make it easier to gather top management of exhibitors and members of the press and this in turn may also change the positioning of the Show among automobile companies. It will be interesting to see how this show evolves.