Star of the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show: Barbie
Your humble author is about to put Los Angeles in the rearview mirror, but before I do, I wanted to leave you with one last news nugget.
It involves … Barbie.
You read that right. The folks from Mattel got a primo press conference slot — right before lunch — and used it to show off a live-sized version of a toy car it will soon be retailing to a child near you.
I actually missed this presser — I was talking to a PR rep about some TTAC bidness and didn’t see the time — but I did manage to snag a pic.
The eagle-eyed among you will note that Barbie’s car rides on the Fiat 500e platform, meaning this baby makes 111 horsepower and 147 lb-ft of torque. It has a range of 100 miles. If it’s street-legal/certified, that is. I have no idea.
Of course, the standout features here are the winged doors, pink interior, star-shaped headlights, and rainbow wheels. Because Barbie.
It took about 2 and a half months for this creation to come to life, Roadshow reports. The car was scaled up from the files used to design the toy, and the body is foam. The wheels — 22-inch in the back and 20 up front — are 3D printed.
Sometimes journalists are allowed to test drive a car at auto shows, but sadly, this one was static.
[Image © 2021 Tim Healey/TTAC]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Barbie prefers a 300ZX. youtu.be/c4HQmuNEZak
GI Joe wouldn't be caught dead riding in something like that.
Made in China just like the Buick Envision which Consumer Reports gave high marks to.
C'mon on Barbie, let go party - Aqua