The first New York Auto Show was in 1900, showcasing—as this year’s did, too—a number of electric cars. EVs were dominant 124 years ago, and judging by the 2024 New York International Auto Show, which runs through April 7, they are becoming so again.
The press day kicked off Wednesday, as it usually does, with the World Car Awards, and EVs were the big winners. The Kia EV9—a big, three-row battery SUV—took World Car of the Year and Electric Car of the Year, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N took World Performance Car. (The Ioniq 5 series has won three other World Car awards in the last three years.) It’s worth noting that all three of the contenders for the top award were EVs. The luxury category was taken by the BMW 5-Series, which includes the i5 electric, and the Urban Car award went to the electric Volvo EX30. The Toyota Prius hybrid—half an electric—won in the design category.
The show had a special corner for high-performance and luxury cars, showcasing a Bentley art car, a Rimac Nevera (one of the fastest cars in the world), a Rolls-Royce Spectre electric, and the Karma Kaveya.
Karma is the separate company that re-engineered the former Fisker Karma as the Revero, but the Kaveya is an all-new electric supercar. When it’s available in the fourth quarter of 2026, the Kaveya will sell for US$300,000 (three motors) and US$400,000 (four motors).
The sleek design with dramatically concave side panels and butterfly doors is by Nicholas David, formerly of General Motors, Jaguar, and Honda. “We made sure that the Kaveya was like nothing a brand had done before,” David says. “We’re taking Karma in a different direction. It doesn’t make sense for us to do a US$60,000 SUV. We’re moving into ultra-luxury, into territory inhabited by cars like the Aston Martin DBS Coupe.”
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
With an aluminum space frame and carbon-fiber body panels, the Kaveya was first shown in Las Vegas last year. The preliminary specs say the Kaveya will have a range of 250 miles, zero to 60 in less than three seconds (presumably in its two-motor configuration), and a top speed of around 180 miles per hour. It’s an EV that, in top form, will have 1,180 horsepower and 1,270 pound-feet of torque.
Also forthcoming from Karma, at the end of this year, is a four-door battery electric touring sedan called the Gyesera, which also has a new look but retains some of the Fisker Karma/Karma Revero styling cues.
Kia may have just won awards for its big three-row SUV, but in New York, designer Karim Habib showed off the new 2025 K4 sedan, praising its “distinctively cut C-pillar.” That pillar, which includes high-mounted door handles, is the K4’s most distinctive feature, though it offers plenty of Kia family cues, such as the inverted-staple light bars. A spacious second row is a welcome development, as are the 11 standard advanced driver-assistance safety features.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
This K4 is an evolution of the Forte model, which was sold only as a sedan. But the new K4 will also offer, at some later date, a five-door hatchback version. The sedan will be upon us by the end of the year.
According to Russell Wager, a vice president of marketing, a nearly 30-inch seamless panoramic screen is an option, and versions will be offered with either a 2-liter engine producing 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque or a 1.6-liter turbo with 190 horses and 195 pound-feet. The upmarket GT-Line comes with 18-inch alloy wheels.
Meanwhile, Ford is celebrating 60 years of the Mustang, which was introduced at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. That year, Ford disassembled a Mustang and displayed it on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. The stunt was repeated in 2014 with another convertible, but this year it was Infiniti that took apart a car (a QX80 SUV) and hauled it up 100 flights at Hudson Yards.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
A limited-edition 60th anniversary Mustang appearance package is to be debuted at Charlotte Motor Speedway on April 17, and until then there’s just some badge teasing. The company is also offering the Mustang Mach-E Rally EV, with some off-road capability via a tuned suspension, and a two-motor setup offering 480 horsepower and “at least” 650 pound-feet of torque. The car sports a 91-kilowatt-hour battery, with a targeted 250-mile range.
According to Joe Bellino, Mustang brand manager, the Mustang is “the best selling sports car in the U.S. and globally.” In 2023, Ford sold 59,000 Mustangs. Fire-breathing V-8s were not ignored, and they’re still selling quite well. The 2025 Ford Mustang GTD on display, with a supercharged 5.2-liter V-8, makes 800 horsepower.
Acura gave a walk-around tour of the electric dual-motor ZDX Type S, which shares a platform with the Cadillac Lyriq and had some impressive specs. The two motors produce 500 horsepower and 544 pound-feet of torque. There’s up to 300-mile range from the two-motor configuration with a 102-kilowatt-hour battery. The Brembo brakes are reassuring. The Type S price is US$74,745. The single-motor A-Spec is US$10,000 cheaper.
Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath says its new Polestar 4 model goes on sale in Europe in the third quarter of this year, and in the U.S. the fourth quarter. The 4 is an SUV coupe, positioned between the 2 and 3 in size and price, and New York was its North American debut. As has become standard industry practice, both single- and dual-motor versions will be available. The long-range single starts at US$54,900 and the long-range dual at US$62,900.
MORE: Superman’s Debut Issue Could Set a Comic Book Record at Auction
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
The fastest Polestar to date is the twin-motor configuration of the 4 with the Performance Pack option (US$72,900), producing 544 horsepower and 506 pound-feet of torque, yielding a zero-to-60 time of 3.7 seconds. Range is 270 miles in that version. The long-range single motor 4, with 272 horsepower and 253 pound-feet, is “targeting” more than 300 miles of federally certified range.
Most of the Auto Show action takes place on Level 3 of the Javits Center, but Level 1 had the Robert Downey Jr. Dream Cars. These are six (mostly) gas guzzlers that were in the actor’s collection. Given his environmental inclinations, he decided to have them converted to cleaner options (electric, biodiesel, hybrid, eight cylinders to four with turbo) and donate the proceeds to his Footprint Coalition (founded in 2019) to “accelerate technologies that will help create a future of sustainable abundance.” The 1972 Chevrolet K10 Pickup has already been claimed. The cars are an odd assortment: a 1969 Mercedes 280SE, a 1965 Corvette convertible, a 1985 Chevrolet El Camino, a 1966 Buick Riviera and a 1972 VW bus that, Downey says, was the car that took most readily to being electrified. In addition to the mounted surfboard, it boasted a slide-out solar-powered electric barbecue.
