L.A. auto show preview; FROM BBX TO BOND.(Los Angeles 2003 auto show; youth targeted)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

Los Angeles jump starts the 2003 auto show season just 36 hours into the new year, when the press files into the Los Angeles Convention Center on Jan. 2, looking for the shrimp buffets and free hats. The public, looking for free posters and the freedom of the open road, is welcome Jan. 4-12. What cars will they see? With L.A. being the heart of the entertainment industry, there is the usual smattering of movie cars along with several world introductions.

Toyota's youth-oriented Scion division reveals two models it will use to try to lure the kids of America back to the brand. The xB is very similar to the ultra-boxy bbX van concept introduced at the 2002 New York show. It has been on sale in Japan for a few years. The second Scion is called the xA and looks like the Toyota ist shown at the Tokyo show 18 months ago-sort of a compact hatchback/wagon/sporty-looking thing, remember? A third Scion model will be added in June 2004, possibly built off the Japan-market Caldina and looking a little like the ccX concept. Scions arrive in Toyota dealers in California starting in June 2003. The brand goes nationwide in 2004.

At the other end of the spectrum, the great General Motors wizard Bob Lutz himself pulls the cover off the Pontiac GTO (nee Holden Monaro), the car Lutz talked about a year ago and then jetted to Australia to approve. GM owns Australian carmaker Holden, and Holden makes several cars off the Monaro's platform, this one being the sportiest. They're a lot like us, those Aussies. Or like we used to be. They like big, rear-wheel-drive V8-powered passenger cars that spec-out like muscle cars. The Monaro/GTO is such a car, with a Pontiac grille and an Aussie V8 based on the Chevrolet Corvette engine.

Another performance icon also debuts in L.A.-the 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. This one has a turbocharged four making 271 hp at 6500 rpm and 273 lb-ft of torque at 3500. All that output is routed through all four wheels, too, though the U.S. Evos come with five-speed manuals, instead of the Japanese-market six-speeds, and with mechanical differentials instead ...