First Drive: 2011 Kia Optima

Optima Prime Kia continues its product renaissance with a family sedan for drivers By John LeBlanc Key West, Fla. – On average, Canadian new car buyers return to purchase new again about every seven or eight years. If you happen to be one of those buyers today, you may feel like Rumpelstiltskin if you haven’t […]

The Crank: Which are “dumber”?: Newly Americanized VWs, or the people buying them…

By John LeBlanc Recently, over at Automotive News, my colleague Diana T. Kurylko, asked the question that fans of inexpensive German wheels have been pondering for some time now: Is Volkswagen of America cheapening its cars to boost volume at the cost of its German engineering image? Based on the evidence, the answer is a […]

The Crank: Korean automakers’ coming of age continues at Seoul Motor Show

By John LeBlanc – Few Western media attended, but this year’s Seoul Motor Show was yet another stake in the ground marking the continuing evolution of the Korea’s Hyundai-Kia Motors as an emerging force to be reckoned with. Korea’s annual new car sales market doesn’t come anywhere near the volume of the China’s monster numbers—about […]

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK Roadster

[svgallery name=”2012_MB_SLK_350_hirez”] Pleasure for a pair Mercedes sticks with SLK’s longstanding mini-GT formula By John LeBlanc CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN — Self-indulgence is at the root of any car with only two seats. You might as well hang a NO KIDS ALLOWED sign on the door handles. And the pleasure principal only multiplies when discussing a […]

The Crank: Saab becomes a little less Swedish

By John LeBlanc With the recent resignation of now former CEO Jan Ake Jonsson—Saab’s so-called “last Swede”—the automaker becomes just a little less Swedish—jah, fer shoor. But what does Jonsson’s exit say of the potential survival (or lack thereof) of the Swedish brand?