2013 Frankfurt: Toyota and Lexus debuts far from conservative

Story and photos by John LeBlanc FRANKFURT – Trying to garner some attention in a European market where it’s a relatively small player, Japan’s Toyota debuted two outlandish concepts here in Frankfurt.

2013 Frankfurt: Audi stuns with half-super-car/half-crossover Nanuk

Story and photos by John LeBlanc FRANKFURT – It’s rare these days to arrive at an auto show and be surprised, with automakers using the Internet to “leak” information well before the actual media days. But the Audi Nanuk Concept — a supercar/crossover — caught many in the industry off guard.

2013 Frankfurt: The Volkswagen Group rolls out plenty of fresh metal

Story by John LeBlanc FRANKFURT — On the eve of the 65th Frankfurt auto show, Germany’s largest automaker, the Volkswagen Group, rolled out a fleet of new vehicles from its dozen automotive, truck and motorcycle brands at a private media event. While there was fresh metal from the Volkswagen Group’s Seat and Skoda brands we’ll […]

Toyota’s “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” hybrid strategy right on track

Story by John LeBlanc YPSILANTI, MICH. — The “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” strategy has been around since Henry Ford’s 999 racecars appeared at the dawn of the automotive industry in 1901. More than a century later, Japan’s Toyota is continuing that tradition with its latest TS030 racer, the first hybrid racecar to be […]

Fuel Economy Comparo: Kia Optima Hybrid vs. Toyota Camry Hybrid

Story by John LeBlanc Feel free to thank the rising price of fuel and stricter government-mandated fuel economy ratings for today’s variety of new gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. Once limited to being quirky or small when they arrived in the late 1990s, hybrids now come in all shapes and sizes.

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