Top 10s: Concepts heading to production, maybe…

Story by John LeBlanc From Frankfurt last September to Beijing this April, with stops in Los Angeles, Detroit and New York, and Geneva thrown in for good measure, the 2013-2014 international auto show season dazzled us with dozens of new concept cars. But only 10 of them have been deemed worthy enough to garner your […]

2010 Beijing: Is Fiat missing the boat in China?

[svgallery name=”09_Fiat_500″] By John LeBlanc One Western automaker that was noticeably absent from this year’s Beijing auto show was Chrysler’s new caretakers over at Fiat. This is the third time Fiat has skipped a major Chinese auto show, after taking a pass from the Shanghai show last April and the Guangzhou show in November. And […]

2010 Beijing: Audi stretches its flagship A8

[svgallery name=”2011_Audi_A8L”] By John LeBlanc BEIJING – China may be the world’s largest new car market, but no one wants to really drive here. Especially in the larger cities, like here in Beijing (population 22,000,000) or Shanghai (19,210,000.) The uninitiated are stunned by the telepathic confluence of cars, trucks, pedestrians, motorcycles, rickshaws and bicycles, where […]

2010 Beijing: BMW jumps on oxymoronic four-door coupé bandwagon

[svgallery name=”2010_BMW_Gran_Coupe_Concept”] By John LeBlanc BEIJING – In addition to a stretched wheelbase version of the 5 Series for the Chinese market, BMW debuted its Concept Gran Coupé, er, concept car here at Auto China 2010. If you haven’t guessed already, it’s a near-production version of Concept CS show car that was shown at the […]

2010 Beijing: Mercedes stuns with future CLS five-door

By John LeBlanc BEIJING – Alternating between the two major Chinese cities each April, it’s Beijing’s turn this year to host China’s annual international show. And so far during day One of two days of media presentations, the Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Break concept looks to be the stunner of the show. With its fifth door, […]