2010 in Review: Winners and losers of the past year

[svgallery name=”2011_Audi_A8L”] By John LeBlanc Between rapidly changing customer demographics, the global shift of economic power from the West to the East, and stricter fuel economy regulations on the horizon — to say the least — it’s been a challenging time if you’re in the business of making cars. As such, there’s been a real […]

2010 L.A. Show: Nissan returns to west coast in waves

[svgallery name=”2010_LA_NIssan”] By John LeBlanc LOS ANGELES – Twelve months ago, right here in the bowels of L.A.’s massive Convention Centre, Nissan didn’t even bother to have a press conference. This year, it arguably stole the show (so far) with a herd of new metal, including a refreshed GT-R supercar, new Quest minivan, a hybrid […]

Top 10s: 1990s’ Japanese Sports Cars

By John LeBlanc Riding the wave of profits from their fast-selling mainstream models, a well-earned reputation for reliability and a low-valued Yen, Japanese automakers like Honda, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi spent the 1990s trying to one-up each other, making one great driving sports car after another.

First Drive: 2011 Nissan Leaf

[svgallery name=”2011_Nissan_Leaf_hirez”] Shockingly normal Driving the world’s first affordable and practical EV surprisingly uneventful By John LeBlanc NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — With the launch of Nissan’s Leaf, the theoretical hype over electric vehicles that’s been building for the past few years finally meets the cold reality of today’s new car buyer’s wallet. Like losing weight or […]

The Crank: The General’s naming games

By John LeBlanc As part of Chevrolet’s recent small car religion— that includes the 2011 compact Cruze, next year’s Orlando compact tall wagon and a future Spark city car—an all-new subcompact  2011 Aveo, left and below, is on the way as well. We saw the production version last month in Paris, initially, next spring it […]

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