The Crank: Is Saab Chairman’s optimism surreal or substantiated?

By John LeBlanc As the cofounder of the perennially money-losing Dutch supercar operation Spyker, Saab Chairman Victor Muller fundamentally has to be an optimistic guy. Yet as he makes the rounds in the next few weeks drumming up customer interest in the new 9-4X crossover, left, and evaluating investor intentions to see whether or not […]

The Crank: Are Saab’s new caretakers at Spyker in trouble? Again?

By John LeBlanc As we wait to hear about the supposed 20-or-so Canadian dealers who are ready, willing, and able to start selling and servicing Saabs again, it looks like the Swedish automaker’s new parents at Dutch super car maker Spyker are continuing right where former owner Government Motors left off: losing money.

2010 Beijing: The land where Saabs go to retire

By John LeBlanc BEIJING – It’s the first of two media days here at Auto China 2010. And while trolling the massive halls of the China International Exhibition Center, about an hour’s drive outside of China’s capital city, I stumbled across the ghosts of Saab past.

Does Volvo’s turning Chinese ensure its survival?

By John LeBlanc Here we go again. For the second time this year, a beloved Swedish auto brand has been sold off. But given the initial news that after a long courtship China’s Geely has finally put pen to paper on acquiring Volvo from Ford, the Swedish brand’s survival looks more promising than sister Swedish […]

Top 10: Worst SUV Wannabes

[svgallery name=”Top_10_SUV_Wannabes”] By John LeBlanc What with today’s small car craze, it’s hard to believe that at one point in the late 1990s, sports-utility-vehicles roamed the North America byways like herds of 18th century bison. Large, ill-handling and gas-guzzling contraptions like the Ford Explorer, Chevrolet Tahoe and Jeep Grand Cherokee were some of the top-selling […]

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