The Crank: Are the new Porsche 911 specials too much of a good thing?

By John LeBlanc Trust me, there’s already a Porsche 911 for anyone who has enough of the dough re mi. Click on the 911-menu bar on the Porsche Canada Web site, and between the $94,100 345 hp Carrera and the $297,000 620 hp GT2 RS, you have the choice of 20 distinct models, all based […]

The Crank: Will Canadians take to stale Scions?

By John LeBlanc Let’s get something straight. Scion—Toyota’s so-called “youth brand”—is all about fashion. The three Scions being introduced to Canada this fall don’t offer much differences mechanically than the Toyotas they’re based on. After being introduced to U.S. customers in 2003, it took Toyota Canada took another five years, in 2008, to make up […]

The Crank: Is Lamborghini losing its mojo?

By John LeBlanc It looks like the Italian super sports car brand that has defined “extreme” and continually won the battle of one-upmanship over archrival Italian Ferrari with, well, more of everything, is caving into the new reality of ever-tightening fuel economy and tailpipe emissions regulations. It’s pure speculation at this point, but a teaser […]

The Crank: Lincoln’s naming strategy missing its Mark

By John LeBlanc I recently got a chance to drive the new 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid sedan and updated 2011 MKX midsize crossover (preview article coming forthwith). All in all, both are pretty solid pieces of kit. Not only is the MKZ Lincoln’s first hybrid, because its based on the excellent bones of the Ford […]

The Crank: Mazda quickly ditching Nagare

By John LeBlanc Well that didn’t take too long. As soon as former Mazda design director Laurens van den Acker left last year to take over as head pen of France’s Renault, it seems the Japanese automaker can’t move fast enough away from its still-born Nagare design language, a look that was created by van […]

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