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 […]

The Crank: 2011 CAJ Best of the Best nominees released

By John LeBlanc Here’s the deal. If you’re reading my blog, it’s safe to assume that you’re one of the wisest, sharpest, most knowledgeable car enthusiasts on the planet. So it goes without reason that if yours truly is to put his name behind an annual new car award, it’s going to be the “best” […]

Bailout Blues: Will Fiat ever deliver on its promise of new Chryslers?

By John LeBlanc With U.S. lawmakers taking Toyota to the wood shed this week, let’s take a look at another automaker with some, ahem, challenges: Fiat-run Chrysler.

Will small car buyers find Ford?

By John LeBlanc Two thousand and nine was a very good year for Ford in Canada. In an industry down 12 per cent, sales were up 7, resulting in a 15 per cent marketshare—the automaker’s best here in seven years. Ford even beat out General Motors in truck sales for the first time in a […]

2009 LA Show Highlights

[svgallery name=”2010_LA_Show”] Story and photos by John LeBlanc LOS ANGELES–You can’t ignore the math at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show. With the auto industry in full contraction – fewer brands, fewer all-new models, fewer pie-in-the-sky concepts and fewer media – these types of events have become pared- down affairs compared to the gratuitous auto […]

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