Flashback Fridays: 2006 Pontiac Solstice

Story by John LeBlanc Article originally published in October, 2005 – Knowing Mazda has had the affordable, rear-wheel-drive two-seater market to itself for more than a decade didn’t stop Bob Lutz from putting his reputation on the line when he drove the Solstice concept on-stage at the Detroit auto show in 2002. The vice-chairman of […]

Top 10s: Most embarrassing cars

Story by John LeBlanc In a new car market where reliability, safety and performance are at all-time highs, a great deal of a vehicle’s success rides on marketing, its image, and whether or not its styling is appealing. But sometimes, a stand-out-from-the-crowd vehicle than also cause some undo attention.

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 […]

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 […]

Crystal Ball: The Future is Small

By John LeBlanc Eventually, historians will write that the past decade was one of the most tumultuous and significant eras in the auto industry—the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; the roller-coaster of fuel prices; the public’s growing environmental and road safety awareness; the rise of the Chinese automakers; the fall of the Detroit Big […]

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