2013 Frankfurt: The Volkswagen Group rolls out plenty of fresh metal

Story by John LeBlanc FRANKFURT — On the eve of the 65th Frankfurt auto show, Germany’s largest automaker, the Volkswagen Group, rolled out a fleet of new vehicles from its dozen automotive, truck and motorcycle brands at a private media event. While there was fresh metal from the Volkswagen Group’s Seat and Skoda brands we’ll […]

2011 in Review: The best driving experience

By John LeBlanc Over the course of any year’s worth of an auto writer’s work, you’ll find many reports of us driving new, fast cars on closed circuits and race courses. But many of these so-called “track” events are either hampered by a limited number of laps, limited number of cars, or a slower-than-hoped for […]

First Drive: 2012 Aston Martin V8 Vantage S

RONDA, SPAIN—If you pick up on the clues, it’s obvious the CEO running the very British Aston Martin brand, Ulrich Bez, used to work at the very German brands BMW and Porsche, applying a very Teutonic (i.e. methodical) approach to the perennially money-losing British brand. First, upon the German-born Bez’s arrival at Aston Martin in […]

Stuff: 2011 BMW 5er World Premiere

[svgallery name=”11_BMW_5er”] Story by John LeBlanc MUNICH, Germany – While here in Munich to drive the 2011 X1 cute-ute for the first time, BMW also trotted its next-gen 5 Series sedan, due in Canadian showrooms “around next June.”

First Drive: 2010 Aston Martin Vantage Coupe

[svgallery name=”10_Aston_Martin_Vantage”] Story by John LeBlanc.  Photos by Aaron Kiley. The leather-wrapped steering wheel I’m clutching is attached to a brand-new Vantage Coupé. Yet staring at that chrome-winged logo spelling out “Aston Martin,” nostalgia washes over me.

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