The Crank: Did GM “lie” about its Chevy Volt being an “electric” car?

By John LeBlanc

Its General Motors‘ so-called Jesus (as in savior) Car. And it’s being rolled out in its home U.S. market right now, before it makes its way to Canada next year. Yet, in what should be a shining moment in the sun for one of the most talked about new cars in some time, parent GM is having to defend not only its Chevrolet Volt’s less-than-promised real-world fuel economy, but also if the car is really the revolutionary vehicle GM’s been promising us since its debut at the 2007 Detroit show. Read more

Paris 2010: It wasn’t all champagne and frog’s legs…

By John LeBlanc

PARIS — While there were many delightful surprises and forward thinking concept and production car debuts at this year’s Paris auto show, you can’t have two days of presentations without a few duds showing up… Read more

Paris 2010: Design Disasters

By John LeBlanc

PARIS, France – Is it me, or is car design in a bit of a funk? Maybe it’s the new pedestrian laws—that are demanding higher hoodlines and subsequently taller (i.e. odd) proportions. Or maybe the financial demand of making the tougher fuel economy and emissions regulations has crunched automotive design department budgets. Whatever it is, there were some debuts at this year’s Paris auto show that if they were Broadway shows, would be shut down before the last final of opening night. Read more

The Crank: Why Audi shouldn’t build its Paris Quattro concept

By John LeBlanc

Of all the groundbreaking cars at this year’s Parisian shindig, personally, Audi’s Quattro Concept was my out-and-out fave. I’d been hearing that Audi had been working on a revival of its original—or Ur—Quattro coupe (left)—in celebration of 30 years of Quattro, for a couple of years now. If you’re the right age, the first Quattros are seminal cars, now classics. They had the credibility of not only countless rally championships, but also for jump starting a once-morbid brand, and supplying the golden nugget of what has become the cornerstone of Audi’s brand ethos: performance all-wheel-drive. Read more

Paris 2010: Is it the end of the car, as we know it?

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

PARIS — Woe be the modern automaker. With a lingering economic recession, ever-tightening fuel economy and emissions regulations and a younger population that is more interested in their next cell phone than their next set of four wheels, the global auto industry is seemingly under attack from all sides. Read more

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