2013 Frankfurt: Audi stuns with half-super-car/half-crossover Nanuk

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

FRANKFURT – It’s rare these days to arrive at an auto show and be surprised, with automakers using the Internet to “leak” information well before the actual media days. But the Audi Nanuk Concept — a supercar/crossover — caught many in the industry off guard. Read more

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 never see in Canada, there was still plenty of new from its Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche and Volkswagen brands: Read more

Toyota’s “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” hybrid strategy right on track

Story by John LeBlanc

YPSILANTI, MICH. — The “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” strategy has been around since Henry Ford’s 999 racecars appeared at the dawn of the automotive industry in 1901. More than a century later, Japan’s Toyota is continuing that tradition with its latest TS030 racer, the first hybrid racecar to be entered in the FIA World Endurance Championship series, highlighted by the annual 24 Hours of LeMans race. Read more

Fuel Economy Comparo: Kia Optima Hybrid vs. Toyota Camry Hybrid

Story by John LeBlanc

Feel free to thank the rising price of fuel and stricter government-mandated fuel economy ratings for today’s variety of new gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. Once limited to being quirky or small when they arrived in the late 1990s, hybrids now come in all shapes and sizes. Read more

Toyota says next Prius will be “significantly” more fuel efficient, weigh less, drive better

Story by John LeBlanc

YPSILANTI, MICH. — For Toyota, any discussion about the future of its hybrid vehicle strategy begins and ends with its iconic Prius. An all-new model is due in the next two years, and during the Japanese automaker’s Hybrid World Tour media event, plenty of hints and clues were dropped as to what we can expect the next-generation of Toyota hybrids will perform like and cost. Read more

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