Any interviewer who’s tried to press a German auto executive knows they don’t easily give up their secrets. So it was a pleasant surprise to have them willingly share a few with us. Traditionally, concept cars are automaker’s way of testing the waters, pushing the boundaries of design and engineering possibilities and revealing the direction […]
While COVID took the wind out of the North American economy last year, Kia Canada found itself having one its most successful years last year, and sees only continuing success for this year. Elias El-Achhab, Kia Canada’s COO said that when 2020 started the automaker was expecting a record 2020 with plans to break its […]
Pickup trucks aren’t often featured in our Base Camp series, primarily because many models have pushed their entry-level prices to the point of incredulity. For some, it makes good financial sense to take a short walk up the ladder, paying marginally more for a healthy dose of extra equipment. Does the 2021 GMC Canyon play […]
Redesigning an icon isn’t easy. The entire MINI lineup gets a full facelift for the 2022 model year. But while the changes appear subtle and, well, not exactly apparent firsthand, there’s a lot more to this update than meets the eye. After all, the MINI Cooper is a design icon. Messing with its face and […]
Last year, early in December, I wrote a column entitled, “If you’re over 80, you should have to take a driver’s test to keep your licence.” You don’t have to do that any more. I explained that seniors organizations had lobbied the Ontario government to stop discriminating on the basis of age and the government […]
In a consumer market that has moved decidedly away from the segment it occupies, the Mazda6 continues to mark the time as a fine example of a vehicle most new car buyers ignore. Only 1,049 Mazda6s were sold in Canada in 2020 that represented a 25 per cent year-over-year decline. It suffered a similar fate […]
Buick has just launched the 2021 Envision compact crossover. An all-new model for the second generation of the nameplate, this one gets a much more car-like nose than before, with broad-shouldered styling front and rear. Inside is also new, though it will still look familiar to Buick buyers. Avenir is added to the model for […]
Kia has been on a roll, of that there is no doubt. In fact, few automakers out there are as poised and responsive to change and customer feedback as the Korean giant is. While they have less of an identity crisis than sister Hyundai, the new Kia K5 neé Optima bears little resemblance to the […]
The two things I wanted to do after finishing engineering school at U of T were race cars, and play in a rock ‘n’ roll band. The two things I swore I’d never do were to teach, or have anything to do with computers. Within six years of graduation, I was racing cars, playing in […]
In the early days, some car companies didn’t have auto-making in their mission statement. Sweden’s Saab was originally an aircraft maker. Of the 16 engineers tasked with designing its first automobile, only one possessed a driver’s licence. France’s Peugeot made coffee grinders to start, then expanded into bicycles. Mazda was a purveyor of cork products […]