Toyota’s Scion confirmed for Canada for 2010. Again.

One year after its first press release on this subject matter, Toyota Canada felt compelled last week to issue another statement about its so-called U.S.-only “youth brand”, Scion, effectively saying, yes, it will be coming to Canada. Really.

In the past twelve moths, the auto world has seen a few changes, n’est pas? So maybe some calming of the cynics was in order.

But the basics of last week’s release hasn’t changed much from the original October 19, 2008 presser.

Scions for sale initially will be the European Toyota Avensis-based tC coupe (left), subcompact xD (middle) and compact xB (right) wagons; store-within-Toyota-stores in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver only; and no prices yet.

We now know, though, the launch month (September). A dealer list has been announced. And potentially optimistic sales figures have been thrown into mix just for fun.

Toyota says, that when the brand rolls out across Canada by 2013, it hopes to be selling 30,000 Scions annually here. Other models, like the Smart ForTwo-like iQ city car, may help the cause.

However, using the basic 10:1 ratio, with U.S. sales of 114,000 in 2008, I expect Scion to move more like 12,000 to 15,000 cars—max. We’ll see.

Do you think Toyota needs another brand in Canada to sell to young buyers?

Will Scions cannibalize sales from the existing small Toyotas like the Yaris and Matrix?

[Source: Toyota Canada]

No Brainer Alert: Acura decides sports wagons may catch on

 When Cadillac beats you to the punch, you know your product developers are asleep at the wheel.

That’s the only reason I can think of why the braintrust at Honda’s North American premium brand, Acura, has finally woken up and smelled the sports wagon roses and decided to sell here the Euro-only Accord Touring (above and below right) next Fall.

Yikes!! What's next for Acura? Something wild and crazy, like diesels?

Anyhoo, as the North American TSX is a rebadged Euro Accord, so will the wagon.

After years of BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Saab and now Cadillac, selling sports wagons, I think this is a No Brainer.

But are sports wagons on the up- or downswing?

Do you think peeps are finally fed up with cute-utes, like Acura’s RDX?

[Source” Acura]

Honda's reincarnated CR-X two-seater confirmed for Canada

As expected, Honda debuted the second concept of its CR-Z two-seat hybrid coupe, left, yesterday at the Tokyo auto show.

Better yet, Honda Canada confirmed the CR-Z will be coming to Canada next year.

The production model will make its global debut at the 2010 Detroit show in January.

No horsepower figures yet. But the CR-Z will use a larger (1.5 versus 1.3-litre) version of the Insight's gas-electric powerplant.  And—hallellujah!—the coupe will ditch the Insight's CVT and be the first hybrid ever to use a stick, a six-speeder, to be exact.

Regardless, I'm hoping Honda gets smart and offers a gas-only version, eventually, as well.

Just a warning Honda: As a former 1990 CR-X Si owner, the new CR-Z has some very high standards to live up to. Know what I mean...

[Source: Honda Canada]

Lexus's LF-A supercar finally breaks cover

Toyota is very serious about it's new Lexus LF-A exotic V10 super duper car. It officially debuted at this year's Tokyo auto show today. And tomorrow morning, courtesy of Lexus Canada, I'll be just southwest of Miami to briefly drive production prototypes around the Homestead-Miami race course.

You'll get my driving impressions afterwards. But for now, here's some initial specs (560 hp, 354 lb-ft,  4.8-litre, V10; six-speed sequential gearbox; 0-100 km/h = 3.7 seconds; top speed = 325 km/h; 500 copies) still shots of the car, as well as videos of various LF-As lapping various tracks around the world.

[Source: YouTube, NAGTROC, FT-86.com]

Toyota's FT-86 and the Nürburging make nice

We already got a peek at what Toyota's return to the affordable performance coupe market looks like in the virtual world. But the PR machine is getting cranked up ahead of the FT-86's official debut at this month's Tokyo show with de rigueur Nürburgring nudge-nudge, wink-wink "spy videos." If the production model can live up to this cinematic snippet, Hyundai better start working on some upgrades for its Genesis Coupe. [Source: FT86 Club]

Toyota's Corolla SR5 AE86 reincarnation gets virtual debut

Of course, it’s not all bad news this week at The World’s Largest Automaker.

Here’s a virtual Gran Turismo 5 clip of the forthcoming Toyota FT-86 sports coupe (with a not-so-surprising guest car cameo at the end) that will make its real-life debut at this month’s Tokyo auto show.

[Source: CarNifty TV]

The Koreans are coming!! The Koreans are coming!! Pssst—they’re already here…

Hey, wasn’t it only a couple of Detroit shows back that The Next Big Thing was going to be cheap-as-dirt Chinese cars?

At the 2008 Motor City shindig, I distinctly remember talking to a guy from the China America Co-operative Automobile Inc. He boasted that his company was ready to start importing Chinese cars into the U.S. that year and into Canada by the end of this year. The plan was to sell 13,500 vehicles in North America in 2009, at an average price of U.S. $13,500.

Of course, we all know how that’s going...

Anyway, whether or not the Chinese automakers ever get their act together (i.e. make cars that don’t fold up like rusty cans of tuna fish) and start selling cars on our shores, we’ll have to wait and see.

But for now, the Chinese threat seems to have been replaced by a fear in the established North American automakers’ court by another foreign threat—the Koreans.

Although buyers have cottoned on to the idea that Hyundais and Kias are now very competitive, some automakers are only now getting around to recognizing where their lunch is being eaten.

Last week, Honda’s CEO Ito Takanobu said that he sees Hyundai as a huge threat to the future of Japanese automakers.

“Hyundai is awesome,” Takanobu said. “They are undoubtedly a threat because their products are cheap, and the quality is improving.”

Even Nissan’s head pen, Shiro Nakamura, is complementing Hyundai. “Hyundai is the biggest threat for the Japanese automakers,” he said. “They have the technology, but they seem to have cheaper labor.”

Funnily enough we haven’t heard boo from the world’s largest automaker, Toyota, about what it thinks of its upstart Korean rivals.

Maybe that’s because it’s busy dealing with its 3.8 million vehicles being recalled to fix an "acceleration problem"; four wrongful-death U.S. lawsuits filed alleging faulty steering rods in trucks; a former Toyota attorney charges the company with covering up rollover accidents; and a California woman suing Toyota’s Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency, for a PR campaign which, she alleges, she was terrorized by a fictional English football hooligan who insisted — via email — that he was going to show up at her house with his pitbull and crash on her sofa while he avoided the police.

So, over to you: Do you think Hyundai (and its sister brand Kia) can some day overtake the Japanese Big Three?

Or have they already?

[Source: AutoCar]

Is BMW’s “new type” of vehicle another nail in the sports wagon coffin?

Over the next few months, you’re going to be hearing a lot about BMW’s new 2010 5 Series Gran Turismo.

Both philosophically and literally, the 5er GT fills that sliver of a niche between the current 535xi Touring sports wagon and the sporty version of the X5 SUV—the X6. Its footprint, height and weight (and ultimately, driving experience) split the two other BMWs right down the middle.

Objectively, I think BMW’s new idea for a sporty and utility vehicle will be successful in the market. It should catch those customers who think driving an SUV these days is socially repugnant, or that station wagons are old hat.

As someone who grew up on Car and Driver’s David E. Davis and his various Boss Wagons, however, I’m one of those old farts who thinks a good ol’ sports wagon is just fine, thank you very much. They’re kind of like free beer: the driving qualities of a sports sedan with some extra utility thrown in.

But as a sports wagon fan, the 5er GT worries me.

At its media launch, BMW couldn’t confirm whether or not the next the next 5er wagon (due in 2010) will be coming to Canada.

Phrases like “Yet to be decided” and “Still in the plans” aren’t very promising.

This year alone, we’ve lost the Dodge Magnum and Mazda6 wagons. Mercedes replaced its C Class wagon with the less-than-elegant GLK cute-ute. And if we lose the 5er wagon, I’ll certainly miss it.

On a drive from Innsbruck, Austria, to Munich last fall, the 530i Touring I  borrowed proved to be a great drive. In fact, I was having so much fun at the wheel that I got to meet some new friends in the Austrian highway patrol, above. I’m not sure the new GT would inspire such spirited driving.

I’ll certainly miss the 5er wagon if it dies. But am I alone here?

Acura’s RSX return rumoured

After establishing a rabid fan club that started with its Integra predecessor—and just as most of its rivals were jumping in with both feet—Acura abandoned the premium compact coupe market when it canned its RSX in 2006.

Go figure.

But now, apparently, Acura is looking for forgiveness.

Honda's premium brand is seriously considering some kind of premium compact coupe. Most likely a front-driver with four-bangers (maybe even a hybrid), based on the next-gen 2011 Civic.

But in an all-of-a-sudden crowded segment field with the likes of the BMW 1 Series, Mini Cooper, Volvo C30 and forthcoming Lexus and Infiniti compacts, has Acura missed the premium compact coupe boat?

And what about the idea that the new RSX (or whatever it will be called) will more than likely go FWD again?

Does the new RSX need rear- or all-wheel-drive to compete?

[Source: eGMCarTech]

2009 Frankfurt: Is the new 9-5 the car to save Saab?

Worn down by years of inattention from parent Government Motors, soon-to-be-sold-off Saab is in desperate need of a hit with its new 9-5 "flagship" sedan.

In the first six months of this year, globally, Saab built 9,061 9-5s—down 72.4 per cent from 2008.

So, as you can imagine, much is being made of the long-overdue 2010 update of the Swedish automaker’s 12-year-old 9-5 mid-size sedan, which Saab spat out some details of today before its official unveiling in Frankfurt next month.

Apparently, the 9-5 will be “the most technically advanced car it has made to date,” so says Saab.

Yet most of the noted features (head-up information display, Bi-Xenon adaptive headlights, adaptive cruise control, parking assistance and all-wheel-drive) competitors have been offering for years.

Sharing a longer wheelbase version of the GM platform that also underpins the Opel Insignia and forthcoming Buick Regal, at least the new 9-5 is going back to Saab’s traditional all-turbo engine lineup.

Said Saab Managing Director Jan-Ake Jonsson, “This car is the start of a new era for our brand,"

But hey: no pressure.

Despite all this new goodness, the 9-5 has some strikes against becoming Saab’s saving grace.

As customers move to value, 9-5’s mid-size luxury sedan segment is getting clobbered in this new economy. As well,  so-called “mainstream luxury” brands like Saab and its Acura, Infiniti, and Volvo rivals, are also been dropped by buyers.

So, over to you: Is  the new 9-5 the car to keep Saab alive?

Or are we watching the unveiling of potentially the last ever Saab flagship?

[Source: Automotive News]