Trends: Is the market passing Honda’s Civic by?

As you may very well know, the battle for the title of top selling car in Canada is a virtual three-way race. Depending on the month and which way the incentive winds are blowing, it’s either the Mazda 3, Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla finishing one-two-three on the podium.

But based on Honda’s lack of initiative with its Civic, you have to wonder how long its compact can continue to compete at the top.

Brand Alert: Does Aston Martin’s new city car hurt/help its image?

No joke. Aston Martin is really going to put a restyled Toyota iQ city car into production, dubbed the Cygnet, and one of my Top 10 Misfit Cars.

Even if the overall shape isn’t in the same universe as the gorgeous, hand built GTs and sports cars the British automaker is used to selling (Vantage, DB9, DBS, etc.), new photos released today show further development from the original clay model mockups.

Trends: Can cheap, import, RWD coupes replace the Mustang/Camaro/Challenger?

Reminiscent of the surge of Japanese sporty cars in the early 1990s, small, cheap, rear-wheel-drive 2+2s from overseas’ automakers seem to be making a bit of a comeback.

We already have the excellent Hyundai Genesis Coupé. The Nürburgring-bred Toyota 2+2 that debuted at this year’s Tokyo show as the FT86 concept is on the way, as well as a probable all-wheel-drive Subaru version.

Foreign Affairs: Sacré bleu! Renault reconsidering North American market

Looks like another European automaker is hoping North Americans have short memories.

A report in the Wall Street Journal has Renault pondering a return here to shill cars and SUVs. But we won’t be getting any Renaults made by well-paid French automakers. Nope.

The plan is to sell the low-cost Duster SUV, below right, built by Renault’s Romanian Dacia subsidiary. Once the cheap SUV gains some sales traction in emerging markets like South America and Eastern Europe, there could be a chance it would be sold in North America as a Renault.

Logic says the Romanian Renaults could be sold in Renault’s partner Nissan dealerships, say, in three to five years. And perhaps Dacia’s Logan sedan and wagon (based on the Renault/Nissan global subcompact platform, as is the Cube and Versa) would join the SUV too.

You may have forgotten. But the last time the French automaker blessed our shores in 1987, they were trying to pawn off Americanized Renaults as Alliances and Encores, above left, after buying struggling AMC (sound familiar?)

Do you think these low-cost Romanian Renaults have a chance here?

How do feel buying a Romanian-built car, putting money in the pocket of a French automaker?

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Is the Soul’ster one Kia too many?

Unless you’ve been living under an AMC Gremlin the past few years, you may have noticed that Kia, along with its parent Hyundai, have made great strides in the new car market, mainly at the expense of the former Detroit Three and formerly untouchable Japanese brands like Honda and Toyota.

Here’s the thing: Kia Canada moved out the door 3,464 vehicles last month, up 28.2 per cent from the same month last year. On a year-to-date basis, sales are up 21.2 per cent over 2008 and November marks the eleventh month of consecutive growth.

Great. Fantastic. Good for them. But now we read that a movement is afoot within Kia’s U.S. design ranks to actually put its Soul’ster concept from this year’s Detroit show,, above, into production.

As is, the Soul’ster is a 2+2, convertible version of the Soul boxy wagon. If anyone decided to do a remake of Baywatch, the Soul’ster would make a great beach buggy for the Barbie and Ken lifeguards. But beyond that, would it have any legs as a mass-market product?

Would you consider buying a Soul’ster?   

Does the Kia brand have enough cachet to make the Soul’ster credible on the street?

Or would the Kia end up as another Suzuki XC90 (Google it), or any other dumb halo cars
that should have been left as concepts?

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

2009 LA Show: "Sexy" and "Sienna" in the same sentance. Really.

LOS ANGELES - If you can think of a better method of birth control than driving a minivan, please, send me an email.

Yet minivan owners, obviously, are able to procreate proficiently enough. How else can they justify driving one of these ill-handling, anodine, box-on-wheels?

Anyway, unlike pretty much every other automaker, Toyota isn't throwing in the towel on the minivan market. It's decided to offer a new Sienna for 2011. And with the hope customers will put "sexy" and "minivan" in the same sentence, Toyota also showed off a pre-production Sienna SE.

The SE offers a stiffened and lowered suspension, 19-inch alloys, body kit, revised grille and carbon fibre in place of wood inside. They even showed us a video of one grinding it out on a slalom course to prove they weren't kidding. Seriously.

So, over to you: Do you think minivan owners will go for a sporty Sienna?

And if so, will Toyota need to start offering five-pont harnesses as an option?

2009 LA Show: The 2011 Hyundai Sonata looks like a _______

LOS ANGELES - Hyundai debuted here yesterday the North American version of its new 2011 Sonata family sedan—virtually the same car that's already on sale in its home Korean market.

Now, as we all know, Hyundai is gunning for the Japanese. Specifically Toyota and Lexus. And the '01 Sonata, along with the Genesis sedan and Coupe, are trying to breakaway from previous milque-styling offerings. 

But stand around long enough Hyundai's booth here at the show, and you get the feeling that Hyundai designers still use a Xerox machine as their primary creative tool.

I overheard everything from "BMW 3 Series," "Lexus ES 350," and "Volkswagen Passat CC" as examples of what the Sonata looked like. Which, if you think about it, isn't exactly bad company to keep.

Based on the shots of the new Sonata above from the LA show floor, though, what design influences do you see?

Does Hyundai have the brand cachet to step up and do a look it can call its own?

Or is the current copycat approach good enough in the long run for the aspiring Korean brand?

2009 LA Show: Mitsubishi Colt might be heading to Canada in 2010

LOS ANGELES - While I patiently sat through Mitsubishi's presentation of its PX-MiEV plug-in (a repeat from this year's Tokyo show,) a colleague noticed a small mention that the Japanese automaker will bring a subcompact to North America in 2010. Logic says, that car will the next version of the Colt.

Mitsubishi Canada hasn't replied yet. But trust me, this would be a good thing.

The company has already come out and said it wants to be known as a small car maker. And two summers ago, it seeded our market by letting a bunch of Canadian media drive Japanese versions of its Colt CZT, above, which I liked a bunch.

Right now, its compact Lancer is its smallest Canadian offering. But it needs something to take on the likes of the Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, Mazda2, Toyota Yaris and Nissan Versa. So this looks like a no-brainer to me.

Do think the Colt would work in Canada?

Or are there already enough small, fun-to-drive and fuel-efficient cars on the market?

2009 LA Show: GM’s rotating CEO chair keeps on spinning

LOS ANGELES – Jeez. You can’t take a cross-continent flight these days without Government Motors switching interim CEOs.

After arriving here in La-La Land for Wednesday’s first press day for the auto show, I find out GM interim CEO Fritz Henderson resigned. GM says, until its brain trust can find a permanent executive to take the job, the automaker’s chairman of the board, Ed Whitacre will play the role of CEO until an “international” search for a new leader is completed.

Okay. Couple of things right off the bat.

• One: No one really thought Henderson was a long-term proposition. He was always seen as a comfortable insider to get GM though last spring’s bankruptcy, and that was about it. However, as events unfolded, he had his chance for a permanent parking spot at GM’s downtown Detroit offices, and simply struck out.

Strike One was the Opel debacle. Henderson wanted the Russian-backed Magna deal to go through, but GM’s board wanted to keep its crown jewels.

Strike Two was the last minute failure of selling Saturn to Roger Penske.

Strike Three was the botched sale of Saab to the Chinese-backed Koenigsegg group.

Sorry Fritz, you’re ouutta there.

• Two: What a way for GM to kick off this year’s LA auto show. Couldn’t it have held off on announcing this decision for 48 hours?

Henderson was scheduled as the keynote speaker for tomorrow morning's media keynote kickoff (never meeting a microphone he didn’t like, Bob Lutz is stepping in.)

So now, instead of us media types talking about the new Buick Regal, Cadillac CTS Coupe, or Chevrolet Cruze, Henderson’s resignation and GM’s rotating CEO chair has become front and centre.

Do you care who’s running GM?

Or does it really matter these days? 

Reality Check: Teslas and EVs—antiquities in the making?

Just like the kerfuffle when Hollywood stars grace our presence during September’s annual Toronto film festival, it looks like the Tesla Roadster electric vehicle’s arrival in the Big Smoke has caused a bit of sensation.

But the reality check on the Tesla—and the flock of EVs arriving over the next few years like the Mini E, Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt—is something different than the green motoring panacea its makers market. The biggest problem being the inconvenience of these darn things.

As Kenzie experienced in the EV roadster:

“Following that all-night 220 volt charge, the meter inside the car promised only 293 km, and that was the so-called "ideal" range, as in, your Granddad is driving.”

I’m sorry, but as soon as cars become inconvenient, people look at alternatives. Er, like the bus.

Just look at diesel cars. The fact you can’t find a diesel pump at every, single gas station in the country is reason enough for a lot of buyers to take a pass on the derv drinkers because of the perceived inconvenience. I mean, we can't even get people to remember to plug-in their car's block heaters on cold winter nights.

Then you have to look at the irrationality of the treehuggers who go for EVs like raccoons at an open garbage can.

Hours of charging time and limited driving range make EVs toys for anyone who wants to drive outside of downtown or for more than a few hours.

More than likely, then, EV owners will own a second “real” (i.e. gas car) taking twice the resources in manufacturing and another valuable parking space.

Compared to owning a single, fuel-efficient, gas small car, like say a Honda Fit, EV ownership sounds pretty dumb to me.

Tesla grande frommage Elon Musk won’t have a problem selling 1,000 copies of the $145,550 U.S. cars by the end of this year. Like most manufacturers of ultra-luxury products, idiots with too much money have always been easy to find. I mean, I could probably round up 500 during a lunch hour stroll down Bay Street. And the real impact on improving the environment from ultra-low volume EV’s is questionable.

Look, forget about the Tesla. It’s a low-volume aberration. A technical freak that’s playing on the current “cars are evil” cultural zeitgeist. A guilt soother for the rich.

No. The big challenge with the Tesla—and EVs in general—will be in convincing the much more critical masses.

The best EV I’ve driven was the Mitsubishi i-MiEV this past summer.

Smooth, quiet and powerful, it offers few driving compromises. But as an owner, why would I pay twice as much (approximately $36,000) for a gas model of a car that already gets outstanding gas mileage without the charging and limited range hassles?

Same for the Mini E I drove about a year ago.

The Chevrolet Volt that’s on the way next year solves the troubling EV range problem a bit with its tiny onboard generator that starts charging the battery on the fly after the initial charge has been drained.

But it will likely cost twice as much as a loaded model of Chevy’s new Cruize, and seat only four where the gas compact seats five.

So until I can buy an EV that drives as far, offers similar passenger and cargo space room, and costs the same as a comparable gas model, like I said, they’re pretty dumb.

Trust me. 50 years from now, historians will be looking at this first batch of EVs like we look at hoola hoops and black and white TVs today—cultural antiquities.