Lexus, desperate to be seen as the embodiment of edgy sophistication, expects to jolt the marketplace with its reinvented RX – both gasoline and hybrid versions. For your illumination, we bring you the story of Toyota Motor CEO Akio Toyoda, a man mission-ized to shake up stodgy ol’ Toyota and its long-underperforming Lexus luxury brand. …
Lexus versus hybrids: want to jump into the betting pool?
Insiders at Toyota Canada tell me that at the home office you’ll find players in a little betting pool that pits Lexus against hybrids. The wager: Lexus-brand models will out-sell all the various gasoline electric vehicles Toyota Canada offers. I’d wager on Lexus and I don’t think it will be close, though the 2015 sales …
VW dithering through dieselgate: as sales plummet, lawsuits mount and regulators circle, VW’s leadership pulls a Nero as the company burns
Volkswagen’s sales in Canada and the United States have collapsed in the wake of the unresolved “dieselgate” scandal that has rocked what was once the world’s No. 1 car company by sales. VW’s February sales in Canada plunged 27.7 per cent; year-to-date sales are down 22.9 per cent. VW Canada has now lost 1.2 per …
Buick’s comeback: so long Geritol set, hello hipsters
At some point, the weight of the evidence surely must tip the scales in favor of Buick, the aspiring General Motors upscale brand fashioning one of the all-time great comebacks/revivals/reversal of fortunes in automotive history. Almost no one expected to see Buick racking up record global sales and winning plaudits for quality by 2016. But …
April 3, 2016 | Commentary, First on the Grid 3 Comments (0) |
Tesla Model 3: fans cheer, critics jeer
For years now, many have been puzzled and dismayed by the fanatical following of Tesla Motors’ founder and CEO Elon Musk. Fanatical? His supporters and acolytes numbered at least 250,000 this week, and their numbers are growing. These true-believers happily delivered a $1,000 non-refundable deposit to Tesla for the right to purchase a Model 3 …
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