What better way to sell your car than an outrageous YouTube video?
Lettrage Perfect Design, a company in Lavaltrie, Quebec that sponsors modified cars is seen here with a C6 Corvette, and way too much spare rubber.
Watch as this driver creates a smoke show in front of a small crowd. The driver then does a few donuts and calls it a day, but not after showing us a fresh pair of (probably) rear tires that are ready for “the next show.”
Canadian car thieves have an affinity for the ugly, or so it would seem based on recently released data.
Do you remember the Pontiac Aztek? It’s OK if you don’t, we smacked our heads against a brick wall over its design too. But its ugly looks haven’t stopped it from making number eight on the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s top 10 stolen cars list of 2011.
Specifically, it’s the 2001 four-wheel drive model, not that there’s a difference between the dumbly-designed SUV that ceased to exist, much like it’s manufacturer.
Just to recap, we’re talking about an SUV with a 3.4-liter V6 making 185 horsepower. It weighs 3,779 lbs and gets a miserable 16/23 mpg city/highway, oh and has a face a mother couldn’t even love.
Why anyone would bother stealing this scrap heap is beyond us, especially considering the fact that there are plenty of perfectly easy-to-steal Cadillac Escalades out there that fetch a much better resale value.
That’s the one good thing we can say for the Aztek, if it get’s stolen you’re only out a couple grand. Heck, those thieves probably did you a favor by towing it free of charge.
Over the last two-decades, BMW has given us quite a few “Z” cars. There was the chic Z3 that James Bond helped unveil in the movie “Golden Eye,” followed by the sinfully pretty Z8 (also used in a Bond flick; The World Is Not Enough), which was penned by Henrik Fisker (yes, the same guy who went on to design some Aston Martin‘s and then started his own car company).
More recently, we have seen two-generations of the Z4 model, and while there was a Z9 concept car, when it eventually went into production, it became the 6-series.
In North America, very few know about the car that started the whole “Z”-line of cars at BMW. The very first model to wear this alphabet was appropriately called the Z1.
Like all the “Z” cars that went into production, the Z1 is a front-engined, rear-wheel drive, two-seater sports car. Unlike all other “Z” cars (or any other production car for that matter), the Z1 had doors that would drop down into the sills. Yes, getting in and out is a bit more challenging than usual due to the high sills, but it is worth it for the reaction it causes in public. Plus you can park in a tight spot and not worry about being able to swing open the door. The doors would move up and down via an electric motor, so no muscle power is needed.
Speaking of muscle, the Z1 was powered by the familiar 2.5-liter, straight-six cylinder engine, that can be found in other BMW models. This engine produces just 168-hp and 161 lb/ft of torque, which is not a lot for a car that weighs 3200-lbs. Power was fed to the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual gearbox. According to BMW, this sleek roadster took 9.0-seconds to accelerate from 0-62 mph, and would top out at 137 mph. Not slow, but not nearly as fast as it looks.
During its two-year production run from March 1989 to June 1991, BMW made just 8000 examples of the Z1, well short of their target of producing 35,000 copies initially.
Nowadays, the Z1 is considered to be a rare, modern classic, and finding one for sale in North America (a market where it was never officially sold) is extremely difficult.
But we have found a clean example sitting in Calgary, AB., Canada. This black on grey and charcoal example has covered about 20,600-miles. The seller has not provided much else information, and has mentioned a wrong engine size in the ad. The asking price is CAN$29,999, which equals to $29,400 in our currency at today’s exchange rate.
So if you’ve always wanted a Z1, or just want a car with disappearing doors, you can check out the ad yourself in the source link below.
[Source: AutoTrader.ca]
Volkswagen Canada is pulling a television commercial after receiving complaints that it is insensitive and offensive. The ad features the Volkwagen Passat, but the complaints center around what happens after the man pulls into the emergency lane.
He jumps out of the car in a panic, saying his wife is having a baby, but stops to chat about how great his Passat is after the EMT seems impressed. They ignore the woman’s cries to check out the interior, and the spot ends with the husband shutting the driver’s door, apparently having forgotten his wife altogether.
Volkswagen Canada spokesperson Thomas Tetzlaff told the Winnipeg Free Press that the company apologized after a small number of customers said they thought the ad portrayed pregnant women in a bad light.
The website Art Threat tried to take credit for the removal, but Volkswagen insists that they removed it a week before the site published its article, and that their decision was a response to their customers.
[Source: Winnipeg Free Press]
You can watch the ad below
Automobile manufacturing is a big part of the Canadian economy. 10 percent of the country’s manufacturing output is related to the auto industry.
Things have been changing for a few years already, and the future is not looking good for Canada. Thanks to their lower labor rates and production costs, more and more car companies are looking to move their operations down to Mexico.
Currently, Canada accounts for 16-percent of production for North America, but since 2008 Mexico, has accounted for 20-percent, and that number will likely grow.
If the trend continues, Canadians might lose their jobs well south of their border. However, not all is doom and gloom for our northern neighbors as vehicle production increased in 2011 by 2-percent to bring a total of 2.1-million units produced.
General Motors is supporting the Canadian economy by announcing that the new Cadillac XTS sedan will be built in Oshawa, Ontario (where vehicles like the Camaro are already built), and Toyota Motor Corporation has announced that it will invest C$545-million to upgrade Toyota production facilities in Ontario.
[Source: Automotive News]
Honda announced today that they would use excess capacity at their Alabama plant following a $300 million investment in the facility. The investment will allow for a total of 340,000 units anually.
Rising exchange rates are forcing Honda to devote more resources to North American production while reducing exports. Honda will shift their Acura MDX luxury SUV to the plant from their Canadian factory in Ontario, and use their Ontario plant to produce the 2012 Honda CR-V crossover.
[Source: Reuters]
An abandoned BMW dealership outside of Toronto, Canada is up on the market, with an asking price of $3.6 million. Citation Motors of Oakville, Ontario was said to have had its BMW franchise revoked in 1988, and closed its doors soon after.
The property remained abandoned in an eerie, “frozen-in-time” sort of way, and 2 1988 BMWs, a 635csi and a 5-series still sit in the showroom, while other cars populate the backlot. The property is said to be maintained by the former owner of the dealership, who visits from time to time.
Even though real estate prices in the Toronto area are sky high, we have a hard time believing that this property will fetch the asking price.
[Source: Endras BMW]
Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis of Scarborough-Agincourt, Ontario, Canada, is a long time political activist for speed limiters with the intent of reducing the number of car accidents caused by excess speed.
Though a previous attempt in 2006 to present a speed limiter bill to the House of Commons was unsuccessful, a recent high-speed car accident in Toronto that tore a vehicle to two pieces, killing driver Wyongfong Shen, has further motivated Karygiannis to reintroduce a bill for electronic speed limiter devices to be installed on all new vehicles.
Jim Karygiannis explains, “It was estimated that this individual was doing 180 kilometers an hour, so should the speed limiter have been at 150, it would have cut him off and he wouldn’t have been able to speed… I figured cars shouldn’t be going over 150 kilometers an hour [93 mph). Nobody needs it. Nobody wants it."
If the bill passes, it will amend the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, effectively making speed limiters mandatory for all new vehicles sold in Canada.
[Source: CBC]
Our neighbors to the north apparently do more than just make maple syrup and drink beer, they annually get together to choose their car of the year. Sounds like fun eh!
The Automobile Journalist Association of Canada (AJAC) has just released its list of contestants for this years competition, which will be held in the Niagara region of Ontario.
Last year the winner was the Chevrolet Cruze. Which will win this year? The results will be revealed at the Toronto International Auto Show in February 2012. The North American Car of the Year list was published earlier this year.
Hit the jump to see the full list:
Last weekend, Nissan Canada officially began the reservation process for the all-new electric Leaf. Within two hours, all Leaf inventory was reserved.
On August 27th, Canadians attended one of 27 Nissan Leaf certified dealers and were invited to reserve the electric vehicle for a refundable $99 deposit. Judy Wheeler, Nissan Canada’s director of marketing, said, “Response from Canadians since we first revealed the Nissan Leaf in 2009 has been astounding, so we’re not surprised that our first inventory of 40 model year ’11 cars were snapped up so quickly”.
Nissan says that Leaf deliveries will begin sometime in September for Canadians that reserved the vehicle. Nissan will also be selling 600 units of the 2012 model year Leaf sometime soon.
![Meredes CLS Shooting Brake: Lookin’ Fine in Winter Time [Spy Photos]](http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/wp-content/uploads//2012/02/Mercedes-CLS-Shooting-Brake-thumb.jpg "Meredes CLS Shooting Brake: Lookin’ Fine in Winter Time [Spy Photos]")
Meredes CLS Shooting Brake: Lookin’ Fine in Winter Time [Spy Photos]
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