Car FYI

  The 1968 Beaumont SD-396 (Photo Credit:  Elise240SX at Wikimedia Commons ) A time where immense horsepower could first be realized from relatively simple mechanics, the muscle car era is a wondrous occurrence in automotive history. An event billed on many vehicles that were produced in the United States, Canada also participated in the marriage of finely-formed sheetmetal meeting powerful V8 engines. Alongside the Chevrolet Chevelle being produced in General Motors of Canada long-time home of Oshawa, Ontario during the 1960s, a uniquely Canadian muscle car also rolled off the assembly line. From the 1950s into the late 1960s, the Canadian automobile market was furnished a large amount of vehicles built in the country. Due to import taxes between Canada and the United States at the time, there was a demand by some vehicle brands to create exclusive models for the domestic market. With Canadian Pontiac dealerships, their need for added models resulted in the creation of Acadia...

Photo Credit: ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images With the start of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, competitors racing with the Chevrolet bow tie will be running an unmarked vehicle. Of course, fans of the sport will instantly recognize the car as the sixth generation Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that has raced since 2018 and since 2022 in the form of the Gen 7 stock car, there is no mention of the Camaro name on the vehicle for 2025. The discontinuation of the production Chevrolet Camaro following the 2024 model year prompted the adjustment to how the brand’s vehicles would be represented in racing. Running what is essentially an obsolete car for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Chevrolet contingent are not the first teams to compete with cars no longer running off assembly lines. From the foundation of NASCAR in 1948 to the 1970s, Cup races would commonly feature cars across several model years but a Grand National Series (later Cup Series) rule required that cars be based...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada 2024 Product Lineup: Blazer, Blazer EV, Bolt EV, Bolt EUV, Camaro, Colorado, Corvette, Corvette E-RAY, Equinox, Equinox EV, Express, Malibu, Silverado, Silverado HD, Silverado EV, Suburban, Tahoe, Trailblazer, Traverse, Trax Overall Brand Impression:  Chevrolet reaches a nexus point in its history in 2024 as its planned metamorphosis will see the popular North American auto brand shift. A model line consisting of a growing number of electrified vehicles will now include a hybrid version of the classic Corvette sports car. While tough and durable Silverado, versatile Traverse family crossover and even the Malibu sedan continue as mainstays this year, 2024 for the bowtie badged marque will see the end of the road for the second life of the Chevrolet Camaro.     What’s New for 2024:  Changes are found throughout much of the 2024 Chevrolet product range. The flashiest addition to the bowtie badge is the new Chevrolet Corvet...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy The 2023 Chevrolet Corvette is one of the finest-tuned and most recognized performance machines made. Featuring a meticulously sculpted shape combining elements of race cars and jet aircraft, the Corvette’s recent evolution to a rear mid-engined layout for its eighth generation has been a lengthy pursuit for perfection . The 2020 Corvette Stingray with its 495-horsepower Small Block V8 engine contributed to the fastest stock acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour while the Z06 edition of the sports car rose the vehicle to the peak of automotive athleticism with a 670-horsepower LT6 powerplant. The book of 70 years of history has been written by eight major revisions that progressed from a modest performer. On this day (June 30th), the first chapter for the Chevrolet Corvette’s story began to be written inside a Flint, Michigan factory where the first car was assembled with less precision and polish than the modern icon. Starting life as Project Ope...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada   Theme of the Show: The New Era The first Canadian International AutoShow I attended, the 2009 Toronto exhibition was an event that operated in an uncertain economic time for the industry.  The great recession ended the decade causing considerable reassessments on many fronts. With roughly 1,674,100 vehicles sold in Canadian during 2008 equating to a roughly 1 percent drop compared to the previous year, the data actually showed a radical increase in passenger car sales while truck sales fell to its deepest level in seven years. Smaller, economical cars were favoured among new vehicle buyers while traditional truck-like struggled as a hangover of high gas prices and over-saturation of the marketplace. The fickleness of the 2009 buyer would be highlighted when auto sales took a deeper plummet in Canada with 1,484,900 new vehicles sold. Besides the attitude of car buyers, the biggest change that would appear over the course of 2...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada Auto racing has long been a showcase forecasting the advancement of automotive technology. Countless aspects found in modern passenger cars owe their existence towards innovative engineers, designers and drivers finding a competitive edge on the race car. Even though the technology transfer is less pronounced in an era where rules in motorsports is more policed then in earlier racing decades, a push remains by auto manufacturers and racing leagues to give audiences the impression that the vehicles on track have some connection to the production cars attached to a brand. As automakers are pushing towards greater use of electric-powered or electrified powertrain vehicles present a new opportunity for motorsports to promote a new future for road cars. In preparation for their 2022 season, the NTT IndyCar Series has announced intentions to introduce hybrid powerplants. When competitors take the grid for the 2022 IndyCar Series, their veh...

Photo Credit: Chevrolet Though the commitment to a Chevrolet Corvette with an engine positioned ahead of the passenger compartment remained the production standard for another generation, a host of concept cars would continue to sell notion of a different powerplant layout. Intended as a research vehicle, the Astro I featured a fiberglass body that did not use conventional doors. An electric-powered roof would open in concert with elevating seats provided a unique entry and exit experience for passengers for a vehicle measuring only 35.5 inches in height. Finished in Crimson-Flame Acrylic Pearl paint, the Astro I design study also consisted of an air-cooled engine, fully automatic air conditioning, twin grip steering wheel and active aerodynamics to facilitate emergency stops. Another concept vehicle displayed a more reality-focused proposal. The XP-880 concept car came to fruition in 1968 under the engineering expertise of Frank Winchell and Larry Nies. Using existing productio...

Photo Credit: Chevrolet in Canada This year, we are seeing several new examples where the ‘sport’ portion in the term sport utility vehicle is being presented with increased grandeur. Among the super-exotic, the Bentley Bentayga has become one of the most powerful sport utility vehicles on the market generating 600 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque from a twin-turbocharged W-12 engine. In February, Dodge introduced a new tire-smoking Durango wearing SRT badging and producing 475-horsepower from a HEMI V-8. Besides engine performance, the latest crop of sport utility and crossover vehicles have continued to integrate agile styling as well as sharper on-road handling. Showing up to the new sport utility performance wearing its traditional bowtie, Chevrolet prepares their Rally Sport badging for a special ride on the Tahoe and Suburban. Photo Credit: Steve Fecht for Chevrolet Classified as the Rally Sport Truck or RST, the new performance appearance level is ...