2025 CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL AUTOSHOW
February 14, 2025 to February 23, 2025, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
18/2/2025
METICULOUSLY HAND-CRAFTED IN CANADA, THE J2X® MKIII ALLARD ROADSTER
Twenty-two years ago, Roger Allard, a lifelong auto enthusiast and his wife made a trip to England where he saw his first J2X at England’s Beaulieu Museum. By then, moved by the unexpected convergence of his name and the car, Allard the man was to become consumed by Allard the car.
Back home in Montreal, Roger dove into J2X research. He felt compelled to recreate–as closely as possible–a period-correct J2X based on a modern, high-performance platform.
He became a man on a mission, launching Allard Motor Works in 1999 and beginning a costly, decade-long, setback-filled development and prototype process.(Classic Motorsports)
Mr. Allard introduced WT to his masterful re-creation of the 1950s-era British competition car, which weaves up-to-the-minute technology with a classic design, hand-tooled leather upholstery and a console that will charge your electronic devices while you zip along the blacktop with the wind in your hair.
Allard has thought of everything in this boutique roadster, delivering comfort and reliability with the style and performance of the inspiration piece.
Get out to see Roger before the week is out at the Toronto Star Booth.
Allard Motor Works at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto (February 14-23, 2025)
Roger Allard poses with J2X® MkIII roadster
14/2/2025
CARS AND WATER
There is no denying it! "We live in a car culture". Keys to our modern life, cars dominate our culture, our transportation, and our infrastructure.
Currently, there are 1.644 billion vehicles on Earth and 8.1 billion humans; or 1 car for every 4.927 humans in 2025, or 0.20 cars per capita, or 203 cars per thousand humans.(Hedges & company)
Four million miles of public roadways in the United States carry people and goods to their destinations every day (American Society of Civil Engineers 2024 report). Statistics Canada reports 1,042,718 km in 2020 (47,915 miles)
At least 50% of the commercials on our TV shows and sports events are for automobile companies; and songs about cars - from the Beach Boys “Fun, fun, fun’, Queens’ “I’m in love with my car” , to 2Pac’s “Picture me Rollin” - have dominated our airwaves for decades
In 2022, General Motors spent approximately 3.25 billion U.S. dollars on advertising in the United States. Toyota Motor and Ford Motor registered each advertising expenditure above one billion U.S. dollars (Statista).
WATER AND CARS
If you are wondering why a media about water cares about cars, it is because water has a lot to do with both car production and car safety during flooding events.
One of WaterToday’s all time most popular articles was about the use of water in car production.
Entitled “WATER USE IN CAR MANUFACTURING: OVER 100 MILLION CUBIC METRES USED BY MAJOR COMPANIES -That's 40,000 Olympic-size pools!”, the 2017 article looked at the water management strategies of five major automobile manufacturers to see just how much water is used to produce their cars and trucks. All five have taken different routes to reducing the amount of water used to produce a vehicle, but all five recognize the importance of the resource and have to minimize and optimize their usage.
Read full article here
With regards to flood mitigation, .WT spoke with representatives of auto manufacturers at the 2024 International Auto Show to find out which cars come equipped with standard flood safety features. As more vehicles rolling off the lines are fully electric, how might this change the risk for drivers and their passengers when dealing with flooding? We put these questions to Volvo, automotive industry safety leader, to Polestar, to Ford-Lincoln, General Motors and Nissan.
WT requested information on standard flood safety features, such as sensors and warning when a car has driven into an unsafe water level. Director of Corporate Communications for Nissan Group of the Americas, Didier Marsaud, supplied a statement by email. "I have asked our product team here and based on their knowledge we do not have such features on our vehicles." Mr. Marsaud added that the request has been forwarded to the Nissan engineering team in the US, their response is pending.
Addressing the Ford Motor Company, we heard from Master Technician Greg Quirk, Service Manager at Bayfield Ford-Lincoln in Barrie, Ontario. We asked Mr. Quirk whether Ford or Lincoln had any standard safety features related to flood safety, the response was brief. "Zero."
2025 CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW
The 2025 Canadian International Auto Show will take place on February 14 – 23, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
WT will be there to pick up last year’s conversation with this year’s exhibitors. Please email any question you would like our reporters to ask.
In the meantime, have a look at the photos of vintage cars we took last year
SEND US AN EMAIL IF YOU CAN IDENTIFY ANY OF THE VINGAGE CARS DISPLAYED
