Nutson's Automotive News Recap
Week of May 18-24, 2015
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By Larry Nutson
Senior Editor and Bureau Chief
Chicago Bureau
The Auto Channel
Auto Central Chicago IL, May 24, 2015 Every Sunday, along with senior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau I give you our "take" on this past week's automotive news in easy to digest nuggets.
If you are a car nut like we all are here at The Auto Channel, you can easily wish to "catch up" on these stories as well as the past 20 year's 1,901,429 automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news, video, audio, rants and raves just search The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive.
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Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest-May 18-24, 2015
* The week began with the unveiling of the Camaro Six, the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro now in its sixth generation. As more and more automakers shun auto shows for new model reveals, Chevy did the same with a big show at Belle Isle on the Detroit River site of the Detroit Grand Prix IndyCar race. More athletic, 200 pounds lighter and now with a turbo-4-cylinder the new Camaro will be built along side the Cadillac ATS and CTS in the Lansing, MI Grand River assembly plant and goes on sale at the end of this year.
* Google will be testing its pod-like autonomous cars on the roads near its California headquarters. They are the first of a 100 car fleet that will take you from A to B with the simple push of a button. The vehicles are low-speed…limited to 25mph, resemble an enclosed golf cart, have two seats, and do not have a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator pedal. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
* Cool and affordable can coexist in a new car, as detailed in this year’s list of the 10 Coolest Cars Under $18,000, hand-selected by the expert editors at Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com. The 2015 Model-Year Vehicles are: Mazda3, Volkswagen Golf, Kia Soul, Jeep Renegade, Honda Civic Coupe, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, Chevrolet Sonic and Subaru Impreza.
* U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced that at the Department's insistence, air bag manufacturer Takata has acknowledged that a defect exists in its air bag inflators. Takata has agreed to a national recall of certain types of driver and passenger side air bag inflators used in vehicles manufactured by BMW, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. The action expands the number of vehicles to be recalled for defective Takata inflators to nearly 34 million.
* Acura is recalling 19,500 MDX and RLX vehicles from the 2014 and 2015 model years because of problems with the automatic braking system. The system alerts drivers to an impending crash through the use of radar sensors and then triggers the brakes. Acura said the system can become confused by heavy metallic structure such as a guardrail near a vehicle ahead and apply the brakes in error possibly causing a rear end collision from cars behind. You might want to re-read the Google mention above!
* Visitors who arrive in Detroit by way of I-94 will know the famous landmark referred to as The Big Tire just east of Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The 80-foot-tall Uniroyal tire started life as a ferris wheel at the 1964-65 New York Worlds Fair. After the fair closed it was dismantled and moved to its present location where it was clad in a skin that looked just like a bias-ply tire of the day, and later refurbished to look like a more modern radial tire. The Big Tire celebrated its 50th anniversary this week with a media event hosted by the Automotive Press Association and featuring the Uniroyal mascot “Tiger Paws.” (See the story here on TAC by Martha Hindes).
* New research performed by AT&T and Braun Research offers some idea of just how much we've lost our minds behind the wheel. 70 percent of respondents admitted they did something with their phones while driving. 61 percent confessed to texting. 31 percent admitted to emailing while driving. And, 28 percent said they'd surfed the Web at the wheel and 17 percent of respondents said they took selfies or other photos while driving.
* The Energy Department said it expects gasoline prices to average $2.55 between April and September which would be the lowest since 2009. Crude oil prices started to collapse last June from $107 a barrel to $43 in mid-March. Since then prices have risen $20 per barrel. Gas prices rose due to this increased price along with the typical higher price for summer-blend fuel. On the average prices are 99 cents cheaper than last year. California seems to be the exception where prices are $3.73 due to a refinery explosion causing a shut-down and also the special blend of fuel California has mandated.
* We don’t normally report speculative items in this forum but this one rates a mention. Aston Martin is planning a second manufacturing facility and it is likely, reports AutoWeek, that factory will be in Alabama. It seems that the majority of Aston Martin sales are in the U.S. and China and it would be too complex to set up shop in the latter. Alabama leads the likely locations because of its proximity to the Mercedes-Benz factory in that state. The plant is expected to build a crossover based on the DBX concept revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.
* Scott Dixon had a four-lap average of 226.760 mph in qualifying to claim his second Indianapolis 500 pole. After a third car went airborne in practice, series officials took away the extra power boost and instructed drivers to run in race trim. The decision dropped qualifying speeds significantly. Most expected it to take an average between 233 and 234 to win the pole. Instead, the pole was down more than 4 mph from Carpenter's top seed in 2014. Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves and Justin Wilson will complete the top six starters for the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.
* Grace Autosport, the first all-female IndyCar Series racing team, wants to change the face of motor racing. From team owner to race engineers to aerodynamicists to the driver to marketing and public relations directors, the women of Grace Autosport want to be on the grid for the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing". Katherine Legge, a two-time Indy 500 competitor, has been named as the inaugural driver. Grace Autosport's goal with this pioneering all-female racing team is not only to empower women in motorsport, but to encourage a new generation of women to pursue careers in STEM (science/technology/engineering/math). Not having qualified for this year's race, the team is focused on the 2016 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
* Margaret Dunning, the car-loving centenarian who became something of a celebrity and earned the nickname “Belle of the Concours” after showing her 1930 Packard in the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, has died. Dunning, of Plymouth, Mich., would have celebrated her 105th birthday next month. She died after being injured in a fall while participating in the ELK Charity Challenge, a fundraiser in California that benefits three children’s charities. Earlier in the week, Dunning visited Jay Leno’s extensive car collection, and Leno changed his plans so that he could be there to greet her.
* The 60th epic Mille Miglia was held recently following much of the route through Italy as the traditional race route, from Brescia starting on May 14th to Rome and returning to finish in Brescia on May 17. The competition is no longer based just on raw speed, rather some scoring is now determined by a set average speed competitions. Over 400 cars representing 60 different marques led by Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Porsche and Lancia competed in the 1,000-mile event. Many of the cars had raced in the 1927 to 1957 versions of the event, including a M-B 300 SLR driven by Sterling Moss who won the 1955 race.
* The Mecum Spring Classic Auction results are in the books and show that the collector car market is going strong. Over 1,400 cars crossed the block and total sales reached nearly $43 million with about a 65% sales rate. Top seller at $1 million was a restored 1967 Shelby 427 Cobra Roadster. A selection of European classics - 3 Ferraris and a Maserati Ghibli - were in the top 10 sales.
* On May 18, the U.S. average retail price for gasoline was $2.74 per gallon, or 92¢ per gallon lower than at the same time last year. This is the lowest average price heading into the Memorial Day weekend—the traditional start of the summer driving season—since 2009. Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day and think about the real reason for this holiday.
