Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Review
June 8-14, 2015
 |
By Larry Nutson
Senior Editor and Bureau Chief
Chicago Bureau
The Auto Channel
Auto Central Chicago IL, June 14, 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 1,904,114 automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news, video, audio, rants and raves just search The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive.
Hey Boston TV viewers, you can now enjoy The Auto Channel TV Network "Free and Clear" on WHDT Channel 3 in Boston and on your local cable systems, along with South Florida auto fans who can continue to watch The Auto Channel TV Network on WHDT-TV Channel 9 in West Palm Beach as well as cable channel's 17 and 438, channel 9 Miami. WHDN launched its full schedule (including The Auto Channel)of digital broadcasting in the Naples-Fort Myers market on PSIP channel 9.1 channel. Enjoy and thanks for the positive feedback and ratings....see you next week, LN
Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest-June 8-14, 2015
* A recent study on happiness by Civic Science has found an interesting correlation between happiness and crossover vehicle ownership. The study, which included the responses of more than 262,000 people across demographics, has shown that people who own crossovers are 22 times more likely to say they are Happy than Unhappy. This same data shows that if you look at Americans overall, they are 6 times more likely to be Happy than Unhappy. It is only when you add in Crossover ownership that you find people who are 22 times more likely to be Happy than Unhappy!
* The Wall Street Journal reported Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is considering whether to charge GM with wire fraud related to last year's recall of nearly 2.6 million small cars equipped with defective ignition switches. GM is cooperating with a federal prosecutor looking at whether it committed wire fraud in its response to defective ignition switches now tied to 111 deaths, GM CEO Mary Barra said. Criminal charges may be brought against some of the individuals involved in the case.
* Our friends at The Detroit Bureau report a crackdown on left lane hogs. The message comes from Indiana lawmakers who have passed a new law that could lead to fines of as much as $500 for slowpokes who refuse to move out of the left lane when traffic piles up behind them. Oregon is working on a law change and Florida, Georgia and New Jersey have recently increased the fines for left lane hogs. Chase off those left lane bandits!
* The Lincoln MKS will go out of production next year. We anticipate it will replaced by the production version of the 2016 Lincoln Continental concept that was revealed earlier this year at the New York International Auto Show.
* Ford launched a car-sharing service this week in London offering subscribers access to a fleet of cars with which they can do one-way trips throughout the city. Smart phone apps allow reservations for the cars and a pay-by-minute pricing scheme will cover all the costs of using the car including congestion fees. About 2,000 people will be able to access the 50 cars in 20 locations. Ford has already launched similar services in Germany, India and the U.S.
* Another surprising innovation from Ford now allows the downloading of digital, 3-D images of a variety of vehicles so that enthusiasts can 3-D print their own cars. Images are available for F-150 Raptor, Shelby GT350R, Focus ST and Fiesta ST. Downloaders can print images in whatever size and material they choose. Copyright rules apply and buyers must agree not to use the images commercially and more images are expected to be offered.
* Young engineering students competed this week to maximize fuel economy using the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a format. The Microjoule La Joliverie car would use just 1.3 liters of fuel to cover the winning Le Mans distance of 5156 km. Speed was not required to be competitive with real racers. The event is called Shell Eco-marathon Europe and has been going since 1985. Best mileage recorded was 3,771 km/liter by this team of French students.
* What cars are most “American made?’ It’s a difficult question to answer with Nissans, Toyotas, Subarus, BMWs and many others assembled here. Frank DuBois, a professor at American University took information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration along with a variety of other factors, including where the profits end up, to answer that question definitively. Top of the list are Buick Enclave, Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Corvette, GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Traverse - all tied for number 1. This survey takes into account much more data than is considered to come up with the number on our window stickers.
* Google promises to release monthly updates on their closely watched self-driving car project including accident information. So far they have acknowledged 12 accidents, 11 of which involved human error attributed to other drivers, mostly rear-enders and two sideswipes. Information to be released will not include actual accident reports as those are not considered accessible public records. So far 23 self-driving Lexus RX450h models have logged over a million miles in autonomous mode around Mountain View, CA.
* The Blue Oval is returning to Le Mans. The big announcement came this week after intense speculation that began with Ford’s reveal of the new Ford GT at the January Detroit Auto Show. Rumors had it that in addition to the street version of the GT a racing version would soon follow, and we now know that a full factory-backed team will compete in next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the full 2016 World Endurance Championship series. It was in 1966 that Ford began a four-year dominance of the race beating out the previously dominant Ferraris
