Nutson's Weekly Automotive News - June 13-19, 2016

By Larry Nutson
Senior Editor and Bureau Chief
Chicago Bureau
The Auto Channel

AUTO CENTRAL Chicago, June 19, 2016; Every Sunday Larry Nutson, Senior Editor and Chicago Car Guy along with fellow senior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, give you TACH's "take" on this past week's automotive news in easy to digest mega-tweet sized nuggets. If you wish to know more just click on the link that will take you to the full story as published here on The Auto Channel.

If you are a car and driving fan like we all are here at The Auto Channel, you can easily wish to "catch up" on these stories as well put them in context with the past 20 year's 1,982,111 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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The Past Week's Automotive News Highlights In Easy To Digest Chunks
May 30-June 5,2016

* Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford Motor Co. credited with saving the Dearborn automaker, will be inducted next month into the Automotive Hall of Fame. Mulally joins a 2016 class that includes Roy Lunn, engineer of the Ford GT40 that swept the podium at the 1966 Le Mans race; automotive safety advocate Ralph Nader; and Bertha Benz, wife and business partner to Karl Benz, founder of the German automaker Mercedes-Benz.

* Young blood! NASCAR's Sprint Cup race last weekend at Michigan International Speedway had the youngest top 3 finishers since 1951. Ford driver Joey Logano, age 26 won the race followed by 20-year-old Chase Elliott and 23-year-old Kyle Larson. It's the youngest top three in NASCAR Sprint Cup history with an average age of 23 and younger than the 24.7 of the top three at a 1951 race.

* BMW is recalling approximately 189,000 SUVs in the U.S. because the child seat anchors may become damaged and won’t hold the seat properly. The recall covers certain X3 SUVs from the 2011 to 2017 model years, as well as some X4s from 2015 through 2017.

* VW, trying to deflect the ongoing diesel issue, said it is charging ahead with electrics. Volkswagen Group said it plans to introduce more than 30 electric vehicles by 2025, accounting for up to one-quarter of its unit sales. The automaker will transform its core business and realign its components production as part of a sweeping strategy review. VW expects that by 2025 they will be selling about 2 to 3 million pure-electric automobiles a year. We hope someone builds the EV charging infrastructure they'll need.

* The BMW Group kicked off its Centenary celebrations back on March 7 in Munich with the BMW Vision Next 100. Since BMW is spreading out its ‘Next 100 Years’ events over its four major markets, the futuristic concept car took the stage at the Chinese auto show in Beijing. Now, it was in the heart of London where two more concepts were presented, while Los Angeles will be hosting the fourth part in October, when BMW Motorrad will be presenting a stunning concept for a future motorbike. In the famous Roundhouse – the theater where artists such as Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan performed in concert, it was not about songs, but about future music for the two British brands of the Group: Mini and Rolls-Royce. Read more here: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2016/06/17/250396-bmw-group-unveils-mini-and-rolls-royce-vision-next-100.html

* In a closely watched return to this weekend’s 24 Hours of LeMans competition, Ford took the pole position in the GTE Pro class. In fact, the Ford GTs of the Ganassi team took the first two positions with drivers Dirk Muller and Ryan Briscoe. Third on the grid will be a Ferrari driven by Gianmaria Bruni. Ford and Ferrari cars will occupy the first 7 positions at the start followed by a Porsche 911 RSR driven by Fredric Makowiecki.

* News just in: Ford and Ferrari suffered multiple penalties according to the “Balance of Performance” rules based on accusations of “sandbagging" at Silverstone and Spa in order to receive performance breaks, according to reports from AutoWeek. Ford denies the allegations. The penalties involve raising the cars’ weights by 22 pounds and a reduction of engine performance with turbo boost adjustments. Ferrari’s penalty was the addition of 33 pounds. No changes were made to grid positions.

* The next Lamborghini super car made its U.S. debut in Los Angeles this week at the Peterson Automotive Museum. The new Centenario was first seen at the Geneva Motor Show just a few months ago. Lamborghini’s COO Alessandro Farmeschi said, “ This is the ultimate expression of Automobili Lamborghini.” Only 20 coupes and 20 roadsters will be built and they are already sold. Powered by a naturally-aspirated, 770 horsepower V12 the Centenario also features a new rear-wheel steering system and the marque’s first connected infotainment system.

* Nissan announced this week it is developing the first “Solid Oxide Fuel-Cell (DOFC)-powered system that runs on bio-ethanol electric power. The bio-fuel is converted on-board by a reformer into the hydrogen needed for the fuel-cell that generates electricity. Conventional fuel-cell vehicles, a very few are on the road today, use hydrogen stored in a heavy, dense tank. It is costly and energy-intensive to produce the hydrogen in bulk and transport it where needed. Doing it on-board will be more efficient, they say.

* In collector car auction news this week we learned the extensive collection of race cars from the Riverside International Automotive Museum will be sold. Ray and Doug Magnon (father and son) assembled a variety of race cars and artefacts representing the best of the Riverside Raceway. The cars will be split between sales at the Auctions America event in Santa Monica on June 25-26 and the RM Sotheby Auction in Monterey August 19-20. Special cars from the collection include a 1961 Maserati 3500 GT that was owned by Dan Blocker and many Dan Gurney-raced cars.

* Veteran race car driver and broadcaster Sam Posey will be among the induction class of 2016 at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Presented by Bridgestone on June 29th in Daytona Beach. Posey raced in the infamous Can-Am series, Formula One and NASCAR in addition to the 24 Hours of LeMans where he finished in the top 10 five times. After leaving his driving career Posey was a racing commentator for ABC and currently works for the NBC Sports Network covering primarily Formula One.