In Case You Missed It - Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest - October 10-16, 2016: VW Toyota Lincoln Recalls, Ford Leaves Australia, RIP Adamowicz, New CR-V

AUTO CENTRAL - Chicago, October 16, 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 are a car and driving fan like we all are here at The Auto Channel, you can easily "catch up" or put these stories in context by searching the past 25 year's 1,996,549 automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news, video, audio, rants and raves accessible from The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive.

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Enjoy and thanks for the positive feedback and ratings. See You Next Week, LN.

Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest - October 10-16, 2016

* Takata, the Japanese supplier of airbags that are being recalled due to numerous injuries and deaths, is considering a U.S. bankruptcy filing. This option would open the door for an outside investor and also clear up all the pending costs associated with the recall.

* Volkswagen AG is recalling about 334,000 Volkswagen and Audi brand vehicles in the United States and Canada in three separate recalls, each due to fuel leaks but with different causes. Affected models are gasoline versions of the 2009-2012 model year Audi Q5 SUVs, and 2007-2012 Audi Q7 SUVs; gasoline versions of 2012-2013 Audi A6 and A7 sedans; as well as all engine types of 2015-2016 VW Golf, VW SportWagen, VW GTI, and Audi A3 sedans and Audi A3 Cabriolet.

* The Paris agreement to curb climate-warming emissions just got final global ratification. Not wasting any time, the German parliament is pushing a proposal to stop sales of new combustion-engine cars by 2030. A switch to sales of only zero-emission cars puts thousands of German auto industry jobs at risk since the powertrain of an electric car requires only a tenth of the staff to be assembled when compared with a combustion-engined equivalent.

* Ford Motor Co. ended 91 years of car manufacturing in Australia, with the remaining two Australian car makers due to close their doors next year. Ford, GM and Toyota announced in 2013 that they were quitting Australia and shedding 6,600 jobs because of high production costs, distance from potential export markets and increasing competition.

* The Buick Avenir concept dazzled the auto world with it debut at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. We had already mentioned here that, starting from the 2018 model year, Avenir will debut as a sub-brand dedicated to Buick’s higher-end models. Avenir vehicles launching in the 2018 model year will feature unique design details to separate them from standard Buick cars. Of note now is many experts (?) here in the U.S. have questioned the plan and wondered aloud why Buick didn't revert to a historical name such as Roadmaster. Buick's largest market is China -- September sales were five times those of the U.S., where we think Avenir might just resonate very well.

* Acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz called on memories of childhood trips and the romance of the open road as inspiration for a series of photographs to introduce the highly anticipated Lincoln Continental, now in dealer showrooms. “That’s Continental,” is the tagline for a series of Leibovitz photo spreads that will appear, uncredited, in high-end print publications as well as social media feeds beginning Oct. 10. Viewed by some advertising execs as a brave move for Lincoln, the new ads will certainly garner attention.

* AutoWeek reports that Tony Adamowicz, an American sport-car racer who drove for Porsche and Ferrari and who drove competitively from the late 1960s through the '80s, died at the age of 75. He had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2015. As a racer, the New York native and Orange County, CA, resident won the championship of the Under 2-liter class in the Trans Am Championship in 1968. In 1969, he won both the F5000 championship and the SCCA Continental Championship. He also raced at Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona.

* A new J.D. Power study ranks cars, trucks and SUVs by customers’ overall experience with vehicle technology. J.D. Power’s 2016 U.S. Tech Experience Index measures owners’ experience, use and interaction with vehicle technology after three months of owning a car. The study found that that crash-avoidance is the technology that customers use most. The research firm says blind-spot detection, lane-keeping assist and back-up camera and warning systems had the highest consumer satisfaction, scoring 754 on a 1,000-point scale. The BMW 2 Series led the small premium segment and the 4 Series won the compact premium segment. The Hyundai Genesis won for midsize premium segment and the Tucson topped the small segment. Other top models include the Chevrolet Camaro in the midsize segment, Kia Forte in the compact segment and Nissan Maxima in the large segment. The study also found some owners never use some of a vehicle’s technology offerings.

* Ford’s new aluminum-body Super Duty pickup was named “Truck of Texas” by the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA). TAWA president Nic Phillips noted that more than 70 journalists participated with extensive driving time both on and off road. FCA received seven awards for its Ram trucks and Jeep SUVs. Nissan was the big award winner with six including the SUV of Texas for its Armada. The Volvo XC90 was named the CUV of Texas. Honda, Jaguar, Mazda and Toyota also had wins. Of note, GM had no wins.

* U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Michigan) introduced enabling legislation this week, called the National Historic Vehicle Register Act, intended to preserve the legacy of American automobiles and motorcycles and document the role they play in history and culture. The Library of Congress would be the repository of these vehicle stories much like buildings are recognized by the National Register of Historic Places. The registry already exists within the Historic Vehicle Association, established in 2014 with major support from Hagerty Insurance.

* The Mustang Factory in Flat Rock, Michigan will shut down for a week in response to a sudden drop in sales of 32%. With U.S. auto sales humming along at a near record pace some analysts speculate that this may be an early sign of weakening demand industry wide. Other automakers also have shown slowdowns recently. The Flat Rock assembly plant makes the new Lincoln Continental as well.

* Honda introduced the new, fifth-generation CR-V this week. The best selling small SUV (or more accurately, CUV) is fully redesigned, restyled and reengineered. Upper models will now be turbocharged. The new engine is a 1.5-liter rated at 190 horsepower and Honda claims it will get the highest EPA fuel economy rating in its class. Lesser trim levels get the 2.4-liter, normally aspirated engine and all get a sophisticated CVT. Pricing and other details will be available closer to launch next year.

* Toyota’s U.S. CEO Jim Lentz hosted a preview of the company’s huge, new U.S. headquarters in Plano, Texas this week. Expected to open next year, the campus will house most of the company’s business functions and a good share of engineering activities. Lentz emphasized environmental friendliness as well citing drought-tolerent landscaping using no chemicals or irrigation and on-site solar panels that will produce 7.75 megawatts of electricity with the rest of the facility’s electrical needs coming from wind farms. The campus will consolidate Toyota staffs from all over the U.S., and Lentz said they will be hiring 1,000 new people.

* Two recalls in the news this week include Toyota Prius and Lincoln Continental. Toyota is recalling 92,000 2016-17 Prius hybrids because of potentially faculty parking brake cable that can fail if it is used without the car being in park, allowing the car to roll away. The Lincoln Continental, only on the market now for only a month, has a problem with headlight assemblies that may not meet federal requirements for turn signal visibility. No accidents or injuries are known to have occurred from either problem.