In Case You Missed It - Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest - October 17-23, 2016: Recalls, Buy A Tesla Become a Rentee, Mitsubishi Now Part of Nissan; Lear Inovates In Detroit; Geeley Unveiles Lynk&Co Brand

AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO, October 23, 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 1,997,223 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 17-23, 2016

* Endurance racing will likely loose its most dominant competitor in the LMP1 class of the World Endurance Championship after the 2017 series according to a report in the respected German publication Auto Motor und Sport. Audi, say the publication’s anonymous sources, will be edged out by sister car company Porsche after that maker reentered the sport in 2014. Analysts speculate this may be related to cost cutting as a result of parent company VW’s diesel emissions scandal.

* The weakness of the British pound brought enthusiastic foreign buyers to the H&H Classics Duxford Museum auction last week where 800 bidders, plus many more on the phones, found bargains in classic British cars. Sales included 10 E-Type Jaguars, six Aston Martins and a variety of Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and MGs. A “barn find” Series One E-Type brought twice its estimated value at 80,000 pounds. Priciest car sold was a 1924 Bentley 3/4.5-Liter Tourer at nearly 300,000 pounds.

* Mitsubishi became part of the Renault-Nissan alliance this week as Carlos Ghosn appointed himself chairman. The merger is expected to result in nearly a half-billion dollars in cost savings in the next fiscal year as the result of sharing expenses. The companies, while remaining distinctive organizations, will share platforms and technology as well as some business activities, including financing services. When we add up the potential number of sales the new alliance could produce as as many cars worldwide as VW and Toyota.

* Lear Corporation, one of the largest tier-one auto suppliers, cut the ribbon this week on a new Innovation Center in downtown Detroit, housed in an adapted old cigar factory. The six-story building will house R&D, design and future-thinking projects in partnership with Wayne State University and the College for Creative Studies. The Lear Innovation Center is the newest addition to a rapidly growing art, technology, business and design community in the core of old Detroit.

* Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk announced this week that all new Tesla vehicles, including the upcoming Model 3, will have full self-driving capability. He said the on-board computer that will be making sense of the multitude of sensors, cameras and radars will have 40 times the computing power of the current systems. Responding to media stories about accidents involving self-driving cars Musk said, “You’re killing people,” by discouraging the acceptance of this technology. The vehicles and systems would need regulatory approval before the system could be activated. It’s unclear how soon and in what states these vehicles would be able to operate fully autonomously — without the need for a driver to take control. Plus the software will allow owners to rent-out their cars to offset costs.

* We learned this week that a Geely-owned sub-brand called Lynk&Co. will manufacture a new compact crossover based on Volvo architecture. Geely Auto Group also owns Volvo and the company’s design director, Peter Horbury will oversee the design for the new crossover. Powertrains will include conventional, hybrid and even a full-electric version. The business model is intended to be unusual but seems a “little unsettled,” according to a story in AutoWeek. There will be no options, rather a selection of differently-equipped models will be produced.

* Hyundai recalled more than 84,000 cars in the U.S. because a wiring problem can cause the front passenger air bag to malfunction. The recall covers Genesis Coupes from the 2010 to 2016 model years.

* Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 224,000 Jeep Wrangler SUVs worldwide because the air bags may not inflate in a crash. The recall covers certain 2016 and 2017 Wranglers.

* Toyota will recall of approximately 7,100 Model Year 2016 Toyota Highlander vehicles in the U.S. On the involved vehicles, there is a possibility that the wire harness which attaches to the brake fluid reservoir sensor was not connected during the vehicle assembly process.

* In collaboration with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, Michelin announced the winners of the global 2017 Michelin Challenge Design, “Le Mans 2030: Design for the Win.” Works by individuals and teams of designers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, India, Portugal and Russia were among the winners and finalists selected by a distinguished jury of the world’s top automotive designers and industry experts. The winners of the 2017 Michelin Challenge Design presented numerous highly innovative features for the Le Mans race in the year 2030.

* Toyota Motor Corporation will begin to sell fuel cell buses (FC buses) under the Toyota brand from early 2017. Having already undergone repeated field tests for practical use, the Bureau of Transportation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to utilize two of these FC buses (model name: Toyota FC Bus) as fixed-route buses.