Nutson';s Weekly Automotive News Digest April 10-16, 2017; 840 HP Dodge, Genesis SUV, Awards, VW Longer Warantees, DC Display, 1.33 Billion To Toyota KY Plant

AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO, April 16, 2017; 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.

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Nutson's Nuggets: April 16, 2017

* At an off-site stage ahead of the NY Auto Show media previews, Dodge fully unveiled its wickedly fast new 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. Powered by a 840-horsepower, supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI Demon V-8, the limited-production Challenger SRT Demon is the world’s most powerful factory-production V-8 – bar none. NHRA-certified 9.65 seconds @ 140 mph makes the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon the fastest ¼-mile production car in the world. Production will begin this summer and is limited to 3000 units for the U.S. Expect pricing to be announced around June.

* The 117th NY Auto Show, the last big show on the annual circuit (or, is it circus?), opened this weekend at the Javits Center in Manhattan and brought out power, SUVs and luxury. Highlights include mainstream, bread-and-butter products like the Kia Rio, pre-production teasers like the Genesis GV80 Fuel Cell Concept (plug-in fuel cell), an odd but cute little Toyota SUV for urbanites called FT-4X, the long overdue new Lincoln Navigator and a monster Dodge Demon performance car. New York show officials claim the biggest attendance numbers of all the major U.S. shows.

* A major attention-getter at the NY Auto Show this week was the Genesis GV80 concept vehicle, a mid-size SUV/CUV that hints at the luxury brand’s ambitions to become a full line brand, and previews future power train trends. Genesis, the luxury brand for Korean automaker Hyundai, has promised two crossovers by 2020 according to reporting by AutoWeek. The GV80 sports a plug-in electric powertrain with hydrogen fuel cell but the production version, expected in 2018, will have a more conventional engine with fuel cell version coming later.

* The 2017 Jaguar F-PACE has been named the winner of both the 2017 World Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year Awards at the New York International Auto Show. It's the first SUV to ever win the WCoY title. Other World Car winners are: Toyota Prius Prime was named the Green Car of the Year, Porsche Boxster and Cayman has been named the Performance Car of the Year, Mercedes-Benz E-class is the World Luxury Car and the BMW i3 is the World Urban Car.

* VW announced the 2018 Tiguan and Atlas crossover SUVs will come with a transferrable, six-year/72,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. That's double the three-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranties available across much of the rest of the industry, and it is longer than the five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranties also offered by most competitors.

* The Ford Police Responder, a modified version of the Fusion Hybrid sedan, was unveiled in NYC and LA ahead of the New York International Auto Show. Ford is adding another police car to its portfolio, the first pursuit-rated hybrid police car. As a hybrid, it can run in electric mode up to 60 m.p.h. The car is expected to have a combined city and highway gas mileage rating of 38 m.p.g., more than twice that of the Ford Police Interceptor, with a 3.7-liter V-6 engine. Ford estimates that cities will save about $3,877 a year in fuel savings based on a gas price of $2.50 a gallon.

* The high energy of collector cars selling at No Reserve during Barrett-Jackson’s 15th year in Palm Beach helped drive the highest sell-through rate of any Florida collector car auction, including 14 world records as it was propelled by the unprecedented buying power of bidders from 48 states and seven countries. The three-day event featured 498 collector cars that sold for approximately $20.5 million in sales with a 99.4 percent sell-through rate. Coming in as the auction’s top seller is a 2006 Ford GTX1, a rare supercar that is one of less than 200 produced and sold for $401,500. A stunning 1962 Chevrolet Corvette LS3 Custom Convertible sold for $236,500 and a rare, original ’68 Ford Shelby GT500KR owned by film star Lee Marvin earned a cool $220,000. One of the most popular cars was Dale Earnhardt’s #3 Goodwrench 1989 Chevrolet Lumina Race Car that sold for $220,000.

* The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline rose to a 19-month high to $2.39, 35 cents higher than a year ago. Hawaii has the highest prices at $3.04 followed by California at $2.99. The lowest is $2.11 in South Carolina. Expect more increases as we switch to summer blend and the tension in the Middle East causes crude oil to rise.

* Volkswagen, now the biggest global automaker, probably will get bigger in the trucking industry. VW now owns 17-percent of Illinois based Navistar International. Speculation has it that VW will make moves to eventually buy all of Navistar within the next two to four years. Navistar is ranked number three in the U.S. commercial truck market.

* Britain's government is preparing to announce proposals for improving air quality which could make it more expensive to use the most polluting vehicles. Diesels, that is. Plans are forthcoming to comply with European Union legislation to improve air quality and meet nitrogen dioxide limits. London's mayor has promised to make the city the greenest in the world, banning new diesel taxis from 2018. Paris, Stuttgart, Athens, Brussels and Madrid are trying to reduce pollution by proposing bans, fines and restrictions on diesel vehicles.

* Toyota announced this week its long-planned investment of $1.33 billion to update equipment and processes in the aging Georgetown, KY assembly plant where 700 new jobs have just been added. The plant makes the top selling Camry sedan and other vehicles. This is the largest plant for Toyota anywhere in the world and currently employs 8,200 workers making a half million vehicles in 20016. Camry has been named by some experts as the most “American made” vehicle sold in the U.S. The update will allow the Georgetown plant to become the first North American facility to use the “New Global Architecture."

* Three classic custom cars showed up on the Washington National Mall this week for a preview of a three-week display featuring one of them at a time enclosed in a large glass case. The Historic Vehicle Association partners with the Department of the Interior and the Library of Congress to register and document special vehicles that represent American car culture through the National Historic Vehicle Register, much like the National Register of Historic Places. The cars are: the “Gypsy Rose," a customized 1964 Chevy built by Jesse Valadez; the "McGee Roadster," a classic 1932 Ford hot rod built for dry lake racing; and the "Hirohata Merc," a radical custom 1951 Mercury.

* Elon Musk took to twitter this week to announce Tesla will unveil their expected semi-truck in September. We’ve known since July 2016 of the company’s intent to build a semi but details of its capabilities have not been revealed. Musk also said a pickup is not far behind as he continues to talk about covering most of the major segments in the automotive sphere.

* Tesla passed GM as America’s most valuable auto company. With its stock gaining more than 3 percent to $312.39, Tesla has a market capitalization of $50.9 billion, just a hair ahead of GM. The rise of Tesla is based on prospects rather than profits. GM with its checkered history has a perception on Wall Street that its days as a dominant force are over.