Nutson's Car and Truck News Digest; Week Ending July 13, 2019
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The Past Week's News Nuggets: Ford Loves VW; MB Love BMW; Chandler Loves Waymo; Governor's Love CAFE?; Driver Ratings; Swiss Love Exotic Car Auction; Jaguar Loves New EV's; New Corvette Loves Staring Role; Buh-Bye Beetle; No-one Loves Ford Or Jeep Recall; MT Loves Car Of The Years; Bondurant Loves School Of Drag; TACH Loves Collector Car Appreciation Week
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Nutson's Automotive News Digest - Week Ending July 14, 2019; Important automotive news and back stories in "expert-created" easy to absorb nuggets.
* Ford and Volkswagen made it official: They will expand their alliance to include sharing electric vehicle architectures and automated vehicle software development. VW will invest cash and assets valued at $2.6 billion in autonomous vehicle software development Argo AI, now majority-owned by Ford. The VW investment vaults Argo into the top tier of self-driving vehicle software players, giving the company access to VW engineers, capital and the scale opportunities offered by the No. 1 volume vehicle maker in the world.
* Daimler and BMW inked a deal this week on a new, long-term partnership to develop automated driving systems. The project will involve around 1,200 engineers and focus on driver assistance, automated driving and automated parking. The “Level 4” technologies will require no driver input and will be offered to other automakers under license, according to their business plan.
* In The NY Times we read that dozens of city employees in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler will use self-driving vehicles at work in partnership with Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company. The partnership will begin this month as Chandler evaluates whether using the autonomous vehicles cuts costs to maintain and operate its fleet and makes employees more productive, The Arizona Republic reported.
* Reuters reports the governors of 23 states representing more than half the U.S. population declared en masse that they do not want the Trump administration to roll back Obama administration targets for reducing 2021-2025 vehicle CO2 emissions. The governors' declaration shows the vise the auto industry currently seems to have no way of escaping. The manufacturers want regulatory relief - but they do not want a divided nation with conflicting state-by-state emissions rules. Automakers are pleading, so far to no avail, for Trump and the mostly Blue states that want tougher limits on climate changing emissions to reason together. For automakers, 2020 is a year for making high-dollar decisions on vehicles and powertrain technology that will hit dealerships in 2025. For everyone else, it's an election year.
* In a survey of 2,000 licensed drivers conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Volvo, most respondents - 60% - said they think typical driver education for youngsters is obsolete and that the instruction was focused more on passing a test than testing a new driver’s skills. Gen Z respondents thought old folks were most dangerous on the road but all other demographics thought it was teens who post the most risk.
* We learned that the Swiss government will sell a collection of exotic supercars at auction in late September. The collection was seized from the Equitorial Guinean vice-president charged with corruption and is estimated to be worth more than $13 million. The cars include a LaFerrari, a McLaren P1, Bugatti Veyron, Aston Martin One:77, and a one-of-nine Lamborghini Veneno Roadster, among other exotic cars. The sale by Bonhams will be September 29th in Geneva.
* Jaguar Land Rover ain’t afraid of no stinkin’ Brexit. The company confirmed this week it will produce a bunch of new electrified vehicles at a redesigned and updated Castle Bromwich factory in the ‘Midlands’ of the U.K. The first vehicle from that facility will be an electric version of their flagship XJ sedan. They will also move battery and motor production to the region. The same engineering and product development teams responsible for the I-Pace electric crossover will be responsible for the new XJ.
* Sit back and relax. The reveal of the all-new mid-engine C8 Corvette will be livestreamed the evening of July 18, 2019 from Orange County, California. ( See Also Corvette Museum 1998 Corvette unveiling). The livestream opens at 7:30 p.m. PDT/10:30 p.m. EDT on July 18 and can be accessed through media.chevrolet.com/nextgenCorvette, which also will be sent out on Chevrolet’s social media channels. The stream will include Corvette video footage, a hosted pre-show and the reveal presentation. It will be available for viewing across the globe, in all seven continents. Following the reveal, the Next Generation Corvette will hit the road for two national dealership tours that will include vehicle specialists and numerous interactive displays. At these events, Chevy dealers will host customers to showcase the new mid-engine supercar, display customizable parts (seats, wheels, accessories, etc.) and teach people how they can personalize their own Corvette. The tours will begin on the East and West Coasts and stop at more than 125 select dealerships across the U.S. starting after the reveal and extending through early 2020. Tour dates and cities will be available starting on July 19.
* After eight decades Volkswagen is halting production of the iconic Beetle. The last Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the automaker’s assembly line in Puebla, Mexico this week. It was one of the last 5,961 “Final Edition” models marking the end of the people's car. More than 25 million have been sold world wide.
* FCA is recalling over 82,000 units of its 2014 Jeep Cherokees equipped with a V-6 engine. Customer feedback led to the discovery of an issue that could cause an unexpected shift into neutral.
* Ford is recalling about 58,000 Focus' in North America to fix a powertrain software issue that could cause a deformed fuel tank. The issue affects certain 2012 and 2017 Focus vehicles with 2-liter GDI engines, as well as 2013-14 Focus ST vehicles with 2-liter GDI engines. The recall is intended to fix an "incomplete" powertrain control module software fix that was implemented during an earlier recall.
* Bondurant School of High Performance Driving announced the addition of a new drag racing program, breaking new ground as the first of its kind to offer professional drag racing instruction to the public. Students will drive the Dodge 840-horsepower Challenger SRT Demon, SRT Hellcat, Hellcat Widebody and SRT 392, the most powerful street legal cars in the world. Courses are scheduled for July 27 and August 17, 2019, with additional courses being announced in the coming weeks. Courses are limited to only 16 students per class and cost is $1,999 per driver.
* In honor of its 70th Anniversary, MotorTrend has named its most significant Car of the Year, in MotorTrend history, the 2013 Telsa Model S. Of 92 winners for the Car of the Year or Import Car of the Year, since the company was founded in 1949, MotorTrend has selected 8 finalist to represent one winner for each decade the company has been in existence. Identified as the champion through criteria including impact, performance and engineering excellence, the Model S changed the way the world thinks not only about electric cars but also about cars in general. Each of the final 8 was selected as the best representation of its decade. The winners include: 1949 Cadillac Lineup, 1955 Chevrolet Lineup, 1968 Pontiac GTO, 1972 Citroen SM, 1986 Mazda RX-7, 1996 Dodge Caravan, 2004 Toyota Prius and 2013 Tesla Model S.
* We celebrated Collector Car Appreciation Day this week on Friday July 12. The date marks the tenth consecutive commemoration in what is now an annual event to raise awareness of the vital role automotive restoration and collection plays in American society. We hope you got to enjoy your favorite collector car.
