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Nutson's Nuggets: Last Week's Automotive News and Opinion September 1-7, 2014


PHOTO

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

Auto Central Louisville, KY August 31, 2014; Every Sunday, along with Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau give you our "take" on this past week's automotive news as easy to digest nuggets.

If you are a car nut like we all are here at The Auto Channel, you can easily wish to "catch up" on these stories as well as the past 19 year's 1,738,202 automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news, video, audio, rants and raves just search The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive.

Hey Boston TV viewers, you can now enjoy The Auto Channel TV Network "Free and Clear" on WHDT Channel 3 in Boston and on your local cable systems, along with South Florida auto fans who can continue to watch The Auto Channel TV Network on WHDT-TV Chanel 9 in West Palm Beach as well as cable channel's 17 and 438, channel 9 Miami and channel 32 Fort Meyers-Naples, enjoy and thanks for the positive feedback....See you next week, LN

Nutson's Automotive News Factoids - Week of September 1-7, 2014.

* August was hot in more ways than one. The auto industry sold more than 1.58 million cars and trucks, a 5.5% increase over last August. The annual selling rate last month reached 17.5 million, according to Autodata. Not since 2001 have automakers sold more than 17 million vehicles in the U.S. Trucks continue to outsell cars, with GM, Ford and RAM pickups being the largest volumes.

* Mazda Motor Corporation celebrated the unveiling of the fourth generation Mazda MX-5 (known as Roadster in Japan) together with fans and the music of Duran Duran at events held simultaneously in Japan, USA and Spain. The all-new MX-5, which adopts both SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY and Mazda’s KODO—Soul of Motion design language, will be rolled out to global markets starting in 2015.

* The Wall Street Journal reported that automakers' efforts to put more electric vehicles on the road appears to be shorting out. Despite a booming U.S. auto market, sales of electric and hybrid cars have stalled this year, capturing 3.6 percent of the market through August, slightly down from last year's 3.7 percent share, says research firm Edmunds.com. The leveling off comes as surprise. Many auto industry executives and analysts predicted that hybrid and electric car sales would continue to grow incrementally as carmakers expanded new offerings and public awareness increased.

*After pitting five states against one another in a quest for hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives, Tesla Motors said that it had struck a deal with Nevada for construction of its sprawling factory to build batteries for electric cars and the power grid. The $5 billion Gigafactory is expected to provide 6500 jobs. But analysts are questioning whether the plant’s vast size will result in the huge price cut for batteries, an essential element of making the factory useful.

* Ford said it will abandon its practice of stripping removable items from its heavy-duty pickups to boost their payload ratings and will join competitors in using base curb weights. The automaker also said that it will state the maximum towing rating for the 2015 F-450 using the industry's SAE J2807 towing standard.

* Our friends at The Detroit Bureau report that the overwhelming majority of American motorists routinely break the law while driving, about one in five doing so on a daily basis, according to a new survey. Two out of three motorists admit they’ve broken the law at one time or another. No surprise, perhaps, speeding is the most commonly broken law, but a significant number of those who participated in the survey by CouponCodesPro.com also admitted driving under the influence of alcohol. The website surveyed 2,849 American motorists by e-mail, all over the age of 21, and all driving at least once a day. When asked if they “ever knowingly break the law” behind the wheel, a full 67% responded, “yes.”

* At the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis, Alexis DeJoria edged 16-time NHRA champion John Force in a thrilling race to claim a popular Funny Car win. DeJoria, the 36-year-old daughter of hair care products magnate John Paul DeJoria and wife of television personality Jesse James, became the first female driver to win three Funny Car events in a single season. She was nearly flawless in all four elimination rounds, saving the best for last with a 4.038-second/310.34 mph pass that ended John Force Racing's six-year Funny Car winning streak in the "Big Go."

* Another American-Italian partnership. Haas F1 Team, which will debut in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 2016, selected Scuderia Ferrari as its technical partner on Wednesday. Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful team in the history of Formula One with 16 constructors titles and 15 driver championships, will provide Haas F1 Team its power unit, gearbox and overall technical support.

* Comcast Corp., the cable giant, announced in Charlotte that it will replace Nationwide Insurance as title sponsor of the NASCAR Nationwide Series in a 10-year deal. The 33-race stock-car series will be renamed the NASCAR Xfinity Series, making it Xfinity's first national sports sponsorship.