Nutson's Auto News Nuggets
Week of November 17-23, 2014

By Larry Nutson
Senior Editor and Bureau Chief
Chicago Bureau
The Auto Channelsenior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau I give you our "take" on this past week's automotive news in 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 1,746,764 automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews,

Auto Central Louisville, KY November 23, 2014; Every Sunday, along with 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 November 17-23, 2014

* Throngs of automotive press folks (including our team led by Marc Rauch, Henny Hemmes, Andrew Frankl, Marty Bernstein, Eric and Tom video crew and Bob Gordon) and lots of hangers-on (although less than in the recent past) gathered in Los Angeles this week for the important LA Auto Show where new cars are launched, concept cars shown and news made at a pace second only to Detroit’s North American International Auto Show. You’ll find comprehensive coverage of the show, including Press Pass coverage including exclusive video of every as it happened press unveiling here at TheAutoChannel.com. One of the most anticipated reveals was that of the new 500+hp Shelby GT350 Mustang. This year's show was more about luxury, performance and even smaller CUV's (like the Jeep Renegade, Mazda CX 3, Fiat XSubaru CrossTek,) with much less emphasis on Green vehicles.

* “Mirai” is the name of Toyota’s new fuel cell vehicle which the company’s president announced in a video released the night before the car’s official launch. Mirai, which means “future” in Japanese, represents a turning point for the automotive industry. The groundbreaking vehicle, previously seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January, can travel up to 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, refuel in less than five minutes and emits only water vapor. It's coming to the west coast first and then the northeast U.S. as fueling station infrastructure is put in place. The dramatically styled “car of the future" will cost around $50,000.

* Announced at the LA show was the BMW i3 being named Green Car Journal's 2015 Green Car of the Year.

* KPMG predicts that in about 25 years fewer than half of U.S. households will own more than one vehicle. According to the report, 57 percent of American households currently have two or more cars. Although that percentage has held relatively steady over the last couple of decades, the report forecasts it will fall to 43 percent by 2040. That's, in part, due to the growing popularity of ride-share, folks waiting longer to buy their first vehicle and waiting longer to move to the suburbs.

* BMW is trying to find a way to increase production of the high-priced, wildly-styled i8 plug-in hybrid super sports car to reduce the 18-month waiting list customers are having to deal with now. Specialty car makers like to have a bit of a waiting list as it enhances the cars exclusiveness but BMW would prefer one of about a 6-months according to sales boss Ian Robertson as reported by Automotive News Europe. The i8 comes from BMW’s Leipzig, Germany plant.

* In recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety "small-overlap crash tests" of minivans, the Honda Odyssey was rated "good", the Toyota Sienna was rated "acceptable" and the Nissan Quest, the Chrysler Town & Country and the Dodge Grand Caravan "failed." Chrysler notes their minivans received the highest ratings in IIHS other crash testing scenarios.

* Honda and Takata executives faced congress this week along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new boss to talk about Takata’s airbag failures and what to do about it. Honda acknowledges failing to notify NHTSA and customers about crashes where airbags injured motorists. Takata boss, Hiroshi Shimizu, and NHTSA were more evasive with neither supporting a national recall. They contend the bad airbags are only an issue in hot, humid climates. The expanded nationwide recall applies to Ford, Honda, Chrysler, Mazda and BMW model from model year 2008 and before.

* The all-new Ford F-150 was named Truck of Texas at the 2014 Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) Truck Rodeo. Sixty auto writers drove 75 vehicles on and off road for two days at the Knibbe Ranch outside San Antonio to choose the prestigious Truck of Texas. This year's Texas Truck Rodeo, which was sponsored by the Steel Market Development Institute, also saw the 2015 Lincoln MKC take the CUV of Texas; the 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee capture the SUV of Texas title for an unprecedented fifth straight year; and Ford being named the Truck Line of Texas.

* Kelley Blue Book announced the winners of the 2015 Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Awards, honoring the top new model year vehicle choices available in the U.S. market. The 2015 Ford F-150 is named Kelley Blue Book’s Overall Best Buy of 2015, alongside Best Buy Award winners in 12 major vehicle categories.

* Ken Feinberg, the administrator of the General Motors ignition switch compensation program, said the fund would extend the deadline for submitting claims until Jan. 31, 2015, because the Detroit automaker is sending notices to 850,000 owners this week. The fund said it has now approved 33 death claims, up one over the last week, and another four injury claims to 39.

* The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute says in its new report "Public opinion about self-driving vehicles in China, India, Japan, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia" that respondents in the six countries expressed high levels of concern about riding in vehicles equipped with this technology, mostly feel positive about self-driving vehicles, have optimistic expectations of the benefits, and generally desire self-driving-vehicle technology. Although a majority in four out of the six countries surveyed are not willing to pay extra for such technology at this time.

* Ford issued a recall for 65,000 model year 2014 and 2015 Fusion sedans in North America because the ignition keys can be removed if the transmission is not in park due to a software problem.

* Erica Enders-Stevens became the first woman to win an NHRA Pro Stock world championship title Sunday when she defeated her closest points rival Jason Line in the final round of the Auto Club NHRA Finals. She is the third female to win a world championship in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, joining three-time Top Fuel champion Shirley Muldowney and three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Angelle Sampey.

* Kevin Harvick, driving in his first year for Stewart-Hass Racing, captured his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship by outdriving Ryan Newman to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday in Homestead, Florida. As for the two other contenders, Denny Hamlin finished seventh and Joey Logano finished sixteenth in the race.

* Chrysler Group LLC and Detroit’s Autorama hot rod and custom car show announced their third annual automotive design competition open to all public high school students (grades 10-12) with top prize of a $60,000 scholarship to the prestigious College for Creative Studies in Detroit. The challenge is to “look to the future and design a next-generation Dodge brand vehicle for the year 2025.” Contestants will also be required to submit a 500-word essay about what the Dodge brand means to them. Details at: www.Facebook.com/DriveforDesign.