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Nutson's News Blast - Automotive World Week January 19-25, 2015


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


Auto Central Chicago IL, Jamuary 25, 2015; Every Sunday, along with senior 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 1,800,029 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....Happy New Year, see you next week with all the inside stuff from Detroit, LN

Nutson's Auto News Blast - Week Of January 19-25, 2015

* A historic gathering of vehicles on Capitol Hill marked the culmination of "Made Across America." Kicking off the Washington DC Auto Show, vehicles from nearly every automotive-final-assembly plant drove to Capitol Hill from factories across the country, company headquarters and dealerships. Some 70 vehicles from 13 states represented the comeback of the auto industry from its 2009 crash. Represented at the rally were Acura, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jeep, Kia, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Ram, Subaru, Toyota and Volkswagen, all of which build vehicles in the U.S.

* 2015 Green Car awards were announced at the Washington D.C. Auto Show. The Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel was named Green SUV of the Year and the BMW i8, a plug-in hybrid sports car, was named Luxury Green Car. The Ford F-150 captured the Green Car Technology award for its new design, including the use of aluminum that cut 700 pounds off the truck.

* VW and BMW announced a partnership to build nearly 100 fast-charging stations on both the east and west coasts by the end of this year to help mitigate the characteristic range anxiety experienced by many prospective EV car buyers. The ChargePoint units will support products like the BMW i3 and the VW e-Golf electric cars and access will be automatically included in the purchase of these cars. Tesla has about 160 charging ports around the U.S. currently.

* Cadillac announced this week a plan to have about 200 of its exclusive dealerships add a high-tech boutique with special luxury amenities and highly trained staff to enrich the experience for the upscale customers they want to court. A lesser version of this boutique concept will be added to another 700 smaller, non-exclusive stores. Cadillac boss Johann de Nysschen also promises new compensation and incentive programs for dealers that better reflect their specific markets.

* The National Auto Dealers Association met this past week in San Francisco not far from Tesla HQ, but one of the auto industry’s brightest stars did not participate. Elon Musk spoke at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit the week before as some dealers boycotted the event because of Musk’s presence. Tesla sells cars directly to customers without a dealer network which is illegal in many states. In a related story, Ford opened a new R&D facility in Silicon Valley hoping to take advantage of innovations generated there. Presumably they’ll not be researching marketing structures.

* Toyota continues for the third straight year being the world's top automaker having sold 10.23 million vehicles around the globe in 2014. Volkswagen is in the number two slot with 10.14 million sales and GM comes in third with 9.92 million. 2015 could bring a change as the Japan market is weakening.

* Honda announced it will soon end Accord sales in Europe as existing inventory runs out. Sales of the mid-size sedan have been slumping for more than a decade after assembly of the car was moved from England to Japan which hurt the pricing structure. The mid-size sedan market in Europe is increasingly dominated by the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class which are also edging out VW’s Passat and the Ford Mondeo.

* A report released this week by the Center for Automotive Research assesses the impact of the auto industry on the U.S. economy. The report concludes that the industry employs 1.6 million workers and supports a total of over 7 million other jobs. These jobs, the report indicates, account for a half-trillion dollars in salaries and $65 billion in personal tax revenues. The report is at: http://www.cargroup.org/?module=Publications&event=View&pubID=113.

* Automatic braking technologies will be added to the NHTSA’s list of recommended safety technologies, which currently includes back-up cameras and lane-departure and impending-collision warning systems. The agency currently rates cars based on the results of frontal and side crash tests as well as rollover propensity on a scale of one to five stars, with five being the highest score.

* GM has issued a stop-sale order on some 6,300 of its crossovers due to a pending recall on their 18-inch Goodyear Fortera HL tires. The affected vehicles include the 2015 Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave.

* Porsche is recalling about 13,500 Cayenne SUVs and Panamera sedans equipped with a 3-liter V6 engine worldwide to fix a seal that may allow fuel to evaporate. The program affects hybrid and standard-power models built from March 2011 until May 2012.

* Kia is recalling nearly 87,000 of its 2014 Forte sedans because the cooling fan resistor might overheat and melt in those vehicles, increasing the risk of a fire.

* The six classic and collector car auction companies participating in Arizona Auction Week did a record $292.8 million in sales, according to preliminary figures provided by Hagerty. That figure represents a 17.7 percent increase compared with the same events the previous year.

* The first retail production Mustang Shelby GT350R (’R' for racing), VIN 001, sold for a cool million dollars at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction last week. The classic bidding war was won by an anonymous bidder. Proceeds from the sale benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

* Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, will compete in his 23rd and final full-time Sprint Cup Series season in 2015. The 43-year old driver announced his decision to the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team he has driven for since November of 1992.

* The prestigious Motorsports Hall of Fame of America announced its 2015 class of inductees during an event at Daytona International Speedway this week. The class includes legendary names from many areas of motor sports: Ricky Carmichael, Walker Evans, Warren Johnson, Tommy Kendall, Mark Martin, Duke Nalon and Lloyd Ruby. The induction event will be held at the historic Fillmore Theater in Detroit on June 18th.