Nutson's Auto News Blast - Buh-Bye 2014, TARP, Takata Prez; Porsche Super-car Recall Plus More News From December 22-28, 2014

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

Auto Central Chicago IL, December 28, 2014; 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 1,751,002 automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news, video, audio, rants and raves just search The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive.

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Nutson's Auto News Blast - Week Of December 22-28, 2014

* The U.S. government essentially closed the books on TARP with a $15.3 billion profit. The Troubled Asset Relief Program was passed in 2008, in the wake of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, as the nation's financial system was on the verge of collapse and economists feared another Great Depression. However overall, the auto bailout was the one big money loser for TARP. Even with the Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) sale yielding a $2.4 billion profit, taxpayers lost about $9.2 billion from the GM and Chrysler bailouts. But opting not to bail out the auto industry likely would have proven far more costly, since GM, Chrysler, many auto industry suppliers and car dealers likely would have gone out of business.

* Auto supplier Takata, maker of the faulty airbags at the center of controversy for the past six months, announced this week their U.S. president Stefan Stocker will resign being replaced by CEO Shigehisa Takada, grandson of the company’s founder. Under Stocker’s leadership family owned Takata has resisted a national recall of their airbags contending heat and humidity in southern climates are causing the problem.

* FCA US LLC will replace driver’s-side Takata-made air-bag inflators in an estimated 3.3 million older-model vehicles worldwide, in an expansion of an ongoing regional field action. Vehicles covered are from the 2004-2007 model years.

* BMW has also expanded its Takata airbag recall. The decision affects 140,000 BMW 3 Series cars made between January 2004 and August 2006.

* More vehicles are earning top honors from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The number of vehicles earning either of the Institute's two awards has jumped to 71 from 39 this time last year, giving consumers more choices for optimum protection in crashes. The number of winners in the top tier — Top Safety Pick+ — has increased by 11 for 2015, despite a tougher standard for front crash prevention.

* Lest we think some manufacturers are immune to recalls we note that Porsche is recalling just over 200 of its 918 super car to replace defective chassis parts. The 918 lists for $845,000. This is the second recall for the 918 after a small number of them had a potential defect with the rear axle. There are only 43 of them in North America and total of 205 worldwide.

* The Detroit Free Press and their auto critic Mark Phelan named the 2015 Ford Mustang the Free Press Car of the Year and the 2015 Ford F-150 the Free Press Truck of the Year. Does this Ford sweep give any indication of the soon to be announced NACTOY winners? We'll just have to wait and see.

* With vehicle sales nearing all-time records and fuel prices half what they were just a couple years ago it is no wonder that light truck sales are booming. Some Chrysler plants making pickups and SUVs will be working overtime during the holidays to keep up with demand. But take note that included in the category of light trucks are compact SUVs and Crossovers, which is the hottest segment right now. So folks are, in reality, buying smaller fuel-efficient vehicles.

* Total automobile recalls hit an all-time high in 2014 at the 60 million mark. While GM took the lead trying to atone for decades of neglect over the ignition switches in many bread-and-butter small cars many other manufacturers were taking no chances on getting caught neglecting to be proactive.

* Cadillac just joined the prestigious 200mph club with the introduction of the 2016 CTS-V to be launched in late summer. With a new supercharged 6.2-liter V8 and an 8-peed automatic transmission it makes 640 hp and 630 lb-ft or torque to exceeded the magic number of 200 mph. Cadillac touts it as a luxury sedan that is track capable.

* Another track-worthy street car, Ford’s new Shelby GT350 Mustang, will be offered at the upcoming Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale with proceeds benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The car offered will be the first car produced for retail sale and the winner of the bid will be able to choose color and packages. It will go on the auction block with no reserve.

* We’ve known for some time that Ford plans to introduce a new version of the Fort GT super car, spiritual successor to the legendary GT40 that beat the Europeans at their own racing game in the 1960s, at the upcoming North American International Auto Show in Detroit. We learned this week that Ford will also support a two-car team in the 2016 Tudor United Sports Car Championship which include the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chip Ganassi Racing will campaign the cars.

* Things are about to get a lot more interesting at Hyundai. Hyundai has hired Albert Biermann as its new head of vehicle test & high performance development. He brings over 30 years of experience in the development of high-performance vehicles, most recently in his current role as Vice President Engineering BMW M Automobiles.

* With that, this is our final news blast for 2014. We wish you all a happy and prosperous new year and keep following us to see where the auto industry takes us in 2015.