Nutson's Weekly Auto News Digest - November 23-29, 2015: Welcome Peterson Buh Bye Jeff, VW Of Course, 80K Tesla, NAIAS Sans Jaguar, Recalls Of Course

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

AUTO CENTRAL Chicago, November 29, 2015; Every Sunday Larry Nutson, Senior Editor and Chicago Car Guy along with fellow senior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, give you TACH's "take" on this past week's automotive news in easy to digest nuggets. If you wish to know more just click on the link that will take you to the full story as published here on The Auto Channel.

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 20 year's 1,955,996 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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* In NASCAR, Kyle Busch clinched the Sprint Cup championship driving his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the win at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After breaking his right leg and left foot in a crash at the start of the season, Busch came back after missing 11 races for the improbable title win. This is the first NASCAR championship for Toyota.

* Noteworthy in NASCAR is the retirement of Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet driver 44-year old Jeff Gordon at the end of this season. He was one of the four drivers in the chase for the championship but finished sixth in the Homestead race. Gordon will be a TV-commentator next year and perhaps race occasionally in various venues.

* Volkswagen has submitted a recall plan to the California Air Resources Board responding to the violations concerning illegal defeat devices in their 2-liter diesel-powered vehicles, model years 2009-2015. CARB has up to 20 business days to review all elements of the plan. Based on CARB’s review, VW may be required to revise and resubmit all, or specific elements of the recall plan. CARB says they are consulting with U.S. EPA during this process to develop a national recall plan.

* VW also has said it has a fix for its 1.6 and 2.0-L engines in Europe that will involve some software change and minor hardware installation. And, VW, Audi and Porsche have been ordered to recall 85,000 vehicles with the 3.0-L V6 diesel to revise emissions software. The engine is designed, developed and assembled by Audi in Neckarsulm and used in all three vehicle brands. Sale of vehicles with this engine has been suspended. Audi thinks it will cost around $53 million all together.

* A new study released by the American Highway Users Alliance identifies America's 50 worst bottlenecks and finds that the very worst bottleneck, as measured by hours of delay, is in Chicago, IL. Los Angeles, CA owns the next six of the top 10. In the top-ranked Chicago chokepoint, on the Kennedy Expressway (I-90) between the Circle Interchange (I-290) and Edens junction (I-94), the bottleneck was found to extend 12 miles, costing motorists 16.9 million hours' worth of time, equivalent to $418 million in 2014. More than 6.3 million gallons of fuel is wasted on I-90 while cars idle or crawl in traffic. By just fixing America's worst bottleneck, an annual reduction of 133 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions would also be likely, the study found. This is why you should take the train from downtown Chicago to O'Hare Airport.

* Jaguar Land Rover will not have an exhibit at the 2016 North American International Auto Show. JLR said they will skip the January auto show in Detroit to concentrate on other shows that more align with its marketing efforts.

* NHTSA said the rate of traffic fatalities fell to its lowest point in history in 2014 but is rising at an alarming rate over the first six months of this year. Deadly traffic accidents increased 8.1% over the first six months of this year. It's natural for the number of deadly accidents to increase as the economy recovers, gas prices decline and Americans drive more miles. However, the accident rate has increased faster than expected for the miles traveled.

* Automotive News reports that U.S. regulators are delaying rules that would require electric and hybrid cars to alert sight-impaired pedestrians and bicyclists until at least mid-March, according to a recent government filing. The decision is the latest setback for a government plan that has been in the works since 2013 to require "quiet cars" -- vehicles that operate at low speeds without an internal combustion engine running -- to add new audio alerts at low speeds.

* Music and sports car lovers be advised that Janis Joplin’s 1964 Porsche 356C cabriolet with psychedelic paint job will cross the auction bloc at the RM Sotheby’s “Driven to Disruption” sale in New York on December 10th. Joplin died at age 27 of a drug overdose but had already become one of the top rockers in the world. She bought the car in 1968 and had one of her roadies, Dave Richards, hand paint the Porsche using regular house paint. RM Sotheby’s expects the price to exceed $400,000.

* Tesla announced pricing for the new Model X crossover that will begin deliveries early next year. Two versions will be available. The 70D with 70 kilowatt-hour battery pack is good for about a 220-mile range and 0-60 mph time of 6 seconds flat will start at $80,000. A variety of options will be offered including a 3rd row seat, towing package, adjustable suspension and self-driving features among other extras. Fully loaded the 70D is expected to cost around $100,000. The 90D with 90 kilowatt-hour battery has a 257-mile range and 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds. Detailed pricing for the 90D was not released.

* A possible fuel tank leak is behind Ford’s recall of close to a half million Ford Fusion and Mercury Milans from 2010 and 2011. No fires, accidents or injuries have resulted from the problem. Ford dealers will fix the problem at no charge, of course.

* After a major renovation and redesign the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles will reopen next week. The $125 million project includes a new abstract, back-lit steel skin on the entire building, 22 new galleries inside, racing simulators, a roof-top event space and gourmet food service. Tickets for the December 5th Grand Opening Gala start at $1,500 and the museum will open to the public December 7th with adult tickets costing $15. For details go to: www.Petersontickets.org or call 323-930-CARS.

* A belated Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you had a weekend of safe travels. The national average for regular gasoline was $2.05 a gallon, over 70 cents lower than a year ago and the lowest since 2008. The national price average is expected to fall below $2.00 per gallons before year end.