Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest January 15-21, 2018; NAIAS, NACTOY, Super Mustang, MPG, Rotary Returns, Tesla 3 Tested, Ferrari F-1?, Pizza Hut Goes Driverless, Dakar

AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO, January 21, 2018; 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 "catch up" news nuggets. For More search the past 25 year's millions of (Indexed By Google) pages of automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news residing in The Auto Channel Automotive News Library.

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Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Nuggets - January 15-21, 2018;

* What does the government shutdown mean for the auto industry? Well, it depends on how long it lasts. U.S. trade delegates still plan to attend next week’s important NAFTA talks in Montreal and only half of the NHTSA staff will be furloughed leaving highway and safety r&d continuing. Rule-making, enforcement activities and consumer testing projects are expected to be delayed until the government funding impasse is resolved. Preliminary Washington Auto Show activities will probably not be affected.

* Press Days at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit wrapped up this week with public days running through January 28th. We saw the introduction of a plethora of pickups this year with redesigned entries from Silverado, Ram, F-150 and a new-to-the-U.S.-market Ford Ranger. We also saw the BMW X2 and the Acura RDX. Concepts included the Nissan Xmotion CUV and the Chinese GAC Inverse, an impressive concept car. GAC had examples of their home-market products and a promise to be selling a crossover here in the fourth quarter of 2019. The Auto Channel had full NAIAS coverage.

* NACTOY winners announced in Detroit were the Honda Accord, Volvo XC60 and Lincoln Navigator. The all-new 2019 Ram 1500 won Cars.com "Best of Show" Award at the 2018 North American International Auto Show.

* Infiniti is the latest brand to announce that its vehicle lineup will be fully “electrified” by 2021 with the exception of its full-size QX80 SUV. Notwithstanding that plan, Infiniti’s “Q-Inspiration" concept car at this week’s Detroit auto show is not electrified, rather, it is powered by the four-cylinder VC Turbo with variable compression. The Q-Inspiration, though, is expected to be a hint at future design language and won two of the prestigious EyesOn Design Awards for Design Excellence.

* Ford announced its "most powerful street-legal" production car ever, a Mustang Shelby GT500 with a 700-horsepower V8 engine. Ford said in a brief news release the car would be available in late 2019.

* Clean diesel technology got a major boost at the Detroit show as six auto manufacturers announced new clean diesel options for passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks.

* Watch those gasoline prices. Prices for Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, have risen nearly 50 percent since June. They briefly passed $70 a barrel more than once in the last week — the first time the per-barrel price has reached $70 since December 2014.

* According to a report from the U.S. EPA, in MY 2016, Mazda had the lowest fleetwide average adjusted CO2 emissions and highest adjusted fuel economy performance (29.6 mpg), followed closely by Hyundai, Honda, Subaru, and Nissan. Fiat-Chrysler had the highest CO2 emissions and lowest fuel economy. Hyundai had the largest reduction in adjusted CO2 emissions from MY 2015 to MY 2016, at 15 g/mile.

* Mazda is bringing back its rotary engine. Last sold in 2012, Mazda is reviving the engine for use with battery-powered, self-driving vehicles it’s developing with Toyota. Mazda will provide rotary engines to run generators that recharge the batteries for Toyota’s in-development driverless delivery fleet.

* Cars.com has announced the winners of its annual Best of Awards. The highest honor, Best of 2018, went to the all-new 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The other category winners are: Best Pickup Truck of 2018: Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, Eco-Friendly Car of the Year: Chevrolet Bolt EV, Family Car of the Year: Chrysler Pacifica, Luxury Car of the Year: Audi A4 and Most Fun-to-Drive Car of the Year: Volkswagen Golf GTI.

* Pizza Hut unveiled plans to launch a fleet of driverless delivery vans. They publicly announced a partnership with Toyota, which is now developing the "e-Palette," a driverless vehicle that looks like a cross between a bullet train and a van. (Amazon and Uber have also signed up to work with the technology. Despite the hype this week, Toyota said the concept is "envisioned for use in the 2030s."

* Toyota was named again by Fortune as one of the “World’s Most Admired Companies” and named the No. 1 motor vehicle company for the fourth consecutive year in an annual ranking. Fortune also recognized Toyota as one of the Top 50 “All-Star” companies surveyed, moving up five spots from last year.

* PSA appears to be coming back to the U.S. market sooner than expected. After buying GM’s European brands earlier this year they are now developing new vehicles that comply with U.S. regulations. Automotive News reports that PSA is actively recruiting staff for a new Atlanta headquarters. The report goes on to say Peugeot and Citroen brands intend to be selling cars here by 2026. PSA is already involved in ride-sharing and subscription projects and will add a rental service this year.

* Journalists have had no official time with the new Tesla Model 3 as it has stumbled out of the gate, just now making it into the hands of regular customers. Mark Vaughn, AutoWeek’s west coast editor, got his hands on a loaded one for an early report. While the base price is 36-grand, this one’s bottom line was just over 60 with Enhanced Autopilot and many options. Vaughn gives it high marks for size, performance and design, but like journos everywhere, he wants more time with it.

* Autoweek reports that Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne is hinting at a Formula One deal between Haas and Maserati. Last month, Ferrari signed a deal for a Formula 1 sponsorship between Fiat Chrysler brand Alfa Romeo and Sauber. At that announcement, Marchionne suggested a deal with Ferrari 'B team' Haas and FCA owned Maserati was something he was just "thinking about." Fast forward to last week; Italian reporters asked him at the Detroit auto show if he is thinking about sending Maserati to Formula E. "I'm not so sure. In terms of a possible cooperation, it is maybe better to try to organize a joint project with Haas in Formula 1," Marchionne said.

* AutoWeek also reported this week that GoDaddy will sponsor 35-year-old Danica Partrick in the final two races of her driving career in 2018 - the Daytona 500 and Indy 500. They’re calling it the “Danica Double.” The teams she will be driving for have not been announced. Patrick raced with GoDaddy sponsorship early in her career and starred in 13 commercials aired during Super Bowls. Patrick has contended in six Daytona 500 races with her best finish being eighth.

* The Dakar Rally 2018, the toughest race in world motorsport, has ended in the Argentinian city of Cordoba. The veteran Spanish driver, Carlos Sainz, driving a Peugeot won the Dakar rally beating his greatest rival, the seven-time champion, Stephane Peter-Hansel, who lost the lead after hitting a tree. The ninth stage of the 14-stage rally was cancelled earlier in the week for safety reasons due to extremely heavy rains.