Automotive Reporter Biz News for Wk of 10-26-15

Ford’s marketing geniuses continue to blend Mustang’s heritage with various speedsters to produce very appealing derivatives of the iconic muscle car. 

Petty’s Garage is being tapped to build a limited number of highly modified Mustang GTs – 243 King edition models, 43 King Premier and 14 King Premier convertibles.

What will the King-packages include? The already hot, 5.0-litre engine will be modified with a Ford Performance supercharger to boost horsepower to 670—with a three-year, 36k-mile warranty.

Petty’s Garage owner, the legendary Richard Petty, says the King Edition Mustangs are “pretty much the way I’d build my own.” To handle the extra power, the Petty shop also adds TrakPak Ford Performance halfshafts, three-way adjustable front and rear sway bars, and a rear axle upgrade. MSRP prices begin at $67,495—which is pretty affordable in this universe. Order yours from the Petty’s Garage website.

The OnStar network is amazeballs. With a push of a button, you can be connected to a real, live person in this country (who speaks flawless English), who will answer any question you have. If there’s an emergency, they’ll dispatch help—even before you ask, in some cases. Now OnStar is offering to read books to you while you drive along. Actually, they’re downloads of audio books, but you get the idea.  

Maritz Research finds that Buick owners are 30% more likely to read books as a leisure activity, and so GM and Audiobooks.com are offering two free downloads to 2016 Buick owners. I think they should add another volume to the list—the 2016 Buick Owners’ Manual.

The electrical evolution continues in the automotive realm.  Chevrolet has created a snappy EV-version of its Bolt sub-compact, which it says can go 200-miles on a single charge.  GM says the electrified model will go into production for the 2016 model year, assembled at its Orion Township, MI plant. 

The Bolt EV is a collaboration between Chevrolet and LG Corp, which has invested $250-million in a manufacturing facility in Korea that will gen-up some of the components for the car. LG Chem has been manufacturing batteries for GM’s first-generation Volt since 2010.

Last Wednesday the entire world celebrated “Back to the Future Day,” that moment in time to which Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled from 1985. Probably the best “moment” of the day occurred on Jimmy Kimmel Live, when Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd emerged—in character—from a smoke enshrouded DeLorean rolling onto the set. 

The pair bantered about how 2015 sucks, and Doc headed back to “fix a few things” at the end of the segment.  Special mention goes to Huey Lewis, who was planted in the audience, and jammed with the house band during the commercial break.

As promised, Toyota produced a special edition Tacoma 4 x 4, the ride of choice of McFly in the film series, and a BTTF-themed TV spot to capitalize on the theme.
It worked. 

Worst automotive ad campaigns ever:
3.) Art Grindle’s Saturday morning cartoon sponsorships: In what alternative universe is jumping up and down on top of cars while screaming low-price promises an effective venue for marketing? Oh, yeah—Houston in the 1960’s.

2.) Toyota’s Muppets TV spots. In what alternative universe is screaming puppet dialogue a suitable venue for marketing motorcars?

 1.) Honda’s singing owner Radio spots: There’s only one thing more obnoxious than a car dealer's jingle singers, and that’s car owners who CANNOT sing, attempting to voice the praises of their cars’ rear view camera, et al. 

I’d like to see an automotive derivation of M&M Mars’ series of candy bars ads, in which various “hangry” drivers are magically transformed with just a bite of a Snickers bar. Maybe that’s what the Houston Texans needed on Sunday—just a Snickers.

Listen to the Automotive Reporter Radio Show every weekend on Stitcher.com, or from our webpage. 

Automotive Reporter/Biz News for Wk of 6-29-15

Spencer Penrose graduated last in his class from Harvard in 1886.
That did not deter him from becoming an adventurer and developer of many of Colorado’s landmarks, including the Broadmoor Hotel and the Pikes Peak Highway.

In 1916, after widening the narrow carriage road to the 14,110-foot summit, Penrose established a competitive hill climb to promote the route to tourists. “The Race to the Clouds” was first run with open wheel class vehicles.
The 1916 winning time was 20-minutes, 55.6-seconds.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb now includes nearly every class of competitive automobile. The fastest time on the 7-mile course was established in June 2013 by Sebastien Loeb, at 8-minutes, 13.8-seconds, driving a 875-hp mid-engined Peugot 208 T16.

For the 93^rd running of the race on Sunday (6/28) Honda Performance Development and Honda Research and Development associates fielded 13 vehicles in 11 different classes. Former Indy Lights Champion Alex Lloyd, and Japanese Super GT legend Tetsuya Tamano were tapped to pilot the Honda B-Fit spec and an all-electric vehicle on a CR-Z chassis, respectively.
Honda has had winning cars in at least one class-victory in each of the past 13-years.

But not this year.
The 2015 Penrose Cup winner is Rhys Millen with a run time of 9-minutes, 32.4-seconds…the first win by an electric vehicle. Millen drove a 1-megawatt eO PPOE developed in Latvia that produced 1,367-hp.
Batteries not included.
No, wait—they were.

Beginning next month, you can order a factory-prepped Dodge Challenger specifically intended for drag racing. The next-generation Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak will offer the option of a supercharged 354-cubic-inch Gen III HEMI engine or a naturally aspirated 426-cubic-inch Gen III HEMI engine. 

Where might one drive such a vehicle, you ask?

FCA says the dream machine is “designed for passionate Sportsman racers who compete in nationally sanctioned drag racing series, such as the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).”

You can order your Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak “through authorized Dodge dealerships” starting July 23. The MSRP for the naturally aspirated 426 version of the Drag Pak is a “cubic inch appropriate” $99,426, with the 354 supercharged race car available for $109,354 MSRP. Apparently, size does matter.
Order two. 

Imagine dropping a serious performance engine inside your favorite SUV, and than tweaking the package with some major attitude. Nissan did just that in 2011 with its JUKE-R crossover supercar. The 2015 JUKE-R 2.0 concept made its global dynamic debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK on Thursday, and it was pretty impressive.

It looks as good as it tastes.
The front and rear bumpers are made from 100% carbon fiber, and the  nose has been retooled with larger vent intakes to cool the 600-hp NISMO engine.  The hood has bare carbon cooling ducts that have been repositioned for better efficiency.
The rear exhaust cowlings have been reshaped, and are made of high-temperature carbon fiber. LED lights are used extensively, front and rear and in between, including turn signal repeaters in the side rear view mirrors.  The JUKE-R 2.0 rolls on the new GT-R wheels, and comes in your choice of colors, so long as you like Matte Black.

When the Mini Cooper hardtop first came on the scene in 2002, I was enthralled. I had to drive one. And it performed as expected, with snappy response from superior geometry with all four tires place essentially at the corners of the chassis. I thought, ‘there’s no way to improve on this.’ 

I was wrong, because the Mini Clubman appeared with just a little more cargo space tucked under its elongated top. Funny thing about that process…the Mini became less and less “mini” with each iteration. And the inevitable has occurred—the first Mini mini-van.

The new and improved 2016 MINI Clubman is 10.9 inches longer and 2.9 inches wider than its “little” brother, with a wheelbase that is 4 inches larger. The not-so-mini 17.5 cu ft luggage compartment can be extended to as much as 47.9 cu ft by folding down the rear backrest.

Fortunately, Mini has beefed up its power plants to handle the bigger, better Clubman. In addition to the standard 134 bhp 3-cylinder engine, the new MINI Cooper S Clubman also offers a 4-cylinder, 189hp engine. Mini also offers an 8-speed Steptronic transmission for the Mini Cooper S Clubman, but you’d miss all the fun in the standard 6-speed manual tranny.
One thing is clear: This is not your mama’s mini van.

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Automotive Reporter/Biz News for Wk of 5-25-15

“Gentlemen, start your engines.”

The 99^th running of the Indy 500 Sunday gave the crowd its money’s worth. Pre-race pageantry, including the only logical replacement for Jim Nabors—Straight No Chaser, singing “Back Home Again in Indiana”—plus a little startus interruptus—the first few laps were run under the yellow flag after a three-car crash in the first half-mile of the race—add the usual mechanical demons, and a few more crashes for the complete spectacle that is The Indianapolis 500.

Juan Pablo Montoya jockeyed for the lead in the final five laps, despite a couple of scrapes earlier in the race. His right rear fender and rear wing assembly had to be replaced after being struck from behind by Silvera De Simona, and in Lap 40, he skidded into the pits and had to be backed up to his mark. That pit stop cost him over 12-seconds, which can be a race-losing margin. 

Montoya crossed the finish line 0.1046-second ahead of team mate, Will Power, to collect his second Indy win.

“This is pretty much un-fricking-believable,” he told ABC Sports. “This is what racing in IndyCar is all about. Racing down to the wire,” he said. And then he drank a quart of milk.

Actor Patrick Dempsey was the honorary starter for the race. NASCAR god Jeff Gordon drove the pace car, the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. 

Recent retiree David Letterman was honored by his Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan racing team with his likeness emblazoned along the side of Oriol Servia’s yellow #32 race car, with the hashtag, “#ThanksDave.” Servia was sidelined by an accident midway through the race, but team mate Graham Rahal finished in fifth place.
Not a bad way to spend your first weekend in retirement, Dave!

Inigo Montoya...no relation to Juan Pablo

The other race at Indy this year was between Honda and Chevrolet. Half the engines whirring around the track at over 200-mph were built by Honda’s Santa Clarita skunk works. The rest of them were Chevy’s. 

Both companies spend millions to provide the engines for IndyCar that must run 2,500-miles with no more than normal service and maintenance.
For race cars. 

Still… the bragging rights are incalculable. Think about that the next time you consider a new car purchase from one of the companies that builds the engines in those spectacular race cars.
I’m impressed.

Ahead of Sunday’s race, Dana Mecum’s Original Spring Classic muscle car auction achieved over $42-million in sales of over 900 vehicles. Don Davis’ 1967 Shelby 427 Cobra Roadster set the high water mark, selling for $1-million. 

The second-highest price was paid for a 1971 Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta.

“The Spring Classic auction brought consignments from 36 states this year and buyers from all over the world increasing sales by more than $2 million over last year,” Mecum said.

What’s your favorite Chevrolet Corvette color? Torch Red, Gray Metallic, and Laguna Blue Tintcoat are among the most popular on the new and improved ‘Vette’s. 

A $439-million investment into Chevy’s Bowling Green, KY assembly plant will include a new paint shop that’s nearly half the size of the original production facility. Corvette is now the world’s longest-running, continuously produced passenger car—at 62-years.

So, it’s rained every day for the past two weeks where I live. Some parts of the Texas Hill Country remain waterlogged, and there’s more rain on the way this week. I need to go wash my car in time for the next rinse cycle.

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