Automotive Reporter/Biz News for Wk of 7-6-15

Can you believe it—it’s been 20-years since Congress repealed the 55-mph National Maximum Speed Law. For you kids born since 1995, way back in the olden days, the Guvment thought it best to keep throttles reined-in to 55 on the highway—you know, to save gas, and for safety reasons. They imposed the double-nickel in the 1970’s in the midst of an oil embargo crisis.

I know few people who drove 55. Sammy Hagar had a hit record about that in the ‘80’s, “I Can’t Drive 55.” Now, an assistant Transportation Professor at the University of Texas is suggesting better-engineered cars and roads are sufficient justification for raising the speed limit even higher.

Pro. Stephen Boyles’ research indicates few drivers adhere to posted speed limits, and says, "in fact, the greater discrepancy between slower and faster drivers is often more dangerous."  Boyles points to data from the Federal Highway Administration, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program and the Institute of Transportation Engineers which indicates speed limits should be set at the 85th percentile of traffic speed. In other words, only about 1 out of 7 cars should be driving faster than the speed limit. 

“Any more than that and the speed limit should be raised,” Boyles says. “Speed limits should conform to drivers, not the other way around,” he says.

You can get from Houston to Dallas in record time with the posted 75-mph speed limit that kicks in from just north of Huntsville to the Ennis. My experience has seen drivers typically exceed the posted limit by at least 10-mph. The trip is about 240-miles, with 130-miles with the higher speed zone.That’s about the distance from Franklin to Memphis, Tennessee.  

The 28^th Annual International Z-Car Convention, or Z-con, is slated for Friday, July 17, and Nissan wants to know how many of you want to drive the NISMO Road Trip to get there. Nissan Employees and VIP’s are making the trek from company HQ in Franklin to a Beale Street suarez in downtown Memphis. Sounds like a perfect excuse for a three-day weekend, starting Friday morning at 8am, the road rally…er, trip, commences at 9am. 

Nissan promises lots of tantalizing revelations in Memphis, including the entire NISMO product lineup, a 2009 40th anniversary Z-car, an original 240Z, plus the all-new 2016 Nissan Maxima and 2016 Nissan TITAN XD. The feature car of the drive will be the late Yutaka Katayama's ("Mr. K's") last-ever U.S. Nissan lease vehicle, a 1974 260Z 2+2, customized by the factory with a full-metal, retractable sunroof.
Eau my.

Wanna go? To RSVP, participants are asked to tweet the hashtag  #NISMORoadTrip to help organizers provide an estimate of the number attending. And I know what you’re thinking…It’s about 775-miles from Houston to Franklin. Some of that at more than 70-mph (wink, wink).

Best way to create value: Limit Production. Dodge’s factory-built Challenger Drag Pak is only going to run about 60-units. Subaru is using a similar tactic with a Hyper Blue edition of its popular WRX STI and BRZ high performance cars. 

The Hyper Blue WRX STI will boast a 305-hp 2.5-liter turbocharged and intercooled Boxer engine, with Symmetrical All-wheel Drive. Brembo brakes lurk behind 18-inch BBS black-alloy rims. Subaru says it’s only going to make 700 of these special edition WRX’s.

The BRZ is powered by a 200-hp 2.0-liter Boxer engine, allowing it to retain its ultra-low profile. The Hyper Blue motif includes the exclusive paint scheme, with color-keyed leather seat bolsters and head restraints. Blue stitching accents the seats and the blue and black leather-wrapped steering wheel, as well as the shift lever boot and leather-wrapped parking brake handle. 

The blue theme also carries to the center console kneepads and door trim, accented by an embroidered silver BRZ logo on the front seatbacks. Carpeted floor mats also pick up the BRZ logo and blue stitching. BRZ gets a rear view camera as a standard item this year. Subaru is going to build only 500 of the Hyper Blue BRZ’s.
Pricing on both vehicles will be released later this year.

Mazda’s ugly little secret about its fourth-gen Miata is out: There will be no Mazdaspeed version of the MX-5.
Dry your eyes. 

MX-5 Program Manager, Nohiro Yamamoto, tells Top Gear.com the newest edition of the drop top two seater doesn’t need any performance boost.

"It's important not to get hung up on numbers," Yamamoto-san told Top Gear. "Not on power, or torque,” he said. “No, what is more important is the feeling. The driving experience and feeling is more important than power. In my mind it just has to be fun to drive," Yamamoto said.

When asked whether his team had ever—or ever would consider adding a turbo to the Miata, Yamamoto responded that it went against the spirit of the roadster. "I never considered using a turbo," he told Top Gear, "because naturally aspirated engines are just nice, especially for this kind of car.”

The newest edition ND Miata will be smaller and lighter than its NC and NB brethren, and closer in size to the original NA Miata. 

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The Automotive Reporter/Biz News for the Week of 2-23-15

It's 67-degrees outside, just before sunrise, and 68-degrees inside the house this morning. The Weathermen tell us Winter is about to deliver one more cold blast to South Texas for the season, as the rest of the country shivers through the chill.

Baby, it's cold outside!

By now you have seen the iconic image of the frozen Jeep Cherokee grille in a hospital parking lot. Several people snapped photos of the same phenomenon, so it's definitely not a stunt.  
Jeep says a nurse captured the image as she was leaving work last week, it was a hot commodity on social media all weekend. Still, no one knows the owner of the vehicle that left the parking lot ice sculpture. Yet.

Ram Engineering is taking advantage of the chill to test its trucks for severe cold and plow testing--without having to recreate any special conditions. In Houghton, Michigan, sub-zero conditions are perfect for determining trucks' performance under circumstances only a fraction of owners will experience. Some of the experiments include Slush Testing. 

"Slush does not drip off the undercarriage," says Mike Cairns, Director of Ram Truck Engineering. "It hangs on, filling gaps and covering components." Ram enginers know that during a hard freeze, anything covered in slush becomes encased in ice -- fuel lines, diesel exhaust fluid tanks, engine oil pan, brakes, etc. Ram runs trucks through 12-inch-deep slush, and immediately park the trucks overnight in a refrigeration facility set at minus 20 degrees.

2015 Ram Truck with Snow Plow

Each truck is thoroughly inspected to assure components and systems are functioning properly. The diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tank is allowed to freeze in such conditions. The tank and lines are made of materials to allow a hard freeze without breaking. An independent heating system keeps just enough DEF above freezing temperatures to allow engine start up while meeting tailpipe emissions. 

The location of vent lines is another key design feature. Water can freeze, clogging vent lines for the axles, transmission and transfer case. And in such sub-zero conditions, windows must continue to roll up and down, as well as windshield wipers and defrost mechanisms must continue to function.

Got Snow?
Ford F-150 with optional plow.

Ford Motor Company is now offering snow plow options for all of its F-series pickup truck cab configurations, including Regular, SuperCab and SuperCrew. 

Now that Ford is using more high-strength steel in the frame, and new, high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloy in the body, there's a weight reduction of about 700-pounds. You can make up for that with a nifty $50 snow plow mount option--Ford's fine print says, "snow plow not included." In Houston, we could use these for the "Steer it or Clear it" operations on our freeways. In all kinds of weather. 

2015 Silverado Black-out option

If you're weary of white-out conditions, Chevrolet is offering a Black-out package for its 2015 Silverado pickup trucks.  The $1,595  option for regular- and double-cab 1500 WT models  includes 20” black painted aluminum wheels, P275/55R20 all-season blackwall tires, deep tinted glass and black bowties. The package is available for order now, and you can have any color you want, as long as it is black.

A chicken in every pot, a Pullman in every garage? 
Not exactly, unless you live in a very tony neighborhood. To mark the 50th Anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz 600--the epitome of luxury sedan travel, the German automaker is rolling out the Mercedes-Maybach Pullman S-600 at the Geneva Autoshow. 

1887 Pullman "Vestibule" Railcar

Historical note: The Pullman label was originally applied to railway carriages with luxurious open-plan compartments. They were built by the American Pullman Palace Car Company. The designation was soon also applied to motor cars from Mercedes-Benz which were based on an extremely long wheelbase, with a generously-sized passenger compartment. In the rear, separated from the driver's area by a partition, there was space for four passengers to recline regally in four single seats facing each other.

 The new Pullman is 21.3-feet long--another 3.5 feet longer than the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. The wheelbase is 14.5 feet, and the car is 5.2 feet tall--more than 3.9 inches higher than a Mercedes S-Class.

The absolute top-of-the-range model is the Mercedes-Maybach Pullman S 600. This behemoth is powered by a V12 biturbo engine, producing 523hp from a 5.9-L engine, generating 612 lb-ft. of torque at 1900 rpm. Growl.

If you have to ask, you can't afford it, but prices for "unarmoured models" start at $566,922. Deliveries will commence in 2016.
Grey Poupon?

Yutaka Katayama (1909-2015)

The man credited for developing the iconic Datsun 240-Z now belongs to the ages. Nissan legend Yutaka Katayama, the man known as “Mr. K,” died Thursday, February 19, 2015 at the age of 105.

Katayama joined the company in 1935 handling publicity and advertising. He built the Datsun brand from scratch--the first US exposure to the Japanese company, and assembled the pieces that would become the venerable "Z-car" series. Mr. K. was team manager for two Datsun 210's entered in a grueling rally circumnavigating the Australian continent. Their victory vaulted the brand into worldwide renown and set the stage for Datsun exports. 

Yutaka Katayama

 Katayama promoted the first All-Japan Motor Show in 1954, and in 1998 was inducted into the American Automotive Hall of Fame for introducing a generation of vehicles that redefined the US car market.

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