Nutson's Nuggets: Last Week's (December 26-31, 2011) Automotive News Recap - In Case You Were Sleeping

Auto Central Louisville KY, January 1, 2012 Each week Larry Nutson, The Auto Channel's Chicago Bureau Chief, along with Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Detroit Bureau give you the past week's automotive news highlights you may have missed. If you are a car nut like we all are here you can easily "catch up" on not only this past weeks automotive news but the past 16 years 898,125 automotive stories, articles, reviews, rants and raves by just searching for the subject you are interested in The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive...Happy New Year, and make this the year you and your loved ones "get smart and not screwed" when purchasing a vehicle. Have fun see ya next week LN.

* The last week in December is typically a slow news week with so many folks occupied with family gatherings and holiday celebrations. We wish you all a Happy Holiday season and best wishes for a prosperous and exciting 2012.

* The North American International Auto Show will be opening its doors in a couple weeks to the media. Although one of the most important auto shows in the world, it is seeing some competition of different sorts. The Delhi auto show in India is stealing some of the thunder as Asia continues to be one of the biggest growth markets. And, in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics show Daimler AG Chairman Dieter Zetsche will serve as keynote speaker and Ford CEO Alan Mulally will be a high-profile panelist.

* Just as several new plug-in electric vehicles are headed to showrooms, the government is letting expire a tax credit for installing home and commercial charging equipment. A tax credit for chargers ends this week, although proponents are pushing Congress to reinstate it, perhaps retroactively, in January.

* The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA) has opened separate investigations into vans made by General Motors and Ford. The GM investigation involves about 17,000 2003 Chevrolet Express vans with a door behind the driver’s side. On these vans, the fuel-filler pipe is routed differently, going through the rear wheel well, which the agency said apparently exposed it to road debris and spray. The normal configuration for these vans is with side door behind the front passenger. The Ford investigation involves about 63,000 2004 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans. The agency said it had seven complaints from owners who said the rear-wheel wells rusted so badly that in several cases the anchor mounts for the third-row seat belts “completely detached from the vehicle.”

* Toyota introduced its smallest hybrid, the Aqua, in the Japanese market. It will eventually be sold in the U.S. as the Prius C targeted at younger customers seeking an entry-level fuel-efficient car. The Prius C is built on a 102 inch wheelbase compared to the Prius' 111 inches.

* If you are intrigued by espionage and a lover of the automobile then Jim Dunne's new book "Car Spy: Secret Cars Exposed by the Industry's Most Notorious Photographer" is a must read.

* Toyota's revamped 2012 Camry, the best-selling sedan in America, won a "recommended" review from Consumer Reports magazine, which has been critical of some of the Japanese automaker's models.

* AutoWeek's "Vinsetta Garage", the new TV show all about cars and the people who love 'em, will launch on Velocity on January 3 at 8:30PM. The Vinsetta Garage is a former auto repair shop turned restaurant located on the famed Woodward Avenue in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.

* Volt is not alone anymore in the lithium-ion battery fire worries. California-based battery-car start-up Fisker Automotive will recall all 232 of the cars it has sold so far due to a potential defect that could cause the $102,000 Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid to catch fire. But, less than 50 cars are actually in the hands of owners following a slower-than-expected launch of the Karma.

* Well-known automobile historian, Mike Davis, explored this week the mystery of how a 1960s Lincoln stretch limo got into the hands of the North Koreans who used it prominently in the funeral procession of their 'Fearless Leader' or 'Beloved Leader' (or whatever it is they called the tyrant). His story in The Detroit Bureau is fascinating. See it at: http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2011/12/mystery-of-the-north-korean-lincoln-solved/

* The NHTSA announced recently the lowest number of highway deaths since 1949 - a fatality rate of just 1.1 deaths per hundred million miles driven. Considering the huge number of miles driven today compared to 1949 that's quite and impressive number. The improvement can be attributed to much better cars, roads and medical treatment primarily.