Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest- March 16-22, 2015

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

Auto Central Chicago IL, March 22, 2015; Every Sunday, along with senior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau I give you our "take" on this past week's automotive news in easy to digest nuggets.

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Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest- March 16-22, 2015

* We could fill the column this week with all the news made at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the first big classic and collector car show of the season. The show draws not only the old stuff but plenty of new vehicles as well. RM Auctions (now partnered with Sotheby’s) presented a record-breaking collector car auction topping $60.3 million in sales. A plethora of other events surround the Sunday show. Winning “Best of Show Concours d'Elegance” was a stunning 1930 Cord L-29 Brooks Stevens Speedster owned by Ed and Jody Schoenthaler from Oakbrook, IL and “Best of Show Concours de Sport" went to the rare 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider owned by David Sydorik of Beverly Hills. CA.

* Henrik Fisker announced this week at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance the start of low-volume production of a 725-horsepower, coach-built Mustang they are calling “The Rocket.” A prototype of the car was shown at the LA Auto Show last fall and it features a carbon-fiber body, Ford’s performance engine package, hand-finished Italian leather, Bassani exhaust and other premium features. The car will be built by Galpin Motor Sports of Van Nuys, CA with prices beginning at around $109,000.

* Among the auxiliary events at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance last weekend was the North American introduction of the Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce. First seen at the Geneva Motor Show a few weeks ago, this new super car from Lambo is powered by a 750-hp, 6.5-liter V-12 and claims a 0-to-60 time of a blistering 2.8 seconds. It will be at Lambo dealers this summer but we’ve not seen pricing. If you have to ask the price you probably can’t afford it.

* Another surprise coming out of the Amelia Island events was the announcement that Revology of Winter Park, Florida will reproduce the classic first generation Mustang that will look exactly like the original car but under the skin will feature modern amenities like power windows that are actuated by toggling original-style window crank handles and a modern 5.0-liter V8 powertrain. The all-steel body panels will even fit an original car. The Revology Mustang will sell for $119,500.

* General Motors announced this week plans to dump their 5-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty and scale back the current two years of free scheduled maintenance beginning with the 2016 model year. They have offered this coverage since 2007. GM has concluded that the longer warranty coverage was not a crucial factor in customers’ minds when choosing a new vehicle and the costs of both programs have been increasing.

* Details are slowly being shared by Cadillac officials ahead of the New York Auto Show about the much anticipated CT6 flagship big sedan. GM spokesman Dave Caldwell revealed the new car will first be offered with a new 3.0-liter, twin turbo V6 making 400 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. That is considerably more power than the base BMW 7-Series they are benchmarking. Along with lightweight substructure, an 8-speed automatic transmission and cylinder deactivation we can expect impressive fuel mileage.

* Too much of a good thing. So many buyers are clamoring for lots of horsepower that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has stopped taking orders for the Dodge Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcats so it can work through a lengthy backlog. Dodge dealers have delivered more than 2,200 Hellcats, some way over sticker price, and the company has received more than 9,000 orders. Order-taking is expected to resume in August.

* Chevrolet is inviting fans to see the all-new 2016 Camaro on Saturday, May 16, in Detroit. The sixth-generation Camaro will cap a day-long celebration on Belle Isle, the 982-acre island park that is home to the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. This year’s running is May 29-31. Chevrolet expects approximately 1,000 people to attend the Camaro reveal.

* Delphi and Audi have teamed up to leave the driving to them. A team of Delphi engineers will leave California in an autonomous Audi SQ5 loaded with special cameras, radar and software on March 22 hoping to arrive in New York City during the first week of the New York International Auto Show. The car will travel for six to eight hours each day driving approximately 3,500 miles on its own.

* Car sales in Europe climbed 7 percent from a year ago to 958,100 vehicles. The February gain was the biggest in 11 months helped by a stronger economy and lower fuel prices.

* According to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study because of increased dealer service visits for automotive recalls overall satisfaction is up. Jaguar ranks highest in satisfaction with dealer service among luxury brands, with a score of 877. Following Jaguar in the luxury ranking are Lexus (870), Audi (865), Lincoln (861) and Cadillac (858). With a CSI score of 836, Buick ranks highest among mass market brands for a second consecutive year. Rounding out the top five mass market brands in the ranking are MINI (834), Volkswagen (818), GMC (811) and Chevrolet (807).

* The Chicago Tribune reports that VW may be getting back into the van business and perhaps even pickups in the U.S market. This as the original VW van turns 65 years old and VW prepares to introduce its sixth generation Transporter this year. I'm not surprised being the VW's U.S. product chief is from the makers German truck division.

* Tesla says it will introduce autonomous driving technology this summer for its high-end electric cars. A software update would give Tesla’s Model S sedans the ability to start driving themselves, at least part of the time, in a hands-free mode that the company refers to as autopilot. We wonder since most state laws prohibit this. We'll see.

* Honda added approximately 105,000 vehicles to its U.S. recall of driver's side air bag inflators that can explode with too much force. The added vehicles include nearly 89,000 Pilot SUVs from the 2008 model year, about 11,000 Civics from 2004 and 5,000 Accords from the 2001 model year.

* Formula On racing season-opener in Australia had the expected outcome with Mercedes finishing one-two with defending-champ Lewis Hamilton the winner. Second place teammate Nico Rosberg was followed by Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari.

* NASCAR’s defending Sprint Cup champion, Kevin Harvick, had another win at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend, his fourth in a row, as he continued his early domination of the series. Harvick led for more than 200 laps and he has won five of his last six races. AutoWeek notes that the last time a driver opened a season this strongly was in 1974 when Richard Petty did it.