Nutson's Auto News Nuggets - Week of December 4-10, 2017: Nov Sales; Toyota Optimistic; Ford EV Factory To Mexico; Jailbird At VW; Pebble Beach Tuckered; Recalls Of Course

AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO, December 10, 2017; 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 - December 4-10, 2017

* With strong results at Nissan, Ford and Honda, auto sales rose 1.4 percent to 1.39 million in November exceeding many forecasts. The SAAR came in at 17.55 million, the third-highest rate of the year. Toyota, FCA, GM and Hyundai-Kia slipped in a month that produced a small gain for the industry, driven by light-truck demand and fatter deals.

* International nameplate brands captured 56.2 percent of the November auto market. Asian brands captured a 45.9 percent share. European brands finished the month on a high note, occupying 10.3 percent of the U.S. auto market. Domestic brands finished November with 43.8 percent of the U.S. auto market, down from 44.7 percent last month and 44.3 percent last November.

* The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute's latest report from Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle says the average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in November was 25.0 mpg—down 0.1 mpg from the revised value for October. The value for November is up 4.9 mpg since October 2007 (the first month of their monitoring), but down 0.5 mpg from the peak of 25.5 mpg reached in August 2014.

* This week we drove the completely redesigned and reengineered 2018 Jeep Wrangler around the desert roads and over mountain rock trails in Tucson, Arizona. Look for our full review very soon. The new #JeepWrangler is vastly updated and improved.

* Toyota's North American boss, GM and CEO Jack Hollis, spoke to the Detroit Automotive Press Association this week expressing optimism for the industry as a whole despite disruptive technologies on the near horizon. Hollis said he expects 2018 to be a solid, though not record-setting year for light vehicle sales. When asked about the threat of car-sharing and autonomous vehicle transports hurting sales, he said that won’t be the case. Toyota recently restructured the business to better compete in the rapidly evolving car business.

* Ford announced plans this week to move production of electric vehicles from its Flat Rock, MI plant (near Detroit) to Mexico to make room for the production of a new line of autonomous vehicles focused on delivery and ride-sharing fleets. Ford’s global marketing boss, Jim Farley, touted the plan as part of the company’s emphasis on autonomous vehicles. While details of the vehicle itself were not shared it is expected to be powered by a gas-electric hybrid powertrain.

* Our friends at Automotive News reported this week that Ford and Chinese company Alibaba are about to ink a deal to allow the purchase of automobiles online through the retail site Tmall. Ford had been working on a revised China strategy to perk up its sales in that market. Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Hackett are headed for China next week to sign a letter of intent. Ford vehicles in China could be sold directly to customers in China by way of an automobile vending machine.

* California regulators have said no to a plan to let self-driving car manufacturers evade liability for crashes if the vehicle hasn’t been maintained according to manufacturer specifications. The new rules released this week delete a provision suggested by General Motors. The rules could have absolved car makers of accident responsibility if a car owner hadn’t cleaned the car's sensors appropriately.

* Ford is suing actor and WWE wrestling superstar John Cena for selling his 2017 Ford GT supercar to net a profit soon after taking possession in violation of his purchase agreement. In a case filed in U.S. District Court in Michigan, Ford says Cena promised in his application to own the supercar, for which he paid $463,376, for at least two years. He signed an agreement for the 2017 car in January, the lawsuit says. Ford discovered that he had sold, or "flipped" it, soon after taking possession.

* Purists are shuddering as Lamborghini introduced its new Urus SUV. The $200,000 Urus joins a growing list of ultra-premium and supercar manufacturers now offering SUVs. The shuddering is a bit uncalled for, as we recall that Lambo was among the first makers of a large SUV with its brutish LM002 SUV that was offered from 1986 to 1993. Look for the Urus in Spring 2018.

* And in the matter of VW's Dieselgate, Oliver Schmidt, who worked at Volkswagen's research and development center in Auburn Hills, Michigan where he was general manager of the company's Engineering and Environmental Office received the maximum sentence from a federal court judge in Detroit of 7 years in prison and ordered him to pay $400,000 in the company's massive diesel emissions cheating scandal. Schmidt, said to be the VW executive most responsible for hiding the German automaker’s diesel emissions cheating conspiracy from U.S. regulators, has been in custody at a federal penitentiary in Milan, MI since his arrest in March and is expected to complete his prison time there. He pleaded guilty to two felony charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and violation of the Clean Air Act.

* Hyundai, Kia and Subaru accounted for 10 of the 15 vehicles to earn a Top Safety Pick + (plus) citation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The other five were Mercedes-Benz E-Class and GLC, Lincoln Continental, Toyota Camry and BMW 5-series. This is the first year in which the safety evaluation included a passenger-side overlap crash test.

* Ford is recalling 202,274 Ford F-150s and Explorers from the 2016 model year that have front power seats on which the seat adjuster assembly may come loose.

* One of the most prestigious automotive design awards in the world, the EyesOn Design Lifetime Achievement Award, was announced this week honoring recently retired GM VP of Design Ed Welburn. The award’s prestige stems primarily from the jury that makes the selection including previous winners like Giorgetto Guigiaro, Chris Bangle, Nuncio Bertone and Jack Telnack. The award will be presented at the annual EyesOn Design Show, a design-focused exhibit of cars and other things vehicular, at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford estate in Grosse Pointe Shores, MI on Father’s Day.

* The most prestigious classic and collector car show in the U.S., the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, announced a surprise featured marque this week - Tucker, the independent automaker that challenged the established companies of the late 1940s and lost badly. In all, experts believe 51 of these innovative rear-engined cars were built and 47 survive. Pebble Beach will also present of class of French Citroen automobiles, a marque rarely seen in the U.S.