Nutson's Nuggets: Last Week's (June 18-24, 2012) Automotive News In Case You Were Dozing

Auto Central Louisville KY June 24, 2012; Each week Larry Nutson, The Auto Channel's Chicago Bureau Chief, along with Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau give you easy to digest nuggets of the past week's automotive news you may have missed.

If you are a car nut like we all are, you can easily "catch up" on these stories as well as the past 16 years 1,344,783 automotive stories, articles, reviews, rants and raves by just searching for the subject you are interested in The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive. South Florida viewers, get out of the sun watch TACH-TV and let us know what you think! See you next week, LN

Automotive News June 18-24, 2012:

*TACH-TV, The Auto Channel TV Network has begun broadcasting in South Florida. This is the culmination of 25 years of work and looks like it will be an enormus hit. With lots of local programming and auto dealer events it will soon become a must watch for those in the market for a new or used vehicle and the many "car nuts" down there. Miami Channel 44.1, Stuart Channel 9.1, ATT Cable 1044 and 44, Comcast 438(HD) and 17 (SD), DIRECTV and DISH will be coming on line shortly.

* The first ever win by a hybrid powered race car of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was by Audi. An Audi R18 e-tron quattro, a diesel-electric hybrid, won the race covering 378 laps of the 8.5-mile circuit in France just outside of Paris.

*The Great Race kicked off this weekend from beautiful Traverse City, Michigan and will pass through 19 cities, 2 countries and 4 states in an intensely competitive TSD rally for collector cars. An amazingly eclectic variety of cars will pass into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie, zig-zagging through Ontario nearly to Ottawa and back through New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio before returning to Michigan for the finish at the Hudson Museum in Ypsilanti. Watch this space for the story from the finish. To see the route and schedule (it may pass though your area) go to: www.greatrace.com.

* Tesla launched the new Model S sedan this week in an effort to bring their technology closer to the masses. Elon Musk, Tesla founder, is still flushed with the rush of success after his Space-X cargo carrier made a delivery to the space station. The base-level car will start at $57,400 before incentives, but the first ones delivered this week will be high-end models at over a hundred grand. Tesla's goal is to be selling 20,000 units/year within the next few years.

* The EPA has rated the Tesla Model S at an MPGe ('e' for equivalent) of 89 and a range of a substantial 265 miles. The car is powered by an 85 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.

* The updated Malibu, one of the country's best selling sedans, goes on sale in August with a higher price. GM announced a base price of $23,150 with the new 2.5-liter engine. We've seen the new car already, of course, with the introduction of the Malibu Eco. We'll have a drive review on the 2013 Malibu Eco here on The Auto Channel in the next couple weeks.

* J.D. Power announced the results this week of its annual Initial Quality Survey, a measure that is closely watched by the industry and consumers. The IQS shows the lowest scores ever of problems per 100 vehicles and continuing improvement for GM as Chrysler and Ford slip slightly. GM earned their best overall score ever with some Cadillac models leading their segments. See the full story here at TAC. At the very top as a brand was Lexus and at the bottom were smart, Fiat and MINI. Toyota Motor Corp.'s luxury division was followed by the Jaguar, Porsche, Cadillac, Honda, Acura, Infiniti, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and BMW brands.

* The Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn announced its 2012 class of inductees this week: James Couzens, the business brains behind Henry Ford's early successes; Tom Gale, whose Chrysler designs injected energy and style into the domestic automobile scene; Chuck Jordan, legendary GM designer whose motto was "no dull cars;" and Albert Kahn, the foremost American industrial architect of his day. The induction event will take place during the Concours of America at St. John's week of events in late July. See: www.drivingspirit.org

* About 1.4 million Toyota vehicles are being looked at more closely by U.S. safety regulators for possible increased fire risk. The probe affects the 2007-2009 model year Camry, Camry Hybrid, RAV4 and Yaris vehicles, as well as 2008 Highlander Hybrid SUV. In February, an investigation was opened by NHTSA into about 830,000 model year 2007 Camry and RAV4 vehicles.

* Remember the Buick Electra 225. Well, reports have it that General Motors has applied to register Electra as a trademark for use on a car. The two previous Electra trademarks from 1967 and 1989 have expired.

* We got a look at Aston Martin's top of the line new AM 310 Vanquish featuring the next generation of the significantly upgraded 6.0-liter V12 engine that is considerably more powerful than before with 565 horsepower. Acceleration is a rapid 0-62 mph in 4.1 seconds with a top speed of 183 mph. Priced just under $280,000 the first cars will hit U.S shores in early 2013.

* GM is recalling most every Chevrolet Cruze built and sold to prevent the risk of engine fires. The fires can break out when fluids drip onto a hot plastic shield below the engine.

The recall affects 475,148 Cruzes sold in the U.S., Canada and Israel.

* As the week came to a close, the 1962 Corvette's 50th birthday was celebrated at Bloomington Gold, the Granddaddy of Corvette shows taking place in the western Chicago suburb of Pheasant Run, Illinois. Among the significant Corvettes inducted into the Great Hall was the 1960 CERV 1, not a race car but an open-wheel "research" car. The CERV 1 pioneered aluminum engine technology and is owned by Mike and Laurie Yager of Mid America Motorworks.