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In Case You Missed It - Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Digest - February 6-12, 2017; Chicago, Pacifica, Durango, Superbowl Ads Sans Cars, Recalls, VW Diesel, Jaguar Engines Stolen


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AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO, February 12, 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 digest mega-tweet sized nuggets.

If you are a car and driving fan like we all are here at The Auto Channel, you can easily "catch up" or put these stories in context by searching the past 25 year's 2,004,976 automotive pages of news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news, video, audio, rants and raves accessible from The Auto Channel's Automotive News Archive.

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Nutson's Nuggets: February 12, 2017;

* The largest auto show in the U.S. in terms of both space (a million square feet accommodating a thousand vehicles) and attendance (usually well over a million visitors) opens this weekend in Chicago. The press were there to preview the show this past week. Some of the highlights include: a new, special-edition Challenger loaded with MOPAR goodies to celebrate 80 years of the MOPAR Parts Division; Nissan Titan King Cab, third cab size for this big pickup; new TRD Sport models of Toyota Tundra, Sequoia and RAV4; Volkswagen Atlas three-row SUV loaded with the company’s accessories; and, the redesign of the 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT, the 2018 Subaru Legacy and the aluminum-bodied 2018 Ford Expedition. See all the details here on The Auto Channel.

* Following a big win in the North American International (Detroit) Auto Show’s Car and Truck of the Year competition, Chrysler’s Pacifica gets another prestigious award in Chicago. The Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) named Pacifica as Family Vehicle of the Year. The announcement of this award always opens the Chicago show along with a keynote address, this year given by FCA’s highly respected design VP, Ralph Gilles.

* The 109th Chicago Auto Show also features Chevy's display of a life-size Lego Batmobile that has over 350,000 pieces compared to the kid-size version with 581 pieces. Nissan's X-wing inspired Rogue features rocket engines, blasters, Star Wars paint and a droid.

* We saw the new 2018 Dodge Durango SRT. It's the most powerful three-row SUV with its 475-horsepower legendary 392-cubic-inch HEMI V-8 engine. It's also the fastest and most capable three-row SUV with a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA)–certified quarter-mile time of 12.9 seconds and capable of 0-60 miles per hour (mph) acceleration in 4.4 seconds. That's quite a grocery-getter.

* The Super Bowl brought us a new twist in car ads. Half of the eight auto brands that aired commercials before, during and after the game don’t feature a vehicle until the very end — or at all. Ford, Audi and Hyundai aired Super Bowl ads that focused on their company’s mission or sent a message before rolling out the cars. Hyundai took the most unprecedented approach to its advertising for Super Bowl LI. The South Korean automaker shot, edited and produced the 90-second “documentary” during the Super Bowl that featured four members of the U.S. military at an undisclosed base reacting to the game. Alfa Romeo used the Superbowl as a launching pad for the brand letting many Americans know they are back.

* The fifth in a series of video-teasers on the new Dodge Challenger SRT Demon was released and shows a very large air-grabber hood intake scoop and air box. No horsepower figures are yet known; we're told by Dodge PR that they even haven't yet been told by the engineers. But, add more air and you can then add more fuel which means more power. Have a look: http://www.dodge.com/en/ifyouknowyouknow/

* Maserati North America is recalling 39,381 2014-2017 Quattroporte, Ghibli, and Levante vehicles. When adjusting the front seat the wiring harness may rub against metal points, which could eventually lead the seat to malfunction and a possible fire. Maserati is also recalling certain 2014-2015 Quattroporte and Ghibli vehicles that have fuel lines that may leak. About 10,879 vehicles are involved.

* The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has published a new report by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle on the subject of "Cybersecurity Concerns with Self-Driving and Conventional Vehicles." This online survey of American adults examined the issues of hacking vehicles to cause crashes, hacking by terrorists to use the vehicle as a weapon, disabling many vehicles simultaneously, and disabling the main traffic-management system. Two main findings are: (1) Hacking of vehicles is of concern even for conventional vehicles. (2) Hacking of self-driving vehicles with controls is of greater concern than hacking of conventional vehicles. The respondents expressed more concern about hacking to gain control of vehicles or the main traffic-management system than hacking of vehicles to get access to personal information.

* The VW diesel emissions cheating scandal garners at least one segment of this news summery just about every week. This week’s installment is about former CEO Martin Winterkorn’s testimony to a German parliamentary committee claiming he learned of the problem just weeks before the U.S. EPA went public with the information. This is in contrast to testimony from former VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech who said he informed the supervisory board much earlier. VW has officially denied the latter, in fact, they are considering legal action against Piech for his statements.

* As part of the agreement to make up for damage done with diesel emissions cheating VW will support electric vehicle infrastructure to the tune of $2 billion. The plan is for VW to fund more than 800 charging stations across the country along with initiating a California-based project to test future zero emissions vehicles. Projects will be spaced over the next 10 years. Both the EPA and the California Air Resources Board must approve each phase of these projects.

* The Daily Mail in London reports a bold theft of two semi-trailers full of Jaguar Land Rover engines stolen directly from the loading dock of the Solihull factory last week. With some official-looking paperwork in hand the thieves just hooked up a truck to the trailers one at a time and drove away. The trailers were found by the police later but they were empty. Jaguar Land Rover is offering a reward for leads but expects the engines are long gone. They figure the loss at about $3.7 million.

* Online purveyor of used cars, Carvana, just opened its third car vending machine, this one in Austin, Texas. The customer negotiates and consummates the purchase on the company’s Website then gets a large, coin-like disc that goes into a slot by the tower-shaped garage containing dozens of cars. The customer’s car is mechanically selected within the tower then delivered below. The customer has 7 days to drive the car and return if for a full refund if not happy with the deal. The other two Carvana vending machines are in Houston and Nashville.