This 1956 Maserati A6G/54 Berlinetta is expected to bring $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 at the Gooding & Company 2017 Pebble Beach sale on August 18-19. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.

Today’s headlines:

+   Defying predictions of a flat market, new car sales in Europe rose 4.6 percent in the first half of 2017, pushing volume to the highest level since June 2007. More at Automotive News Europe. 

+  After a contentious campaign, workers at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi assembly plant voted against joining the United Auto Workers by a wide margin. More at ABC News. 

+   Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn is planning an engineering facility for autonomous vehicle components in Michigan, according to Chinese media reports. More at The Detroit News.  

+   Toyota Gazoo Racing announced that Hisatake Murata is now president of its WEC LMP1 team and president of Toyota Motorsport GmbH, replacing Toshio Sato. More at Racer.

+   Stephan Weil, premier of the German state of Lower Saxony, which owns a fifth of Volkswagen’s voting rights, is under fire for alleged preferential treatment of the automaker. More at Reuters. 

+   Renewed enforcement of Australia’s ban on asbestos-containing imports has reportedly caused collector car enthusiasts to stop importing older vehicles altogether. More at Hemmings Daily. 

+   Tesla has lowered the base price of its Model X crossover SUV by $3,000 to $79,500, reporting that rising profit margins enabled the price reduction. More at Autoblog. 

+   Toyota will expand its high-efficiency Dynamic Force engine technology, now employed in the automaker’s 2.5-liter inline four, across its V6 and V8 engine lines. More at Motor Trend. 

+   A stellar field of classic and exotic Italian sports cars will headline the Gooding & Company Pebble Beach Auction during Monterey Classic Car Week. More at Sports Car Digest. 

+   Indy Lights driver Santiago Urrutia of Uruguay says he has “70 percent” of the funding in place to move up to IndyCar in 2018 and is in talks with three winning teams. More at Motorsport.com 

Review the previous Executive Briefing from August 4 here.  

Photo by Mathieu Heurtault courtesy of Gooding & Company. 

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