All five of the art cars produced by acclaimed postmodern artist Keith Haring will be displayed together for the first time in a special exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Toyota Motor Corporation announced that it will offer its gasoline hybrid technology and complete powertrain modules for sale to rival automakers. More at Reuters.
+ Mazda has introduced a special-edition Arctic model of the Mazda MX-5 roadster for the United Kingdom, offered only in blue and silver and limited to 400 units. More at Motor Trend.
+ General Motors will test self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EVs on public roads in Michigan and will build the next-generation autonomous Bolt EV at its Orion, Michigan Assembly Plant. More at The Detroit News.
+ In response to falling television ratings, NASCAR is exploring the possibility of holding midweek races, possibly on road courses, according to a report by the Sports Business Journal. More at Racer.
+ Daimler and BMW aim to combine their car-sharing services Car2Go and DriveNow to better compete with U.S.-based ride-hailing service Uber. More at Automotive News Europe.
+ Lucid Motors has officially unveiled its luxury electric sedan, the $100,000+ Air, which boasts a 130 kilowatt-hour battery pack offering a range of 400 miles. More at Autoblog.
+ Takata Corp.’s selection of a buyout bidder is running behind schedule while the shortlisted companies perform their reviews of the troubled airbag maker. More at Crain’s Detroit Business.
+ Google has spun off its self-driving car program into a new entity called Waymo as the project shifts from research to the development of a consumer product. More at CNN Money.
+ Shares of General Motors fell after a Chinese government-run newspaper reported that the government will penalize a U.S. automaker soon for alleged anti-competitive practices. More at USA Today.
+ All five of the art cars produced by the late Keith Haring will be displayed together for the first time in a special exhibit that runs through June 4 at the Petersen Automotive Museum. More at Hemmings Daily.
+ The Renault Formula 1 team has announced that Ciaron Pilbeam will rejoin the company after three years at McLaren to take the position of chief race engineer. More at Motorsport.com.
Review the previous Executive Briefing from December 12 here.
Photo courtesy Keith Haring Foundation / Petersen Automotive Museum.
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Nascar is overlooking the main reason they are loosing fans–the cookie cutter cars. Take the decals off and you can’t tell one from the other. Fans used to be able to tell a Ford from a Chevy and pulled for their favorite brand, and when they won, went to the dealer and bought a car that looked like what was on the race track. Not since the early 80’s have their been cars out there that looked remotely like the stock cars that started the series.