This Porsche 917/30 Penske Can-Am racer, driven to a closed-course speed record by Mark Donohue in 1975, will be among the star attractions at the Gooding and Company Amelia Island auction. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ John J. Riccardo, the former chairman and CEO of Chrysler who hired Hal Sperlich and Lee Iacocca, changing the company’s history, has passed away at 91. More at Allpar.com.
+ Former Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn was told as early as May 2014 that U.S. authorities would be inspecting the company’s cars for emissions test defeat devices, the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported. More at Bloomberg.com.
+ Ford reports its sales in Europe rose about 10 percent in January, its best for that month in four years, with 96,000 vehicles sold in its 20 traditional European markets. More at The Detroit News.
+ In advance of the Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz is teasing an image of the C-Class Cabriolet that is scheduled to arrive in showrooms this fall. More at Autoblog.
+ Sprint Cup rookie Chase Elliott, son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, won the pole position for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. More at ESPN.
+ With an order for 85 electric buses from BYD Motors, the Antelope Valley Transit Authority in California plans to become America’s first all-electric bus system. More at Automotive Business Review.
+ The German government wants to carry out unannounced emissions tests on all carmakers, says Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, in order to reinstate confidence shattered by the Volkswagen cheating scandal. More at Reuters.
+ Google is on a hiring spree for its autonomous vehicle division, soliciting applications for positions from marketing manager to manufacturing process engineer. More at CNBC.
+ Rally Sweden organizers have hammered out an agreement to keep the event on the FIA World Rally Championship schedule for three more years. More at Motorsport.com.
+ A collection of rare Porsches owned by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, including a Porsche 917/30 Can Am racer, will be presented at auction at the Gooding and Company Amelia Island sale on March 11. More at Hemmings Daily.
+ State treasurer Dan Schwartz has questioned the financial health of Faraday Future and its $1 billion electric vehicle plant now starting construction in Nevada. More at Motor Trend.
Read the previous Executive Briefing from February 12 here.
Photo by Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy Gooding & Company.
It’s too bad that the caption for your lead story contains an error….the closed-course speed record is held by the Oldsmobile Aerotech, not the cited Porsche.
It’s not an error in any sense. Mark Donohue drove the car to a closed-course record that stood for 12 years.
In regard to the Antelope Valley Transit Authority purchasing electric buses; The Detroit Streets and Railway System (DSR) ran electric buses throughout Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s. I rode them to school everyday. The buses used overhead wires to feed the current, rather than rechargeable batteries. They were quiet, efficient, and reliable.
The DSR was a trolley system, was it not? That is, the vehicles were not powered by battery, correct?
Gooding’s Amelia auction will be a lot of fun. I used to own one of the Seinfeld cars being auctioned (not the 917). Additionally, a very cool custom Cord 812 roadster will be sold with the proceeds benefitting the Crawford Museum in Cleveland.