This 1961 Ferrari California Spyder, once a co-star in a movie with Sophia Loren, will be the feature attraction at the 2016 Gooding and Company Amelia Island auction. Get all the latest automotive news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ General Motors will reconsider its plans to invest $1.62 billion in Brazil if economic and political conditions there do not improve, president Dan Amman told the Brazilian daily O Estado de S.Paulo. More at Yahoo! Finance.
+ Ford will unveil a refreshed version of the Kuga SUV (badged as the Escape in America) for the European market, hoping to crack the 200,000 annual sales mark there. More at The Detroit News.
+ Government authorities have asked Volkswagen to produce electric vehicles in the U.S as partial reparation for its rigging of emission tests, reports the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. More at the UK Guardian.
+ Volvo Car Group, now owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, will recall 59,000 cars from the 2016 model year to correct a stalling/starting issue. More at Reuters.
+ With a final lap charge, Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Denny Hamlin edged Martin Truex to win the Daytona 500 by .010 seconds, the closest finish in event history. More at USA Today.
+ Under a new company policy, senior executives at Daimler AG headquarters in Stuttgart will be required to take plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles as their company cars. More at Automobile.
+ Ford engineers have developed a computerized shock absorber system for the 2017 Fusion V6 Sport that actively limits pothole damage. More at Automotive Business Review.
+ Mazda may not participate in the 2017 Paris Auto Show in October, potentially joining Ford and Volvo as non-attendees at the historic event. More at Motor Trend.
+ A 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder will be the star attraction at the Gooding and Company Amelia Island auction later this month, where it is expected to bring $15 milllion to $17 million. More at Sports Car Digest.
+ The Haas Formula 1 team, the first American entry in decades, has released the first images of the VF-16 racer that it will campaign in the 2016 season. More at Racer.
+ The Center for Auto Safety is calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to reopen its investigation of Jeep Cherokee fuel tanks, asserting that a 2013 recall did not fully correct the defect. More at the Detroit Free Press.
Read the previous Executive Briefing from February 19 here.
Photo by Mathieu Heurtault courtesy of Gooding and Company.
GM curtailing operations in Brazil. Does this mean that the long promised Chevy Montana, GM’s small pickup, is dead.
I haven’t followed NASCAR in over thirty years but was fortunate to see the last few laps of the Daytona 500 yesterday. To paraphrase a NASCAR appropriate comedian; that was exciting, I don’t care who you are.
And the Ford Escape [kuga] gets even uglier.