Star attractions at the Gooding & Company Scottsdale Auction will include this 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Speciale custom-built for Battista Pininfarina. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will move the production of heavy-duty Ram pickups to its Mound Road plant in Warren, Michigan, which will receive $1 billion in renovations. More at The Detroit News.
+ Porsche will develop a platform called SPE for electric sports cars and supercars that could also be shared by sibling brands Audi and Lamborghini. More at Automotive News Europe.
+ Ford has introduced its first high-performance SUV, the 2019 Edge ST midsize crossover, which goes on sale this summer with a twin-turbocharged V-6. More at Motor Trend.
+ Alba Colon, NASCAR program manager at Chevrolet Racing, has taken a new post at Hendrick Motorsport where she will serve as director of competition systems. More at Motorsport.com.
+ Huntsville, Alabama has been chosen as the site for a new $1.6 billion Toyota and Mazda joint venture assembly plant that could employ up to 4,000 workers. More at Fortune.
+ In advance of the official debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week, Honda has unveiled the third-generation 2019 Honda Insight hybrid. More at CNET Road/Show.
+ Ford and federal regulators have instructed 2,900 owners of certain 2006 Rangers not to drive their pickups until their defective airbag inflators have been replaced. More at the Detroit Free Press.
+ Engineer Roy Lunn, whose accomplishments include the original Ford GT and the Jeep Cherokee XJ, has been honored with an exhibit at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn. More at Hemmings Daily.
+ Ross Brawn, Formula 1’s managing director of motorsports, says he believes the series would survive if Ferrari were to quit amid dissent over future regulations. More at Racer.
+ Big-ticket consignments at the Gooding & Company Scottsdale Auction will include an original Jaguar D-Type and one-off Ferrari 275 GTB built for Battista Pininfarina. More at Sports Car Digest.
Review the previous Executive Briefing from January 8 here.
Photo by Mathieu Heurtault courtesy of Gooding & Company.
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> Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will move the production of heavy-duty Ram pickups
A lot of people buy Ram pickups. 3rd best seller overall, 12% behind Silverado in units. Hopefully, this will help erase the stigma that Americans can’t build good cars. Although they don’t have the most reliable platform to start with.
> Huntsville, Alabama has been chosen as the site for a new $1.6 billion Toyota and Mazda
This won’t help the above cause because people will still consider them Japanese cars.
> Ford has introduced its first high-performance SUV, the 2019 Edge ST
SUVs are not a stable platform for going fast in. This seems stupid, but the Raptor pickup wasn’t an embarrassment. Wish they sold these things with just the suspension bits but without the gas hungry motor.