The renowned Stan Lucas car collection is headed for auction in September. Get all the latest automotive news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s Headlines:
+ The best-selling luxury vehicles in the USA so far in 2025 include, from the top, the Lexus RX and NX, the BMW X5, and the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class and GLC-Class. More at Car and Driver.
+ Ford is recalling more than 850,000 Ford and Lincoln cars and trucks to correct a defective low-pressure fuel pump than can fail and cause the engine to stall without warning. More at The Detroit News.
+ A federal law requiring all new vehicles sold in the USA to include AM-band radios appears to be headed for passage, with broad support in both the Housa and Senate. More at Autoweek.
+ Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Formula 1 since its founding in 2005, has been fired with immediate effect, replaced by Laurent Mekies of the Racing Bulls sister team. More at The Guardian.
+ EV maker Polestar reported a strong surge in second-quarter global volume, selling 18.049 vehicles, which it mostly attributes to a range of offers and discounts in Europe. More at CBT News.
+ Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe says the Trump administration’s anti-EV policies are “bad for the world, bad for the U.S.” but will help his company in the long run. More at The Drive.
+ The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a query to determine if further action is needed to address a rollaway issue affecting 2013-18 Ram trucks. More at the Detroit Free Press.
+ The remarkable Stan Lucas collection of rare brass, steam, vintage, and classic era cars will be offered at auction by Gooding Christie’s in Los Angenles on September 20. More at Old Cars.
+ Nissan has suspended U.S. production of three models intended for Canada, the Pathfinder, Murano, and Frontier, due to mutual tariffs imposed by the U.S. and Canada. More at World Auto Forum.
+ BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, partners in IMSA road racing since 2009, have announced they will end the relationsip at the end of the current season. More at Racer.
Photo by Brian Henniker courtesy of Gooding & Company.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from July 7 here.
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More yummy Dearborn Inn steak dinners after arguing whether or not engine stalling is a safety risk for the umpteenth millionth time, eh? Of course Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries.
Ram got dinged by the Early Warning Reporting Death & Injury part of the TREAD Act, or Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act, the federal law enacted in 2000 in response to the Ford/Firestone Wilderness A/T fiasco. I was an ODI contractor at the time but my only involvement was collecting spare tire temperature data near tail pipes to validate some investigator’s theory (nope). Twenty injuries from 1.200,000 Ram trucks after two rollaway recalls could just be noise, since NHTSA’s data collection never seemed very robust to me…
Ram issue rings a bell. In 1988 I purchased a new B250 maxivan. While still new, traveling on an interstate, I pulled into a service area to use the rest room. Parked the van, put the column mounted shift lever in park, locked the steering column, removed the key, exited the van, locked the doors, then went inside the building. When I came back out, I thought someone had stolen my locked van, as I couldn’t see it. Soon I discovered it had relocated itself and was now kissing multiple parked cars that wore license plates from various states. It was quite a fiasco. State police investigated. Fortunately no one was injured, and all the vehicle owners were most understanding, yet we all were mystified. Transmission shop could find no cause for the mystery. Put many miles on that van, during many following years, and fortunately that incident was (for me) a one time event…one time too many.
Apparently the Kokomo transmission plant has yet to conquer the concept of “Park” after 60+ years of trying…