Briggs Cunningham’s personal 1953 Cunningham C-3 Vignale coupe will be offered without reserve at the RM Sotheby’s Montery Auction on August 18. Get all the latest automotive news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Tesla officially unveiled its new Model 3 sedan, featuring a base price of of $35,000 and a range of 220 miles, in a ceremony at its Fremont, California assembly plant. More at The New York Times.
+ Child advocates are backing new legislation that would require automakers to install in-car temperature alarms to protect children left unattended in hot vehicles. More at The Detroit News.
+ Volkswagen’s Audi brand is facing the biggest reshuffle of its management board in years with four out of seven executives marked for dismissal, insiders say. More at Reuters.
+ Cadillac chief Johan de Nysschen says the brand will replace the current XTS, CTS, and ATS with a single sedan model called the CT5 as the focus shifts from cars to crossovers. More at Motor Trend.
+ Porsche confirmed it will leave the FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1-hybrid class at the end of 2017 and launch a Formula E program in 2019. More at Racer.
+ Police in Austin, Texas, are removing nearly 400 Ford Explorer SUVs from the patrol fleet due to reports of exhaust fumes inside the vehicles. More at the Detroit Free Press.
+ Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne says that with its next two models under development, Maserati will produce electric vehicles, possibly before the end of the decade. More at USA Today.
+ Volkswagen’s planned sale of motorcycle brand Ducati and German transmission maker Renk currently has failed to find backing on the company’s supervisory board. More at Autoblog.
+ Briggs Cunningham’s personal 1953 Cunningham C-3 Vignale coupe is expected to exceed the $1.2 million mark at the RM Sotheby’s Montery Auction on August 18. More at Hemmings Daily.
+ IndyCar veteran Sebastien Bourdais will test his Dale Coyne Racing Dallara at Mid-Ohio, only weeks after a devastating crash at Indianapolis that fractured his hip. More at NBC Sports.
Review the previous Executive Briefing from July 28 here.
Photo by Erik Fuller courtesy RM Sotheby’s.
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Seems like Ford let this Explorer police exhaust leak problem get out in front of them.
No, it sounds more like sloppy installs of aftermarket equipment. Vehicles are built so tight nowadays, if plugs and panels were modified or not put back in properly I can see where they might have a problem. I’ve worked on conversion vans were huge holes were drilled to run wiring and such, and then “sealed” with gobs of silicone which sometimes fell out. Whoever was converting these Explorers probably had 50 or 100 to do at one time, and in a short time span, took short cuts. You know the work went to the lowest bidder….
I can picture the showroom banner now. “Suddenly it’s 1930!”
I guess it makes sense for Cadillac to shift most production to trucks. They’ve failed for forty years to figure out what a Cadillac car should be. If they drop the Impala, Bolt, Sonic and LaCrosse as planned, GM will have about 30 trucks and three cars. Good work guys.
Not just GM, but Ford is going the same route. Grandpa’s Lincoln Town Car doesn’t apeal to younger buyers, so they are moving toward luxury SUV’s. Funny thing, they all quit making station wagons due to poor sales, but look around, all these “cross overs” { I hate that name} are nothing more than fancy styled station wagons. A name change and the elimination of family sized sedans have driven the masses to them.
Who says you can’t fool people all the time?