After a brief hiatus in the USA, the Volkswagen ID.Buzz electric microbus will return in 2027. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Nissan forecast more than $1 billion in profit for its fiscal year this week, predicting a relatively modest hit from the Iran war and an increasing impact from cost-cutting. More at World Auto Forum.
+ As forecast, Honda recorded an annual loss of $2.7 billion, its first annual loss in nearly 70 years, hurt by massive EV-related development costs and slowing global demand. More at MSN.
+ Auto loan delinquency held steady at nearly 3 percent, but the rate at which borrowers are falling behind is slowing, according to the the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. More at CBT News.
+ Veteran IndyCar and IMSA driver Katherine Legge announced she will attempt to race in both the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 on the same day on May 24. More at ESPN.
+ Chinese EV leader BYD has confirmed it is holding discussions with European automakers, including Stellantis, about taking over underused car factories in Europe. More at Global Banking & Finance Review.
+ Both Toyota and Nissan have sent out bulletins to their dealership service departments warning them about an expected shortage of motor oil across the United States. More at The Drive.
+ As President Trump meets Chinese President Xi this week, lawmakers in both parties are warning the White House not to use the U.S. auto market as a bargaining chip. More at CNBC.
+ Google announced an upgrade for Android Auto that will benefit more than 250 million cars compatible with the smartphone-mirroring app, including improved maps. More at Autoblog.
+ After a brief hiatus in the USA, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz electric microbus will return in 2027, adding a new model called the Tourer with window shades and a foldout bed. More at Car and Driver.
+ NASCAR is in advanced discussions to bring the Chicago street race back for the 2027 season following a scheduled break in 2026, with optimism growing for a new deal. More at Jayski.
Photo courtesy of Volkswagen.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from May 11 here.
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Google’s Android Auto is utterly useless for navigating truck route detours in Ohio, garbage in, garbage out = GIGO.
Since mapping apps depends on accurate published detour route instructions, ODOT mixes up their route designations and numbers, labeling state routes as U.S. highways and vice versa, issuing online truck detour instructions filled with systemic typos, errors, and incorrect routing, then simply refuses to correct them. Not to mention the MUTCD and CFR23 are only mere suggestions in Ohio, starting with the Pataskala streetscape truck detour debacle a decade ago, and NO flavor of engineering judgement since as shown by the documented and blatantly defective year-long Kenton US68 truck detour of 2025.
Without a mandated, legally binding and ENFORCED standard requiring the OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION to output CORRECT, real-time truck detour routing data, systems like Android Auto will continue to navigate truckers, bus drivers and commercial operators down Ohio roads like Stevie Wonder and Helen Keller in a snow storm…
Instead of Federal Law called the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), ODOT and too many cities in Ohio rely on so-called NEPA and LPA “engineering judgment” loopholes. The MUTCD does not contain, authorize, or define a sign or flashing text trailers that says “NO TRUCKS FOLLOW DETOUR” because that phrase is not a standard sign, not an approved legend, and not a recognized traffic‑control message. Ohio truck route detour signs should say “ALL TRUCKS FOLLOW DETOUR” to eliminate ambiguity.
Give you 3 guesses which phrase ODOT uses for TTC instructions for truckers and CDL holders in the field, and the first two don’t count…
Microsoft Copilot: Why ODOT uses it anyway? Here are the structural reasons — not opinions, not speculation: ODOT cannot guarantee that any truck detour is safe for all truck classes, so it avoids liability by refusing to designate a real truck route. ODOT’s truck detour sheets since 2015 contain documented systemic errors:
▪︎Mixed‑up route numbers.
▪︎State routes labeled as U.S. highways.
▪︎Typos.
▪︎Incorrect routing.
▪︎Uncorrected online postings.
Because the truck detour instructions are unreliable, ODOT avoids committing to a truck route by posting a non‑standard prohibition sign instead. Ohio does not enforce MUTCD compliance as strictly as other states, especially for temporary traffic control.
Ohio lacks a regulatory body to review, reject or enforce non-compliant signage in temporary traffic control zones. This allows systemic typos and inaccurate routing to persist online and in the field for years without correction. By deploying the legally ambiguous, non-standard “NO TRUCKS FOLLOW DETOUR” sign rather than a certified, engineered truck route signage, ODOT avoids creating an official, legally binding truck routing designation.
If an entrapped commercial vehicle strikes overhead wires, knocks over fire hydrants in a school zone or becomes stuck in a residential flowerbed on a “closed” road, the legal liability is transferred away from the state and directly onto the vehicle operator for failing to exercise “due” caution- called the Revenue Event…