At $1.18 million, this 1925 Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix racer once owned by Bentley boy Glen KIdston was among the top sellers at the Bonhams Monaco auction. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Fiat Chrysler Automobiles temporarily halted production of the Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee at the Toledo North and Detroit Jefferson Avenue plants due to a parts shortage. More at Reuters.
+ Tesla Motors will sell $2 billion in stock, $1.4 billion held by the company and the rest by CEO Elon Musk, to speed production of the mid-priced Model 3 sedan. More at the Los Angeles Times.
+ United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams says the union will endorse a presidential candidate “soon,” and it will not be Republican candidate Donald Trump. More at The Detroit News.
+ Quashing rumors that he was headed to Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick signed a multi-year contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing. More at Fox Sports.
+ Honda is reportedly working on a new version of the S2000 sports car to be introduced in 2018 for the company’s 70th anniversary. More at AutoGuide.
+ Citing a lack of jurisdiction, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles snubbed the German government by failing to appear at a meeting with Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt regarding an emissions probe. More at Bloomberg.com.
+ General Motors is expanding its Maven car-sharing service to Boston and Washington, D.C. this summer, and is adding new options in Chicago where it began in March. More at USA Today.
+ Returning to Monaco for the first time since 2010, the Bonhams Monaco auction at the Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel in Monaco produced $17.15 million in total sales. More at Sports Car Digest.
+ Kip Ewing, a Ford engineer since 1994 and the assistant chief engineer on the 2017 Ford GT project, announced that he has resigned from the company. More at Yahoo! News.
+ The legal battle between onetime partners in General Motors’ new acquisition Cruise Automation has been settled, according to an attorney for Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt. More at the Detroit Free Press.
+ Drag racing legend John Force will debut new 2016 Camaro SS bodywork on his championship-winning Funny Car this weekend at the NHRA Kansas Nationals in Topeka. More at Racer.
Review the previous Executive Briefing from May 16 here.
Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
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To be clear, John Force hasn’t won a championship with his Camaro’s, yet. He has won many championship’s with his Mustang’s, which, for all we know, are the same cars beneath the Camaro body.
True, that was not the meaning. Force has used Olds, Pontiac, Chevy, and Ford-labeled bodies in his title years. It appears the recent Camaro body is the previous Mustang body with different badging and decals.