Auto briefs
Ray Chevrolet earns Dealer of the Year
FOX LAKE - For the second time, Ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake has been recognized by General Motors as a Dealer of the Year. Out of the 3,000 dealers across the country, less than 50 were picked for the award.
The award recognizes the "best of the best" dealers throughout the U.S. for superlative performance in sales, service and customer satisfaction excellence. The award will be presented to Ray Chevrolet, 39 N. Route 12, in November during the Country Music Awards in Nashville.
"Without our dedicated staff and our amazing customers, we would never have been able to win this prestigious award," said Ray Scarpelli Jr., president and dealer principal.
Ford Mustang soon to run NASCAR
Ford is bringing its Mustang to NASCAR's top series for the first time. The American automaker said this week the Mustang will replace the Fusion in the Monster Energy Cup Series beginning next February at Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR team owner Roger Penske slipped earlier this year, divulging that Ford would have a new body in 2019.
This will be Ford's fourth Cup model in NASCAR's modern era (since 1972), following the Thunderbird, the Taurus and the Fusion.
Mustang has competed in the second-tier Xfinity Series since 2011, winning championships in all but one season.
Mustang is still going through initial testing and will be formally submitted to NASCAR for approval this summer. A public unveiling of the finished product will follow.
Cadillac chief officer leaves company
General Motors Co.'s Cadillac chief is leaving the company in the midst of a $12 billion plan to turn around the brand, citing strategic differences with other managers.
Johan de Nysschen is exiting immediately and will be replaced by Steve Carlisle, who's been president of GM Canada since late 2014. De Nysschen, 58, joined the automaker in July 2014 after managing Nissan Motor Co.'s Infiniti and Volkswagen AG's Audi brands.
In a phone interview, de Nysschen said he left amicably and declined to go into detail on what spurred his departure. "We agree to disagree and we move on," he said. "There wasn't a fight. Let's call it philosophical differences."
Toyota chip plan sets up showdown
Toyota laid out plans to start putting short-range communications chips in U.S. vehicles in the next three years, staking out its position in a battle to make cars safer by getting them to "talk" with one another.
The third-best selling automaker in America will put the chips in Toyota and Lexus models in the U.S. starting in 2021, said Andrew Coetzee, group vice president of product planning for North America. The technology will enable cars to send data on their location and speed to surrounding vehicles and roadside infrastructure to curb crashes.
By making the plan public, Toyota is escalating a campaign to get the rest of the auto industry - and regulators - to embrace the technology. It's also headed for a clash with phone companies that would rather see carmakers embrace 5G cellular networks to accomplish the same task, and with tech giants and cable providers that are angling for access to the same airwaves.