TTAC News Round-Up: Teenage Bandits Steal, and Instantly Wreck, a Pair of Dodge Hellcats
Three Kansas City teenagers took a dream road trip last Friday, only to crash a stolen Dodge Challenger Hellcat and two Charger Hellcat sedans less than a mile down the road.
That, Toyota is finally considering a long-range electric vehicle, Jaguar’s deal with Silverstone goes off-track, and AutoNation is staying put where it is.
Teens abscond with, and immediately destroy, Mopar performers
Car thieves in movies are always stealing exotic sports cars or tuned up racing machines, but, in reality, it’s usually just a Honda Accord or neighbor’s F-150. That’s because most car thieves aren’t veteran getaway drivers — they’re typically young and wildly inexperienced. So, what happened when St. Peters’ Napleton Mid Rivers Dodge dealership lost two Charger SRT Hellcats and a Challenger Hellcat to car thieves in the early morning hours of November 4th?
Immediate failure.
The vehicles were crashed a short distance from the dealership (police say less than a mile) and the suspects were easily apprehended.
“It appears as though they did not know how powerful these cars were or know exactly how to operate them. They lost control of them fairly easily. I mean, they made it less than a mile,” St. Peters Police Officer Melissa Doss told KTVI.
Deandre Chiney, 17, and Jordon Neely, 19, are in jail under numerous charges, including burglary and receiving stolen property. Police said the 16-year-old will be facing juvenile court.
Two of the three stolen cars were totaled by the teens. Frank Schaffer, general manager of the dealership, said he’ll have a tough time ordering replacements — the 707 horsepower Hellcats are in high demand.
“It’s going to take several months to replace before Chrysler will give me allocation to replace them, so this one left is kind of special,” he said.
Toyota gives in, considers a long-haul EV
Toyota Motor Corp. is considering bringing long-range electric vehicles to the automotive market in 2020 — a dramatic reversal of strategy for the Japanese manufacturer.
Automotive News Europe writes:
Even as rivals such as Nissan Motor Co., Volkswagen Group and Tesla Motors have touted pure electric cars as the most viable zero-emission vehicles for the future, Toyota has said it would reserve EVs for short-distance commuting given the high price of rechargeable batteries and lengthy charging times.
By adding longer-range EVs to its product range, Toyota would be changing its tune from promoting plug-in hybrid cars and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) as the most promising alternative to conventional cars.
The Nikkei, without citing sources, said Toyota would set up a team in early 2017 dedicated to developing electric cars that can travel more than 300km (186 miles) on a single charge.
The paper added that Toyota aims to begin selling its first long-range EV in 2020 in Japan as well as other markets such as California, and China, which is promoting a switch to EVs.
While Toyota has promised to make its vehicles emissions-free by 2050, the company has neither confirmed nor denied the report. In an emailed response, Toyota says it plans to continue development of various fuel-efficient technologies, including electric vehicles.
Jaguar backs out of Silverstone deal
After a some serious consideration, Jaguar Land Rover has turned its back on the storied Silverstone racetrack and said it is no longer seeking to purchase the circuit.
Reuters writes:
In April, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) said it was in talks to lease the circuit’s property to Jaguar Land Rover, which had been considering turning the site into a “heritage center” to show off its luxury cars.
But after months of talks dragging on, a spokesman at Britain’s biggest carmaker said the plans had been scrapped.
Lawrence Tomlinson, who owns Ginetta Cars, has also backed out of deals to purchase the racetrack. He reportedly walked away because he had extended his offer numerous times with the ultimatum that a deal had to be done before the end of October.
This leaves only one remaining bidder: Jonathan Palmer, owner of the Brands Hatch circuit.
Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, desperately needs a backer. Its cash reserves have dwindled from £21.8 million ($27 million) in 2008 to only £9,000 ($11,150) at the end of last year.
AutoNation scales down acquisition plans
AutoNation is retrenching dealership acquisition plans as it begins its half-billion-dollar quest to build CarMax-affronting used car outlets. AutoNation’s CEO, Mike Jackson, told Automotive News that the brand-extension plan meant not going overboard with the the company’s acquisition strategy.
Automotive News writes:
“We certainly don’t have the desire or the capital” to expand beyond the current geographic footprint, Jackson said. “Unquestionably, our primary focus is going to be building and extending the AutoNation brand. We’d rather do this than a new market.”
But, he added, “We’re not going dark on acquisitions.”
AutoNation will continue to look for dealership acquisitions that fit its current footprint — tuck-ins or dealerships that represent brands missing from the company’s portfolio in an existing market, Jackson said.
In 2016, AutoNation has snatched up dealerships and been awarded points that represent 49 new franchises. Jon Ferrando, AutoNation’s executive vice president for corporate development and human resources, expects the acquisitions to generate roughly $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
[Images: FCA; Toyota; Silverstone Circuit; AutoNation Corporate]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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- Google Maybe if the Toronto police weren't so busy falsely arresting reporters who were doing their job, they might have more time to protect the citizens of Toronto from these thieves. Of course its easier to pick on peaceful reporters than actually arrest criminals who may have guns!
- SCE to AUX It's fun when liberal interests fight each other.
- Varezhka Suzuki Jimny, Toyota Century, and I know it technically just ended production but Honda e.
- CoastieLenn For those that care to read the details of the crash NOT included in this article but published elsewhere- this happened at nearly 10pm when the CRV was stopped in the center lane of travel, lights off, with the driver remaining in the car. Not only is it not known if Blue Cruise was being used, it would have been a nightmare for most alert human drivers to mitigate that driving the 70+mph speed limit on many sections of I-10 in Texas, much less an AV system.
- Jeff This is what I would want: Toyota has now released an affordable truck called the Toyota IMV 0. The newly developed vehicle made in Thailand comes with a rear-wheel drive and a gasoline 2.0-liter inline-four matched to a 5-speed manual transmission. NEW $10,000 Toyota Pickup Has Ford & GM Crapping ... YouTube · Tech Machine 8 minutes, 46 seconds Dec 26, 2023
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Teens abscond with, and immediately destroy, Mopar performers I'm amazed that it took this long for this to happen, I would have predicted it would have occurred not long after the first Hellcats hit dealer lots.
“It’s going to take several months to replace before Chrysler will give me allocation to replace them, so this one left is kind of special,” he said." "I have received from the Baby Jesus a reason to jack the price on one car on the lot, and I'm certainly going to take it."