Auto Industry News: King of the Hammers, a Jacked Up NV and More
Goin’ for Gold
Grab a caffeinated beverage and let’s review some mild to wild auto industry news. Front cover gold is King of the Hammers this week. Goes without saying, we’re tickled pink to see so many familiar aftermarket faces in the crowd. Monster names like FOX, MBRP, Vision-X, Bilstein and Optima Batteries, among many others, are representing at the event. Pretty sure we saw Charly Henley of BAK Industries and Kathryn Reinhardt of MagnaFlow snapping selfies in the midst of the 4×4 madness.
Nissan NV Gets Jacked
Putting this little nugget second pained us. But how do you compete with King of the Hammers? Regardless, this off-road ready van, yes van, is ready to rock n’ roll in some unusual terrain. Well, unusual for a Nissan NV. “Nissan teamed up with off-road builder and Xtreme Off-Road television show host Ian Johnson to jack it up with some beefy suspension, throw some mudders on it, and dump a Cummins turbodiesel V-8 under the hood,” said Motor Authority. “The result is the Nissan NV Cargo X project, and this one-of-a-kind creation is debuting at the 2017 Chicago Auto Show.” Think we found your next project!
Military-Inspired Build
We continue our auto industry news with “Dream it, they’ll build it.” The teams at Extreme Truck Stuff and GC Performance located in Jacksonville, FL just wrapped up a military inspired 2017 F-350.
“The truck was built for Brandon Linder, who’s the center for the Jacksonville Jaguars,” said Clark of GC Performance. “Brandon came to me and I worked out the design with some of his input. He wanted it to stand out in a particular way, and I took it from there.”
And the boys at Extreme gave ‘er the special treatment, installing Fab Fours bumpers, “a Fabtech eight-inch lift, Fuel Hostage 22×11 wheels, 38×13.50R22 Nitto Trail Grapplers and Amp Research Powersteps. The front end has a Bad Boy Resi steering stabilizer from Fabtech’s Dirt Logic line, which smoothes out the ride from using the oversized tires,” said Diesel Army. Test drive? Yes, please!
New Rides
Meet the 2018 Ford Expedition. Ford is touting it as the smartest, most capable and most adaptable one to date. Engineers were able to shave 300 lbs. from its stocky frame by making the switch to an aluminum body. And a stronger steel frame means increased towing capacity. Love it or hate it, the integration of aluminum in vehicle production is like the electric and autonomous car movement; it’s just getting started.
But if speed is your game then we have the answer. “We all understand acceleration. It’s the rate of change of velocity. This 4,891-pound Tesla Model S P100D does it best, reaching 30, 40, 50, and 60 mph from a standstill more quickly than any other production vehicle we’ve ever tested, full stop. In our testing, no production car has ever cracked 2.3 seconds from 0 to 60 mph. But Tesla has, in 2.275507139 seconds,” said Motor Trend.
Unfortunately, we kill the mood with the Volkswagen Atlas Weekend Edition concept vehicle being debuted at the Chicago Auto Show. And not because it isn’t an impressive weekend warrior crossover. Rather, all of the cool bolt-on accessory items already come fit at the point of purchase. Great for the consumer, but it sure does take the fun out of it for us. Sorry Thule, the Urban Loader comes standard.
Until next week’s auto industry news, readers!
