The all-new Shelby GT500–the pinnacle of any pony car ever engineered by Ford Performance–delivers on its heritage with more than 700 horsepower for the quickest street-legal acceleration and most high-performance technology to date ever offered in a Ford Mustang.Ford Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.The new Shelby Mustang GT500 is going to be heavy in all senses of the wordThe 2020 Mustang Shelby GT500 is the heaviest Mustang of all time. According to Ford’s dealership guide eSourceBook, the 760-horsepower GT500 will have a curb weight of 4,225 lbs (1,916 kg). Pushing that chunky coupe is a 5.2-litre V8 that pumps power through to the rear wheels via a brand-new Tremec seven-speed dual-clutch auto. There are some ways to lighten it up a bit, like by adding the Carbon-Fiber Track Pack, which cuts out the rear seat. Trump freaks out over automakers siding with California on fuel-efficiency regulationsThe Commander-in-Chief in charge of the the most powerful nation on earth is at it again. This week, Trump lashed out at automakers – via Twitter, of course – over fuel-efficiency requirements. “My proposal to the politically correct Automobile Companies would lower the average price of a car to consumers by more than $3000, while at the same time making the cars substantially safer,” he wrote. The outburst was allegedly caused by news that auto giants including BMW, Ford, VW and Honda had come to an agreement to better the efficiency of their cars through 2026, using Obama-era mandated-in-California rules as their template. Auctioneers blew it with the sale of Ferdinand’s Porsche’s Nazi car The 1939 Porsche Type 64, the only remaining example of one of the ancestors of the marque, was supposed to go up for auction at the recent RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale, and expected to fetch around US$20 million. But, when the auctioneer accidentally started bidding at US$30 million, it drew cheers and laughs from the crowd, especially as bidding quickly rose to US$70 million. That’s when the auctioneer clarified he’d apparently been saying thirteen, not thirty – as in US$13 million – and fourteen, not forty, etc., which caused some auction-goers to walk out and the sale to stall right there on the docket. Something tells us that may have been that auctioneer’s final event.Here’s what the Ram EcoDiesel will costAvailable on all trims in Ram’s 1500 series is the new EcoDiesel option, currently the best-in-class for torque, with 480 lb.-ft. What would you pay for that grunt? Now we know what Ram thinks it’s worth. The EcoDiesel V6 costs $5,800 above the standard Pentastar V6 eTorque in Big Horn and Tradesman, and $3,900 over the Sport, Rebel, Longhorn, Laramie and Limited’s 5.7-litre HEMI V8. Watch for the EcoDiesel badge to start appearing on roads this fall. Toronto drivers play soccer in gridlock trafficWhen all lanes closed on the busy 401 highway near Toronto this week, vehicles came to a complete standstill — but not all drivers did. Two men, one in a suit and the other in jeans and a t-shirt, got out of their cars to take advantage of a bit of open ashphalt in front of a city bus and kick around a soccer ball. A video of the friendly game was posted to a 401 trucker Twitter account. Watch it
Origin: News Roundup: The heaviest GT500, a US$20M auction mistake and Trump’s latest auto tirade
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EU says Trump’s proposed car import quotas aren’t happening
US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he departs the White House, in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2019. (Jim Watson / Getty Images The European Union vowed to reject any U.S. push to curb imports of EU cars and auto parts, highlighting the risk of greater transatlantic trade tensions. EU trade chiefs late May dismissed an idea floated by President Donald Trump earlier in the month of fixing quotas on European automotive exports to the U.S. He claimed such shipments pose a threat to national security—a view repudiated by Europe. On May 17, Trump put off a decision on auto tariffs for 180 days while saying that “domestic conditions of competition must be improved by reducing imports” and instructing U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to address the matter in talks with the EU and Japan. Voluntarily restraining exports is illegal under World Trade Organization rules. “That is something that we are 100 per cent against,” Swedish Trade Minister Ann Linde told reporters in Brussels where she met her EU counterparts. Other national ministers and European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom echoed the point by saying the 28-nation bloc is determined to respect WTO requirements. Being played out in the shadow of a U.S.-China trade war that has unnerved investors worldwide, the transatlantic discord over tens of billions of dollars in European auto exports to the American market risks morphing into a new headwind for the global economy. The issue could scuttle planned EU-U.S. negotiations on eliminating tariffs on industrial goods across the board and end a trade truce struck by both sides in July 2018. That in turn would increase the likelihood of U.S. duties on European cars and an EU tit-for-tat
Origin: EU says Trump’s proposed car import quotas aren’t happening
Trump’s threatened tariffs against Mexico could cripple auto industry
President Donald Trump waves to the cheering crowd as he arrives for a rally, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes Barre, Pa.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) President Donald Trump’s vow to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods over illegal immigration threatened to increase costs for automakers and other manufacturers and left Mexico’s president calling to resolve the issue “with dialogue.” Trump on Thursday night opened a new front in his trade wars, threatening to place escalating tariffs on Mexico and jeopardizing a new North American trade agreement. Mexico is by far the largest source of U.S. auto imports and tariffs on goods from there would increase costs for many major manufacturers. “These measures aren’t beneficial for Mexicans or Americans,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in a press conference Friday. He has not received a response from Trump to a letter he sent the American president overnight calling for talks. The latest move announced by the self-described Tariff Man would put 5-per-cent American duties on all Mexican imports on June 10, rising in increments to 25 per cent in October unless Mexico halts “illegal migrants” heading to the U.S. Trump warned the levy “would gradually increase until the illegal immigration problem is remedied at which time the tariff will be removed.” On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,.. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019 The move, which has major implications for American automakers and other companies with production south of the border and the U.S. economy as a whole, represents Trump’s latest expansion of his trade wars. It comes just days after he removed steel tariffs on Mexico that had caused retaliation against U.S. farm products. It also marries two of his signature issues — trade and immigration — as he ramps up his campaign for re-election in 2020. The value of cars, trucks, buses and special purpose vehicles imported into the U.S. from Mexico totaled about US$68 billion last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “Tariffs will mean higher price tags on cars for sales in U.S. and that will hit sales,” said Seiichi Miura, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley. The tariff move came the same day that Trump presented notice to Congress to pass his renegotiated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has allowed tariff-free trade with Mexico and Canada since it came into effect in the 1990s. The administration said Thursday’s plan to increase tariffs on its southern neighbor was not linked to Trump’s NAFTA replacement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which the White House is presenting as his No. 1 legislative agenda
Origin: Trump’s threatened tariffs against Mexico could cripple auto industry
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