Nutson's Nuggets: Last Week's (Sept 26-30) Automotive Factoids - In Case You Were Not Paying Attention

Each week Larry Nutson, The Auto Channel's Chicago Bureau Chief, gives you last weeks automotive news highlights you may have missed, or you can catch up on the past 15 years of automotive news HERE in our news archive.

* Big news this week is the controversy over GM's OnStar telematics unit backing down from their plan to watch non-subscribers like big brother then sell the data to the highest bidder, and even provide the information to the government. An audible shriek arose from privacy advocates as the plan was exposed. The company has not committed to a permanent abandonment of the plan but insists that in the future they will only collect data on those who agree and opt in.

* Rank and file UAW members ratified the new contract with GM this week by a two-to-one margin. The pact, the first since the company's bankruptcy, raises the wage of entry level workers, allows for generous signing bonuses and other bonuses while gaining no wage increases for existing workers nor pension increases for retirees. Talks continue with Ford and Chrysler.

* Volkswagon has been talking for over a year now about becoming the world's dominant auto maker by 2018, an ambitious goal, indeed. Jonathan Browning, VW's US boss, told the Society of Automotive Analysts this week he expects the company to be profitable in the US this year if we consider only sales operations, excluding the amortization of the new $1 billion plant in Chattanooga and excluding their contribution to global fixed costs.

* Saab owner, Victor Muller, is poised to sell the Striker supercar unit to US private equity firm North Street Capital led by Alex Muscioli, a racing enthusiast. Spiker only made a few dozen cars with a price around 300 grand. Muller will continue to head the company as chief executive. Saab, meanwhile, has a brief reprieve from the threat of bankruptcy while awaiting Chinese financing.

* Automotive News reports this week that Hyundai is working on the development of a 10-speed automatic transmission for upcoming luxury cars like the Equus and Genesis. All those extra gears are meant to increase fuel economy of the bigger cars to meet ever more stringent government requirements. It is unusual for an automaker to make these kinds of technology investments entirely in-house.

* Next weekend (October 6-7) RM Auctions will sell the oldest running automobile in the world at their Hershey sale, the 1884 De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a Dos Steam Runabout (what a name, eh?). Its sophisticated-for-the-time 40-gallon boiler, on top of which the driver and passenger sit, is fed by coal or coke and it's good for about 40 miles. Plenty of other really old stuff will be auctioned at Hersey as well. See www.rmauctions.com.

* Speaking of auctions - the first Chevy Camaro ZL1, the most powerful Camaro ever built at 580 horsepower, will reach dealers next year but the first one went at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Las Vegas last week for a quarter million dollars. It was purchased by Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports. He'll pay now but won't be able to take delivery until next year. By the way, the first Camaro made its debut this week in 1966.

* General Motors has named a company veteran to a new position charged with winning and retaining customers. On Oct. 1, Paul Copses, 50, will become U.S. vice president of customer experience. GM said "He will be the voice of our customers and will work to remove barriers that prevent our company and our dealers from achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction."

* Occupants of cars and minivans involved in crashes with larger sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks die 64 percent less often than they did in 2000, an insurance industry study found. The death rate for car and minivan passengers in such accidents fell from 44 deaths per million in 2000 and 2001 to 16 in 2008 and 2009, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found in a study.

* Pike Research forecasts that annual sales of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) will reach 358,959 vehicles by 2017. Hawaii, which typically has among the highest gas prices in the nation, will be the top state, with PEVs representing 6.3% of total light-duty vehicle sales in 2017. The second highest penetration rate will be in California (5.4%), followed by Oregon (5.4%), Washington, D.C. (4.6%), and Delaware (4.5%).

* General Motors announced it will become the first auto manufacturer to provide a front center airbag aimed at restraining drivers when they are alone in the vehicle or cushion both front-seat passengers where the endangered occupant is on the side opposite to the impact.

Larry Nutson Senior Editor, Chicago Bureau, The Auto Channel