Yahoo Autos Car Sales Shoot Up in March
Welcome to The Grid, R&T's quick roundup of the auto industry and motorsports news you should know this morning.
Sales Rise
March was a great month for sales in the auto industry, with a rise of 6.4 percent recorded, higher than expectations. It also means that auto sales are tracking towards 17.49 million for the year, far above predictions of 16.8 to 17 million for the year.
Who were the big gainers? GM, FCA, and VW had a double digit rise. FCA had Jeep to thank with huge sales for the new Wrangler leading them to a 14 percent surge. GM had a 16 percent rise. But VW had an 18 percent gain thanks to all of the crossovers it has now.
Check out a full breakdown of sales here.
No Montoya at Indy
Juan Montoya is a two-time Indy 500 winner who ran the race last year as a one-off for Team Penske. But he will not be appearing in the 2018 running of the race.
Penske is only running four cars in the 500 this year; the three full-time entries and one for three-time winner Helio Castroneves. Montoya reportedly talked to Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports about an entry, but according to Motorsport, Schmidt was told that Roger Penske wouldn't let Montoya run the race. Instead, Montoya will focus on IMSA and his run at Le Mans with United Autosports.
Detroit's Takata Settlement
The terrible Takata recall seems like it'll never end. Now, Takata will be paying out $182 million to the Detroit automakers because of the scandal.
GM will get $86.8 million, FCA is receiving $51.8 million, and Ford's getting $43.7 million. There are a total of about 60 companies included with a total payout expected to be in the $850 million range. The biggest payout will go to Honda, which is getting $121.5 million.
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