Yahoo Autos There Might Be More Ford Bronco Models on the Way
Welcome to The Grid, R&T's quick roundup of the auto industry and motorsports news you should know this morning.
There May Be More Broncos Coming
Ford's made quite a lot of noise in the lead up to the launch of the Bronco and Bronco Sport, which debut next week. Don't expect the Bronco news to end there, though. As Automotive News points out, the Blue Oval is considering further expansions to the Bronco lineup.
"We'll start with the three models that we have," Mark Grueber, Ford's U.S. consumer marketing manager, said. "We will continue to look to where there's customers we could satisfy with Bronco and how to continue to expand the brand in the future.
There have been rumors of a Bronco pickup truck in the cards, built to compete with the Jeep Gladiator. But it's worth noting that Ford already has a smaller pickup on the way, a Ranger on sale, the F-150, and Super Duty. America likes trucks, but five pickups from one brand could be stretching it.
Dieselgate Is Finally Over in the U.S.
Volkswagen announced that it had met all of the obligations of a civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over its diesel cheating scandal. Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson had been monitoring the auto giant for compliance. Having met the terms of the settlement, VW expects that Thompson will stop monitoring its operations in September.
That'll finally end the five-year scandal which cratered the company's image, led to civil and criminal actions, forced a massive buyback scheme, and put the company under intense scrutiny. In total, Automotive News says that the scandal has cost VW around $35 billion. For reference, the company's record-setting profit for 2019 was €16.96 billion ($19.16 billion at current exchange rates).
Mercedes F1 May Have a Real Gearbox Issue
Mercedes' seems to have only increased its lead on its F1 rivals this year, with its dual-axis steering system improving the team's already terrific pace. But when Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton ended up in first and second, respectively, both had to back off the curbing and slow their pace to avoid damaging their cars.
Now we know it isn't a problem unique to Austria or that's a simple fix. As Motorsport.com reports, the issue is caused by electrical interference that builds up during harsh vibrations. Left unchecked, it can cause a litany of problems, some of which were experienced by Bottas in the race. It's easy to see how this wasn't caught sooner; with little on-track testing, it may be hard to root out electrical interference issues unless you're specifically looking for them.
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