Buy Tom Selleck’s Power Wagon, Sticker shock blowbacks, and Mini’s final Clubman

Magnum Power: Tom Selleck’s Dodge could be yours

Intake: A 1953 Dodge Power Wagon that was restored for Magnum PI star Tom Selleck to use on his California ranch will soon be for sale at Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach auction. The truck, with its cherry red exterior and contrasting black cabin, was custom-built for Selleck with additions including a 12-volt electrical system, high gloss wooden deck in the bed, and a gun rack. The Power Wagon began life as a fire truck, and is fitted with a winch, an external water pump, and rides on stock Budd split rim wheels with Michelin X tires. The 230-cid straight-six motor is mated to a four-speed manual transmission, and the truck has only covered just over 19,000 miles. A photo of the Power Wagon with its Hollywood heart-throb owner is included in the sale, which takes place in Palm Beach, Florida April 13–15.

Exhaust: There’s no reserve on the auction, but Power Wagons are always popular. A #1 Concours condition truck would normally fetch $66,700 according to the Hagerty Valuation Guide, although we wouldn’t be surprised if this car’s Magnum-powered provenance drives it to $100,000 or beyond. — Nik Berg

So long, Mini Clubman, we hardly knew ye

Intake: The Mini Clubman is going out in (expensive) style, with a final 2024 edition priced at $46,150, which is $10,000 more than the regular Cooper S ALL4 Clubman, plus another $995 for shipping and handling. The Clubman Final Edition is available in Nanuq White, Enigmatic Black, and Melting Silver III. “The charismatic details of both the interior and exterior emphasize the exclusive nature of the model,” of which only 1969 units will be built globally, with “fewer than 100 examples of the Mini Clubman Final Edition available to U.S. customers exclusively through a special pre-order reservation process.” On the interior passenger side and the floor mats, a “1 of 1969” badge on the trim “serves as a proud reminder of the exclusivity of the Final Edition and highlights the year the very first Clubman model was introduced more than 50 years ago. The same badge can also be found on the side of the C-Pillar to boast its stand-out personality on the outside.”

Exhaust: If you don’t care about the “stand-out personality” of the Final Edition model, the regular Clubman will be offered up through February of 2024. Delivery of the Final Edition will begin this October. — Steven Cole Smith

Tesla cuts prices by up to almost 6 percent

Intake: Tesla has cut prices in the U.S. between 2 percent and nearly 6 percent, its website shows, “as the company extends a discount drive on its electric vehicles that analysts caution could hurt profitability,” says Reuters. “The fifth such cut in Tesla’s largest market since the start of the year” comes as the U.S. is about to adopt tougher standards that are expected to limit EV tax credits.

Exhaust: Tesla whacked the price of its Model 3 sedan by $1,000 and its Model Y crossover by $2,000, the website showed. It also cut prices on both versions of its more expensive Model S and Model X by $5,000. — SCS

Selling over sticker price can backfire on automakers, dealers

Intake: Automotive News cites a study done by GfK Research that suggests customers paying over sticker price for a new vehicle “might cost the retailer — or manufacturer — repeat business from some of those customers.” Twenty-seven percent of customers who paid more than sticker told GfK they would never buy that brand of vehicle again. “Julie Kenar, GfK senior vice president of consulting, noted on a GfK webinar while automakers have no control over dealership pricing, ‘brands are still being negatively impacted.’” Thirty-one percent of buyers who paid over sticker said they’d advise other consumers to avoid that dealership, and 29 percent plan to never use that retailer for service.

Exhaust: GfK said 47 percent of buyers in December paid list price, while 34 percent paid more and 19 percent paid less. The solution: Don’t pay over sticker unless you really have to. Shopping around, even on a national level, can pay dividends. — SCS

The Mercedes-AMG ONE just mastered Monza

 

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Intake: The Mercedes-AMG ONE is continuing its quest to rewrite the record books. Having clocked fastest laps at the Red Bull Ring and Hockenheim circuits in Austria, and at the Nürburgring in Germany, the hybrid hypercar was dispatched to Italy’s temple of speed. AMG works driver Maro Engel attacked the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, completing a full lap of the 3.6-mile track in one minute, 43.902 seconds. To put that into context, the previous production car lap record, held by a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, was over 11 seconds slower.

Exhaust: After extensive delays, the ONE is living up to its name, laying down new benchmarks wherever it goes. It was no mean feat to get a Formula 1 powertrain to operate in a road car, but the benefits are now crystal clear; the ONE is simply demolishing the lap times of all that came before it. — NB

Report: Stringent new emissions laws coming

Intake: In an exclusive story titled “EPA is said to propose rules meant to drive up electric car sales tenfold,” The New York Times reports that the Biden administration, as early as Wednesday, will announce “some of the most stringent auto pollution limits in the world, designed to ensure that all-electric cars make up as much as 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the country by 2032, according to two people familiar with the matter.” The result would “exceed President Biden’s earlier ambitions to have all-electric cars account for half of those sold in the country by 2030.” It would be the federal government’s “most aggressive regulation,” and would propel the U.S. to the “front of the global effort to slash greenhouse gases generated by cars.”

Exhaust: The new rules, says The Times, “would pose a significant challenge for automakers. Nearly every major car company has already invested heavily in electric vehicles, but few have committed to the levels envisioned by the Biden administration.” — SCS