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Barrett-Jackson rundown: 2024 GMC Hummer EV, Colin Powell's Corvette and more

The echoes of the last hammer fall at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale Auction have disappeared into the Arizona night, as have the record crowds and the traffic jams. During the Super Saturday charity auctions, three main attractions drove onto the dais for bidding: Late U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State General Colin Powell’s 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the hammer price benefitting AmericaÂ’s Promise Alliance, the nonprofit Powell founded to support kids; The first production 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Edition 1 with VIN 001, proceeds going to Tread Lightly!, which educates people on how to enjoy the outdoors in a motorized vehicle and simultaneously protect the outdoors; And the first production 2024 Ford Mustang GT Fastback VIN 001, its hammer price benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Before the Saturday showcase, charity auctions on Friday took Barrett-Jackson past a huge milestone. When an 800-horsepower 2021 Shelby Super Snake Count's Kustoms Edition hammered for $350,000 to support the veteran's charity Camp Freedom, the auction house officially surpassed the $150 million mark for charity auction proceeds. Piling on before the clock struck midnight, a 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning 4x4 Super Crew sold for $275,000, those funds donated to Fighter Country Foundation. Then came Saturday. Powell's Gunmetal Gray on black Stingray was said to be a daily driver, but with just 15,600 miles on the odometer, Powell — who died in 2021 — apparently had a very short commute. Equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission and chrome wheels, it sold for $200,000. The first production 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Edition 1 ran the bidding up to $500,000. That's quite a ways down on the $2,500,000 that the bedded 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 garnered at the charity auction in 2021, and not a bad price all things considered. The owner gets the first one off the line instead of getting lost in the 90,000-order backlog, and the markup goes to a good cause instead of a flipper and eBay fees. The first production 2024 Mustang GT Fastback brought in both less and more than the Hummer EV. The Ford's hammer price came to $490,000. However, two additional philanthropic donations for this lot in the amounts of $50,000 and $25,000 took the final price to $565,000. The big movers on the day were outside the charity sphere, four cars breaking the million-dollar mark.

2017 GMC Acadia loses 700 pounds, gains everywhere else

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Acadia. The 2017 version of the three-row GMC crossover has all kinds of newness. The 2017 Acadia has lost 700 pounds compared to its predecessor thanks to high-strength steels allowing redesigned parts, and the fact that it overall, the vehicle is actually smaller. Length is reduced by 7.2 inches on a wheelbase diminished by 6.4 inches, it is 3.5 inches narrower and sits 3.9 inches lower. The 2016 Acadia was 4,656 pounds, the 2017 is 3,956 pounds. GMC says it will still swallow people, but not as many: the eight-passenger option didn't make the transition, potential three-row trims permitting five-, six-, and seven-passenger configurations. While you lose space, you gain convenience with a split-folding second row featuring tilt-and-slide for both sections. The third-row seats fold flat into the cargo floor, and if the second row is folded as well, cargo capacity improves over the 2016 Acadia, 79 cubic feet compared to 70 cu-ft. A new 2.5-liter four-cylinder brings a second engine option to the spec sheet, returning an estimated 22 city miles per gallon and 28 highway mpg with the help of stop/start tech on front-wheel-drive trims. The new 3.6-liter V6 gets around 310 horsepower, a power bump of about 19 hp, and an estimated 25 highway mpg in front-wheel-drive guise. Towing capacity for that V6 goes down, though, from 5,200 on the current Acadia to an estimated 4,000 pounds. The optional Tow Vision Trailering system will make that pulling easier. Both engines are hooked to a six-speed automatic. Now we can get to its looks. Trademarks like the square, flared wheel arches, dark D-pillars, and wraparound rear side windows made the transition, everything else is new. While weight has gone down, safety's gone way up with internal changes like the splayed chassis members to confront the small-offset test. New active safety upgrades run from from three kinds of automatic braking systems to surround vision cameras, automatic high beam control, a safety alert seat, and a following distance indicator. Buyers can choose from a front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, or All Terrain model, each with its own electronic drive selector modes. The Normal, Sport, and Trailer/Tow modes are common to the trio. The FWD gets a Snow mode, the AWD adds adaptive 4x4 and Off Road modes; on the AWD, the 2x4 mode disconnects the rear axle from the drivetrain.

U.S. new-vehicle sales in 2018 rise slightly to 17.27 million [UPDATE]

DETROIT — Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. rose slightly in 2018, defying predictions and highlighting a strong economy. Automakers reported an increase of 0.3 percent over a year ago to 17.27 million vehicles. The increase came despite rising interest rates, a volatile stock market, and rising car and truck prices that pushed some buyers out of the new-vehicle market. Industry analysts and automakers said strong economic fundamentals pushed up sales and should keep them near historic highs in 2019. "Economic conditions in the U.S. are favorable and should continue to be supportive of vehicle sales at or around their current run rate," Ford Chief Economist Emily Kolinski Morris said after the company and other automakers announced their sales numbers Thursday. That auto sales remain near the 2016 record of 17.55 million is a testimonial to the strength of the economy, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. The job market, he said, has created new employment, and wage growth has accelerated. "That's fundamental to selling anything," he said. "If there are lots of jobs and people are getting bigger paychecks, they will buy more." The unemployment rate is 3.7 percent, a 49-year low. The economy is thought to have grown close to 3 percent last year, its best performance in more than a decade. Consumers, the main driver of the economy, are spending freely. The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate four times in 2018 but is only expected to raise it twice this year. Auto sales also were helped by low gasoline prices and rising home values, Zandi said. It all means that people are likely to keep buying new vehicles this year even as they grow more expensive. The Edmunds.com auto-pricing site estimates that the average new vehicle price hit a record $35,957 in December, about 2 percent higher than the previous year. It will be harder for automakers to keep the sales pace above 17 million because they have been enticing buyers for several years now with low-interest financing and other incentives, Zandi said. He predicts more deals in the coming year as job growth slows and credit tightens for higher-risk buyers. Edmunds, which provides content, including automotive tips and reviews, for distribution by The Associated Press, predicts that sales will drop this year to 16.9 million.