It’s been another busy week at BangShift HQ…Chad brought you nitro awesomeness from the Northern Nationals at US 131, I spent the weekend drowning in Tri-Five Chevrolet heaven, and Brian’s taking a break from the NHRA circuit to be one of the two voices at the Roadkill Nights event on Woodward Avenue. Hey, we gotta earn our keep around here, and we’re happy to do the work for you! So, as I sort through more photos from the Tri-Five Nats, I’ll take a break to lightly roast some of this week’s stranger bits of news. It’s Scrapple…enjoy!

1. Indians on the horizon. But they look friendly!Whether or not anyone approves, Mahindra and Mahindra are doing their best to make inroads into the American market and one of their main goals is to score the contract to make the next United States Postal Service delivery vehicle, and they need to expand their footprint to make that happen…the Auburn Hills, Michigan plant is already maxed out cranking out the Roxor. Mahindra is looking at several locations that would be suitable, including the 235-acre former Buick City site in Flint, Michigan, which was abandoned in 2010.

2. Dammit, not you too…

Oh, look, someone else is in trouble over diesel vehicles. Biiiiig shocker. This time, it’s Daimler AG who is under the gun. After Mercedes C-class and E-class vehicles were found to have unauthorized software installed, it appears that Daimler is set to be penalized to the tune of nearly a billion dollars, at a translated price of five thousand Euros for every car not in compliance. And that’s just the start of what could come down…remember how badly the German government took the Volkswagen affair. They might go even bigger if they feel that Daimler actively did this on purpose instead of “whoops, sorry.”

3. On the menu today: Crow, in the shape of an inflatable bag.One fun fact about new cars: if you hit something with them, the interior turns into a gigantic inflatable mattress. There’s something like eleven airbags in my Chevy Cruze as it is…including a knee airbag. Which isn’t a comforting fact after a report from the IIHS came out saying that knee airbags, “(have) a negligible effect on injury risk and may even increase it in some cases.” In fact, in some cases the airbag might even increase the chance of injury.

Question to both IIHS and the OEMs: then what’s the f***ing point of them?!

4. Okay, who’s the lucky winner of this prize?This gem reads like a Publisher’s Clearing House setup. Watch your mailbox…if you get a letter from FCA regarding your recently-purchased 2019 Ram 1500 and NHTSA Campaign Number 19V556000, you’ve won! You will be given a loaner vehicle while your truck gets an entirely new instrument cluster that actually illuminates driver warnings. Don’t expect a van filled with balloons to accompany this prize…

5. The love triangle’s drama continues…

The biggest drama of 2019 so far was the proposed tie-up between FCA and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. It looked like it was going to happen…then something involving the French government spooked FCA and the deal was cut right off. FCA’s official note for the failure was that France’s political conditions would be problematic for any kind of merger to exist. Reportedly, there have been some discussions about trying again, but CEO Mike Manley was quick to say that the Alliance wasn’t the only option that FCA could mull over. It does need to be noted that FCA officially isn’t working on any kind of merger at the moment. In order for Renault to actually have a prayer at the hook-up, France needs to back down from their demands and the connection with Nissan would need to be reduced.