This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?
1st Gear: But How Will I Find A Truck To Match My Unoriginal Personality?
The Harley-Davidson F-series is dead according to Automotive News, who says the car only accounted for like 1-2% of F-150s anyways.
The vehicle was launched in 1999 and carried on through last year, appealing to Sturgis wannabes and others. If you've got a mid-life crisis and a Cialis prescription… you might have one.
Ford buyers will now have to decide between the Platinum, King Ranch, Limited, Lariat, Lariat Limited… damn they make a lot of trucks.
2nd Gear: Civic To Get Better Engines
Hans Greimel brings a present this morning in the form of news out of Honda that the Civic in the U.S. is actually going to get engines!
Other than the SI mill, which is actually pretty good, the base Civic engines are little underwhelming. The same for the CRV, actually.
Specifically, we're hearing that they're going to bring over the EarthDreams engine, which is what Honda calls EcoBlueSkyFicciency which is what they refer to as their turbocharged, DOHC, diesel, and direct-injected engines.
Are we getting a diesel Civic…? Who knows.
3rd Gear: Chevy To Name Alan Batey Head Of Global Chevy
The Chevy Brand is going to get a new global chief in Alan Batey, reports The Wall Street Journal. I.E., this guy is going to make sure Chevy does as well as its other brands do, individually, market-wide.
In the U.S. Chevy's market share is about 12.8% now, even though the brand still makes up most of the company's global sales. Part of the change is the "Find New Roads" campaign which is fine, I guess.
There's also redone products like the new Impala and, of course, they're dropping some of the most obvious signs of badge engineering. None of this should come as a surprise as back in December CEO Dan Akerson pegged him as a future leader.
4th Gear: Acura To Try To Get People To Care About The MDX
The big secret amongst car journos is that, in many ways, the MDX is actually the best vehicle in the lineup. They keep softening and rounding it. They added a more Acura-esque beak but, in relative terms, no other vehicle they offer is so good in its class as this fairly limber 7-passenger CUV.
So how do you get people to buy the CUV? Say it's "Made for Mankind." You know, like the jeans.
It's all very high concept that tells you almost nothing about the car. Maybe it'll work, I'm not an advertiser, but the bigger and flashier the concept the less I think about the car. See: Lincoln.
5th Gear: Could Terrorists Remotely Crash You Car? REDUX
Props to Chris Woodyard at USA Today's "Drive On" for picking up the AOL Autos 'Could a dastardly Indonesian kill us all with his MacBook' story.
Yes, cars are packed with computers, but few can be accessed wirelessly from outside the car. It noted that researchers said they probably would need an additional attachment to car's computer brains to really take it over. Plus, some of the kinds of systems that might make a car vulnerable aren't really deployed yet.
We get a delightfully straight way of describing our description:
Jalopnik, however, in its typically unvarnished way, calls the findings into question.
Yes, we called it bullshit.
Reverse: True Story, I Saw Ralph Nader At Union Station Last Week
On this day in 1966, the United States Senate votes 76-0 for the passage of what will become the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson the following September, the act created the nation's first mandatory federal safety standards for motor vehicles.
[HISTORY]
Neutral: Does The MDX Ad Do Anything For You? Are you inspired? The "Dream The Impossible" series from Honda was great. Also, Hondas used to be great. Now they're just pretty good. Is this the start of the turn?
Photo Credit: Getty Images