One of only 533 produced, this 1953 Cadillac Eldorado convertible in Azure Blue will be offered at no reserve at the 2016 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction next month. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing. 

Today’s headlines:

+   Toyota sold more cars than Volkswagen for the fifth consecutive month in November, putting the Japanese firm on track to remain the world’s top-selling automaker in 2015. More at Reuters. 

+   Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will recall 476,600 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs from the 2011-12 model years to a repair a wiring defect that could result in fire. More at The Detroit News. 

+   Shunning a competing offer from billionaire investor Carl Icahn, auto parts chain Pep Boys has accepted a $947 million buyout offer from the Bridgestone Corporation. More at The New York Times. 

+   Subaru will unveil three STI performance concepts at the Tokyo Auto Salon next month: the STI Performance coupe, XV Hybrid STI, and Levorg wagon. More at Autoblog. 

+   Sébastien Loeb, the most successful driver in World Rally Championship history, will return to the series in 2016 as a team owner in the Junior WRC category with a Citroen. More at Motorsport.com. 

+   Gary Meadors, founder of Goodguys Rod and Custom Association, which promotes dozens of street rod events each year, has suffered a fatal heart attack. More at Hot Rod. 

+   Hyundai will make the Apple CarPlay application available to Sonata owners in the first quarter of 2016, more than a year after the automaker initially promised the system. More at the Detroit Free Press. 

+   Russian car sales may fall another 14 percent in 2016 to only 1.1 million units if the country’s economy remains in recession, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. More at Bloomberg.com. 

+   As the automaker’s diesel emissions cheating scandal continues to unfold, Volkswagen reportedly will abandon its “Das Auto” slogan. More at Motor Trend.

+   Featured American classics offered at no reserve in the 2016 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction on January 23-31 will include a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado. More at Classic Cars.com. 

+   Williams technical chief Pat Symonds says the challenge posed by the revamped 2017 technical regulations is more difficult than Formula 1 teams encountered in 2009. More at Racer. 

Read the previous Executive Briefing from December 25 here. 

Photo courtesy of Barrett-Jackson. 

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