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On Aug. 6, two deserving Dallas residents experienced a life-changing event—the presentation of two vehicles to provide them independence and the ability to work and take care of their families—thanks to the National Auto Body Council Recycled Rides program and the United Recyclers Group conference, along with car donors Farmers Insurance and collision repair partners Town East Ford and Trophy Nissan, both Berkshire Hathaway Automotive companies.

The presentation was held as part of the URG Training Conference at the Dallas Hyatt Regency in Dallas on Aug. 6. NABC Immediate Past Chair Darren Huggins, who is national collision director for Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, served as the emcee for the presentation. He was joined by NABC Board of Directors member Brian Driehorst, VP of sales for Original One Parts; Sandi Freeman, program manager for NABC Recycled Rides; and Don Porter, CEO of URG.

“First, I would like to say thank you to Farmers Insurance for donating these two vehicles—and applaud them for donating some 173 vehicles to the NABC Recycled Rides program over the years,” said Huggins. “Our industry, from the recycling people to the collision people to the car dealers are the very best people I’ve ever met, and it’s no different here today.

“I’m very proud that two of our Berkshire Hathaway Automotive shops repaired these vehicles and thank the team members at both shops who volunteered their time to restore them for our deserving recipients,” Huggins continued. “I’m also proud that our Berkshire Hathaway Automotive shops have done more than 30 NABC Recycled Rides in this market, and that NABC has presented some 112 vehicles here in Dallas. In the coming months, we’ll present our 3,000th vehicle as an organization, and that isn’t possible without the support of the folks in this room and the generousity of the collision repair industry as a whole.”

The recipients, who were selected by Family Promise of Longview, were: • Jackie Grant, who received a 2013 Nissan Altima repaired by Trophy Nissan, is a grandmother raising her granddaughter. She lost her vehicle while she was out of work due to surgery. The gift of reliable transportation will allow her to return to work and take her granddaughter to school, boxing and dance classes.

She was unfortunately unable to attend because she is quarantined with COVID and the vehicle was accepted by Mark Lampert from Family Promise of Longview. • Randi Ruthart-Garrison, who was presented a 2014 Ford Fusion refurbished by Town East Ford, has an old, unreliable vehicle, which makes it challenging for her, her husband and their three children to get to work and school. A new vehicle will help her husband work and complete HVAC school and allow them reliable transportation to manage their daily lives.

“I came to Family Promise when we were on the verge of homelessness,” said Ruthart-Garrison. “They helped tremendously. To go through this program and be selected is incredible. Having a reliable vehicle will be life-changing. I can take my family to doctors and daycare, and not break down on the side of road and have to walk with my three kids somewhere for help. I’m very grateful for this opportunity and thank everyone involved. It’s just amazing and I’m very grateful.”

NABC Recycled Rides is a unique program in which businesses representing all facets of the collision repair industry team up to repair and donate vehicles to individuals and families in need of reliable transportation. Since the inception of the NABC Recycled Rides program in 2007, members of the NABC have donated more than 2,750 vehicles valued at more than $36 million.

Additional partners in the NABC Recycled Rides presentation included 1-800 Charity Cars, Big Bass Towing, 3M, English Color and Supply, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, LKQ, PPG, As Tech, Stream Line Services and Tritek Window Tinting.

The team members from Town East Ford who donated their time included Alejandro Cisneros, Clay Easthom, Shannon Fauver, Juan Luna, Josh Valle and John Ward. The Trophy Nissan team members who contributed to the repairs were Eduardo Alvarez, Andy Chandler, Jackson Griffin, Noah Henderson, David Rodriguez, Francisco Rodriguez and Kevin Nance.

First Tesla Model Y Weeks Away From Rolling Out Of Giga Texas

by Andrei Nedelea, Inside EVs

Tesla’s new Gigafactory beingbuilt near Austin, TX, is expected to be completed this year, before it begins full-scale production in 2022.

However, the first vehicles may roll off the production line way sooner than that, just weeks from early August, according to one source familiar with the matter.

We previously reported more than a month ago Tesla had already begun testing the robots that will assemble the Model Y and it had also started casting parts for the vehicle. Then the first and most recent sign of production was a Model Y body.

The latter was most likely used to check clearances before the robots were installed in that part of the factory, but it’s clear Tesla is doing all it can to start production as quickly as possible.

Now Teslarati says it has insider information that production may start as early as mid-August, albeit not full-scale production of road-ready vehicles.

First, Tesla will perform test runs to make sure the entire manufacturing process is ready, but once those are completed, actual production of Model Ys that will reach customers can begin; the source says that moment is some two months away.

Once Model Y production is ramped up, Tesla will shift its focus to Cybertruck and Semi production at the new Austin facility.

Both are expected to be built at Giga Texas; initial plans predicted the first Cybertrucks would be built at the facility by the end of 2021, although there is a chance it may be pushed back.

Regarding the Semi, there is no official confirmation it will be built in Texas too. Tesla has yet to officially assign a production location to make the Semi, which has now been delayed until 2022.

Tesla currently has a theoretical annual installed capacity that exceeds 1 million units, between its California and Shanghai locations, and it expects to deliveries to increase to 750,000 in 2021.

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