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☆ G.M. Will Retire the Chevrolet Malibu to Make More Electric Cars
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

General Motors said on Wednesday that it would stop making the Chevrolet Malibu, the last affordable sedan in its U.S. model lineup and a venerable nameplate that was introduced in the 1960s when the company was a dominant force in the U.S. economy. For years, American drivers have been gravitating toward sport utility vehicles and away from sedans, compacts and hatchbacks. G.M.’s two Detroit rivals, Stellantis and Ford Motor, have also largely wiped their slates clean of cars in the United States. Last month, Subaru, a Japanese automaker, said it would stop making its Legacy sedan next year. produces the Malibu at a plant in Fairfax, Kan., and will continue to manufacture the car until later this year, when it plans to retool the factory to make a new version of the Chevrolet Bolt, an electric car, and the Cadillac XT4, a luxury S.U.V.

Persons: Motors, Chevrolet Organizations: Chevrolet Malibu, Detroit, Ford Motor, Foreign, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Subaru Locations: U.S, United States, Japanese, Fairfax, Kan

☆ G.M. Reports Big Jump in Profit on Gasoline Car Sales
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

General Motors on Tuesday reported a big jump in profits for the first three months of the year, based on the strength of its gasoline vehicle business, and raised its outlook for the rest of the year. The company saw slow growth in electric vehicles, but robust sales of internal combustion vehicles, especially pickup trucks, helped raise its profit to $3 billion in the first quarter, a 24 percent jump from the same period a year ago. also said that it now expects to make $10.1 billion to $11.5 billion in profit this year, up from a previous forecast of $9.8 billion to $11.2 billion. business and improving profitability,” G.M.’s chief financial officer, Paul Jacobson, said in a conference call with reporters, using the shorthand for internal combustion engine. He repeated an earlier forecast that G.M.’s battery-powered cars and trucks would start generating profits in the second half of this year.

Persons: ’, Paul Jacobson, Jacobson, G.M Organizations: Motors

☆ Auto Industry Expects Minimal Disruption From Port Shutdown
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Concerns about the impact of the Baltimore bridge collapse on auto imports and exports are beginning to ease as car companies turn to other ports along the East Coast. On Thursday, Cox Automotive, a market researcher, said it expected the situation in Baltimore to have no material impact on vehicle sales in the United States. “While Baltimore is the top port for auto shipments, this is not likely to cause or create a sudden new problem in vehicle supply that will materially impact the market,” Jonathan Smoke, Cox’s chief economist, said in a conference call. “The port is heavy for exports and imports, but there are alternatives.”Mercedes-Benz said it has already found other ways of handling the vehicles it usually imports from Germany through Baltimore.

Persons: Jonathan Smoke, ” Mercedes, Benz Organizations: Cox Automotive Locations: Baltimore, East Coast, United States, Germany

☆ Automakers Are Rerouting Car Shipments Away From Baltimore
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Several large automakers said on Tuesday that they were working to reroute shipments of cars because of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The Port of Baltimore plays an important role in the shipment of vehicles and handled more than 750,000 cars and trucks in 2023, according to the Maryland Port Administration. Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. transportation secretary, said that the rerouting would affect the national supply chain. “It will not be quick, and it will not be inexpensive.”Among the automakers that use the port are General Motors, Ford Motor, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Some automakers said they were planning to divert imports and exports of vehicles to other East Coast ports while they assessed how the collapse would affect their logistics.

Persons: Francis Scott Key, Wes Moore, Pete Buttigieg Organizations: Maryland Port Administration, Gov, General Motors, Ford Motor, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Benz, BMW Locations: Baltimore, The Port, United States, Maryland, U.S, East Coast

☆ Ford Reports Quarterly Loss but Says Sales Grew
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Ford Motor said it lost $526 million in the final three months of 2023, mainly as a result of special charges related to its employee pension programs and the reorganization of some of its overseas operations. The automaker said its fourth-quarter revenue rose to $46 billion, from $44 billion a year earlier, thanks to strong sales of internal-combustion vehicles and light commercial trucks. The division of the company that makes gasoline and hybrid vehicles earned $813 million before interest and taxes in the fourth quarter, and its commercial vehicle division made $1.8 billion. The unit that makes electric vehicles lost $1.6 billion. Looking ahead, Ford said it expected to make between $10 billion and $12 billion in adjusted earnings before taxes and interest this year.

Persons: Ford Organizations: Ford Motor

☆ G.M. Profits Hurt by Unsold Electric Vehicles and Strike
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

has also struggled to produce such vehicles in large numbers because of manufacturing problems with a new battery technology the company calls Ultium. has also pared its electric vehicle ambitions. expected to produce 400,000 electric vehicles by the middle of 2024, but consumers have not flocked to battery-powered cars as fast as auto executives expected. sold more than 19,000 electric vehicles, but most were Bolts, which are no longer being produced and used an older battery technology. Only about a third of the electric vehicles that were sold used the newer battery packs produced at a factory in Ohio that G.M.

Persons: Ultium, G.M Organizations: Ford Motor, Chevy, LG Locations: Ohio

General Motors is slowing the expansion of its Cruise automated driving division and significantly cutting spending at the unit after suspending operations in response to growing safety concerns about its driverless cars. The company had been planning to roll out a ride service in San Francisco and three other cities and begin testing Cruise vehicles on the streets of several other markets. It now plans to focus on only one city as it works to improve the operation of its fleet of driverless vehicles it has been testing. “We expect the pace of Cruise’s expansion to be more deliberate when operations resume, resulting in substantially lower spending in 2024 than in 2023,” G.M.’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said Wednesday at an investor conference. “We must rebuild trust with regulators at the local, state and federal levels, as well as with the first responders and the communities in which Cruise will operate.”Last month, California regulators suspended Cruise’s license to operate in the state after an incident in which a Cruise self-driving vehicle in San Francisco ran over a pedestrian who had been hit by another car and dragged her for 20 feet.

Persons: ”, ’, Mary T, Barra Organizations: Motors, Cruise Locations: San Francisco, California

☆ U.A.W. Announces Drive to Organize Nonunion Plants
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United Automobile Workers union announced Wednesday that it was undertaking an ambitious drive to organize plants owned by more than a dozen nonunion automakers, including Tesla and several foreign companies — a goal that has long eluded it. The move comes weeks after the U.A.W. In addition to Tesla, the targets of the drive are two other electric vehicle start-ups, Lucid and Rivian, and 10 foreign-owned automakers: Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Volkswagen, Mazda and Volvo. If the U.A.W. secures a foothold among those companies, it could signal a big shift in the American auto industry, where nonunion manufacturers have long had a significant cost advantage over the Detroit automakers.

Persons: Tesla Organizations: United Automobile Workers, General Motors, Ford Motor, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes, Benz, Subaru, Volkswagen, Mazda, Volvo, Detroit

☆ G.M.’s Contract Deal With U.A.W. Faces Surprisingly Stiff Opposition
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A United Automobile Workers union vote on a tentative contract agreement with General Motors that provides record wage increases has run into unexpectedly strong resistance from veteran workers. A majority of workers at several large plants in Michigan, Indiana and Tennessee rejected the contract, though union members at a large sport utility plant in Arlington, Texas, voted in favor of it. G.M., Ford Motor and Stellantis agreed to similar contracts with the union after U.A.W. Workers walked off the job at the first three plants on Sept. 15 and stayed on strike for more than 40 days. The agreement appears to be headed for ratification at Ford and Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles, by comfortable margins, according to running tallies the U.A.W.

Organizations: United Automobile Workers, General Motors, Ford Motor, Workers, Ford, Chrysler, Jeep Locations: Michigan , Indiana, Tennessee, Arlington , Texas

Mr. Biden made history with his visit when he became the first president to appear on a picket line to support the striking workers. When word came down that the union had struck a deal with the automakers, Mr. Biden stepped away during a state dinner welcoming the Australian prime minister and called the U.A.W. “The union situation is a win for Biden,” said Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. Mr. Fain has yet to give Mr. Biden the U.A.W.’s endorsement, but he has also outlined ambitious goals that would be much harder to achieve if Mr. Trump returned to the White House. And while Mr. Biden visited picketing workers and voiced support for their strike, Mr. Trump visited a nonunion plant in Michigan and said union members “were being sold down the river by their leadership.”

Persons: Biden, Trump, Shawn Fain, “, ”, Barry Rabe, Fain, ’, Trump’s Organizations: Democratic, Biden, University of Michigan, National Labor Relations Board Locations: autoworkers, Michigan

Before autoworkers went on strike in September, Dave and Bailey Hodge were struggling to juggle the demands of working at a Ford Motor plant in Michigan and raising their young family. Both were working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, to earn enough to cover monthly bills, car payments and the mortgage on a home they had recently bought. They were also saving for the things they hoped life would eventually bring — vacations, college for their two children and retirement. Some days, she’d see her 8-year-old son off to school in the morning. She’d fall asleep with her 14-month-old daughter lying between her and Dave.

Persons: autoworkers, Dave, Bailey Hodge, “, ” Ms, Hodge, she’d, She’d Organizations: Ford Locations: Michigan

☆ G.M. Said to Reach Tentative Deal With U.A.W.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The agreement comes days after the union announced tentative agreements with Ford Motor and Stellantis on new contracts. The three deals contain many of the same or similar terms, including a 25 percent general wage increase for U.A.W. The tentative agreement with G.M., the largest U.S. car company by sales, requires approval by a union council that oversees negotiations with the company, and then ratification by a majority of its 46,000 U.A.W. The most recent escalation of the strike came on Saturday, shortly after the union reached a deal with Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram. told workers to go on strike at G.M.’s plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., that makes several sport utility vehicle models.

Persons: Ram Organizations: Motors, United Automobile Workers, U.S, automakers, Ford Motor, G.M, Stellantis, Chrysler, Jeep Locations: U.S, Missouri , Michigan , Tennessee, Texas, G.M, Spring Hill, Tenn

☆ U.A.W. Says It Aims to Organize Nonunion Auto Plants
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After winning major gains in wages and benefits from two of the three Detroit automakers, the United Automobile Workers union is looking beyond the Motor City to car companies operating nonunion factories across the South. president, Shawn Fain, said the union planned a push to organize plants at some of the nonunion automakers, such as Toyota, Honda and Tesla. “One of our biggest goals coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never organized before,” Mr. Fain said. It will be the Big Five or Big Six.”The statement was one of Mr. Fain’s clearest to date that the U.A.W. intended to renew efforts to unionize the plants of foreign-owned automakers and Tesla, which operates nonunion vehicle plants in California and Texas.

Persons: Shawn Fain, ” Mr, Fain Organizations: Detroit automakers, United Automobile Workers, Facebook, Toyota, Honda, Tesla Locations: Motor City, California, Texas

☆ U.A.W. Reaches Tentative Deal With Stellantis, Following Ford
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The United Automobile Workers union reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram, on Saturday, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The agreement comes three days after the union and Ford Motor announced a tentative agreement on a new contract. The two deals contain many of the same or similar terms, including a 25 percent general wage increase for U.A.W. The tentative agreement with Stellantis will require approval by a union council that oversees negotiations with the company, and then ratification by U.A.W. The deal with Stellantis means that only General Motors has not yet reached an agreement with the U.A.W.

Persons: U.A.W Organizations: United Automobile Workers, Stellantis, Chrysler, Jeep, Ford Motor, Motors

When autoworkers went on strike in September, executives of the large U.S. automakers warned that union demands could significantly undermine their ability to compete in a fast-changing industry. The chief executive of Ford Motor said that the company might have to scrap its investment in electric vehicles. Ford’s cost will rise under the terms of the new contract, which includes a 25 percent raise over four and a half years, improved retirement benefits and other provisions. But analysts said those increases should be manageable. If anything, he said, the deal will help Ford, in part because the four-year contract ensures there will be no labor strife during an intense phase of the transition to electric vehicles.

Persons: autoworkers, Ram, ”, Joshua Murray, Ford Organizations: Ford Motor, Ford, United Automobile Workers, General Motors, Chrysler, Vanderbilt University

Altogether, about 45,000 workers at Ford, G.M. and Stellantis are on strike across the country, including 8,700 workers at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant in Louisville, the company’s largest, and almost 10,000 others at Ford factories in Illinois and Michigan. The tentative deal with Ford could increase pressure on the other companies to reach an agreement with the union. In the past, once the union reached a deal with one automaker, tentative agreements with the others quickly followed. Last week, Ford’s executive chairman, William C. Ford Jr., said the union’s demands risked damaging the ability of Detroit automakers to compete against nonunion companies like Tesla and foreign rivals.

Persons: Shawn Fain, William C, Ford Jr, ”, “ Organizations: Ford, Detroit automakers, Toyota, Honda Locations: Ford’s Kentucky, Louisville, Illinois, Michigan

☆ G.M. Profit Down 7% in Strike-Affected Quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

said the strike had lowered its earnings before interest and taxes by about $200 million in the final weeks of the third quarter, and by about $600 million since the fourth quarter started on Oct. 1. The automaker also estimated that the strike could cost it $200 million a week going forward. gave the union a contract offer that included a 23 percent increase in wages over four years. wage from $32 an hour to more than $40. At that wage, an employee working 40 hours a week would earn about $84,000 a year, not including extra pay for overtime or profit-sharing bonuses, which have topped $10,000 in the past two years.

Persons: Motors, “, ’, Paul Jacobson, G.M Organizations: United Automobile Workers

☆ U.A.W. Expands Strike to a Ram Plant in Michigan
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a major escalation of its six-week strike at the three large U.S. automakers, the United Automobile Workers union on Monday told 6,800 workers at a large Ram pickup truck plant in Michigan to walk off the job. Union workers at the plant, which is owned by Stellantis, the parent of Ram, Chrysler and Jeep, in Sterling Heights, Mich., joined the strike on Monday morning. The walkout at the Ram plant is the first escalation in the strikes since the U.A.W. called 8,700 workers to leave their jobs at Ford Motor’s largest plant, in Louisville, Ky., on Oct. 11. That plant produces the Super Duty version of the company’s popular F-150 truck and the Ford Expedition, a full-size sport-utility vehicle.

Persons: Ram, “ Stellantis Organizations: U.S, United Automobile Workers, Stellantis, Chrysler, Jeep, Ford, Ford Expedition Locations: Michigan, Sterling Heights, Mich, United States, Ford Motor’s, Louisville, Ky

☆ For Bill Ford, ‘Every Negotiation Is a Roller Coaster’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As a 25-year-old junior executive at the car company that bears his last name, William Clay Ford Jr. had a bracing introduction to labor negotiations when a union official demanded that he stand up and vouch that he was made of the same stuff as his great-grandfather Henry Ford. Mr. Ford, now the company’s executive chairman, harked back to the moment in an interview this week about how he and his company are navigating one of their most difficult labor negotiations in decades. The United Automobile Workers union has shut down three Ford plants, including its largest, and other plants and distribution centers at General Motors and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler. He has referred to the companies as “the enemy,” and has said the union is fighting “corporate greed” and standing up to the “billionaire class.”In a speech this week, Mr. Ford said the strikes were helping nonunion automakers like Tesla, Toyota and Honda. Mr. Fain responded that workers at those companies were future U.A.W.

Persons: William Clay Ford Jr, Henry Ford, Ford, harked, Shawn Fain, Fain Organizations: United Automobile Workers, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda

☆ U.A.W. Widens Strikes at G.M. and Stellantis, but Cites Progress in Ford Talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United Automobile Workers union on Friday significantly raised the pressure on General Motors and Stellantis, the parent of Jeep and Ram, by expanding its strike against the companies to include all the spare parts distribution centers of the two companies. Shawn Fain, the union’s president, said Friday that workers at 38 distribution centers, which provide parts to dealerships for repairs, at the two companies would walk off the job at noon. He said talks with two companies had not progressed significantly, contrasting them with Ford Motor, which he said had done more to meet the union’s demands. “We will shut down parts distribution centers until those two companies come to their senses and come to the bargaining table,” Mr. Fain said. distribution centers that employ a total of 3,475 workers, and 20 Stellantis centers with 2,150 U.A.W.

Persons: Shawn Fain, “, Mr, Fain Organizations: United Automobile Workers, General Motors, Jeep, Ford Motor

☆ Ford Reaches a Labor Deal in Canada as U.S. Talks Inch Along
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Unifor’s talks with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, Jeep and Ram, started on Aug. 10 but have been overshadowed by the U.A.W. Ford has an assembly plant and two engine plants in Canada. Unifor selected Ford as the “target” of its talks, meaning it focused on securing the best deal it could from the company before turning to the other two automakers. Ford’s deal in Canada appears to have little bearing on the U.A.W. ; a Ford truck and sport-utility vehicle plant in Wayne, Mich.; and a Stellantis S.U.V.

Persons: Unifor’s, Ram, Ford, Unifor Organizations: Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Jeep, ’ Locations: United States, Canada, Wentzville, Mo, Wayne, Mich, Toledo , Ohio

☆ U.A.W. Threatens Strikes at More Plants
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

members walked off the assembly lines at three plants last Friday, one each at the three companies — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent of Chrysler. The union has demanded a 40 percent wage increase over four years, better benefits and other changes. The automakers, which are based in or have a big presence in Michigan, have offered raises of about half as much. In a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the union’s new president, Shawn Fain, said workers could walk out of more plants at the end of this week. “If we don’t see serious progress to noon Friday, Sept. 22, more locals will be called on to stand up and go on strike,” he said.

Persons: Shawn Fain, ”, “ We’re Organizations: United Auto Workers, U.S, Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler, Facebook Locations: Michigan

☆ Union and 3 Detroit Automakers Resume Talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The United Auto Workers union and the three Detroit automakers on Saturday resumed negotiations on a new labor contract as a targeted strike entered its second day. The union is striking against all three manufacturers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — but for now has limited the work stoppages to one plant at each of the companies: a Ford plant in Michigan, a G.M. plant in Missouri and a Stellantis plant in Ohio. “We had reasonably productive conversations with Ford today,” the union said in a statement. On Friday Ford said it had told 600 workers who are not part of the strike not to report to work, and G.M.

Persons: “, Ford Organizations: United Auto Workers, Detroit, Motors, Ford, G.M Locations: Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Kansas

The union is also seeking cost-of-living adjustments that would nudge wages higher to compensate for inflation. As of last Friday, the companies offered to raise pay by around 14.5 percent to 20 percent over four years. It was not clear how much progress the union and the companies have made on the other issues. The companies say that they are investing billions in a transition to battery-powered vehicles, which makes it harder for them to pay substantially higher wages. They say they are at a disadvantage compared with nonunion automakers like Tesla, which dominates the sales of electric cars.

Persons: G.M, ” Ford, ”

At a rally in downtown Detroit on Friday, just a couple of hundred yards from the headquarters of General Motors, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont addressed a cheering crowd of United Auto Workers members, capping a day of walkouts by the union with an effort to rally support for the strike. “The fight you are waging here is not just about decent wages and working conditions and pensions in the auto industry,” Mr. Sanders said. “It’s a fight to take on corporate greed and tell the people on top the country belongs to all of us, not just the few.”The rally took place along Detroit’s riverfront, near the city’s iconic Renaissance Center towers, home to G.M. headquarters. Also nearby is the Huntington Place convention center, where auto executives were gathering for a black-tie charity ball to kick off the 2023 Detroit auto show.

Persons: Bernie Sanders, Sanders, —, ” Mr, “ Organizations: General Motors, United Auto Workers, Big Three, Ford Locations: Detroit, Vermont, walkouts, United States, G.M

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