AD #2726 – Ford Wants Cybertruck Rematch, PSA-FCA Merger Looks Like a Go, Audi to Cut Thousands of Jobs

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

FORD WANTS A CYBERTRUCK REMATCH
Elon Musk pulled off a pretty good publicity stunt, holding a tug of war between the Tesla Cybertruck and a Ford F-150. The Cybertruck easily won, but that triggered a chorus of cries that the stunt was unfair, because people believed the Cybertruck was the tri-motor, four wheel drive version that weighs more than what looks like the V6 powered rear-drive F-150 used in the video. An exec from Ford tweeted out a challenge to Musk to send them a Cybertruck so they can do an apples to apples comparison. Musk told them to “bring it on.” But we bet that this is as far as it will go.

GM WILL HAVE HARD TIME PROVING LAWSUIT AGAINST FCA
GM’s lawsuit against Fiat-Chrysler has legal experts questioning if it will go anywhere. GM sued FCA for bribing UAW officials to get a better labor contract, which GM claims hurt its profitability. But legal experts say that under the RICO, or anti-racketeering laws, GM will have a hard time proving that it actually suffered because of FCA. Instead, they say FCA’s union workers have a better case against the company because it bribed union leaders to hold down labor costs. Even so, if GM wins its case against FCA, the legal experts say it will be a game changer for FCA, and they don’t mean that in a good way.

DESPITE LAWSUIT PSA-FCA MERGER LOOKS LIKE A GO
Despite GM’s lawsuit, it sure looks like the merger between FCA and Peugeot will go through. Reuters reports that Peugeot told its employees that a deal will be signed in a matter of weeks. And FCA says it believes the deal will be done before the end of the year. If it goes through, PSA-FCA will be the fourth largest automaker in the world behind Volkswagen, Toyota and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. And that would relegate GM to fifth place.

CALIFORNIA DMV RAKES IN MILLIONS FROM DRIVER INFO
Well it’s no wonder hackers try to steal people’s personal information. It’s worth a fortune. News outlet Motherboard found that the California DMV made more than $51 million in the most recent fiscal year selling drivers’ personal data to third parties. That could include insurance companies, automakers or possible employers. The data the DMV could provide includes names, addresses, ZIP codes, date of birth and phone number. In 1994 the government passed an Act to limit disclosures of personal information by state DMVs, but it seems they’re still able to disclose quite a bit and it’s worth quite a lot of money.

AUDI WILL CUT THOUSANDS OF JOBS
Audi reached a new deal with its workforce in Germany to help cut costs over the next decade. The company and its Works Council agreed to cut up to 9,500 jobs by 2025, which will mostly come from employee turnover and an early retirement program. At the same time, Audi agreed to invest in two German plants which will build electric models in the future and it extended a jobs guarantee for its workers until 2029. Thanks to these moves, Audi expects to save 6 billion euros over the ten year deal. But these job cuts are really starting to add up. Remember, German supplier Continental announced it’s going to cut thousands of jobs over the next five years.

BAIC WANTS A BIGGER STAKE IN DAIMLER
Last year, Geely stunned the auto industry when it bought a nearly 10% stake in Daimler to become its largest shareholder. And now BAIC, Daimler’s joint venture partner in China, wants to boost its 5% stake in the German automaker, which it acquired in July. A Daimler spokesperson didn’t directly respond to the report but told Reuters “Daimler AG appreciates BAIC as a long-standing partner and long-term investor.” So it sounds like the German automaker is welcoming another cash infusion from BAIC. But Germany must be worried that Chinese automakers could take a controlling interest in one of the country’s most iconic companies.

HONDA REVEALS NEW CITY SEDAN
Honda introduced the newest version of the City, a small compact sedan that’s made on the same platform as the Fit and Jazz and is also sold in South Africa as the Ballade. While styling is similar to the outgoing model, the front and rear have mild changes, like new headlamp designs and the character line down the side of the car is more level. There’s also an RS version with unique, sporty touches for the first time. Under the hood is a 1.0L turbocharged 3-cylinder engine that makes just over 120 horsepower. It gets mated to a 7-speed CVT. The interior is pretty standard with an 8-inch display screen mounted flush in the dash and the HVAC controls set below it. The new City will first be available in Thailand this December with a starting price equivalent to about $19,000.

GM BRINGING BOOK BY CADILLAC BACK
Last year, GM put a hold on its Book by Cadillac subscription service but now the automaker is getting ready to revive it. GM’s chief marketing officer, Deborah Wahl, said an updated version will launch in February. Not many details were shared but Wahl said it will be better integrated with Cadillac’s dealer network and she promised greater “convenience, flexibility and value for potential subscriber.” While some good did come from the original program, about 70% of the users were new to Cadillac, there were logistics issues that made it a headache to operate. But it looks like GM’s learned its lessons and is ready to have another go at it.

A programming note here. We will not be doing an Autoline After Hours this Thursday thanks to Thanksgiving. But John and Gary will be back next week, when Ernie Brink will be back, with an update on his improvements to the rotary engine. Ernie is a backyard mechanic, but he believes he’s uncovered the Achilles Heel of the rotary and can make it extremely more efficient.

Before we end the show I’d like to respond to a couple of viewer comments.

wmb reacted to our report that Mustang Mach E will be built in Mexico. He says, “I wonder if that point was known before the labor contract was signed and if it would have made a difference to employees? It’s interesting that Ford’s contract talks ended BEFORE the Mach E was introduced to the public and its build location! Coincidence?”

Well, the rank and file may not have known. But the UAW leaders that negotiate with Ford were well aware of it.

Lambo2015 heard our report that GM lost 10,000 sales due to the UAW strike. He says “GM sold about 2.1 Million vehicles per quarter last year so 10k is a .0047% loss for the quarter or a .0011% loss for the year. A drop in the bucket.”

Lambo, that’s how many sales Wards estimates that GM lost in September. It also estimates that it lost another 30,000 sales in October Those lost sales represent a $3 billion drop in profits, and that’s pretty painful.

Thanks for all your comments, we truly like reading through them. But with that we wrap up today’s report. Thanks for watching.