Listen to “AD #3664 – Automakers Have Inventory to Ride Out Strike; Fain to Hold "Rose Ceremony" Today; Tesla Cuts Prices Again” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:37
0:00 UAW’s Fain Posts Bachelorette Meme
1:28 Strike Impacts 18,500 Ford & Supplier Workers
1:43 D3 Have Inventory to Ride Out the Strike
2:58 Renault Develops Massive Simulator
3:56 NHTSA Wants to Recall 52 Million Airbag Inflators
4:56 Tesla Cuts Prices–Again
5:52 Toyota Expands Crown Lineup
7:05 Toyota CALTY Unveils Baby Lunar Rover
7:44 U.S. Battery Supply Chain Ramping Up Fast
8:18 Manufacturers Want Clean Aluminum in U.S.
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UAW’S FAIN POSTS BACHELORETTE MEME
Day 22 of the UAW strike and Shawn Fain, the president of the union, is going to make a big announcement today. Fain posted this mysterious meme yesterday on X. It shows three people with the corporate logos of GM, Ford and Stellantis on their faces and a couple of roses on a table in front of them. The caption says to tune in at 2 pm today to see who gets the rose. That’s a reference to the television program, The Bachelorette and Bachelor, where a participant hands a rose to each eligible bachelor or bachelorette that they’re interested in at the end of each episode. The one who does not get a rose is kicked off the show. For one thing, it’s really curious to see that Fain would use Elon Musk’s social media platform to post this. Musk is hyper anti-UAW. For another, what the heck does this post mean? Do two automakers get roses because they made more concessions? Does that mean they get spared from more plant closings? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but all this shows that Shawn Fain is a master at getting his message out and is running circles around the car companies.
STRIKE IMPACTS 18,500 FORD & SUPPLIER WORKERS
Meanwhile, Ford says that the strike has now affected 18,700 workers who are on strike or are laid off, including 9,500 who work at suppliers that supply to Ford.
D3 HAVE INVENTORY TO RIDE OUT THE STRIKE
So far, the Detroit Three still have enough inventory on hand to ride out the strike. Dodge, Chrysler, Lincoln, Ram and Jeep have over 100 days supply. Almost all the other D3 brands have at least two month’s supply, except Cadillac and Chevrolet. Cadillac has 47 days, while Chevy has 57, although the Silverado pickup has 90 days supply, according to Cox Automotive. So the short-hand version of this is that Stellantis has the most inventory to ride out the strike, while General Motors is the most vulnerable. Cox Automotive also makes an important point. Import brands such as Honda, Toyota, Kia and Subaru have very low levels of inventory. So they’re not going to be able to take advantage of the strike to sell a lot more cars and trucks.
RENAULT DEVELOPS MASSIVE SIMULATOR
All the legacy automakers are racing to develop software defined vehicles or vehicles that are mostly controlled by software. And Renault is taking a unique approach to speed up its digital transformation. It spent 26 million euros constructing a special building with super thick concrete floors to house a massive vehicle simulator that it says is probably the most powerful in the world. The huge dome on top is large enough to fit an entire car and the whole platform can articulate and move in every direction, enough to exert up to one G force. Renault engineers can simulate road type, traffic, interactions with other vehicles, weather, time of day and more. Whatever they learn, fix or update in the simulator could then be sent out to other models as a software update.
NHTSA WANTS TO RECALL 52 AIRBAG INFLATORS
NHTSA’s feud with airbag supplier ARC Automotive continues. Yesterday, the safety agency held a public meeting where it again argued that 52 million airbag inflators made by ARC and Delphi Automotive need to be recalled because they’re defective. But ARC disagrees that there is a safety defect and so far has refused to recall the inflators. There have been seven injuries and two deaths in the U.S. caused by the airbag inflators rupturing during a crash. Of the 52 million inflators, 11 million were made by Delphi, which is now owned by Autoliv, under a licensing agreement with ARC. The inflators are installed in vehicles from 12 automakers. If NHTSA decides to issue a recall, ARC can challenge it in federal court, however NHTSA could also go to court to force an automaker to comply.
TESLA CUTS PRICES–AGAIN
Well, this is bad news for other EV makers. Tesla cut prices of the Model 3 and Y in the U.S.–again. The base and Long Range versions of the Model 3 get a $1,250 price cut while the Model 3 Performance is now $2,250 cheaper. And the Model Y Long Range and Performance models get a $2,000 cut. The base Model 3 now starts just over $40,000 and the Long Range Model Y starts just over $50,000, both prices include destination charges. Tesla’s third quarter sales were down 7% from the previous quarter but the company blamed that on factory upgrades that disrupted production. Tesla says it expects to sell 1.8 million vehicles globally this year, up from 1.3 million last year.
TOYOTA EXPANDS CROWN LINEUP
Toyota is expanding the Crown lineup from the one version it offers today to not two, not three, but four different models. The one today is what it calls the crossover type. It’s also now accepting orders for the Sport Hybrid, which launches in November. Toyota calls it an SUV, but I’d say it’s more like a high-riding wagon. A sedan version of the Crown will come in November as well and finally the Crown Estate, which is what I’d call the SUV of the group, launches before the end of the fiscal year, which in Japan is March 31st of 2024. While the interior of the new Crown Sport is the same as the current car, front end styling is more like the new Prius and it also gets its own lighting signature for the rear. Initially it will be available with a 2.5L hybrid system, but a PHEV version is coming around December. As of right now, we’re not sure if Japan is the only market for these models, but I find it hard to believe that Toyota’s home market could support enough sales to justify four separate Crown models.
TOYOTA CALTY UNVEILS BABY LUNAR ROVER
Speaking of Toyota, CALTY, which is its design hub in California, revealed a baby lunar rover concept. It blends design cues from the original FJ Cruiser with new technologies like airless tires, in-wheel hub motors and dual joystick control. I’m not exactly sure why it came out with the concept, but it also showed off some never-before-seen concepts from the past, some of which are really cool, so I’m not complaining one bit. And we’ll be sure to provide a link if you’d like to check it out for yourself.
U.S. BATTERY SUPPLY CHAIN RAMPING UP FAST
Sourcing raw materials to make batteries in North America is ramping up quickly. In 5 years, 42% of the anode, 63% of the cathode, 72% of the key metals and 100% of the electrode will be sourced in the US, Canada or Mexico. That’s one of the findings that came out of the North American International Propulsion conference that’s organized by the SAE every year. The annual conference attracts many of the top powertrain executives in the industry.
MANUFACTURERS WANT CLEAN ALUMINUM IN U.S.
Speaking of raw materials. global demand for aluminum is expected to increase 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. But in the U.S. aluminum production is on the decline caused in part by volatile prices of fossil fuels. That’s why Ford, General Motors, Rivian and other companies like Pepsi, sent a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, urging the Biden Administration to use investments from the Inflation Reduction Act to expand production of American-made clean aluminum. The companies say that sustainably made aluminum will help them reach their carbon neutral goals, while helping to keep the U.S. aluminum industry alive.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day and I hope you have a great weekend.
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Not a fan of the new web page layout.
The new layout renders much better on my phone. Thanks!
A rose ceremony parody is not proper behavior from UAW leadership about a very serious topic that has country wide ramifications. There are supplier UAW members that have lost their jobs, likely permanently, because of this strike and he wants to do jokes and childish marketing stunts? A real man of the people this Shawn Fain is. Has society sunk so low to where this kind of superficial level in leadership positions is even remotely acceptable? Be careful Shawn Fain, your intelligence is showing.
Sean I think you’re giving Fain more credit than he deserves. I don’t really see him running circles around the automakers when it comes to negotiations. He is certainly more theatrical and even comical with his technique though.
I predict he will be coming after GM at 2:00 after getting their 6th proposal that included a 20% raise but still less than Ford and Stellates has offered. His rose ceremony is actually a bit confusing as the giving of the roses is to keep the two you are in favor of, while he is using it to point out the loser. Maybe should have used Survivor parody and we could speculate who was getting kicked off the island. Either way it’s just silliness.
My biggest issue with the new layout is I can’t see the video window and the table contents on the screen at the same time. Everything is to spread out and the fonts are too big on computer screen.
Pages are very bland, needs some colors.
Hmmm… Let’s see if this new layout will allow me to go back in and edit a comment after I make one.
DISCO! We get 10 minutes to edit a post. I got my wish. 😉
That side profile shot of the new Crown sedan immediately reminded me of the Cadillac Celestique side profile. Hmmmm. Is Toyota trying to get a ruboff effect of exclusivity in preparation for selling the Crown line in the US?
Fain’s conduct to date has been far less than professional and exhibits a large degree of mean-spirited aloofness. He has done everything he can to cause the strike, and now perpetuate it through his methods of negotiation. They could have continued working without a contract as they negotiated. Many unions do that. But he wanted a strike and the publicity that comes with it, regardless of how many other people’s livelihoods it affects. The union’s slow response to each OEM offer shows that he is very happy with the continued limelight and does not really care about his workers.
Notes on the new site forum GUI:
First, thanks to the Autoline team for keeping things fresh. I try not to harp on things that might irk me because I don’t like “change”, and instead focus on actual benefits vs. deficits. With that said:
– Now that the numerical count is gone, it’s not so easy to reference someone else’s post (i.e., #5,#6,#9 – Agreed) Maybe consider adding a numerical count back to each post.
– All historical forum posts from previous shows seems to be non-existent now. I’ve gone back a couple of weeks and there are no comments. Even yesterday’s show has no comments shown. Maybe this content is taking a while to re-populate..?
– The new site overall seems a bit too oversimplified, bland and sterile – almost like a Tesla interior.
– The “Save my name, email and website in this browser for the next time I comment” is not remembering me. (though this may just have to do with a cookies setting on my end)
Interesting that GM in Canada are pushing back on accepting the Ford-Unifor contract for pattern negotiation. May also be a sign for U.S. contract talks.I haven’t heard anything about Stellantis in Canada.
So just watched Fain’s broadcast. He made his strategy pretty obvious. He is going after each manufacturer on separate things. So going after Ford for items ABC and GM for DEF and Stellantis for GHI. then he is going to come back and want what everyone has agreed to separately to be added to a contract collectively. Now that GM agreed to unionize the battery plants he will expect the same from the other two. Glad to see no more strikers as of today.
A few thoughts on site redesign. not an expert. people have already suggested these. no claim to originality from me.
I like the clean look.
Wish font was larger and darker
Posts need numbering and Comments title need post number beside it ie (12)
Old comments need to eventually repopulate or just simply point to an archived version of the old site for history.
Overall a good change. Well done. There’s always teething problems.
Finally, in my world, any site that’s better than the abysmal Facebook (not a joiner) is doing well.
Facebook tries to do too much, but I find “groups” like this, and some non-auto hobby related groups useful.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1735292446728835/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT
Another great week of autoline,thanks
Just testing my ability to comment. 3 attempts yesterday did not work.
Tesla Autopilot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2023/tesla-autopilot-crash-analysis/
I too would like to see the comments numbered (making referencing easier).
And I would like to support the idea that Fain is ‘off the chart’ in a bad way and agree with the earlier posters.
The new format will grow I me, I think, but could use a few previously suggested tweaks.
Finally! LOL! I must say, the Cullinan aping version of the Toyota Crown, is the best version IMHO, as it is must more stately then the others, especially with the Crown models being the flagship of the Toyota brand in its home market. Great show Sean and have a great weekend.
I have clicked the box to save my name and email address but that doesnt seem to work at least while using a laptop.
Lambo2015
October 9, 2023 at 7:15 am
It fills my name when I type one letter, and gives a choice for my email address when I click in the email box, but it did that before. It doesn’t seem to make any difference that I checked the “Save my name, email….” box. I’m using Chrome browser with Win 11.
Ahh. It just got better. After sending the reply a few seconds ago, the name and email boxes are now filled out.
That new Lunar Rover look very interesting and could sell as a new SUV.