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UAW strike's three-pronged attack focuses on popular midsize trucks, SUVs

The United Auto Workers announced at midnight last night that they would begin targeted strikes at Ford's Michigan Assembly, Stellantis' Toledo Assembly and GM's Wentzville Assembly — all three home to midsize pickups and, in the case of Toledo and Michigan, popular midsize SUVs.  The Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator (just updated for 2024), Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon are all built on lines that have been shut down by the strike. The Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler, which share fundamental underpinnings with the Ranger and Gladiator, respectively, are also in on the party. GM's Wentzville Assembly also builds the GMC Savana and Chevy Express vans, neither of which is a big player in the retail market. While midsize pickups may not move in the quantities we see from the half-ton segment, all of these are fairly high-volume models. Ford sold nearly 120,000 Broncos along with more than 55,000 Rangers in 2022; Wrangler and Gladiator combined for nearly 260,000 units last year (181,000 of those were Wranglers) and the Colorado/Canyon represented more than 117,000 sales for General Motors. Throw in the nearly 80,000 units for Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana, and production from these facilities equated to more than 500,000 units sold in 2022.  Ford has been struggling since launch to deliver its wildly popular Bronco to waiting enthusiasts. With supply woes largely easing last year, the company caught up to a great deal of its pre-existing demand, but lingering supply chain and quality control issues have continued to plague the manufacturer even as general constraints have eased. Even earlier this year, Ford said it was selling every unit it could produce. The Ranger, freshly redesigned for the U.S. market, is still getting its feet wet.  Jeep likewise has been on a tear. Sales of the 4x4 have remained so steady that the Wrangler 4xe became the country's best-selling plug-in hybrid vehicle pretty much by accident. Jeep just formally confirmed this week that a 4xe variant of the Gladiator pickup is on the way by 2025 — and they said you couldn't sell hybrids to truck and SUV buyers.  At GM, meanwhile, the Colorado and Canyon are sporting fresh redesigns for the 2023 model year, with production of both still ramping up. And while the Chevy Express and GMC Savana vans may not be popular consumer models, GM still sold more than 77,000 of them last year combined.  Related video: Plants/Manufacturing UAW/Unions Chevrolet Ford GMC Jeep Truck SUV

2017 Chevy Bolt Prototype Quick Spin [w/video]

To say that there's a lot riding on the upcoming Chevy Bolt doesn't quite get at how important this all-electric vehicle could be for GM. To say that there's a lot riding on the upcoming Chevy Bolt doesn't quite get at how important this all-electric vehicle could be for GM. We are entering a new phase for EVs in the US, and it's one where there will be more than one 200+ mile range electric model that will cost around $30,000-$35,000. The two obvious first entries are the Tesla Model 3 and the Bolt, but you can bet your Level 2 charger that Nissan will be joining the party as well, along with all sorts of as-yet-unannounced entries from other automakers. The main change that all of these longer-range EVs will bring is – potentially – to make plugging in your car a mainstream thing. And if the mainstream is in play, then there's money to be made, and you're going to need one heck of an EV to get people to pick your car instead of someone else's. So, yeah, the Chevy Bolt could be a big deal. And today we not only got a bit more information about the car but we also got to go on a really short test drive in a prototype version outside of the Las Vegas Convention Center as part of CES 2016. The "drive" took place in a closed-off parking lot and my two laps through the cone course took less than three minutes, but I can still say that it looks like GM will be bringing a solid option to the marketplace soon. Chevy Bolt Prototype front 3/4 View 16 Photos If you shift into L, the regen becomes wonderfully strong. One of the pleasant surprises in the Bolt prototype is the ability to drive with just one pedal. When in D, the Bolt coasts a bit, which is nice for highway driving, but if you shift into L, the regen becomes wonderfully strong. Strong enough that you don't need to engage the brakes at all if you're in standard city traffic, with lots of gentle stops and starts. If you want even more stopping power without getting the brakes involved, the Bolt also has the regen-on-demand feature that was introduced in the Cadillac ELR and works great in the second-gen Chevy Volt. When you pull the paddle on the left back side of the steering wheel, the electric motor instantly becomes a generator and the Bolt turns forward momentum into energy for the battery pack. It will even bring the car to a complete stop and then hold it when you release the paddle.

GM to cut production at 5 plants in North America, kill several models

DETROIT/WASHINGTON — General Motors Co said on Monday it will cut production of slow-selling models and slash its North American workforce in the face of a stagnant market for traditional gas-powered sedans, shifting more investment to electric and autonomous vehicles. The announcement is the biggest restructuring in North America for the U.S. No. 1 carmaker since its bankruptcy a decade ago. GM said it will take pre-tax charges of $3 billion to $3.8 billion to pay for the cutbacks, but expects the actions to improve annual free cash flow by $6 billion by the end of 2020. GM plans to halt production next year at three assembly plants: Lordstown, Ohio, Hamtramck, Michigan, and Oshawa, Ontario. The company also plans to stop building several models now assembled at those plants, including the Chevrolet Cruze, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse, the sources said. Sources said the Chevrolet Volt, Impala and Cadillac XTS would also be discontinued. Signs of the demise of six passenger-car models have been swirling since July. Plants in Baltimore, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan, that assemble powertrain components have no products assigned to them after 2019 and thus are at risk of closure, the company said. It will also close two factories outside North America, but did not identify those plants. The AP reported that 14,700 jobs would be affected. Some 8,100 of those would be white-collar jobs reduced through buyouts or layoffs. The No. 1 U.S. automaker signaled the latest belt-tightening in late October when it offered buyouts to 50,000 salaried employees in North America. The company also said it will cut executive ranks by 25 per cent to "streamline decision making." Some 6,000 factory workers could lose their jobs or be transferred to other plants. Its shares were last up 6.2 percent at $38.16. Tariff 'headwinds' and cost-cutting GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra told reporters on Monday the company can reduce annual capital spending by $1.5 billion and increase investment in electric and autonomous vehicles and connected vehicle technology because it has largely completed investing in new generations of trucks and sport utility vehicles. Some 75 percent of its global sales will come from just five vehicle architectures by early in the 2020s. It plans to reduce annual capital spending to $7 billion by 2020 from an average of $8.5 billion a year during the 2017-2019 period.