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FCA to skip summer shutdowns as automakers rev up U.S. assembly lines

DETROIT — Several of FCA's facilities will skip their usual summer shutdowns to get a jump on rebuilding inventory, the company confirmed early Wednesday.  The plants that will remain open include three in the United States (Jefferson North in Detroit, Toledo Assembly in Ohio, and Sterling Heights Assembly in suburban Detroit), one in Canada (Brampton Assembly in Ontario) and two in Mexico (Saltillo Truck Assembly and Saltillo Van Assembly).  This will allow dealers to address depleted inventory of popular trucks and muscle cars, Automotive News reports. Other facilities not named will observe their normal one- and two-week breaks.  Automakers are speeding up U.S. assembly lines to meet recovering demand, increasingly confident coronavirus safety protocols are working to prevent outbreaks in their plants but wary of the challenges workers face outside. Screening workers for COVID-19 using temperature scans and questionnaires, the automakers have detected some people who reported for work despite being sick. Some plants have been briefly shut down for disinfection, but so far, there has not been a major outbreak within a U.S. auto plant since most reopened May 18, company and United Auto Workers union officials said. The risk of an infection picked up outside a plant spreading along assembly lines remains a prime concern, however. An outbreak could shut down a factory costing a manufacturer millions of dollars a day. The disruption caused by the pandemic is creating other challenges as well. At Ford Motor Co's F-series pickup truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky, the company has given more than 1,000 workers leave related to COVID-19 concerns. It hired temporary workers to fill their jobs as the plant accelerates production of trucks critical to Ford's financial recovery. Demand for pickup trucks helped boost U.S. auto sales in May, and contributed to stronger than expected overall U.S. retail sales for the month. Officials of UAW Local 862, which represents workers at the Louisville plant, said a lack of child care was a significant issue for members. It had led many to stay away from the plant and collect increased unemployment benefits provided under the federal CARES coronavirus relief act. Ford has now begun arranging subsidized child care for UAW workers, Gary Johnson, the automaker's head of manufacturing told Reuters.

From CrabWalks at dawn to post-testing sushi: An inside look at Autoblog’s Tech of the Year Award

TROY, Mich. — On a chilly fall morning, Senior Editor John Snyder rolled into a sleepy suburban park tucked away next to a cemetery a few miles north of Detroit. Driving diagonally — CrabWalking — in the GMC Hummer EV, he made quite the entrance as he maneuvered across the parking lot to the bemusement of Autoblog editors and a few curious park-goers up for their early morning runs.  Snyder got everyoneÂ’s attention, and as we evaluate the latest wave of technologies transforming the automotive industry, pizazz matters. We added "wow factor" to our criteria for the 2022 Autoblog Technology of the Year Award, in keeping with the times. The HummerÂ’s CrabWalk feature might have won, had wowness been the only criteria, but we also scored the technologies on significance and how well they work.  As it was, the Hummer finished a competitive second this year, behind FordÂ’s Onboard Scales and Smart Hitch, which make towing and hauling easier for modern truck owners. The Genesis GV60Â’s Biometrics was within striking distance in third place, bringing the facial recognition and fingerprint tech commonly used in phones to your car. For more on FordÂ’s win — its second straight Autoblog Technology of the Year Award — read Road Test Editor Zac PalmerÂ’s complete recap. Many have asked: Why do Tech of the Year? For Autoblog, itÂ’s been a point of pride for nearly a decade. In the early days it was a way to differentiate ourselves from print magazines, some of which have been giving out car of the year awards since the early days of the Cold War. With Tech of the Year, we seek to highlight the ways experiencing a vehicle is changing. It was true in 2013 and resonates even more as we head into 2023. Cars and transportation have changed more in the past decade than in arguably the previous four. At its most basic experience, driving a 1985 Buick LeSabre with a decent radio and comfy interior was not all that different from driving a 2005 Buick Lacrosse. Just a few years later, many cars had touchscreens, the internet and some means of driver assistance. Ford joins Tesla as the only two-time winner of Tech of the Year. The Blue Oval captured the award last year for its Pro Power Onboard generator. Tesla won in 2014 for its Supercharger network, and the Model S won in 2016, when we briefly gave out a “technology car” of the year award, in addition to honoring a particular feature.

Ford gives S-Max the Vignale treatment in Milan

Ford has a bit of a history in reviving the names of old coachbuilders it has long since gobbled up and using them to distinguish its top-of-the-line models in Europe. That's what it did for years with Ghia, and after having replaced it several years ago with the Titanium trim level, now it's doing it again with Vignale.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, Ford revealed the Mondeo Vignale concept in both sedan and wagon body-styles, which are set to reach production next year. But before they do, the Blue Oval automaker is at it again, applying similar upgrades to the S-Max minivan and unveiling it in concept form in Milan this week.
Setting the Vignale concept apart from any other S-Max is its Milano Grigio rose-hued silver pearlescent paint, 21-inch alloys, chrome trim and hexagonal-pattern grille. Inside it's all ultra-soft quilted leather and aluminum trim, with tablet docking stations in the back and thinner, more flexible seats than the existing production version.