AD #3648 - U.S. BEV Sales Soar 67%; Tesla Develops Gigacasting Breakthrough; UAW Lays Out Strike Strategy

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

Well, this is it. Today is d day for the contract negotiations

with the UAW. The current contract expires at eleven fifty nine tonight, and

by all indications, there's going to be a strike. Last night, UAW

President Sean Fame laid out the union's strike strategy, and here's what he said.

We will not strike all of our facilities at once. We will strike

all three companies a historic first, initially at a limited number of targeted locations that we will be announcing. Then, based on what's happening in bargaining,

we're going to announce more locals that are going to be called to stand up and strike. These locals will join those that are already on strike, so

that our strike at each company will continue to grow over time. Fayn is

calling this strategy the stand up strike, which hearkens back to the historical nineteen thirty six sit down strike when the union shut down General Motors and got its first contract. The stand up strike could be very effective striking at key component

plants like stamping and powertrain plants that shipped to multiple assembly plants will quickly cripple production, and the people at the plants which are not on strike will get eighty percent of their take home pay, which will help the union preserve its strike fund. Meanwhile, the Ford Motor Company is fuming. It put out

a release right after Fayne's live stream, pointing out that it gave the union four different proposals and never got back a serious counteroffer. Worse, when Chairman

Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley met with you in officials to present their fourth offer, Fayne was not at the meeting, even though they expected him to be, and that's something that Fayn has accused the Detroit Three executives of doing.

During these negotiations, Ford also gave the union a number of concessions, including eliminating all tiers which Fain disputes, adding COLA or a cost of living adjustment, sweetening up retirement benefits, and providing five weeks of vacation as well as seventeen paid holidays. There's an air of exasperation in Ford's release. The

last sentence reads, quote, the future of our industry is at stake.

Let's do everything we can to avert a disastrous outcome. And by the Way

on Autoline after hours later. Today, the first half of the show is

going to be all about how the likely outcome of these contract negotiations are going to go. The second half the show will cover the Auto show in Munich

last week and the best new products and technology that we're on display there.

So joined John and Gary when the show goes live at three pm Eastern time.

Okay, back to the news, and while the UAW is fighting to save the jobs of its members, Tesla is pioneering a process that will eliminate more line workers. It's developing a way to cast not only the front and

rear sections of a car like it does now, but also the middle section and do it all in one piece. Instead of using metal molds as prototypes,

which are really expensive and held back the testing of massive castings like this, it's using three D printing. Thin layers of sand are topped with a

binder over and over again to build up the mold, which also allows for the addition of hollow sections and internal structures. Doing it this way is ninety

seven percent less expensive than making metal molds and makes for such big castings possible.

Validation also takes two to three months instead of six months to a year, and then the final production mold can be made out of metal and it's not just validation. The number of parts and pieces to build a cargoes way

down. Tesla wants to build big subassemblies and then bolt those two. The

casting and vehicle development time goes down to eighteen to twenty four months. Writers

reports Tesla could decide on using the one piece casting as early as this month, and it would likely be developed for its twenty five thousand dollars EV that's expected to be made at its new plant in Mexico, which is projected to be up and running around twenty twenty five or twenty twenty six at Schiffler we Pioneer Motion Electrifying Mobility Manufacturing smart, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production

clean Scheffler Pioneer's Motion to advance how the World Moves. Yesterday, the EU

said it was launching an investigation into Chinese evs to see if state subsidies are helping Chinese automakers keep prices low, and if it determines these subsidies are negatively impacting the EU auto industry, it could impose tariffs. This sent the shares

of several Chinese EV makers down, and today China called the move protectionist, saying it will disrupt the entire global automotive industry and have a negative impact on trade relations. In other words, if the EU slaps tariffs on Chinese cars,

we fully expect to see some sort of retaliation in China on European cars.

Evs hit a milestone in the US for the first time ever, BV registrations topped one hundred thousand units in a month. Automotive News estimates that nearly

one hundred and ten thousand electrics were registered in July, and for the full year, about six hundred and fifty six thousand evs have been sold, an increase of sixty seven percent compared to last year. Not surprisingly, Tesla's the

number one brand, with a nearly sixty percent share of the total EV market in the US. We've got a few new reviews from the Detroit Auto Show

to talk about. GMC unveiled the new Acadia, which gets a styling update

both inside and out. It's ten point six inches longer and three point two

inches taller than the outgoing model. Thanks to the larger size interior spaces up

there's now eighty percent more cargo room behind the third row seats and thirty six percent more behind the second row. All trims are powered by a two and

a half lead turbo engine that's made it to an eight speed automatic, and all wheel drive is available. GM Supercruise hands free driving system is also now

available. GMC made the off road AT four trim more capable with a lifted

ride height, off road suspension and an active torque control all wheel drive system.

The new Acadia goes on sale next year, and pricing will be revealed closer to the start of production. GM also revealed an updated version of the

Cadillacs CT five sedan. The front facia has been refreshed with a new lower

and wider front grill and a new lighting signature. It features safety and technology

upgrades, including a new thirty three inch screen with nine K resolution. A

two leader turbo engine is standard and a more powerful three leader twin turbo is also available. Both engines are made it to a ten speed automatic. Production

of the new CT five kicks off in the spring of twenty twenty four, and pricing will be announced in the future. The Jeep Gladiator is also getting

a slight refresh for twenty twenty four. The truck features the brand's new seven

slot grill and seven new wheel designs. The interior gets new features, including

available power seats, a new instrument panel, and a twelve point three inch display is now standard. The new Gladiator is available to order now and deliveries

will start by the end of the year, and you'll soon be able to stream videos in your Volvo Prime. Video will be available to download from Google

Play. It will also be available to poll Star two owners, and YouTube

will come pre installed as part of an over the air update that starts on September eighteen. Both apps will be available globally in models with Google built in,

except for in China, South Korea and Vietnam. That brings us to

the end of today's show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.

Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your journey Intrepid Control Systems. Over the year Engineering Boost Your Game Scheffler, we pioneer motion and

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AD #3648 - U.S. BEV Sales Soar 67%; Tesla Develops Gigacasting Breakthrough; UAW Lays Out Strike Strategy

GMC Acadia

Jeep Gladiator

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