AD #3656 - Ford Fires Warning At Biden Admin; AAA: It Costs $12,182/Year To Own A Car; Honda Unveils New EV Concepts

This is Autolyne Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global bottomotive industry.

Day twelve of the UAW strike, and things are really ratcheting up.

Today's a big day in the Detroit area. President Biden is flying in to

meet with workers on the picket line to show his support for them. Since

Ford's Wayne assembly plant, just outside of Detroit is on strike, presumably that's where he will be tomorrow. Former President Trump will be in suburban Detroit to

speak to union workers, but he's going to give his speech at a non union supplier company. Trump has been attacking electric cars and says they're going to

cost union jobs, and it's likely that's the pitch he'll make tomorrow. And

this is where the plot thickens. Late yesterday, Ford announced it is immediately

pausing construction of a battery plant that it's building in Michigan with COATL. In

a statement, Ford said would not resume construction until and I quote until we're confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant close quote. And that suggests

the stoppages directly related to the contract negotiations with the UAW. The union has

been adamant that workers and battery plants have to earn the same top wages as traditional UAW workers, but none union battery plants in the US would have significantly lower labor costs to make batteries, and everyone in the industry is struggling to cut the cost of making batteries. But it looks like there could be more

to it than just that. Let's connect some of the dots here. President

Biden is coming to Detroit, and presumably we'll beat with striking Ford workers.

That's got to be mighty annoying to Ford, to say the least. President

Biden also has a lot riding on the transition to electric vehicles, which his administrate has backed to the hilt. So when Ford announces it's stopping construction of

a battery plant right on the eve of the President flying into town, seems to me it's more than a coincidence. Moreover, the Governor of Michigan,

Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, took a lot of heat providing state subsidies for that battery plant, and with construction of that plant coming to a standstill, it's going to put her in a bad light. The UAW says it's not

going to endorse President Biden's reelection campaign unless he earns it. But Ford's move

shows Biden and Democrats like Whittmer there's going to be a cost for their support of the UAW strike. Okay, one more strike related item, But for

this we moved north of the border. Uniform. The Canadian Union, which

already settled a contract with Ford, will now turn its sites on General Motors.

While the UAW is negotiating with GM, Ford installantis simultaneously. Uniform is

going after them one at a time. GM makes the Silverado and Sierra full

size pickups in Oshawa, Canada, and its engine and transmission plant in Saint Catharine's supplies multiple assembly plants, so it's right there. It would have an

immediate ripple effect on GM's manufacturing operations at Schiffler we pioneer motion Electrifying mobility, manufacturing smarter, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean. Scheffler Pioneer's

motion to advance how the World moves. China is hopping mad at your decision

to launch an anti subsidy investigation into Chinese evs sold in Europe that could result in tariffs being slapped on Chinese evs if the EU concludes that Chinese automakers benefit from state subsidies. China's Commerce minister said that the investigation is a quote here,

a protectionist act that will affect China EU green cooperation and the stability of the global automotive industry. China's Commerce minister also met with the EU's Trade commissioner

over the weekend in China and made the mayest message clear that they're not happy with this investigation, but it won't just be limited to Chinese EV makers.

The EU's trade chief said any foreign automakers that export evs from China to the EU will also be under investigation, and that includes Tesla. Meanwhile, Nissan

is going all in on evs and Europe. The automaker announced that every new

model it launches in the EU from now on will be one hundred percent electric, and by twenty thirty its entire lineup will be electric. To celebrate the

twentieth anniversary of the company's design studio in London, Nissan revealed a sporty urban EV concept called the Concept twenty DAH twenty three. It didn't reveal any details

or spects, but it looks like a fun little hatchback with a futuristic design.

And speaking of fun electric catches, there's a big mobility show going on in Japan this week, and Honda used the occasion to unveil this two door electric commuter concept called the sustaina C. The only info Honda released is that

it's made of recycled and reused acrylic resin. Presumably they're just referring to the

body panels, but the design has a bit of a retro vibe to it with those round headlamps. Honda also showed this electric scooter called the SCE which

has swappable batteries, and it announced that it will debut an electric sports car concept, but it didn't provide any pictures or drawings of it. Maybe it's

going to be an update of the sports EV concept that it showed at the twenty seventeen Tokyo Motor Show. You know, not only do Chinese automakers dominate

the EV segment, Chinese suppliers now dominate the autodisplay market. We're talking about

those big center screens and cars and trucks. According to a study from the

technology research group called Omdia, Chinese suppliers control forty five percent of the car display market. That's up from just seven percent a decade ago. Specifically,

Chinese suppliers control fifty five percent of the LCD market and eighteen percent of the old market for those screens. Odia says China will continue to dominate the screen

market because of cost and capacity advantages. But maybe the Chinese don't have this

thing. Ford's the first automaker to offer digital license plates. It partnered with

digital license plate maker Reviver to offer plates at three hundred four dealerships in Arizona, California, and Michigan because currently those are the only states that allow digital plates. Customers can also order the plate through a catalog and some of the

benefits of these digital plates include GPS location and customization. But they are not

cheap. The cheapest battery powered version cost two hundred and fifteen dollars, or

you can lease it for about twenty dollars a month. You know, the

cost of everything seems to be going up these days, and that includes the cost of owning a new car. According to the Triple A in twenty nineteen,

the average annual costs for the first five years of ownership driving fifteen thousand miles a year was nine thousand, two hundred and thirty two dollars. It's

no longer that price now that cast to jump to twelve thousand, one hundred and eighty two dollars. That study factors in fuel, maintenance, insurance,

registration, taxes, and depreciation. Not surprisingly, the cost varies by the

type of vehicle you're looking at. A small sedan averages about eight thousand,

nine hundred and thirty nine dollars a year, while a half ton crew cab pickup comes in at fifteen thousand, eight hundred and fifty eight dollars, and all of that is up significantly from the pre COVID days. Oh A programming

note here, there's not going to be an Autoline after hours on Thursday.

I'm going to be at the SAS North American International Propulsion Conference in Chicago, and Gary is traveling on vacation, but we will be back again next week and we invite you to join us then. Anyway, that wraps up today's

report. Thanks for making Auto Line Deal a part of your day. Autoline

Daily is brought to you by Bridgetone Solutions for your journey in trepid control systems over the year, Engineering Boost your game. Scheffler, we pioneer motion and

by Taging Automotive Technologies the Formula for Better Mobility. The Taging Automotive Technologies we

combine world class composite materials expertise with cutting edge designs because frankly, there are better ways to lightweight vehicles, so lighten up with Taging Automotive Technologies the Formula for Better Mobility. We want to know what drives your testing. OTA Connected

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AD #3656 - Ford Fires Warning At Biden Admin; AAA: It Costs $12,182/Year To Own A Car; Honda Unveils New EV Concepts

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