The UAW reached a historic tentative contract with Ford, offering significant wage increases and benefits improvements, signaling a potential end to the strike and pressuring GM and Stellantis. Renault plans a $3 billion investment to launch eight new ICE and hybrid models internationally, focusing on markets outside Europe. Meanwhile, used EV values in the U.S. are dropping sharply as many dealers refuse to retail them due to battery concerns. Stellantis is investing in Chinese EV maker Leap Motor to expand its EV presence, and BMW is advancing battery tech and electric trailer systems to boost efficiency. Fiat is venturing into real estate with a new urban apartment complex featuring car sharing.
Topics:uaw contract with fordunion strike developmentsrenault new model strategyused ev market challengesstellantis leap motor investmentbmw battery innovationelectric semi trailersfiat real estate project
- UAW Wins Major Contract Offer from Ford - Details of Proposed UAW Contract - Next Steps in Ratification Process - Renault Rolling Out New ICE Portfolio - Dealers Refuse to Sell Used EVs - Stellantis Buys a Chunk of Leapmotor - BMW Making Its Own Cylindrical Cells - BMW Tests Powered Semi Trailer - Fiat Becoming a Landlord
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This is outderligned daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
In a surprising development, the UAW tentatively agreed yesterday to a new labor contract with Ford. In a sign that union leadership is confident the contract will
be ratified. Sean Fain told all striking workers at Ford to go back to
work. That also keeps the pressure on GM and Stilantis, who will not
want to see Ford back at full production while they're still on strike. UAW
President Sean Fain credited striking workers with getting a historic contract. UAW Family,
I'm excited and honored to be joined today by Vice President Chuck Browning as we announce a major victory in the stand Up strike. Today we reached a tentative
agreement with Ford. For months, we've said record profits mean record contracts,
and UAW family, our stand Up strike has delivered and the union got a lot with this contract. Workers will get a bigger raise than they did with
all the raises they got over the last twenty two years. Full time workers
will get a twenty five percent raise over the four and a half year life of the contract, and when COLA is added, in they'll earn over forty dollars an hour. New hires will transition to full wages in three years instead
of eight. Temporary workers will get a one hundred and fifty percent increase in
their starting wage, and those with pensions will get a boost, and so will those with a four to oh one case savings plan. So here are
the next steps in the process, and there's five of them. Step one
was reaching the agreement. Step two will happen this Sunday when the UAW four
Council meets to vote on whether the contract should be ratified. If think it
should, then in step three, the union will hold an unprecedented live meeting on Facebook to go over the details of the contract with members. Step four
there will be regional meetings with local leaders, and then for step five, the locals will hold meetings to review and discuss the contract, then hold a vote to ratify it or not. We think it will take at least a
week to go through that process. So what will GM and Stilantis do?
They will probably pretty much match what FOURD agreed to, and then the union will agree to settle with them too, but it could take a few more weeks for that to happen. Renault is trying to build the brand up outside
of Europe, so it's investing three billion euros to introduce eight new models that are built on two platforms which only support IC setups, including full hybrids, but no pheabs or beevs. It will be up to existing Renault vehicles to
fill out those segments in international markets. Five of the new models will fit
into the C and D segments and will be made on a modular Renault platform in Latin America, North Africa, Turkey and India. The other models will
be made in South Korea on a modular architecture that comes from Chinese automaker gly.
They will fit into the high end D and E segments and most are expected to be hybrids. The first of its models with a more international focus
is a new small crossover called the Kardean. It debuts a new lighting style
that will be picked up by other models. Power from a turbocharged one leter
three cylinder engine that makes one hundred and twenty five horse power and is paired with the dual clutch transmission. The Cardian will first be sold in Latin America
before going to other non European markets and if you want an idea of what the other models could look like. Renau revealed the Niagara Concept, a small
off road pickup that it says is a preview of its future styling. It's
based on the same platform as the Cardian, but it features an IC engine at the front with forty eight volt technology and an electric motor at the rear to provide four wheel drive. Renaul hopes to launch its new lineup of international
vehicles by twenty twenty seven. It wants one out of three of the vehicles
to be electric or hybrid by the same time, and hopes to double the amount of revenue it earns per vehicle it sells. Outside of Europe. The
value of used evs in the United States is dropping fast, down twenty two percent in the last year. Part of that is due to price cuts for
new evs, which was triggered by Tesla, but another reason could be that car dealers don't want to sell used evs because they're worried about potential battery problems.
An article in Ward says that many dealers will not sell used evs to retail customers. When they get one as a trade in, they wholesale it
at auction. There are about seventeen thousand car dealerships in the US, but
the article says only about eight thousand will retail used evs, meaning that most will not sell them. And now unsold used evs are starting to pile up
in parking lots, which is driving down the value of those cars. That's
also going to drive down the residual value of new evs, which will drive up monthly lease payments. Last year, Stilantis ended its venture partnership with GAC
and China, but now the automaker is jumping back into the market and announced it's investing one point five billion euros to take a nearly twenty percent stake in EV maaker Leap Motor. Stillantis will gain access to Leap Motors EV technology to
help it meet EV targets in China. The two companies will also establish a
new joint venture called Leap Motor International that will give Stillantis exclusive rights to export, sell, and manufacture Leap Motor vehicles outside of China, starting with Europe.
BMW is already doing a good job of selling electric vehicles, and here's another reason it could keep that going. It started producing some of the first
battery samples of its new cylindrical cells at a new plant in Germany. These
are still only test versions, but they're helping to ramp up to scale production.
The cells will launch in BMW's new class EVS that's a coming out in twenty twenty five. They're forty six series cells, which is the same size
around as testless new batteries, but they're taller at ninety five and one hundred and twenty millimeters compared to eighty for TESLA. BMW says compared to its current
prismatic cells, the forty six series batteries have more nickel but less cobalt on the cathode side, and more silicon on the anode side, which improves energy density by twenty percent. With other efficiency improvements, it believes it's new class
EVS will get about thirty percent more range. Speaking of BMW, it's testing
how semi trailers fitted with their own battery packs and electric motors can help out both diesel and all electric heavy duty trucks. The trailers come from a company
called Trailer Dynamics and offer an eight hundred volt electronic architecture either four hundred or six hundred kilowue hour battery packs and an emotor set up with peak power of five hundred and eighty kilowatts or seven hundred and seventy seven horse power. When
hooked up with a diesel truck, it used forty six percent less fuel over short and medium distances and forty eight percent less on long trips. With an
all electric tractor, the setups were able to combine to travel six hundred kilometers or three hundred and seventy two miles with a normal load on board. It's
not a new idea to use a trailer with its own power to augment the powertrain of the tractor, but new factors like a reduction in battery prices, politics, and environmental standards could make setups like this possible. Fiat is expanding
into real estate, that's right. The automaker partnered with Unlimited Real Estate to
open an apartment complex in New Jersey near the Hudson River, just across from Manhattan, called Fiat House. It will have three hundred residences and offer amenities
like an on site car sharing service with Fiat five hundred E electric cars.
The automaker says it's part of its vision of future urban living that combines quote connectivity, community, sustainability and style. The complex will open next year,
and interested residents can put their name on a waiting list that brings us to the end of the days show. Thanks for tuning in. Altoline Daily is
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