This is what happens when you talk

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“Thank you Brandenburg & Grünheide,” Elon Musk tweeted last week, in German, calling out the state and small town in Germany where Tesla is quickly moving to clear a site and construct its new European factory outside Berlin.

It is a telling tweet for this moment in the auto industry.

Germans are not used to corporations fast-tracking billion-dollar projects in their much-beloved countryside. Permits get lengthy consideration. Engineers take their time studying water table impact. And assuredly, all that is being done in Germany.

But at a moment when the global industry really needs all of its players and partners and suppliers, utilities, transportation providers and material producers to be on the same page, the German authorities have stepped up.

Tesla has a growing reputation as a maverick organization, doing things its own way. But even Musk knows that the keys to success in the big million-piece orchestra called the auto industry are partnerships, mutual benefit, cooperation and information sharing. Supply chains bail out automakers in a pinch. Automakers look after their suppliers. Governments step in to grease the wheels of commerce and investment when necessary.

It went largely unnoticed this spring and summer — unnoticed only because it seems like such a normal thing — that when the world took its nightmarish detour into pandemic disruption, everyone began talking to each other. Suppliers met with their customers and each other. Automakers shared vendor insights with other vendors. Supplier CEOs telephoned other CEOs and asked questions, shared information and sought advice. Automakers assisted their Tier 1 suppliers. Tier 1 companies assisted Tier 2s.

We’re hearing about it now, similar to how people start talking about how they survived their traffic accident.

“We’re very mindful and working very closely with all of our suppliers to understand, first and foremost, their liquidity. Do they have enough cash to survive?” Hau Thai-Tang, chief product development and purchasing officer at Ford Motor Co., tells us.

Thai-Tang met with supplier CEOs weekly when most plants were closed.

“We would talk through, how do we work together? How do we manage this? How do we restart in a safe way to protect all of our employees, but also minimize any disruption to the industry?”

It’s an emerging story of people in supporting roles across the global industry communicating and working together, and you can read about it on Page 1 of Monday’s issue.

— Lindsay Chappell

Coming Monday in Automotive News:

GM Financial stepped up for its dealers during the pandemic, stoking sales with big incentives, offering floorplan payment relief and helping dealers secure funding through the Paycheck Protection Program. General Motors’ relatively young captive is strengthening its foundation at just the right time: the start of a recession. Dealers have been motivated to convert to GM Financial for floorplan financing. In the second quarter, the captive floorplanned nearly a third of GM’s dealerships, overtaking Ally, which had a preferred partnership with GM before GM Financial was formed in 2010. Automotive News talks with dealers about the captive and why they chose to make the floorplanning move.

How will the 10 percent tariff on some Canadian aluminum imports affect United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement progress for the auto industry? Even if President Donald Trump removes the tariff tomorrow, next week or months from now, has the action caused a stress fracture that will hobble the transition from NAFTA to USMCA? Automotive News will take a look into whether the tariff is creating more uncertainty for the industry as it adjusts to the long-awaited trade pact.

Weekend news:

Porsche launches probe into suspected engine manipulation, report says: Engines developed between 2008 and 2013 were the subject of the investigation, including those of the Panamera and 911 models, German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported

Ram will do battle with the Ford F-150 Raptor: Ram unleashed its 702-hp 1500 TRX, which was first introduced as a concept at the State Fair of Texas four years ago. The off-road speedster jets from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and does 0 to 100 mph in 10.5 seconds. Ram isn’t being coy about its target with the TRX, with the brand’s North America head describing the pickup as an “apex predator” that “destroys” Raptors.

GM goes electric to help turn around its China fortunes: General Motors is overhauling its Chinese lineup with a greater emphasis on electrified vehicles and smart-driving technology. At a Tech Day event in Shanghai, the automaker said more than 40 percent of its new vehicles set to launch in the country over the next five years will be electrified.

Tesla wants to take vehicle safety one step further: The EV maker is seeking FTC clearance to use unlicensed millimeter-wave sensors that would operate at higher power levels than permitted under existing rules. The sensor would allow for a short-range interactive motion-sensing device to help prevent children from being left behind in hot cars, while also enhancing theft-prevention systems. Tesla isn’t the first to seek such approval. Valeo North America submitted a similar request in March to the FCC for its in-vehicle safety-related monitoring device that also would detect children in cars. That request is pending.

A selection from Shift and Daily Drive:

Aug. 27, 1925: Automotive News is born. The editorial in that first 16-page edition said: “Automotive Daily News is the first daily in the world to serve the greatest industry in the world.” Yes, it was a daily newspaper. The first issue’s front page had stories about a gasoline price war and  Chevrolet being at peak output and a photo of Henry Ford.