Trade News

By escalating the strike against the Detroit 3 to include 38 General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution centers across 20 states, UAW President Shawn Fain is elevating the plight of thousands of the union's lowest-paid full-time auto workers who would benefit most from the record contracts he's demanding.

He's also threatening the service business at Chevrolet, GMC, Jeep and Ram dealerships around the U.S. that need shipments from those 38 facilities to repair customers' vehicles. The largest of them fulfills 15,000 orders for GM Genuine and ACDelco parts a day.

Most parts depot employees start at around $16 an hour and top out at $24, vs. top pay of $32 at assembly and powertrain plants. If put on the same pay scale as most other workers — and given raises totaling 20 percent, as the automakers have proposed — some workers' wages would nearly double by 2027 to about $40 per hour.

"It means everything to me," said Eric Ray, a worker on the newly f…

Imports from China to the U.S. saw a surge in August, in part thanks to a rush for back-to-school shopping. With a predicted uptick in demand this peak holiday season comes renewed optimism for an industry rebound.

In fact, the National Retail Federation has reported that this year's back-to-school shopping season was going to be a big one. Spending was expected to reach around $41 billion, nearly doubling pre-pandemic spending of $26 billion in 2019. Each household is also likely to have spent more, increasing from $697 to $890 per person for this year, without considering price increases.

Further, the Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates predicts that the import cargo volume at significant U.S. container ports will hit 2 million TEUs during September and October.

“If you look at the U.S., the market looks relatively upbeat.” — Christian Roeloffs, CEO, Container xChange

The Container Market Forecaster’s …

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Toyota Research Institute sees room for human touch

LOS ALTOS, Calif. — A mock grocery store inside a Toyota Research Institute laboratory here presents challenges for a humanoid robot plying the aisles.

The robot must know where items on its shopping list are located and how to navigate within reach. It must understand how much each product weighs and how it's packaged.

Should the robot use pincers affixed to its right arm to grab an object — such as a milk jug — or the vacuum-based suction tube on its left hand to pluck a product from the shelf and place it in the cart?

There's a fervor around the burgeoning robotics industry, which Boston Consulting Group projects will rise to $160 billion to $260 billion in annual market sales by 2030 from about $40 billion now. But such bullish outlooks remind Max Bajracharya, senior vice president of robotics at the institute, of another much-ballyhooed technology.

"It is ro…

The UAW's strategy of having targeted strikes against the Detroit 3 aims to damage the companies' reputations and "keep them wounded for months," according to private messages written by a top aide to the union's president.

The messages, obtained Thursday by Automotive News, indicate that the union's goal is to extract gains from the automakers by pitting them against each other instead of using the pattern bargaining approach of past negotiations. They were viewed by top executives at the companies and have added to concerns among them that the union hasn't been bargaining in good faith, according to two sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

Stellantis called the comments by UAW Communications Director Jonah Furman, posted in a group chat on the X social media platform, "incredibly disturbing." They were first published Thursday evening by The Detroit News.

Furman did not respond to requests for comment from Automotive News. Reached by The Detroi…

Automotive News reporter Michael Martinez takes a closer look at one of the most complicated issues of UAW-Detroit 3 negotiations: worker tiers. The UAW strike idles a GM plant and prompts Stellantis layoffs. Plus, a Detroit-based seating supplier lays off workers.

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A Detroit area Ford dealership owned by auto retail giant Lithia Motors Inc. "let go" an employee who posted an inflammatory comment about the UAW on social media — around the time thousands of Ford workers went on strike last week.

Suburban Ford of Ferndale on Sunday posted an apology on its Facebook page for "hateful" comments it said were made by "a former parts department employee." The dealership's post has since been taken down.

The employee had made several comments on a Facebook page geared for UAW members to talk about contract negotiations with the Detroit 3.

It was not immediately clear when the worker made the comments or what post they were responding to. But in screenshots shared over the weekend, the employee said in one comment: "Umm how about they want to work 32 hours but get paid for 40 hours.....?" In another, they wrote, "I work for a Ford dealership so depending on how bad this gets it could affect me." In a third comment, they wro…

As automakers continue to churn out electric vehicles (EVs) to compete with Tesla, the share of EVs keeps building. Yet, shoppers remain confused about nearly every aspect of this vehicle class. In the EV Confusion Carries On white paper, CDK Global looked at what makes EV shoppers unique in today’s automotive market and attempted to understand what’s contributing to this EV ambiguity.

The study questioned not only EV shoppers but those considering hybrids and traditional gasoline cars, and to our surprise, all were off base about EV benefits, even those planning to go electric.

Read our findings and discover:

The driving habits of EV shoppers Which EV benefits shoppers misunderstand How shoppers’ social networks influence their purchase Where dealers sit in solving EV confusion

Connected and autonomous vehicles will transform the world of transportation as we know it. Although autonomous and self-driving vehicles are still years away from widespread usage, 5G networks deploying today will provide the broad coverage, speed, and low latency needed as a foundation for anticipated advances in transportation.

A jury last week ordered an Albuquerque, N.M., Chevrolet dealership to pay a customer more than $2 million in damages for unfair practices and spot delivery regulation violations.

Albert Smith traded in two vehicles to Reliable Chevrolet in a spot delivery deal in 2020, Smith's attorney Susan Warren, of the Law Offices of Feferman, Warren & Mattison in Albuquerque, told Automotive News. Warren said Reliable Chevrolet defrauded Smith by outlining financing terms they knew a lender would not take and damaged his credit when it missed loan payments for which it was responsible.

Concluding a lawsuit that spanned more than two years, the jury awarded Smith $87,000 in compensatory damages and $2.5 million in punitive damages. A spokesperson for Reliable Chevrolet said the store "disagrees with the jury's decision" and "will be appealing the verdict and award" but would not comment further.

A spot delivery occurs when a customer is allowed to take their …

Young women contemplating a career in the automotive industry should take risks while being true to their values, says Bev Goodman, CEO of Ford Motor Co. of Canada, who once worked in service and parts on her way to the top job.

“As I reflect back on my career and journey, it’s the importance of taking chances and putting yourself out there and trying new things that are scary,” Goodman said during a fireside chat at the second annual Empowering Auto conference Sept. 18 in Toronto. “Sometimes things are pushed on you that feel really scary. Sometimes you’ll fail, but you’ll learn from it. I took chances, I tried.”

Goodman was among the roster of speakers at the conference, which drew more than 550 people, including 250 students. The industry-wide event is designed to inspire, educate, support and encourage women and diversity in the automotive industry.

The lineup included author and MBA instructor Fotini Iconomopoulos, who offered tips on the art of ne…

Eleven Petra Automotive products will be launched under the Mopar brand for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat dealerships in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the Cypress, Texas, company announced this month.

The Petra products offered by Mopar include chemicals to help maintain the fuel system, diesel fuel system and air conditioning system of the vehicles serviced. Mopar hopes to increase fixed ops profits for participating dealerships by offering the premium products.

Petra will provide training to Stellantis dealership technicians on how to use the application tools and cleaning products properly, train advisers on how to best offer these services to the customer and provide any necessary point-of-service materials. Qualifying Stellantis dealers also will receive factory rebates and loyalty benefits. Dealerships new to the program can receive free equipment with their initial qualifying purchase.

"We are honored to have 11 of our p…

Bank of America is offering a supply chain module to its popular CashPro platform, giving supply chain participants the benefits of a digital global trade finance solution.

CashPro Supply Chain Solutions is designed to give supply chain organizations that require fast decisions and transparency in goods movement and payment processes. The first module, Open Account Automation, addresses invoice approval and payment.

“With global commerce operating 24/7, companies need the ability to view and act on information in as close to real-time as possible. Open Account Automation offers that transparency and the ability to self-serve,” said Jay Davenport, global co-head of Corporate Sales in GTS at Bank of America. “Buyers will now have a more complete view of when and where their goods are in the supply chain and sellers will have visibility into when and what they’ll be paid.”

Faster invoice payment

The Open Account Automation module speeds up the tim…