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AW members have high expectations for their next contract with the Detroit 3 in part because the union's president, Shawn Fain, has told them they should.

Fain brashley declared that the UAW is making the most "audacious and ambitious" demands from the automakers in decades, then doubled down by saying he's serious about winning everything on a list that sources say could inflate the companies' labor costs by up to $80 billion.

He was warned by his own staff that seeking too many gains at once could complicate negotiations. Although some workers don't think the union is asking for too much in light of the sacrifices they've made over the years, there is some concern about a letdown if the UAW's new leaders can't deliver on everything members are looking for.

"My expectations are high, and I know the membership's expectations are high. That's how we set these demands," Fain told Automotive News. "These companies have made a quarter of a trillion dollars …

DETROIT — The past several rounds of UAW contract negotiations with the Detroit 3 have given workers incremental raises, moderately improved benefits and job commitments from automakers looking to lock in future product plans.

This year, however, the UAW is seeking nothing short of wholesale changes to pay structures and work schedules that would redistribute corporate wealth and reset the standard of living for roughly 150,000 blue-collar employees.

The union's first-year president, Shawn Fain, says he's determined not only to claw back concessions made in 2009 during the financial crisis, but also to establish new employee protections born from a pandemic-era shift in thinking around work-life balance. He's demanding raises that are more than seven times what the union won in 2019, a 32-hour workweek at 40 hours' pay and a host of other gains.

Part of the union's aggressiveness stems from what Fain views as a failure of past leaders — two of wh…

If the Detroit 3 want a glimpse of how contract negotiations with the UAW may play out in the coming weeks, they can look to a handful of deals struck recently by that union and others.

In the last two years, the UAW has negotiated new contracts with John Deere, Caterpillar and Case New Holland that achieved much of what it seeks from the Detroit 3: double-digit wage gains, elimination of multiple wage tiers, addition of pensions and restoration of cost-of-living adjustments.

Chuck Browning, vice president of the UAW's Ford department, led negotiations for those contracts, and in two of the three cases won additional benefits after workers voted down initial tentative deals and went on strike. The bargaining strategies used by the union — and by the Teamsters to reach a financially beneficial tentative agreement for UPS workers last month — likely will be a template for negotiations with Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis.

"We now have…

Ford Motor Co. is putting a $300,000, 800-hp halo atop its Mustang lineup that's taking aim at European supercars both on the track and in the streets.

The 2025 Mustang GTD, revealed Thursday evening, is billed as the most powerful street-legal pony car ever and is based on the Mustang GT3 race car that will return to Le Mans next year. It includes carbon-fiber body panels, magnesium wheels, a rear-mounted eight-speed transaxle, a semi-active suspension and a special 5.2-liter V-8 engine.

"It's the pinnacle of the breed and the very best of both street and racing," said Jim Baumbick, Ford's vice president of product development operations and quality.

Ford said it will begin producing the GTD in partnership with Multimatic in late 2024 or early 2025 in "limited" quantities. The vehicle will be assembled at the Mustang plant in Flat Rock, Mich., before being finished by Multimatic in Markham, Ontario.

Executives say the idea for the vehicle came …

Bergstrom Automotive, a large privately held dealership group in Wisconsin, has agreed to buy five dealerships representing domestic, import and luxury brands in the state.

The group on Tuesday said it reached an agreement to acquire Broadway Automotive, which has four dealerships in Green Bay and one in Manitowoc, south of Green Bay.

Broadway Automotive is owned by brothers Michael Cuene and David Cuene. The group has Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Ford and Hyundai-Genesis dealerships in Green Bay and a Chevrolet-GMC-Cadillac dealership in Manitowoc, which it purchased in 2020.

A Broadway Automotive spokesperson, in an email, said the transaction has not closed. Bergstrom Automotive Executive Chairman John Bergstrom told the Green Bay Press-Gazette that he thinks the acquisition will be finished by the end of August.

Bergstrom Automotive last made an acquisition in 2020, when it bought Cliff Wall Automotive in Green Bay, then consisting of a Mazda-Suba…

Stellantis is investing more than $100 million in a California geothermal lithium project that aims to create a more environmentally friendly electric-vehicle supply chain.

The investment will help make the automaker's EVs eligible for consumer incentives under the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

The Hell's Kitchen project being undertaken near the heavily polluted Salton Sea by Controlled Thermal Resources Holdings Inc. is the world's largest geothermal lithium sourcing effort. It's expected to produce up to 300,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent each year.

The companies expanded the initial supply agreement, which now calls for CTR to supply up to 65,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate each year, nearly triple the original agreement, for a decade.

Hell's Kitchen "will recover lithium from geothermal brines using renewable energy and steam to produce truly 'green' battery-grad…

A federal judge in Louisiana has dismissed an Americans with Disabilities Act claim by a service customer with a prosthetic leg who allegedly slipped on an oily patch at a dealership. However, the judge allowed her to pursue traditional premises liability and negligence claims in state court.

The suit named dealership owner Gregg Orr, who is described in court filings as a corporate officer and director, as the only defendant. His dealership, Orr Cadillac of Shreveport, was not named in the suit.

According to the decision, Whitney Brock brought her mother's car to the store for servicing in January 2022. She said she slipped and fell outside the service garage where it was parked, falling onto her back and hitting her head on the concrete. The suit sought $80,000 for mental anguish, emotional distress, medical expenses and other damages.

Brock wears a prosthesis because her leg was amputated below the knee, according to the decision…

Carmen Hinton is service manager for CMA's Valley Subaru in Staunton, Va. She also is a 2023 Automotive News 40 Under 40 honoree.

First car: Nissan Sentra

First concert you attended: 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg

Name a pet peeve: Not taking initiative

Most thrilling/adventurous thing you've done: Rope obstacle course (I will not be doing that again!)

Your personal hero (and why): My mother. She is the most understanding and committed person that I know.

First job: Telemarketing call center

Something on your bucket list: Visit Tahiti

One thing you learned on the job you never forgot: You are what you make it.

If you could pick up a new skill, what would it be? Mentoring/coaching

3 people you'd invite to dinner, living or dead: My grandmother, my mother-in-law (both deceased) and Rihanna

Do you collect anything? Candles

First album/CD…

DriveSure did a study this year to find out what factors influenced dealership customers to have vehicle repairs and maintenance performed there and what led others to defect to an independent repair facility. Here are some study highlights:

As Nissan pulls out of the Detroit-dominated full-size pickup segment next year, the Japanese automaker will refocus its attention and resources into a more competitive arena — midsize pickups.

But according to a supplier memo obtained by Automotive News, production of the current-generation midsize Frontier at Nissan's factory in Canton, Miss., has been extended two years beyond its previously expected redesign, now carrying into the 2029 model year.

The previous Frontier went 17 years before undergoing its first major redesign in 2021.

In the memo, Nissan didn't offer suppliers a reason for the life cycle extension, but one supplier briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified, told Automotive News that the previously planned changeover would have come just as the Canton factory is gearing up to build new Nissan and Infiniti electric vehicles.

Nissan doesn't want "a major model launch during the time that the…

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems could prevent nearly 250,000 U.S. road deaths over the next 30 years, according to a study funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Research performed by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center found that the technology, which includes features such as automatic emergency braking and blind spot alerts, also would prevent approximately 37 million crashes and 14 million injuries from 2021 to 2050.

That would represent 16 percent of crashes and injuries and 22 percent of deaths that would occur on U.S. roads without the technologies. AAA said.

The research suggests "that ADAS have the potential to transform road safety," David Yang, the AAA Foundation executive director, said in a statement.

The AAA research tracks with insurance industry findings.

Automatic emergency braking reduces front-to-rear crashes with injuries by 56 percent compared wit…

The glamour may be in selling vehicles, but fixed operations is the steady workhorse that creates customers for life. After all, the retention of customers' service business leads to increased fixed operations profits as well as higher probability of future vehicle purchases.

Retaining service business is not a new topic. However, loyalty programs, free oil changes and cold drinks in the waiting area aren't enough anymore. Strong dealers are promoting new strategies such as "unreasonable hospitality" and interactions that keep customers connected to their service centers.

The fact is that customer service matters just as much, if not more, than your product. Your service center can deliver exceptional customer service. If you aren't sure where to begin, start with the following ideas.

First, what is "unreasonable hospitality"?

The phrase was coined by Will Guidara, former owner and operator of Eleven Madison Park. Renowned for world-class food, t…