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Esmark Inc. offered to buy United States Steel Corp. for $7.8 billion in cash, trumping an earlier bid from Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and raising the stakes in a battle for the future of the U.S. industrial icon and key supplier to the North American auto industry.

The announcement by privately held Esmark has surprised many market watchers — the industrial company’s steel business is focused on processing and distributing rather than the raw metal that U.S. Steel produces, making it an unlikely buyer. Esmark CEO and owner James Bouchard, a one-time U.S. Steel executive, said in a phone interview that the company has available cash on hand to fund the offer.

U.S. Steel shares rose further on the new bid to close 37 percent higher, its biggest one-day increase on record. Still, the closing price of $31.08 a share remains below the $35 a share being offered by Esmark.

The Esmark announcement is the latest twist in a rapidly evolving saga that has the potenti…

Tesla Inc. reduced starting prices by $10,000 on its flagship models, the Model S sedan and Model X crossover, by introducing new versions with less battery range and slower acceleration, according to the company's website.

The surprise move is the latest tactic by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to stimulate demand for the automaker's aging lineup amid slower growth for battery-electric vehicles this year in the U.S., analysts say.

According to data from Experian, Model S registrations fell 55 percent in the January-June period — compared with the first half of last year — to 6,964. Model X registrations fell 5.8 percent to 12,341 for the same period, Experian said.

The new trims are dubbed "standard range" by Tesla.  

The Texas-based automaker also cut prices in China on Monday for two trims of its Model Y compact crossover, the long range and performance models. The China price cuts amounted to $1,935 for each version, Reuters said.

In the U.…

Cadillac's head of design, Bryan Nesbitt, and Escalade IQ Chief Engineer Mandi Damman talk about what the first electric Escalade means for the brand. Ford has hired former Apple executive Peter Stern to lead a new group focused on developing the automaker's software-based services. And electric truck startup Nikola announces it’s halting sales.

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Ford Motor Co. is installing its hands-free highway driving hardware as standard equipment on many Ford and Lincoln brand models, part of a larger industry push toward greater subscription revenue.

Ford customers will be able to activate BlueCruise at the time of vehicle purchase for three years for $2,100 or after a free 90-day trial for $800 annually or $75 a month. On select Lincoln trim levels, four years of BlueCruise will be included in the purchase price, and customers can subscribe after that.

Ford believes that "investing to include that hardware standard from the factory and giving customers the flexibility to choose when and how they activate is the right approach," said Ashley Lambrix, head of commercial acceleration for Model e at Ford.

The company projects the change will bring BlueCruise hardware to 500,000 Ford and Lincoln vehicles for the 2024 model year in North America.

Ford is not the only company betting on software and subs…

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday called for "all sides to work together to forge a fair agreement" as the UAW continued contract talks with the Detroit 3 automakers.

"I’m asking all sides to work together to forge a fair agreement," Biden said in a statement as talks continue between the UAW and Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Chrysler parent company Stellantis.

"The UAW helped create the American middle class and as we move forward in this transition to new technologies, the UAW deserves a contract that sustains the middle class," Biden said in the statement released by the White House.

The union represents 150,000 U.S. hourly workers at the three automakers and has not ruled out striking at all of them if new contracts are not reached by a Sept. 14 deadline.

UAW President Shawn Fain briefed Biden last month on the negotiations and met with U.S. lawmakers as the union pushes for higher wages and benefits. He has also criticize…

Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group said on Monday its listed EV arm has agreed to issue new shares to certain subscribers to ease loan burden and improve liquidity as part of its restructuring proposal.

Under the terms, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group (NEV) will issue an aggregate of 5.44 billion new shares in the unit for HK$3.84 per NEV share, pooling an amount of HK$20.89 billion ($2.67 billion).

The fresh issue is intended to pay off loans of NEV due against China Evergrande and its founder Hui Ka Yan, and his unit Xin Xin (BVI) Ltd, among others.

About 4.18 billion NEV shares to be issued to China Evergrande will be deposited into custody accounts under the mandatory exchangeable bonds into NEV shares (MEB) as well as the NEV Linked New Notes A2 and NEV Linked New Notes C2 to be issued by the company to its creditors.

The 690.1 million shares to be issued to Evergrande's founder will be deposited into a custo…

Since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law one year ago this week, there's been $59 billion in new EV investments announced in the U.S., according to BloombergNEF.

It's hard to parse how much of that might have happened anyway — automakers were pouring money into new EV plants before the law passed — but it is clear that the IRA's massive outlay of subsidies and tax credits is attracting investment. Look at Tesla Inc.'s expansion plans in Nevada, or Stellantis NV's threat to move its under-construction battery plant from Canada to the U.S.

Still, big hurdles remain for the much-hyped law to fully make good on its goals. If the endgame is speeding EV adoption while creating well-paying clean energy jobs, we also need to look beyond investment dollars and high-profile EV unveilings to measure the law's efficacy. A year isn't enough time to see all these outcomes, so here are four things to watch:

Shawn Fain, who won the first direct election i…

Ford Motor Co. on Monday said it hired Peter Stern, a former Apple executive in charge of launching services such as Apple TV+, to lead a newly created group focused on developing software-based services across Ford's gasoline and electric vehicle business units.

Stern was named president of Ford Integrated Services, effective Monday, and will report to CEO Jim Farley. He'll be in charge of building out a business tied to Ford's BlueCruise hands-free driver-assist system, as well as safety and security services for the company's commercial business unit, Ford Pro.

"This is transformational, because the cornerstone of our Ford+ plan is creating incredible customer services and experiences enabled by great hardware and software," Farley said in a statement. "There's simply no one in the world better able than Peter Stern to build this strategically vital part of our business."  

Stern spent the past six years at Apple as vice president of services a…

Nikola Corp. said on Friday it was recalling all the battery-powered electric trucks that it has delivered to date and is suspending sales after an investigation into recent fires found a coolant leak inside a battery pack as the cause.

There are a total of 209 battery-powered electric trucks in the marketplace between dealers and customers and the company is recalling those vehicles and is in the process of contacting all parties, a spokesperson for Nikola told Reuters.

The preliminary findings of the probe by a third-party investigator were corroborated on Thursday by a "minor thermal incident" on one pack on a parked engineering-validation truck, the company said, adding that no one was injured.

"Foul play or other external factors were unlikely to have caused the incident," Nikola said in a statement, adding efforts were underway to provide a remedy.

The company originally said it suspected foul play when it started an investigation in June a…

BEIJING -- Tesla Inc. said it cut prices in China for its Model Y long-range and performance versions starting Monday.

The automaker dropped the starting prices of both models by 14,000 yuan ($1,934.58). The Model Y Long Range's starting price drops 4.5 percent to 299,900 yuan and the starting price of the Model Y Performance is now 349,900 yuan, down 3.8 percent.

In the same announcement, Tesla also said it would offer insurance subsidies in China of 8,000 yuan for Model 3 buyers of entry-level, rear-wheel-drive versions of the Model 3 inventory vehicle between Aug. 14 and Sept. 30.

Last month Tesla CEO Elon Musk said further price cuts were a possibility, even if it squeezed the automaker's margins.

Tesla has slashed prices several times in the U.S., China and other markets since late last year, and increased discounts and given other incentives to reduce inventory, trying to shield itself against competition and economic uncertainty.

Sal…