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Pensions, wages, transition plans to electric vehicle production and new investment emerged as Unifor’s bargaining priorities in upcoming negotiations with the Detroit 3 automakers.

Unifor’s Special Auto Council – comprised of active and retired members from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis  – met in London, Ont., May 17 and 18 to prioritize the demands that will be brought to the table when negotiations for the union’s 20,000 auto sector members begin in August.

“This is going to be a big year. One of the most closely watched and highly anticipated rounds of Detroit 3 bargaining that we’ve seen in a long time,” Lana Payne, Unifor national president, said in a statement. “The auto council has worked to identify our key, overarching priorities amid hundreds of specific proposals put forward by our members to set our strategic course. Our members expect us to deliver and they deserve it.”  

Unifor’s collective agreement covers members wor…

TuSimple Holdings Inc TSP.O said on Thursday it will cut 30% of its workforce in the United States under a restructuring as the autonomous driving technology company looks to preserve its balance sheet amid a funding crunch in the sector.

The shares of the company closed up 14 percent on Thursdsay.

The San Diego-based company also said it is no longer seeking strategic alternatives for its Asia Pacific business, backtracking on plans it announced in March last year for the unit.

Industry executives and investors have been worried about the funding poured into the self-driving technology sector at a time when access to capital has been tight.

The restructuring is expected to cost the company between $12 million and $13 million, it said in a statement, adding that the layoffs will only impact its U.S. employees.

The move comes days after the firm received a delisting notice from Nasdaq for not filing its quarterly report on time.

TuSim…

Panasonic Holdings Corp. plans to roughly quadruple annual battery production capacity to 200 gigawatt-hours by March 2031, a sign that it anticipates greater demand for EVs.

The Osaka-based company, which supplies batteries to Tesla Inc., intends to tap subsidies provided by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, as well as focus on cylindrical batteries and the North American market to expand, CEO Yuki Kusumi said Thursday.

Panasonic broke ground on a new $4 billion battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, in November as it seeks to ramp up production. Although Panasonic has supplied Tesla from its early days, the Japanese manufacturer has been slower to build scale compared with rivals LG Energy Solution Ltd. of South Korea and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. 

Panasonic will step up large-scale investments to meet rapidly growing demand, Kusumi said, adding that the company sees the North American EV market growing at an average rate of 35 pe…

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UAW workers at a Ford-supplying plant in suburban Detroit began striking Wednesday after nine failed negotiation meetings. The Constellium Automotive plant produces aluminum structures and crash management systems for the Ford F-150, F-150 Lightning, Explorer and Super Duty at six assembly plants.

The 160 workers on strike are concerned about health and safety issues at the plant and management's disciplinary practices, according to a UAW statement. The union said they have filed unfair labor practice charges against the company for bad-faith bargaining.

"Our negotiating team has met with the company nine times since April 18," UAW Region 1A Director Laura Dickerson said in a statement. "And on every single occasion, Constellium has made it very clear they have zero interest in taking our members' proposals seriously."

A spokesperson for Constellium said negotiations should resume soon. "We do not anticipate any disruption to our production and will wor…

A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to bar automakers from eliminating AM broadcast radio in their new vehicles, citing safety concerns.

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., one of the sponsors of the bill, said at least eight automakers have removed AM broadcast radio from their EVs, including Tesla, BMW, Ford and Volkswagen. Lawmakers say losing AM radio undermines a federal system for delivering key public safety information to the public.

The bill would direct NHTSA to issue regulations to mandate AM radio in new vehicles without additional charge.

"Carmakers shouldn’t tune out AM radio in new vehicles or put it behind a costly digital paywall," Markey said.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing major automakers, said "mandating AM radios in all vehicles is unnecessary. Congress has never mandated radio features in vehicles ever before. Automakers remain 100 percent commit…

More than 2.5 million U.S. vehicles are under "do not drive" or "park outside" safety recalls that remain unrepaired despite the danger they present, vehicle history specialist Carfax said Wednesday.

This is the first time Carfax has specifically analyzed urgent recalls — part of their efforts to address the 20 to 25 percent of all recalls that typically go unrepaired, Patrick Olsen, editor in chief for Carfax, told Automotive News.

"Do not drive" notifications advise owners to cease operating their vehicle because a safety issue has led to an increased risk of accidents or physical harm, and "park outside" recalls occur when a vehicle is at risk for fire.

Takata airbags are the most famous contributor to "do not drive" recalls, Olsen said. The largest automotive recall in history, 67 million of these airbags have been recalled due to a potentially lethal defect.

The urgent recalls encompass about 200 different models from a variety of brands and …

GMC will add even more off-road capability to its top-end off-road Canyon midsize pickup.

General Motors' premium truck brand plans to introduce the 2024 GMC Canyon AT4X AEV edition, in partnership with off-road aftermarket equipment manufacturer American Expedition Vehicles, on July 6. GMC released a teaser photo Wednesday showing the front fascia and an underbody angle.

The redesigned 2023 Canyon adds the AT4X trim for the first time in a bid to capture more of the rugged performance midsize pickup market. Redesigned versions of the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger midsize pickups will debut this year. Ford is adding a Raptor high-performance off-road variant of the Ranger for the 2024 model year.

GMC already has announced AEV-badged versions of the light-duty and heavy-duty Sierra full-size pickup. The AEV edition of the Sierra 1500 offers increased front approach angle, departure angle, breakover angle and ground clearance compared with the AT4X, and al…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk assures investors that he isn’t changing his role at the automaker – but he did indicate a change in thinking on advertising. Used car demand remains strong. Plus, auto suppliers are grappling with an array of challenges – we ask a top consultant what they can do about it.

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WIXOM, Mich. — Cirba Solutions, a new battery recycler formed from companies with decades of industry experience, plans to expand its electric vehicle battery recycling business sevenfold in the next few years.

The key to Cirba Solutions' future are its regional facilities.

"The name of the game is to make sure we've got locations where we can price materials close to our customers, and also sell that material back close to where the customers are going to be building new batteries for the industry," said CEO David Klanecky on a tour of the Cirba Solutions plant here.

The company now has six plants, but that will nearly double in the next five years. Cirba has plants in Wixom, Mich., near Detroit; Anaheim, Calif.; Mesa, Ariz.; British Columbia in Canada; and Lancaster and Baltimore in Ohio, both near Columbus. A seventh facility, its flagship, near Columbia, S.C., is slated to open next year.

A small player in the battery recycling sphere, Cirba …

Tesla Inc. has proposed setting up a factory in India to build electric cars for domestic sale and export, the carmaker told government officials on Wednesday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. 

The proposal comes after India refused to agree to Tesla's request last year to lower the import tax on cars, which can reach as much as 100 percent. India wanted the carmaker to build vehicles locally but Tesla wanted to test the market first with imports and the talks ended in deadlock.

While Tesla did not discuss lower import taxes with Indian officials, it proposed setting up a new factory, albeit without specifying a location or investment, said the source, who declined to be named as the talks were private.

Making cars locally aligns with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch to attract companies with his "Make in India" campaign, especially as companies look to diversify their supply chains beyond China.

Senior …