United Auto Workers Are Ready To Strike

Welcome to a shiny new week! It’s Monday, September 11, 2023, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

1st Gear: Big Three Contract Rejected By UAW

The clock is ticking down on contract talks between Ford, Stellantis and General Motors and the United Auto Workers union. The four parties have until Thursday (September 14) to agree a new contract, with the union threatening to walk off the job if a deal can’t be reached. Now, those talks have been struck a knockout blow as the UAW rejected the Big Three’s latest contract offer.

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However, the talks aren’t progressing at a rate that the UAW expects, and the union has even filed unfair labor practice complaints with U.S. labor regulators that accuse Stellantis and GM of “refusing to make timely economic proposals.”

2nd Gear: Volvo Cuts Jobs And Costs In U.S.

Volvo, like almost every automaker out there, is rushing to bring its lineup into the electric age. The Swedish automaker already has two EVs on sale and has two more standing in the sidelines ready to go, with the EX90 set to lead the lineup alongside the “affordable” EX30 EV. But, as everyone knows, you’ve got to break a few eggs if you want to make an omlette, so the company is cutting jobs and spending in the U.S. as it amps up “efficiency” in the switch to battery power.

According to a new report from Automotive News, the Swedish company will cut jobs across almost every area of its business in the U.S. and Canada as part of an $88 million plan to “tighten spending, drive efficiencies and update the work force” around the world. Automotive News reports:

According to two sources that Automotive News spoke with, Volvo has slashed the teams at both its Silicon Valley Tech Center and its Southern California design center. Much of the remaining work at the hub will be relocated to Volvo’s U.S. headquarters in Mahwah, NJ, the site adds.

The company’s restructuring stateside follows similar moves in its home country of Sweden. Over in Europe, Volvo has cut “about 1,300 jobs in Sweden” as it tightens its budgets ahead of a switch to EVs. Following the initiative, Volvo hopes that all-electric models will account for half of its 1.2 million-vehicle sales by 2025.

3rd Gear: BMW Invests In Mini EV Plant

While Volvo cuts costs as part of its pivot to EVs, BMW is taking the opposite approach and will plow millions into its plants to prep them for the electric vehicle revolution. Now, the German automaker is preparing to invest more than $750 million in its Mini plant in the UK to ready the site for full EV production by 2030.

According to a report from Bloomberg, BMW will plow $750 million into the 110-year-old plant near Oxford. The investment in the site, which employs more than 3,000 workers, will prepare it for production of the electric Mini Cooper hatchback and Aceman crossover from 2026. From 2030, the site will exclusively produce battery-powered Minis, as Bloomberg reports:

Despite the under-pinnings of the new Mini EV being co-developed by BMW and Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor Co, the new electric Mini won’t exclusively be built in China as BMW previously announced. Instead, production will be split between China and the Oxford plant, where BMW first started assembling electric Minis back in 2019.

4th Gear: Stellantis Wants To Create Lighter EV Batteries

And talking of mini electric cars, Stellantis is hoping to downsize its EV batteries in the future in an effort to make its cars lighter and more efficient. According to UK news site Autocar, the Fiat and Jeep owner is eyeing a way to make EV batteries much lighter to help reduce costs and emissions as it pivots to electric power.

The site reports that by 2030, Stellantis hopes to have cut the weight of its EV batteries by as much as 50 percent, which it says would help “lighten electric cars nearer to their combustion-engined equivalents.” Autocar reports:

The firm’s mission to lighten EV batteries has so far seen it partner with U.S.-based company Lytten, which is working to create lithium-sulfur batteries that are much lighter than current EV cells. As well as meeting Stellantis’ demands for lighter batteries, this tech would also cut costs and emissions by “using less exotic materials than lithium ion batteries,” Autocar adds.

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