NOT BECAUSE OF UAW STRIKE
Chris Isidore, CNN
Mon, October 16, 2023
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images
Ford is laying off about 700 workers who build the F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its best-selling pickup truck, and unlike other recent layoffs this one has nothing to do with the ongoing strike by the United Auto Workers union.
The company said it will temporarily cut one of the three shifts at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, near the company’s main headquarters. It will rotate the layoffs between the three shifts.
Ford had temporarily closed the plant this summer to upgrade its production capability, and the company said this latest layoff is related to “multiple constraints, including the supply chain and working through processing and delivering vehicles held for quality checks after restarting production in August.”
Sales of the Lightning fell 45% in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, the company reported earlier this month, though Ford said it expected to post an increase in sales during the final three months of the year as capacity increases at the plant take effect. The company said overall demand for its electric vehicle lineup remains strong with a 65% increase in the third quarter.
The UAW’s targeted strike at a total of five assembly factories at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have prompted all three companies to lay off workers.
Ford announced an additional 500 layoffs spread across five component plants as of Monday, due to the UAW’s expansion of the strike at its largest factory, the Kentucky Truck Plant, last Wednesday. On Thursday, company executives said there could be a total of 4,600 layoffs by the end of this week at its various plants due to the expansion of the strike to Kentucky Truck. It has laid off nearly 2,500 workers so far, not counting those who had been building the Lightning.
Stellantis also expanded its layoffs on Friday to 780 employees at two plants in Kokomo, Indiana, bringing company-wide layoffs since the start of the strike on September 15 to 1,420.
GM has laid off 2,300 workers that it attributes to the impact of the strike, although no additional layoffs have been announced in recent days.
Workers laid off due to the strike are ineligible for unemployment benefits in most states. The workers also are ineligible for so-called “sub pay,” which is paid by the companies. Together unemployment benefits and sub pay covers 74% of their normal pay while laid off. But the F-150 Lightning workers who are laid off will be eligible for both unemployment and sub pay, according to Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch.
The union has challenged the companies’ claims that it needed to lay off workers whose work was affected by the strike at other plants, but said the laid-off workers are entitled to the same $500 a week in strike benefits as the nearly 35,000 now on strike at the three companies.
Mon, October 16, 2023
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images
Ford is laying off about 700 workers who build the F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its best-selling pickup truck, and unlike other recent layoffs this one has nothing to do with the ongoing strike by the United Auto Workers union.
The company said it will temporarily cut one of the three shifts at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, near the company’s main headquarters. It will rotate the layoffs between the three shifts.
Ford had temporarily closed the plant this summer to upgrade its production capability, and the company said this latest layoff is related to “multiple constraints, including the supply chain and working through processing and delivering vehicles held for quality checks after restarting production in August.”
Sales of the Lightning fell 45% in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, the company reported earlier this month, though Ford said it expected to post an increase in sales during the final three months of the year as capacity increases at the plant take effect. The company said overall demand for its electric vehicle lineup remains strong with a 65% increase in the third quarter.
The UAW’s targeted strike at a total of five assembly factories at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have prompted all three companies to lay off workers.
Ford announced an additional 500 layoffs spread across five component plants as of Monday, due to the UAW’s expansion of the strike at its largest factory, the Kentucky Truck Plant, last Wednesday. On Thursday, company executives said there could be a total of 4,600 layoffs by the end of this week at its various plants due to the expansion of the strike to Kentucky Truck. It has laid off nearly 2,500 workers so far, not counting those who had been building the Lightning.
Stellantis also expanded its layoffs on Friday to 780 employees at two plants in Kokomo, Indiana, bringing company-wide layoffs since the start of the strike on September 15 to 1,420.
GM has laid off 2,300 workers that it attributes to the impact of the strike, although no additional layoffs have been announced in recent days.
Workers laid off due to the strike are ineligible for unemployment benefits in most states. The workers also are ineligible for so-called “sub pay,” which is paid by the companies. Together unemployment benefits and sub pay covers 74% of their normal pay while laid off. But the F-150 Lightning workers who are laid off will be eligible for both unemployment and sub pay, according to Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch.
The union has challenged the companies’ claims that it needed to lay off workers whose work was affected by the strike at other plants, but said the laid-off workers are entitled to the same $500 a week in strike benefits as the nearly 35,000 now on strike at the three companies.
“That’s them trying to put the squeeze on our members to settle for less,” UAW President Shawn Fain has previously said about the layoffs. “With their record profits, they don’t have to lay off a single employee.”
GM delays EV truck production at Michigan plant by year
David Shepardson and Ben Klayman
Updated Tue, October 17, 2023
FILE PHOTO: Logo of GM atop the company headquarters
By David Shepardson and Ben Klayman
DETROIT (Reuters) -General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will delay production of electric pickup trucks at its plant in Michigan's Orion Township by a year as the No. 1 U.S. automaker grapples with flattening demand for electric vehicle.
The move is the latest sign that electric vehicle production and demand may not be as strong as forecast. GM had been set to begin production of the electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in late 2024 at the suburban Detroit plant. The company said the plan now is to start it in late 2025.
GM said the change was being made "to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand" but said the move does not impact its battery plant plans. GM said in July battery production at the Ultium joint venture plant Ohio has been hampered because "our automation equipment supplier is struggling with delivery issues."
The automaker in July reiterated a previous target of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through the first half of 2024, and projected EV revenue of $50 billion in 2025. GM has said it is targeting production of roughly 100,000 EVs in the second half of 2023.
Reuters reported in July that the U.S. electric vehicle market is growing, but not quickly enough to prevent unsold EVs from stacking up at some automakers' dealerships.
GM's rival Ford said on Friday it was temporarily cutting one shift at its plant that builds the F-150 Lightning EV. Ford said in July it would slow the ramp-up of electric vehicle production and forecast a full-year loss of $4.5 billion on its EV unit.
A GM spokesperson said the decision announced on Tuesday was unrelated to the ongoing talks with the United Auto Workers for a new labor deal. Some analysts worry a more costly contract could crimp the company's spending plans.
GM still plans a significant boost in EV production in 2024 including adding a new shift at a Detroit-Hamtramck factory that is currently building EV SUVs and pickup trucks. GM is set to begin building the GMC Sierra EV next year in Detroit.
General Motors said on Tuesday it still plans to end production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV at the end of 2023. GM, which vows to end the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, sells few EVs in the United States outside the Bolt. Just 2.8% of its total U.S. sales this year are EVs.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington, Editing by Will Dunham, Franklin Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)
GM delaying EV pickup expansion by a year
Yahoo Finance and Pras Subramanian
Tue, October 17, 2023
David Shepardson and Ben Klayman
Updated Tue, October 17, 2023
FILE PHOTO: Logo of GM atop the company headquarters
By David Shepardson and Ben Klayman
DETROIT (Reuters) -General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will delay production of electric pickup trucks at its plant in Michigan's Orion Township by a year as the No. 1 U.S. automaker grapples with flattening demand for electric vehicle.
The move is the latest sign that electric vehicle production and demand may not be as strong as forecast. GM had been set to begin production of the electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in late 2024 at the suburban Detroit plant. The company said the plan now is to start it in late 2025.
GM said the change was being made "to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand" but said the move does not impact its battery plant plans. GM said in July battery production at the Ultium joint venture plant Ohio has been hampered because "our automation equipment supplier is struggling with delivery issues."
The automaker in July reiterated a previous target of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through the first half of 2024, and projected EV revenue of $50 billion in 2025. GM has said it is targeting production of roughly 100,000 EVs in the second half of 2023.
Reuters reported in July that the U.S. electric vehicle market is growing, but not quickly enough to prevent unsold EVs from stacking up at some automakers' dealerships.
GM's rival Ford said on Friday it was temporarily cutting one shift at its plant that builds the F-150 Lightning EV. Ford said in July it would slow the ramp-up of electric vehicle production and forecast a full-year loss of $4.5 billion on its EV unit.
A GM spokesperson said the decision announced on Tuesday was unrelated to the ongoing talks with the United Auto Workers for a new labor deal. Some analysts worry a more costly contract could crimp the company's spending plans.
GM still plans a significant boost in EV production in 2024 including adding a new shift at a Detroit-Hamtramck factory that is currently building EV SUVs and pickup trucks. GM is set to begin building the GMC Sierra EV next year in Detroit.
General Motors said on Tuesday it still plans to end production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV at the end of 2023. GM, which vows to end the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, sells few EVs in the United States outside the Bolt. Just 2.8% of its total U.S. sales this year are EVs.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington, Editing by Will Dunham, Franklin Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)
GM delaying EV pickup expansion by a year
Yahoo Finance and Pras Subramanian
Tue, October 17, 2023
General Motors (GM) is delaying production expansion of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV, which the company was planning to produce at its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan. This comes after Ford (F) cut a production shift for its F-150 Lightning EV. A recent Yahoo Finance-Ipsos poll found that 57 percent of respondents were unlikely to purchase an EV as their next vehicle.
Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian, Josh Schafer, and Alexandra Canal discuss consumer concerns regarding EVs. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Video Transcript
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Another day, another new development, that EVs are not doing so hot right now.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. Our Head of News, Myles, was talking about how-- whether I wrote the same story over again. But this time, used GM.
Well, in this case, GM now following Ford, in the sense that they are actually pushing back production of the EV Silverado, and also the Sierra EV, that they're going to make at this plant in Orion, Michigan. They said that they want to quote, better manage capital investment with aligning, with evolving EV demand. That's the big thing there, evolving EV demand. Potentially, what Ford is doing, when they cut a production shift for the Lightning, they're not seeing that demand there, potentially. Maybe they're cutting supply, rethinking pricing, and maybe changing the strategy.
Maybe GM is seeing that as another-- as a harbinger of what they might see in the future. They're not going to stop making the truck. They're actually making it right now in a different plant. But they're not going to expand as much as they thought they were going to.
JOSH SCHAFER: It seems like being careful with where they're investing at a time where they do have the strikes ongoing too, right? Just as far as-- GM only has so much money to go around like all companies only have so much money to go around. And when you have less workers literally working for you, and you're trying to think about how to be more efficient, maybe EVs just isn't the space of efficiency for these car companies right now, especially the car companies that have been creating traditional vehicles for so long.
It's not like they're Tesla, and they're cutting back on EV production. So they're cutting back on all car production. They're still producing other cars. They're just saying, we got to be a little bit slower with the EV thing. And as Pra's just said, reminds us of our Yahoo Finance survey right, where people weren't that willing to move over to EVs. We were all pretty surprised by those numbers.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah. The demand picture, I think, is very interesting to me. And you're seeing on your screen now.
57% said they're not likely to purchase an EV in our survey, compared to 11% that were unsure and 31% that were likely. And some of the big concerns here revolves around pricing, revolves around infrastructure. Driving range, another big factor there. And it makes me wonder if we overestimated how many people would be interested in EVs, and the tax credits we can get with those cars. I think that all is going to factor into it, because right now with interest rates so high, a lot of volatility in the economy right now, spending a ton of money on an EV just doesn't seem top of mind for consumers.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. Two big things you guys mentioned. So interest rates, high prices. Those are weighing on demand. If you get these cars are cheaper, they'd probably sell better, right?
But a big thing, I think, is there's a bifurcation between your Model Ys and smaller EVs, and your big pickup trucks. They're more money. Huge batteries.
They need to be filled up with power, probably more frequently, and their charging infrastructure just isn't there yet. So I think there's more concern about that, whereas a Model Y can go 300, 320 miles. You don't have to worry about charging.
JOSH SCHAFER: So I was going to ask. Traditionally, we think of pickup trucks as gas guzzlers, or is it the same for EVs? They take up a lot more battery. And therefore-- range anxiety. People you don't want to get a pickup EV. You'd rather get a Model Y.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: For instance, the Model Y probably has about a battery that's probably half the size of a F-150 extended range battery. And they probably get around similar range. But the Model Y will get a bit more, depending on the situation.
So you're basically-- your efficiency is half, meaning you've got to charge more. It's going to take more-- it's going to cost more to fill up the battery. So it might be the fact that just that use case of an EV pickup not going to happen, or not happening right now.
JOSH SCHAFER: Interesting to see how we've shifted over the last couple of years on maybe how big that potential TAM is for EVs. It seemed like you go back a couple of years. And it felt like it was as big as anything, just an impossibly big TAM.
GM delays $4B EV truck factory plan by another year
Kirsten Korosec
Updated Tue, October 17, 2023
Image Credits: Chevrolet
General Motors is pushing its $4 billion plan to convert its Orion Assembly plant into an EV truck factory to late 2025, a year later than scheduled.
GM's reasoning behind the delay — which will mean Orion will sit idle for two years — is "to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand," the company said in a statement sent to TechCrunch. The company also said it's identified engineering improvements that will be implemented to increase profitability of its products.
In other words, EV demand has changed and maybe isn't as strong as expected. That softening demand, which we've seen at other companies such as Lucid's deliveries numbers reported Tuesday, is forcing automakers to adjust timelines and plans to pour billions into new factories or conversions of existing ones.
GM's Orion Assembly Plant, with some 1,271 employees, is currently where the Chevy Bolt and Chevy Bolt EUV are assembled. GM plans to end production of those two vehicles at the end of the year. Union employees at Orion will be offered other jobs in Michigan, including positions at Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, where the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV, Chevrolet Silverado EV and Cruise Origin are being produced. Factory ZERO workers will also start making the GMC Sierra EV next year. GM said production at this facility has been increasing with plans to add a second shift in 2024.
GM announced in January 2022 it would invest $4 billion to convert the Orion factory to produce electric trucks using the GM-developed Ultium Platform. The project, as originally outlined, would include expanding the existing facility, adding new body and paint shops as well as new general assembly and battery pack assembly areas.
That conversion is part of a larger $7 billion investment in four Michigan factories focused on battery cell and electric truck manufacturing, including a third plant with partner LG Energy Solutions.
Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian, Josh Schafer, and Alexandra Canal discuss consumer concerns regarding EVs. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Video Transcript
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Another day, another new development, that EVs are not doing so hot right now.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. Our Head of News, Myles, was talking about how-- whether I wrote the same story over again. But this time, used GM.
Well, in this case, GM now following Ford, in the sense that they are actually pushing back production of the EV Silverado, and also the Sierra EV, that they're going to make at this plant in Orion, Michigan. They said that they want to quote, better manage capital investment with aligning, with evolving EV demand. That's the big thing there, evolving EV demand. Potentially, what Ford is doing, when they cut a production shift for the Lightning, they're not seeing that demand there, potentially. Maybe they're cutting supply, rethinking pricing, and maybe changing the strategy.
Maybe GM is seeing that as another-- as a harbinger of what they might see in the future. They're not going to stop making the truck. They're actually making it right now in a different plant. But they're not going to expand as much as they thought they were going to.
JOSH SCHAFER: It seems like being careful with where they're investing at a time where they do have the strikes ongoing too, right? Just as far as-- GM only has so much money to go around like all companies only have so much money to go around. And when you have less workers literally working for you, and you're trying to think about how to be more efficient, maybe EVs just isn't the space of efficiency for these car companies right now, especially the car companies that have been creating traditional vehicles for so long.
It's not like they're Tesla, and they're cutting back on EV production. So they're cutting back on all car production. They're still producing other cars. They're just saying, we got to be a little bit slower with the EV thing. And as Pra's just said, reminds us of our Yahoo Finance survey right, where people weren't that willing to move over to EVs. We were all pretty surprised by those numbers.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah. The demand picture, I think, is very interesting to me. And you're seeing on your screen now.
57% said they're not likely to purchase an EV in our survey, compared to 11% that were unsure and 31% that were likely. And some of the big concerns here revolves around pricing, revolves around infrastructure. Driving range, another big factor there. And it makes me wonder if we overestimated how many people would be interested in EVs, and the tax credits we can get with those cars. I think that all is going to factor into it, because right now with interest rates so high, a lot of volatility in the economy right now, spending a ton of money on an EV just doesn't seem top of mind for consumers.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. Two big things you guys mentioned. So interest rates, high prices. Those are weighing on demand. If you get these cars are cheaper, they'd probably sell better, right?
But a big thing, I think, is there's a bifurcation between your Model Ys and smaller EVs, and your big pickup trucks. They're more money. Huge batteries.
They need to be filled up with power, probably more frequently, and their charging infrastructure just isn't there yet. So I think there's more concern about that, whereas a Model Y can go 300, 320 miles. You don't have to worry about charging.
JOSH SCHAFER: So I was going to ask. Traditionally, we think of pickup trucks as gas guzzlers, or is it the same for EVs? They take up a lot more battery. And therefore-- range anxiety. People you don't want to get a pickup EV. You'd rather get a Model Y.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: For instance, the Model Y probably has about a battery that's probably half the size of a F-150 extended range battery. And they probably get around similar range. But the Model Y will get a bit more, depending on the situation.
So you're basically-- your efficiency is half, meaning you've got to charge more. It's going to take more-- it's going to cost more to fill up the battery. So it might be the fact that just that use case of an EV pickup not going to happen, or not happening right now.
JOSH SCHAFER: Interesting to see how we've shifted over the last couple of years on maybe how big that potential TAM is for EVs. It seemed like you go back a couple of years. And it felt like it was as big as anything, just an impossibly big TAM.
GM delays $4B EV truck factory plan by another year
Kirsten Korosec
Updated Tue, October 17, 2023
Image Credits: Chevrolet
General Motors is pushing its $4 billion plan to convert its Orion Assembly plant into an EV truck factory to late 2025, a year later than scheduled.
GM's reasoning behind the delay — which will mean Orion will sit idle for two years — is "to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand," the company said in a statement sent to TechCrunch. The company also said it's identified engineering improvements that will be implemented to increase profitability of its products.
In other words, EV demand has changed and maybe isn't as strong as expected. That softening demand, which we've seen at other companies such as Lucid's deliveries numbers reported Tuesday, is forcing automakers to adjust timelines and plans to pour billions into new factories or conversions of existing ones.
GM's Orion Assembly Plant, with some 1,271 employees, is currently where the Chevy Bolt and Chevy Bolt EUV are assembled. GM plans to end production of those two vehicles at the end of the year. Union employees at Orion will be offered other jobs in Michigan, including positions at Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, where the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV, Chevrolet Silverado EV and Cruise Origin are being produced. Factory ZERO workers will also start making the GMC Sierra EV next year. GM said production at this facility has been increasing with plans to add a second shift in 2024.
GM announced in January 2022 it would invest $4 billion to convert the Orion factory to produce electric trucks using the GM-developed Ultium Platform. The project, as originally outlined, would include expanding the existing facility, adding new body and paint shops as well as new general assembly and battery pack assembly areas.
That conversion is part of a larger $7 billion investment in four Michigan factories focused on battery cell and electric truck manufacturing, including a third plant with partner LG Energy Solutions.
Bill Ford Says Electric Vehicles Are Being Politicized Like the Vaccine
Craig Trudell
Wed, October 18, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co.’s executive chair pointed to polarization in US politics as one of the reasons the automaker is slowing production of its first electric pickup.
“Blue states say EVs are great and we need to adopt them as soon as possible for climate reasons,” Bill Ford said in an interview with the New York Times. “Some of the red states say this is just like the vaccine, and it’s being shoved down our throat by the government, and we don’t want it. I never thought I would see the day when our products were so heavily politicized, but they are.”
Ford announced last week it was temporarily cutting a shift at its Dearborn, Michigan, plant that assembles F-150 Lightning pickups, citing quality checks and supply chain issues. On Tuesday, General Motors Co. said it would delay opening its second electric-truck factory in Michigan “to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand.”
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have starkly different views on EVs. Biden wants half of new-vehicle sales to be electric by the end of the decade and has signed several laws in his first term that offer incentives to consumers, car and battery manufacturers and charging operators. Trump skipped a Republican presidential candidate debate last month to argue to blue-collar voters in Michigan that shifting to EVs will doom the auto industry.
EVs also are becoming part of the culture wars at the state level. Whereas California and other states mandate that zero-emission vehicles make up an increasing share of manufacturers’ sales, lawmakers in Wyoming introduced legislation early this year that would have banned the sale of EVs in the state by 2035. The bill didn’t advance.
Wed, October 18, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co.’s executive chair pointed to polarization in US politics as one of the reasons the automaker is slowing production of its first electric pickup.
“Blue states say EVs are great and we need to adopt them as soon as possible for climate reasons,” Bill Ford said in an interview with the New York Times. “Some of the red states say this is just like the vaccine, and it’s being shoved down our throat by the government, and we don’t want it. I never thought I would see the day when our products were so heavily politicized, but they are.”
Ford announced last week it was temporarily cutting a shift at its Dearborn, Michigan, plant that assembles F-150 Lightning pickups, citing quality checks and supply chain issues. On Tuesday, General Motors Co. said it would delay opening its second electric-truck factory in Michigan “to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand.”
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have starkly different views on EVs. Biden wants half of new-vehicle sales to be electric by the end of the decade and has signed several laws in his first term that offer incentives to consumers, car and battery manufacturers and charging operators. Trump skipped a Republican presidential candidate debate last month to argue to blue-collar voters in Michigan that shifting to EVs will doom the auto industry.
EVs also are becoming part of the culture wars at the state level. Whereas California and other states mandate that zero-emission vehicles make up an increasing share of manufacturers’ sales, lawmakers in Wyoming introduced legislation early this year that would have banned the sale of EVs in the state by 2035. The bill didn’t advance.
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