mackinaw

Nolan Finley, and editor for the Detroit News, has suggested this: "The United Auto Workers again expanded its strike , shutting down Ford's vital Kentucky Truck Plant. President Shawn Fain may shut other plants today. The automakers should respond to the escalation by locking out the UAW from all plants and pulling their offers from the table."

Or perhaps they'll walk away from the proposed Marshall, Michigan battery plant.

Looks like Kentucky Truck could be the next factory to walk out. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2023/10/11/uaw-strike-day-27-talks-continue-following-end-of-gm-strike-in-canada/71141087007/

So how does this work? Do you, and others, tell your main union rep that you'd like to vote on the latest proposal? Or does the bargaining committee control everything and they decide when a proposal merits a vote?

And yet Ford leads the industry in brand loyalty. https://fordauthority.com/2023/06/ford-brand-loyalty-highest-in-industry-through-april-report/

How about three hours? I decided to give it a real test and asked for a rendering of a 1958 Edsel combined with a 1970 BMW 2002 (both with feature a vertical grille). After three hours of waiting I pulled the plug.

From today's Detroit News. Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley on Friday accused the United Auto Workers of "holding the deal hostage" over the automaker's four planned battery plants in the United States. “Here’s the bottom line from Ford’s perspective," Farley said during a news briefing Friday. "First, Ford has offered an incredible contract that would change the lives of over 57,000 workers for the better. Second, we believe the UAW is holding up the deal over battery plants that won’t come online for another two to three years. And finally, we still have time to reach an agreement and avert a real disaster — but not much more time, given the fragility of the supply base.” "Keep in mind, these battery plants don’t exist yet. They’re mostly joint ventures. And they have not been organized by the UAW yet because the workers haven’t been hired, and won’t be for many years to come," Farley said. "They won’t scale until the next contract.” https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2023/09/29/farley-claims-uaw-is-holding-the-deal-hostage-over-battery-plants/71004708007/

Off topic, but interesting. Digital camera sales peaked worldwide in 2010 with 122 million cameras sold. In 2022 only 8 million digital cameras were sold. Cellphones. are the new cameras.

Rural northern Michigan. We're on I-75, so see a fair amount of Tesla's stopping to juice up at our Supercharger. Maybe have seen two or three Rivian's this year. I've seen several Lightnings, but not many Mach-E's. Bronco's are very popular. Addendum: After Tesla, the most common BEV I've seen has been the Lightning. I'm about 225 miles from Dearborn, which may be part of the reason.

The NIMBY's are also raising quite a ruckus in Marshall which may, or may not, be a factor.

Not cancelled, construction has paused.

So far, he seems to be teflon-coated.

I doubt this. I'm sure Bill Ford has been aware of, and has approved, Ford's bargaining strategy from Day One. And it was Fain who stiffed both Bill Ford and Farley last Tuesday when they both went to meet with the union to present their latest proposal. Hard to bargain in good faith when the UAW Chief blows off the meeting.

Fuzzy's table may be irrelevant, but the optics are terrible. All the general public sees are CEO's getting paid outrageous salaries.

I understand that eliminating tiers is a big one. Fain will probably get a lot of what he wants. I expect that the rank and file will love this guy and that he'll be president of the UAW for as long as they allow.

What kind of range are you getting?

Forced downsizing of passenger cars in the 80's gave rise to SUV's and full-size pickups of the 2000's. Americans like their vehicles BIG.

Excellent point. There are 278 million registered vehicles in the U.S. and 99% of those are ICE powered. If the government was truly serious about addressing climate change, it'd be developing some sort of low-carbon gas for all of those ICE-powered vehicles which would quickly and dramatically reduce carbon emissions. That's the smart way to address climate change, not the path we're currently taking.

You're spot on. If anything, there will be added emphasis on crash testing. EV's are terribly heavy. The EV Hummer weighs more than 9,000 pounds, and the battery pack alone (2800 pounds) weighs more than a Mazda Miata (2,400 pounds). Imagine what will happen when a EV Hummer crashes into a Honda Civic? NHTSA is already asking questions.

Tell that to the one million spectators and 40,000 classic cars that were part of the recent Woodward Dream Cruise.

No, it doesn't, but the 1960's hot-rodder in me would love to bolt a set of high-flow cylinder heads on that 445 cubic inch engine (not going to cal it 7/3L), put in a hot cam, as well as a nice pair of headers. Shades of 1967!

My daily driver (in the summer) is a 29 year old F-150.

Blame Ford Authority for that. They flat out had it wrong. Actually, blame the total lack of fact-checking that takes place on any internet site. The days of getting information right and having it verified by a few sources before they publish is long gone. Now, if you hear a rumor, you post it as fact ASAP. I too, fell for the initial Ford Authority story. But once I saw the GTD, I am incredibly impressed. 800 horsepower, a carbon-fiber driveshaft, rear transaxle, novel horizontal coli spring rear suspension, ceramic brakes...what's not to like?

Some impressive engineering beneath that carbon-fiber skin. And to think that the original Mustang was built on a Falcon platform. What a difference 60 years makes.

The original Taurus of 1985 was controversial and polarizing and went on to define American styling in the 1980's.