UAW-affiliated Ford workers will vote by week’s end to ratify their union’s tentative four-year agreement with Ford Motor Company, or choose to kick it back in their faces and ask for something better. The General Motors contract, recently ratified, was a fairly close thing.

While bonuses, pay, and healthcare costs might be top of mind for most Ford employees, product is what concerns us here. Thankfully, leaked copies of the tentative agreement have emerged, providing a look at what vehicles we can expect Ford to build, and where.

For Michigan’s Flat Rock Assembly, it seems the near future won’t be as exciting as initially thought. (Read More…)

“How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?” – Charles de Gaulle

I have a friend, one whose living room is decked out in red shag carpeting, who often jokes that his tastes in fashion and other trappings of life tend to straddle the line between respectable and… over the top. Cheeseball, in other words. Many times I’ll find myself suggesting, in that delicate manner long-time friends are so good at, that perhaps he’s teetered off that fence and fallen solidly on the wrong side of it.

In the auto realm, cheese is more than ever relegated to the aftermarket, but perhaps OEMs haven’t left this dairy product entirely in the past? (Read More…)

Have we mentioned that Genesis needs a crossover? Surely we have, again and again. It’s still true, and the fledgling brand is well aware of it.

While parent Hyundai has managed to climb back from a recent sales slump with the addition of new product, its three-model premium brand faces a harder task: growing sales while simultaneously adopting a new dealer strategy and selling just passenger cars. With this burden on its shoulders, getting back to where it was two years ago — a year after its inception — is a victory… for now. (Read More…)

It wasn’t long ago that Hyundai, having rocketed out of the recession on the strength of efficient — and newly improved — product, canned its American CEO over declining sales and made Operation Crossover its primary focus.

The sales slump was almost entirely the product of American buyers’ cold-shouldering of traditional passenger cars, to which Hyundai brass saw a utility vehicle surge as the only remedy. Seems they were right, as Hyundai’s now sitting pretty — and there’s another crossover that’s yet to land. (Read More…)

Okay, that’s a NASCAR line, but it applies here.

Roger Penske never ran the Indianapolis 500 during his racing career, but as owner of Team Penske, his drivers racked up 18 victories on the famed banked oval. Now, it appears the 82-year-old Penske will soon call the track his own.

Monday morning brought news that Penske will announce the purchase of both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar series from Hulman & Co. (Read More…)

You have to hand it to Nissan. Despite holding a continually declining share of new-car sales in the U.S., the automaker is sticking to its plan to firm up its financial footing.

That means holding the line on incentives and fleet sales — a practice it once revelled in back when the company pushed volume above all else. (Read More…)

Hot on the heels of charges laid against his top aide, UAW President Gary Jones has taken a leave of absence, the union stated Saturday morning.

Two days ago, federal prosecutors charged UAW official Edward Robinson with conspiracy and fraud in an embezzlement scheme alleged to involve a number of top union execs. Sources who spoke to several media outlets this week fingered Jones as the “UAW Official A” mentioned in court documents.

Jones, who was nearly invisible in the ongoing contract talks between Detroit Three automakers and UAW bargaining teams, is alleged to have shared in the spoils of a nearly decade-long scheme that saw $1.5 million in union dues funnelled into executives’ pockets. (Read More…)

We haven’t done one of these in a long time, but a poke from our good friend Matthew Guy alerted us to a new product offered by Ford Motor Company.

One with RPMs that max out at 78.

Not since the Blue Oval convinced Dr. Pepper to introduce a 15-can cola pack to satisfy the Expedition’s obscene cupholder count has this writer been so rattled by a non-automotive automotive product. If you’re a Bronco lover, get that Starship LP out of storage. (Read More…)

Sports car fans had best brace themselves for a big letdown. Fiat Chrysler, currently pursuing a merger with France’s Groupe PSA, has given investors a peak at future high-end product, and two anticipated models seem to have fallen off the drawing board.

Those products would be the reborn Alfa Romeo GTV and 8C, which are nowhere to be seen in the brand’s near-future product timeline. However, if crossovers are your thing, you’re in luck. (Read More…)

It’s been a long hibernation for the Bronco nameplate, but fans of Ford Motor Company’s midsize off-roader don’t have all that long to wait before laying their eyes on the resurrected model.

Ford has announced the public will get its first glimpse of the reborn Bronco next spring. (Read More…)

It’s hard to keep up with the indictments stemming from the federal probe into corruption within the upper ranks of the United Auto Workers, but the trail keeps leading to one place: the top.

Numerous media sources claim UAW President Gary Jones, whose home was raided by FBI agents in August, is a key figure in an embezzlement scheme outlined in documents filed this week in a Detroit federal court. Jone’s top aide, Edward Robinson, stands charged with conspiracy and fraud, with prosecutors claiming he and others funnelled $1.5 million out of UAW coffers over a nine-year span. (Read More…)

As you learned yesterday, Fiat Chrysler and France’s Groupe PSA have agreed on a merger plan, paving the way for the creation of the world’s fourth-largest automaker. FCA boss Mike Manley calls it a “compelling” opportunity. PSA chief Carlos Tavares claims it heralds a “bright future” for the combined entity.

Renault is left wondering what could have been.

Should the marriage come to pass, it opens up an opportunity for North American buyers to have greater access to a range of French cars, not to mention models built by the formerly GM-owned Opel. What would you like to see at your local Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram dealer? (Read More…)

It’s quite possible a gasp of horror escaped from your lips after laying eyes on the upcoming BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe for the first time. Unmistakably front-drive in profile, the brand’s new entry point ⁠— which happens to be based on the X1 and X2 crossovers ⁠— saw fit to avoid front-drive-only models in North America.

The same goes for the X1 and X2, though overseas buyers can find themselves a Bimmer that only pulls, never pushes. Just don’t ever expect to find one bearing a coveted M badge, the automaker promises. (Read More…)

You probably won’t see striking workers outside Ford Motor Company plants in the near future, all thanks to a tentative four-year labor contract reached between the automaker and the United Auto Workers late Thursday night. With General Motors leading the way in the latest round of Detroit Three bargaining, Ford worked quickly to seal a deal that likely incorporates many planks found in the now-ratified GM agreement.

While the automaker and union haven’t released details of the proposed contract, sources claim an engine plant will have to close up shop. Shuttering one parts plant won’t do much to save Ford much cash, but at least it allows the automaker to (tentatively) avoid the kind of strike that just cost its Detroit rival over $2 billion. (Read More…)

A number of General Motors executives will have to update their CVs come November 1st. As it moves to position its increasingly streamlined business for hard-fought future growth, the automaker has provided President Mark Reuss with a number of new hats.

Doug Parks, head of GM’s autonomous and electric vehicle programs since 2016, will soon find himself in charge of global product development. (Read More…)