On today’s show…slumping sedan sales forces GM to scale back production…BMW creates a connected motorcycle concept…and Toyota says its ready to test fuel cell powered semi-trucks. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

GM CUTS MORE PRODUCTION
Due to some slow selling models, inventory at General Motors is starting pile up. According to WardsAuto data, the company had 87 days supply at the end of August, that dropped to 76 in September but it was still larger than the industry average of 64 days supply. Because of this, last month the company announced its scaling back SUV production at its Spring Hill, Tennessee plant. And now GM is reducing production at its Detroit/Hamtramck plant. That facility builds the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, Chevy Volt and the Impala. The Detroit News reports that it will start cutting production next week and a month later the plant will be idled for at least the rest of the year.

GM’S STANDOFF WITH UNIFOR CONTINUES
And in other GM production news, the company is in a standoff with its Canadian union, Unifor. Last month workers at its CAMI plant that builds the Chevy Equinox went on strike after failing to come to an agreement on a new contract. The union wants to avoid job cuts and to make the facility the lead producer of the Equinox, which is also built at two plants in Mexico. And now the company is threatening to look for alternative sites to build the SUV. GM recently spent $800 million to retool the CAMI plant to build the new Equinox but the fact that GM can make these vehicles in Mexico gives it a lot of bargaining strength.

BIG TRUCK SALES UP IN SEPTEMBER
For the fourth straight month, big truck sales increased in the U.S. According to WardsAuto, they were up 7% in September. Class 4 through 7 boosted sales nearly 2% but the gain came from the heavy-duty Class 8 trucks, which were up 13.5%. But due to poor sales earlier in the year, medium and heavy-duty sales are down 1.7% through September. But if sales continue to grow, they could end up similar to or slightly above last year’s total.

Still to come…a look at BMW’s connected motorcycle prototype.

BMW DEVELOPS CONNECTED MOTORCYCLE
Last year BMW, Honda and Yamaha formed the Connected Motorcycle Consortium with the aim of making intelligent systems for motorcycles with as many cross-manufacturer standards as possible. Now BMW is showing off the R 1200 RS ConnectedRide prototype, which looks into the future of motorcycle safety systems. Up till now Vehicle to Vehicle Communication or V2V has not taken motorcycle-specific safety aspects into consideration. But the prototype uses a V2V system that can warn the rider and a driver who may be about to do something stupid, like disregard the right of way to a motorcycle. It also features a crossing and left-turn assistant as well as other systems designed to prevent accidents between motorcycles and passenger cars. BMW is showing the prototype at the Connected Motorcycle Consortium Conference in Munich, Germany, while Honda and Yamaha are showing off a couple of bikes that share a common architecture.

TOYOTA SET TO TEST FUEL-CELL SEMI
Earlier this year, Toyota announced plans to test a fuel cell semi-truck in California. And now the automaker is ready to kick off that research. Starting on October 23rd, the truck will start performing drayage routes at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It will travel an estimated 200 miles a day and as the study goes on, longer routes will be added. The truck is powered by two fuel cell stacks from the Toyota Mirai and a 12 kWh battery, which kicks out a total of 670 horsepower and over 1,300 lb-ft of torque. Its gross combined weight is 80,000 pounds. And if you’d like to learn more about Toyota’s hydrogen powered semi-truck, check out our Autoline After Hours from earlier this year with the head of that project, Sheldon Brown. We’ll put a link to that in the transcript or the description box below.

Coming up next, a look at why there’s been a flurry of activity in the automotive interiors business.

SUPPLIERS SWAP INTERIORS BUSINESS
There’s been a lot of shuffling going on in the automotive interiors business recently. Johnson Controls sold off its interiors to the Chinese company Yanfeng. JCI’s seating operations became Adient. Magna sold off its interiors to Grupo Antolin but kept its seating business. And then Lear bought Grupo Antolin’s seating business. On Autoline This Week, we’re joined by the President and CEO of Lear, Matt Simoncini and he shared why we’re seeing all this action.

(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)

For a deeper dive into Lear and its operations, you can watch that entire episode right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.