AD #2678 – Renault ZOE Gets Range Increase, EPA Takes Aim at California, GM Offers Workers Minor Wage Increase

This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.

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GM ELECTRIC TRUCK PLANNED FOR DETROIT PLANT 
We’ve got more details on what General Motors is offering the UAW in a new labor contract. A source at GM tells Autoline that it will keep its Detroit-Hamtramck plant open to build a battery electric truck. And it wants to build an EV battery cell assembly plant near or on the same property as the Lordstown assembly plant that was closed. 

GM CUTS UAW MEDICAL BENEFITS DURING STRIKE
Bloomberg reports that GM caved on medical costs. Right now, UAW members kick in about 3% of their paycheck for medical insurance. GM wanted to raise that to 15%. Most American workers pay about 29%. But medical benefits are a big issue for workers and the UAW would not budge. But GM did stop paying for medical benefits while its workers are on strike, and presumably the UAW’s strike fund will have to pay for them. But union lawyers are looking into whether GM can do that, or has to wait until the end of the month before it can stop paying for medical insurance. 

GM OFFERS UNION WORKERS MINOR WAGE INCREASE
The Detroit Free Press reports that GM offered the UAW a 2% wage increase for the first and third year of the contract and 2% lump sum payments for the second and fourth year. Automakers prefer lump sum payments of cash because it does not bake in a higher wage rate. But clearly the union is going to reject a measly 2% increase and that is just GM’s opening offer.  

TOYOTA INSTALLS FUEL CELL GENERATOR AT PLANT
Now we move to Japan, where Toyota says it’s working on using fuel cells from the hydrogen Mirai to generate power at one of its manufacturing facilities. The generator houses the fuel cell stack, power control unit, secondary battery and other components from two Mirai cars. It’s installed in Toyota’s Honsha plant, where the generator is expected to run all day long and produce 100 kW of electricity. The fuel cell generator runs off hydrogen exhaust during vehicle production, testing and evaluation. These private power generators are part of Toyota’s plan to create zero CO2 emissions emitted from factories by 2050. 

RENAULT ZOE GETS RANGE INCREASE, BETTER INTERIOR 
And now we go over to France where Renault updated its small city electric car, the ZOE. The size of its battery pack increased from 41 kWh to 52 kWh, which increased its range by 25% to nearly 400 kilometers or about 245 miles. That’s based on the WLTP test procedure. The electric motor also increased in output from 80 kW to 100 kW. A new 10-inch instrument cluster can be found in the interior as can new display screens that range from 7 to 9.3 inches, depending on the trim level. Pricing is a little confusing. The car starts just under 22,000 pounds or over $27,000, not including a plug-in car grant of 3,500 pounds. But you can also buy the car and lease the battery pack. If you go that route, pricing for the car starts at under 18,500 pounds or about $23,000 and battery monthly lease rates start at 49 pounds and go up to 110 pounds, depending on the amount of miles you sign up for. The ZOE electric is on sale now.

EUROPEAN CAR SALES DROP
The news coming out of the European market is looking grim. Car sales in Europe fell more than 8% last month compared to a year ago. While that’s not good, maybe it’s not as bad as it seems. That’s because sales last August were up a whopping 30% due to automakers introducing a number of new vehicles to the market before the new WLTP emissions test went into effect in September. Even still, car sales over the first eight months this year in Europe are down 3.2%.

EPA TAKES AIM AT CALIFORNIA
The war over vehicle emissions between the Trump Administration and the State of California is about to go thermonuclear. The EPA will unveil plans today to revoke a waiver that gives California the ability to set its own vehicle emission standards. The proposal still needs approval from the Office of Management and Budget before it can go into effect but the measure will likely result in lengthy court battles. The move comes before the Trump Administration’s plan to rollback fuel economy standards enacted during the Obama presidency, which is expected to be revealed in the next few weeks. But this situation is turning into a nightmare for automakers who just want to see one standard for the entire nation.

Are robots really going to take over all manufacturing jobs? That will be one of the topics on tomorrow’s Autoline After Hours when Mike Cicco, the CEO of FANUC America comes on the show. Drew Winter from Wards and Mike Austin from Hemmings Motor News will also join us. So be sure to tune in tomorrow at 3 pm eastern time.

And that brings us to the end of today’s report, thanks for watching.