Good morning! It’s Thursday, November 14, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Trump Put Biking And Busses On The Chopping Block
After winning the U.S. election last week, convicted felon Donald Trump is busying himself appointing all kinds of people to his new government, including Tesla Boss Elon Musk as one of two chiefs at a new government efficiency office and “Fox & Friends” host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary. The appointments are painting a picture of what we can expect when Trump takes office in the new year, and it isn’t looking good for the way we travel around.
The current administration has made transportation a priority, endeavoring to cut traffic deaths, invest in high-speed rail and reduce emissions from private transportation. The president-elect, however, doesn’t seem as interested in such measures and could even move to cut investment in public transport, cycling infrastructure and reduce the focus on high-speed rail, reports Bloomberg.
In an interview between the site and former U.S. Senate staffer and USDOT executive Beth Osborne, Bloomberg outlined the impact the incoming Trump administration could have on the way we get around in America:
In the first Trump administration, officials were very by-the-book, which means things went very slowly and methodically. There could be years with no advancement in the project, which inflates costs. Trump officials knew that many parts of the country, especially those with smaller transit systems, couldn’t afford those higher costs, so the administration could effectively deny them transit without saying so.
Passenger rail seems to have momentum in this country right now, with popular new Amtrak service between the Twin Cities and Chicago and upgrades to the Northeast Corridor. How likely is that momentum to continue?
I don’t know. It’s going to take a very strong role from the Federal Railroad Administration to make a lot of tiny decisions along the way, because rail projects always run into issues. Problem one is that I don’t know that we’ll have the friendliness at the federal level that we need. But problem two is that the last Trump administration didn’t even staff up FRA, and you need staffers to make decisions. They might just ignore FRA, which would undercut its ability to help with rail.
Despite the incoming administration’s lack of interest in rail and mass transit, Osborne doesn’t believe Trump and his supporters will go so far as to advocate for mass investment in highway infrastructure instead.
In fact, they added that federal funding for highway expansion is already “locked in,” meaning that “an attack on non-auto transport modes and a very strong effort to push highway expansions,” is unlikely under the incoming administration.
Still, for fans of functional public transport and cycling infrastructure that you actually want to use, the coming four years could be a tough period.
2nd Gear: GM Recalls 500,000 Trucks With Faulty Transmissions
One thing that’s unlikely to change under Trump is the wild rate at which cars are being recalled across America. It feels like rarely a week goes by without a massive recall hitting thousands of vehicles across the U.S. and after Tesla issued a recall of its Cybertruck this week, General Motors is now issuing a warning impacting almost 500,000 of its cars and trucks.
General Motors has issued a recall of 462,000 diesel-powered SUVs and pickup trucks sold across America, reports CBS News. The recall hits trucks such as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra as well as SUVs including the Chevrolet Tahoe:
General Motors on Wednesday said it is recalling nearly 462,000 diesel-engine SUVs and pickup trucks in the U.S. because of a faulty transmission control valve that may fail and cause the rear wheels to lockup, increasing the risk of a crash.
Drivers whose vehicles are affected by the transmission issue may experience harsh shifting ahead of any wheel problems, according to the automaker.
“A transmission control valve in some of these vehicles may be susceptible to excess wear over time, resulting in a gradual loss of pressure within the valve that can cause harsh shifting. In rare cases, the rear wheels may experience a momentary lockup,” according to documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The full list of models impacted by the recall includes the 2020-2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, 2500, 3500; the 2020-2022 GMC Sierra 1500, 2500, 3500; the 2021 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV; 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban; and the 2021 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL.
Recall notices will be mailed to owners around December 9 2024, with owners of impacted models being asked to return their cars to a GM dealership. At the dealer, new transmission control module software will be installed for free. CBS adds that the software update will monitor the valve and detect excess wear 10,000 miles before the wheels lock up.
If you are worried that your car might be affected by a recall, there are a few easy ways to check if it’s the case. First up, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a super handy app that you can use to see if your vehicle is impacted by a recall, or you can head to the regulator’s website and plug your VIN into its recall search tool.
3rd Gear: Kia Reaffirms EV Commitment Despite Challenges
In recent months, automakers around the world have slashed electric vehicle sales targets, backtracked on model launches and Volkswagen even threatened to shut factories as a result of the switch to EVs. Kia isn’t having any of that, though, and despite facing challenges with EV adoption of its own, has reaffirmed its commitment to shift millions of electric cars over the coming years.
Changing demands in Europe and the U.S. are expected to pose challenges for EV makers around the world in the coming years, reports Automotive News. Despite this, Kia is standing firm in its commitment to electric power and says it still plans to shift 1.6 million electric vehicles annually by 2030:
“We are not pushing volume to market. Especially this year, the market is changing very rapidly and there are so many uncertainties,” Kevin Ahn, president and CEO of Kia Asia Pacific, said at an event in Taipei on Nov. 13 to showcase the automaker’s EV lineup.
“But our long-term target is for 2030, 1.6 million EVs,” he said. “On the way there, there will be some chasms, there will be some difficulties, some volumes going down because of the market conditions and government policies.”
Ahn declined to comment on the impact on the overall market from import tariffs of up to 45 percent imposed by the European Union on Chinese-made EVs, or from the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.
“Recently the U.S. has finished their election and there are big changes, expectations. So it’s too early to discuss those kinds of issues,” Ahn said, adding Kia plans to assemble EVs at its plant in the U.S. state of Georgia.
If Kia is able to hit its targets, it would put it just behind Tesla on today’s sales ranking. The American automaker shifted around 1.8 million electric cars in 2023, while Chinese rival BYD reported selling more than 3 million electrified models in 2023, which included plug-in hybrids and BEVs.
Kia is gradually expanding its lineup of battery-powered vehicles to support its ambitious growth plans, with the EV6 and EV9 standing out from the crowd with their great looks and impressive interiors.
4th Gear: Layoffs Hit Boeing As Company Cuts 10 Percent Of Workforce
Layoffs have been sweeping the auto industry in recent weeks, with Nissan and Stellantis announcing waves of job cuts already this month. The cuts aren’t exclusive to car factories, however, and Boeing is now notifying 10 percent of its staff about job cuts sweeping the company.
Employees at Boeing’s sites across the U.S. will find out today if they will still have a job come the new year, reports the Seattle Times. The job cuts are said to focus on “nonessential” positions, meaning that front-line workers that design and build Boeing’s planes should be safe:
“We’re going to really focus this workforce reduction in streamlining those overhead activities, consolidating things that can be consolidated,” [new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg] said.
“I wouldn’t think of it like we’re going to take people off production or out of the engineering labs,” Ortberg added. “That’s not our intent.”
But a Boeing senior engineering manager in St. Louis said the cuts in the works target a roughly 10% reduction across the engineers supporting military programs, including the F-15 and F/A-18 jet fighters and the Navy’s P-8 submarine hunter, which is built in Renton with military systems installed in Seattle.
Those engineering organizations will shrink, said the manager, who asked not to be identified to protect his job. “If the idea in Kelly’s mind is cutting overhead and programs will not be impacted, that’s not what’s happening.”
The job cuts round out a pretty awful year for the Seattle-based plane maker. In January, a door plug blew out the side of a 737 Max aircraft prompting a government probe into safety and quality control at the company. As a result of the probe, a cap was put on output that hit income and orders and, to top things off, the company was found at fault for issues with its aircraft and the company became a convicted felon. But with a felon soon the be in charge of the country, what does that even mean anymore?