#automotive

Is any body else concerned about the 7.9% YOY decline in Ford vehicle sales and 10.9% YOY decline in Lincoln sales? If vehicles aren’t selling, jobs will be eliminated.

Just like that.

Dakkota Integrated Systems will close its Detroit plant, resulting in 397 layoffs. The closure is attributed to the loss of contracts for instrument panels for the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango. The plant's shutdown will occur in two phases, with the first round of layoffs impacting 205 employees at the end of 2026. A second phase will eliminate another 192 jobs by March 2027. This decision highlights the vulnerability of suppliers tied to specific automotive contracts.

Detroit, Michigan

https://moparinsiders.com/dakkota-loses-stellantis-work-will-close-detroit-plant/

ADAC Automotive will close its Saranac facility on June 30, 2027. This closure will result in layoffs for 87 employees and 10 contract positions. The company cited significant industry transformations and changing customer demands as reasons for the decision. Some affected employees may be offered relocation to other ADAC production sites. Operations will be phased out gradually over the next few months.

Saranac, Michigan

https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/adac-automotive-to-close-saranac-facility-in-june/69-488ecd73-1499-401d-9753-970864d880e8

https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/brookfield-auto-dealership-has-closed-its-doors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjuH2pTGYDw&list=TLPQMjgxMDIwMjY_9BJPl13YOg&index=8

https://youtu.be/1tpVDcOHqbc

Kern J.G. Enterprise Inc. is permanently laying off 156 workers from its Sterling Heights factory. The automotive parts supplier cited unforeseeable business circumstances for the decision. Ford Motor Co. canceled its business dealings with the company. This move favors suppliers based in India and other U.S. states. The layoffs will affect mostly machine operators and line leaders.

Sterling Heights, MI

https://patch.com/michigan/shelby-utica/metro-detroit-automotive-supplier-announces-layoffs

Ford will be lucky if they can sell 30,000 units. Who in he-l would buy it, only those who are working at Ford.

https://www.cbtnews.com/farley-fathom-launch/

This will be another failure as usual from Ford. There will be massive problems, quality problems, recalls, warranty issues.

I highly recommend not to buy this vehicle until the price drop to $15,000.

Gas-powered vehicle sales, excluding hybrids, have fallen below 50% of global new vehicle sales for the first time, according to Mobility Global data.

Gas-powered vehicle sales fell 10% year-on-year from January through June 2026, reaching 20.25 million vehicles.

As a result, their share of global new vehicle sales dropped by 3 percentage points to 49%.

The milestone marks a significant change in the global automotive market, where gasoline-powered vehicles have historically made up the majority of new-car sales.

As electric vehicles and other electrified powertrains continue to expand their share of the market, the latest figures show gasoline-only vehicles have now slipped into the minority worldwide.

The 49% figure represents another major milestone in the ongoing global shift towards vehicle electrification.

https://electricdrives.tv/news/cars/

i honestly think part of the proble is our executives just aren't as good as the people running some of these other car companies. look at toyota &honda. people keep buying them because they are reliable and they give customers what they want. now you have the rav4 passing the f150 and that should be a pretty big wake up call. the f150 has been one of the biggest things ford has going for it for years.

then look at the edge. ford got rid of it and maybe the edge had problems and maybe sales weren't great, but meanwhile toyota keeps selling the rav4 like crazy. korean companies are doing well too. so somehow everybody else keeps figuring out what people want while we keep changing plans. we used to benchmark toyota and honda all the time. from what i remember we would look at a few things they were doing, copy a piece of it, and then go right back to doing things the ford way. we never really changed the whole system. that is what bothers me.

toyota is not doing magic. honda is not doing magic. they just seem to make better decisions over a long period of time. at ford we cancel products, start new programs, reorganize, change priorities, bring in new leadership ideas, talk about software, evs, subscriptions and whatever the new thing is. then a couple years later the direction changes again. and when something doesn't work the explanation is always complicated. regulations. interest rates. china. labor. dealers. suppliers.

customers didn't understand the product. whatever. at some point maybe the answer is simpler. maybe the people making the big decisions at toyota and honda are just better at their jobs. you can make fun of toyota all you want, but customers keep walking into their dealerships and buying their vehicles. that is the scoreboard that matters.

Two people have moved to ?GM One just started a couple years other been at Ford for than 10 years.

Went to GM.
I hear many out o other companies including GM,

Anyone else concerned that a % point drop in market share could result in layoffs?
From the Detroit Snooze:

Ford’s vehicle sales are expected to drop 8.8% through the first three quarters of the year, according to a forecast released Thursday from Cox Automotive. That would knock Ford’s market share down nearly a full percentage point, to 12.5%.

GM’s U.S. vehicle sales pace also is trailing the broader industry, expected to decline 6.2% year-to-date through Sept. 30, Cox projects. The firm estimates GM will finish the quarter with a 16.7% market share, down from 17.4% a year earlier.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2026/09/24/market-share-falling-for-gm-and-ford-forecaster-says/91923196007/

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ford-f-150-truck-production-down-nearly-week-michigan-plant-memo-says-2026-09-25/

We are not very good at making vehicles. If we switched 1/3 of our capacity to munitions, that would save some some jobs.

I can't wait to see the dealerships established in the US. I would love to buy some Chinese vehicles for sure. I drove them in Asia and EU, they are so much better than US made vehicles.

The new job postings are out there.
Lots of level 6 positions.

What are the chances that general motors acts predictably in October?

What will happen to the level 7s?
#evergreen

Jaguar Land Rover will eliminate approximately 4,000 positions over the next two years to reduce costs. This significant restructuring aims to save £1.7 billion and address challenges including weaker sales, tariffs, and competition. The company is targeting voluntary redundancies primarily among salaried and management staff. Despite these cuts, JLR intends to invest heavily in future technologies like electrification and digital advancements. The automotive industry faces rapid technological shifts and intense global competition.

Coventry, United Kingdom

https://coinpaper.com/35505/jaguar-land-rover-layoff

Rugged Liner, a subsidiary of RealTruck, will eliminate 90 positions at its Owosso facilities. The affected employees include production assemblers and machine operators. These layoffs are scheduled to occur in March 2027. The company has not provided a reason for the workforce reduction. RealTruck is headquartered in Ann Arbor and offers automotive accessories.

Owosso, Michigan

https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2026/09/09/realtruck-rugged-liner-owosso-closure-layoffs/91673605007/

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-urges-ford-cut-ties-china-and-prioritize

Investors didn’t like this, stock is down 5% since yesterday’s open.

This is probably built on the Ford Maverick platform. The design is already 6 years old. The only difference is now it's an EV.
I don't think this truck going to sell, once people finds out that it is so outdated, behind I technology, not efficient, low range, expensive, ugly, poor quality, many safety recalls.

General Motors has reached a tentative agreement with Canadian auto union Unifor. The deal includes wage increases and bonuses for workers. It also addresses job security for employees at the CAMI Assembly plant. Union members are voting on the contracts this weekend. The agreements cover thousands of hourly workers across multiple GM facilities in Canada.

Ingersoll, Ontario

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2026/08/29/unifor-details-tentative-agreements-general-motors/91527146007/

Could there be any more realignment possibilities left with the rest of the facility?

Several international automotive suppliers in Georgia are implementing significant workforce reductions. These layoffs impact hundreds of production-line workers across multiple counties. Companies from Europe and Asia are among those adjusting their operations. The automotive sector is facing a period of transition due to evolving regulations and the shift towards electric vehicles. These changes are leading to a retrenchment in what has been a strong industry.

https://www.globalatlanta.com/foreign-automakers-cut-300-plus-jobs-across-georgia/

The Kuga is coming back—but this time with Geely technology. Here's what to expect from the new model that will replace the Kuga. In a move that surprised many, the crossover will be built on a Geely platform. What does this mean for buyers, what changes could it bring to the European auto industry, and why might it affect pricing? Here's what you need to know.

News that Ford has chosen a Geely platform for its future crossover has become a major talking point among car enthusiasts. The decision could reshape the competitive landscape and influence how accessible modern technology becomes for buyers. As Western automakers look for new paths forward, partnerships like this are becoming increasingly important.

Ford has officially begun work on the successor to the popular Kuga. The biggest surprise is the use of a platform developed by China's Geely. According to the head of Ford's European division, the new model will feature a completely American design and will not resemble any existing vehicle. The interior is expected to offer generous space and comfort, particularly for families and drivers who value convenience on long trips.

A new piece from Bloomberg makes the case, comparing the Tesla vehicle to the misfortunes of Ford's Edsel, which was first introduced in 1957 and discontinued just two years later. After spending years building up hype for the car, Ford predicted selling 200,000 units in its first year, but ended up selling less than a third of that.

That's comparable to expectations versus reality of the Cybertruck. In fact, the Cybertruck is actually doing worse in key ways. Tesla's annual sales target was 250,000 units, but it didn't even crack 40,000 sales in its first year. And like the Edsel, it's sold less with each successive year, with barely 7,100 registered in the US in 2026 so far, according to S&P Global Mobility data — despite Musk juicing those figures by selling Cybertrucks to his own companies.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/looking-cybertruck-biggest-flop-automotive-145559135.html

Now we know what is in the future for North America's workers.

https://www.timesgazette.com/2017/09/15/highland-county-chinchilla-ranch-not-like-anything-most-people-think/

https://fordauthority.com/2026/06/ford-f-150-king-ranch-platinum-lose-5-0l-v8-coyote-option/

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/oreilly-automotive-bids-for-genuine-parts-auto-unit--bloomberg-93CH-4773945

O’Riley buying NAPA Auto.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/ford-recalls-741195-suvs-pickups-after-transmission-defect-raises-rollaway-risk-nhtsa

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/polestar-banned-from-us-market-under-rule-targeting-china-linked-connected-vehicles

Hmmm, nothing to be worried about, just another day... nothing to see here!

Over the past six months, China has launched 622 new car models. That is not innovation. That is an industry on life support.

Picture a car factory running at half capacity. Assembly lines built for thousands of vehicles a day are operating at less than 50%. The machines are paid for either way. Sitting idle costs more than building something.

That is the real reason behind the flood of new models. Lithium carbonate, the key battery material, crashed from nearly 600,000 RMB per ton to just 80,000. Launching a new car became dramatically cheaper. So factories that cannot sell enough of what they already make simply make something new instead.

But here is the real twist. It is not only about factories. Public car companies face their own pressure. Go six months without launching a new model, and rating agencies may downgrade the stock. So some of these new cars are not built for drivers at all. They are built to keep a stock price alive.

Faster R&D has made this even easier. Skateboard chassis platforms, combined with AI-assisted design, have cut development time from 63 months down to just 12 to 15 months. China did not just make cars cheaper to build. It made it cheap to keep building cars nobody asked for.

So here is the result. Roughly 80% of these 622 models are statistically doomed to disappear. So if you are buying, check who makes the core components, check the brand’s survival odds, and give yourself a three-month cooling-off period before you commit.

In this market, the newest electric car on the lot might be the first one to vanish.

I’m Ling, a tech analyst from China.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRwjAkjy/

Push the button and nothing happens (people die). Can’t recall Patriot systems deployed.

From Ford Authority:
Ford has a long history of supplying the U.S. military with various goods, beginning way back during World War I and extending to World War II, as well as the Korean and Vietnam wars. As Ford Authority recently reported, the Trump administration previously approached Ford and other automakers regarding the possibility of shifting some capacity to we-pons production, and Ford CEO Jim Farley later confirmed that the automaker was "in early discussions with the U.S. government on some defense-related projects" - as well as the European Union, too.

Now, those talks have seemingly progressed, as U.S. President Donald Trump recently revealed that both Ford and General Motors are in discussions with defense contractors that could result in the repurposing of certain plants for we-pons production, according to CBS News. Trump noted that those we-pons include things like the Patriot and the Tomahawk missile.

Automotive and transport sectors saw significant workforce reductions in 2026. Weak demand, corporate restructuring, and AI integration caused these cuts. UPS eliminated 30,000 positions due to an AI-driven transformation. Volkswagen Group cut 50,000 employees in two separate rounds. Numerous other companies also reduced staff to manage operational costs.

https://www.latestly.com/auto/layoffs-in-auto-sector-2026-check-list-of-auto-and-transport-companies-that-reduced-their-workforce-7487974.html/amp

It could get dicey since so few are left..

General Motors produces profitable pickup trucks at its Flint Assembly Plant. This plant relies on daily axle deliveries for production. A strike at an American Axle facility threatens these critical shipments. Union workers initiated the strike on May 31. This disruption could significantly jeopardize General Motors' profits.

Detroit, Michigan

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2026/06/08/american-axle-strike-could-put-gm-heavy-truck-output-in-jeopardy/90375511007/

https://www.theautopian.com/the-30000-ford-ev-pickup-is-way-smaller-thank-you-think-we-got-an-exclusive-look/

I am about to join Q's Automotive divison, i appreciate any insights about quality of work, teams, wlb. Thanks in advance.

Anyone remember how beneficial BCG' analysis was to Ford' meteoric rise to profitability in the past?
Not!
I just want to hear stories from the older crew.
On another note, does anyone remember their attempt at implementing a Matrix Management model?
Maybe if they understood the difference between producing a quality product and the stylish management trends of the month, Ford would be a great car company.