Good morning! It’s August 4, 2023, and that is The Morning Shift, your day by day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from world wide, in a single place.

1st Gear: The UAW

The UAW represents round 146,000 employees on the Large Three, and their contracts with GM, Ford, and Stellantis all expire on September 14, or a bit of over a month from now. The UAW’s president, Shawn Fain, has been making a variety of noise about this for months now, hopefully as a result of he believes that that’s the easiest way to get a very good deal for his members. There was even a painfully midwestern kerfuffle over a handshake.

Nonetheless, that is par for the course, actually, and none of it means a lot till the eleventh hour of negotiations, when the rubber hits the street and final, finest, and last presents are submitted after which strikes occur or they don’t.

Anyway, final evening, a number of information organizations reported that the UAW has unveiled some specifics of its calls for. The highest line quantity is that they need a 40 p.c rise in pay over the lifetime of a four-year deal. The UAW additionally needs a four-day work week, as an alternative of 5.

For those who suppose 40 p.c over 4 years is lots, contemplate how a lot UAW employees are paid, based on The Wall Avenue Journal:

At present, unionized manufacturing unit employees on the Detroit automotive corporations begin at about $18 an hour. The highest wage, achieved over a interval of years, is about $32 an hour.

The 40% pay hike could be a normal improve over the lifetime of the subsequent four-year contract. It could be damaged up right into a 20% improve upon the contract’s ratification, and 4 further 5% wage will increase given annually, based on an individual acquainted with the matter.

A UAW spokesperson mentioned that throughout the present contract, the common CEO wage on the Detroit automotive corporations has elevated 40%. “We consider UAW members deserve the identical if no more.”

By way of Automotive Information, GM already sounds mad:

GM, in an announcement Thursday, indicated it didn’t like what the union was proposing.

“The breadth and scope of the Presidential Calls for, at face worth, would threaten our skill to do what’s proper for the long-term advantage of the group,” the corporate mentioned. “A good settlement rewards our staff and likewise allows GM to take care of our momentum now and into the long run.”

Fain on Thursday additionally instructed Automotive Information the union would search “a 32-hour workweek with 40 hours’ price of pay,” elaborating on feedback he made earlier within the week.

He mentioned the truncated workweek might spur the Detroit 3 to rent extra union employees.

“I feel it should create extra jobs, extra alternatives for folks to get their share within the economic system,” he mentioned.

Finally, this received’t come all the way down to what management on the Large Three or the UAW need however what the UAW’s membership needs, and what they’re keen to do to get it, together with stroll off the job. You possibly can anticipate extra bluster within the meantime, although.

2nd Gear: BMW

Right here’s a photograph of a BMW idea, the i Imaginative and prescient Dee, launched in January:

The automotive seems to be… good? However it’s only a idea, certainly nothing like this may ever attain manufacturing. And but in September, BMW will come out with one thing else on this vein, the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse, one other idea that can most likely additionally look future-y as nicely, besides BMW is now saying that the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse might be fairly near manufacturing. Or at the least the manufacturing model of that automotive is shut.

From Automotive Information:

The manufacturing model might be on roads quickly, [BMW CEO Oliver Zipse] added throughout an earnings name on Thursday.

Zipse described the Neue Klasse battery-electric platform as a “megaproject” inside BMW. “It’s about nothing lower than the way forward for the BMW model, the BMW Group and our portfolio,” he mentioned.

Zipse didn’t give additional particulars on which mannequin the idea will preview. The idea might be revealed on Sept. 2 forward of the IAA Mobility present in Munich that begins Sept. 4.

The automotive would be the third Imaginative and prescient idea BMW is creating to focus on its future applied sciences. It follows the sustainability-focused i Imaginative and prescient Round proven on the 2021 Munich present and the digital-focused i Imaginative and prescient Dee proven on the CES in Las Vegas in January.

It’s simple to make an idea, and more durable to make a manufacturing automotive, and even more durable to make manufacturing automobiles at scale, although BMW has been constructing and constructing right here. This might be much more thrilling when BMW declares that the cool new automotive it’s constructing is for each market besides America.

third Gear: Lucid

Lucid goes to report its earnings on Monday for the second quarter of 2023, and they’re prone to be fairly unhealthy, as a result of Lucid has been on Wrestle Avenue for months now in combatting a mix of falling demand for its Air and bother assembly current demand for the Air. It seems to be like a downward spiral from the surface, however from the within, Lucid nonetheless thinks it has an ace up its sleeve.

From Automotive Information:

CEO Peter Rawlinson mentioned in mid-June that the automaker is in a singular monetary place due to persevering with help by its majority shareholder, the Public Funding Fund of Saudi Arabia.

“A key differentiator for us as a enterprise is that now we have this robust strategic partnership and alignment with the Public Funding Fund of Saudi Arabia,” Rawlinson mentioned throughout a dwell occasion with The Wall Avenue Journal. He referenced a latest $3 billion inventory providing that was largely bought by the Saudi fund.

[…]

One query submitted by buyers for consideration on Monday’s earnings name asks whether or not supply numbers will improve within the third quarter. One other asks when Lucid will begin constructing its second mannequin, the Gravity crossover, which is scheduled for 2024.

Lucid executives have been additionally requested to touch upon collaborations with different EV makers.

Even when Lucid has a bit extra runway because of the Public Funding Fund of Saudi Arabia, the elemental numbers — 1,404 automobiles delivered within the second quarter this 12 months — are troubling. Maybe worse, Lucid doesn’t appear to have a lot *buzz* round it, regardless of having a good product. Few individuals are getting Lucids, and few individuals are speaking about them, too.

4th Gear: Fisker

Fisker mentioned Friday that it solely thinks it should make as much as 23,000 automobiles this 12 months, down considerably from the 36,000 automobiles it beforehand mentioned it would make in 2023, most of which it’s blaming on provide chain points.

Reuters studies that there could even be some mild on the finish of this tunnel, nevertheless:

The California-based firm mentioned it misplaced $87.9 million throughout the second quarter, barely lower than the $88.6 million it misplaced throughout the identical quarter final 12 months.

Fisker, nevertheless, recorded its first quarterly income from gross sales — $825,000 — because the EV maker kicked off deliveries in Europe and the U.S.

Fisker made 1,022 models of its Ocean compact crossovers within the second quarter — lacking its goal of 1,400 to 1,700 models as a result of a scarcity of parts.

Analysts anticipate the corporate to report an working revenue within the fourth quarter of the 12 months, based on Refinitiv.

Fisker had really beforehand mentioned it would make as much as 42,400 automobiles in 2023, so, directionally, this isn’t nice, however everybody begins someplace.

fifth Gear: Nikola

Nikola, the troubled EV truck startup, reported Friday that it misplaced much less cash within the second quarter than it did in the identical time interval final 12 months, however nonetheless many thousands and thousands. Maybe extra importantly for buyers, Nikola additionally disclosed that its CEO, a man named Michael Lohscheller, might be stepping down on the finish of August, to get replaced by a man named Stephen Girsky, who was on the board of an automaker referred to as Normal Motors.

Reuters says that shares in Nikola fell premarket, whereas apparently the startup’s founder, who was discovered responsible final 12 months of fraud, nonetheless has opinions on the corporate.

Nikola has been fighting dwindling money reserves because it burns by money to ramp up manufacturing of its vehicles.

Its buyers on Thursday, nevertheless, accepted a proposal that permits the truckmaker to concern extra shares to boost funds.

“The corporate doesn’t want new shares, they want new management,” founder, Trevor Milton, mentioned in a LinkedIn submit in June.

Milton stepped down as CEO of the corporate in 2020 after a brief vendor Hindenburg issued a scathing report that labeled Nikola a “fraud.”

I’m positive this may all finish nicely.

Reverse: Talladega