Ford is recalling 1.4 million F-150 pickups to repair a transmission defect than can cause a downshift without warning. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Average gasoline prices in the United States may not return to pre-Iran war levels under $3 per gallon until sometime next year, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on CNN. More at Axios.
+ Audi will deepen its partnership with SAIC of China for future generations of models under a co-owned new brand, with four to be launched in China in the coming years. More at The Economic Times.
+ More customers are ditching dealerships for vehicle service, as independent shops increased market share by six percentage points year over year according to a recent study. More at CBT News.
+ American Colton Herta will make his Formula 1 practice session debut for Cadillac in June at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, a circuit he says he “Is super familai with.” More at Racer.
+ Stellantis NV has hired longtime Hyundai Motor executive Michael Orange for a top role under CEO Antonio Filosa as the automaker attempts to jumpstart its U.S. sales. More at Yahoo! Finance.
+ Tesla is recruiting semiconductor engineers in Taiwan, a chip-making leader, for Terafab, its vertically integrated semiconductor factory to be constructed in Austin, Texas. More at World Auto Forum.
+ Unifor and the Canadian government have rejected a Stellantis plan to assemble knock-down Leapmotor EVs from China at the automaker’s Brampton, Ontario plant. More at Motor Illustrated.
+ A 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit pickup reported stolen 44 years ago was recovered from the bottom of a local pond in Leicester, Massachusetts after it was discovered with a fish finder. More at The Drive.
+ Ford is recalling 1.4 million F-150 pickups from the 2015 through 2017 model years to repair a sensor-related transmission defect than can cause a downshift without warning. More at Car and Driver.
+ IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward says that given the current technical regulations in Formula 1, he has lost interest in the series and IndyCar now offers the best competition. More at Motorsport.com.
Photo courtesy of Ford.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from April 17 here.
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>> Audi will deepen its partnership with SAIC of China
This will not end well for Audi or the Volkswagen Group. China is a gold digger.
>> Stellantis has hired longtime Hyundai Motor executive Michael Orange
Hyundai is a good company to steal from but I don’t think that Stellantis’ most pressing problem is sales. They need to hijack more designers and engineers in order to figure out how to reconfigure French cars into something that appeals to Americans.
>> Ford is recalling 1.4 million F-150 pickups
Sorry Mr. Farley. I know that you aren’t building these vehicles but the ‘buck stops here’. It’s time for you to clean out your desk. Mary Barra made almost 3 billion in profit last year and did it with fewer recalls. You lost 8 billion and had nearly that many recalls. And to the UAW: You want to go the way of the British auto industry? Fire your leaders and accept responsibility for your fifty year campaign of shoddy work.