Stellantis Plans To Build More Cars In The U.S. Thanks To Tariff Uncertainty
Good morning! It's Thursday, March 6, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.
In this morning's edition, we're taking a look at Stellantis' promise to bring more manufacturing stateside amid Trump's tariff back-and-forth. We're also going to be checking in on overall February car sales, the General Motors-LG battery plant UAW contract and an explosion at a Toyota supplier that left one person dead.
It's shaping up to be another busy day in the automotive world.
1st Gear: Stellantis wants to move more production to the U.S.
Stellantis —in an effort to get on President Donald Trump's good side — is thanking him for pausing the 25 percent tariffs on vehicles imported from Canada and Mexico that he put in place a day earlier. Now, the automaker says it's going to build more cars in the U.S. From Reuters:
"We share the President's objective to build more American cars and create lasting American jobs. We look forward to working with him and his team," Stellantis said in a statement.
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Stellantis, which at the start of Trump's presidency in January had announced investments at its U.S. operations, said on Thursday it strongly supported "his determination to enable the American automotive sector to thrive".
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The Trump administration, which slapped tariffs on its North American neighbors this week, eased the measures for carmakers after one of the steepest skids in nearly three months on Wall Street as the trade tensions spread worries among markets and investors.
Along with its plants in the U.S., Stellantis operates facilities in both Mexico and Canada. The automaker apparently imports about 40 percent of the vehicles it sells here from those two countries. If these tariffs were to go through as planned, it would cost Stellantis about $17.3 billion in 2025. It would also lose about 40 percent of its operating profits in a worst-case scenario. Yikes.
I mean, even without the tariffs, Stellantis is in a rough spot. Between Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram, the automaker sold about 1.43 million vehicles in North America in 2024. That's a drop of 470,000 vehicles since 2023.
Things aren't looking too hot for our deal old friends at Stellantis. Perhaps cozying up to a guy like Trump will turn things around. (Spoiler: it will not.)
2nd Gear: February auto sales tick down
Car buyers spent more money on new vehicles in February than in January, but it's not much of an indication of how the rest of the year will turn out for a couple of reasons: February is really damn short, and President Trump's tariff back and forth has made a mess of everything.
Retail volume during the second month of the year increased by 3.8 percent, hitting 1,010,000 sales, according to JD Power and GlobalData. Fleet sales were weaker than last year, though. Can't win 'em all. From Automotive News:
The average incentive per vehicle increased 23 percent to $3,227 last month, J.D. Power and GlobalData said, with incentive spending at 6.5 percent of sticker price, 1.1 percentage point higher than a year earlier.
Overall new-vehicle sales were expected to decrease 0.6 percent to 1,243,700 from 1,251,315 a year ago, J.D. Power and GlobalData said. February had 24 selling days, one fewer than last year.
The month's seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales was between 16.1 million and 16.6 million vehicles, J.D. Power, GlobalData, Deutsche Bank and Cox Automotive projected, up from 16 million a year earlier and 15.8 million in January.
February was apparently the sixth consecutive month that the sales pace has increased year over year — welcome news for the automotive industry, I'm sure. That trend is expected to continue throughout 2025.
That is, of course, unless Trump's tariffs muck everything up. The White House used the snip-snap-snip-snap method for duties on cars imported from Canada and Mexico, and that did not go over well with many.
If they do go back into effect in a month's time, expect new car transaction prices to rise pretty significantly. As it stands, February's new vehicle transaction price was $44,619, AutoNews reports.
3rd Gear: GM-LG battery plant workers win UAW contract
Workers at a battery manufacturing joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solutions in Tennessee have overwhelmingly approved their first contract with the company. The agreement — approved by nearly 1,000 UAW members at the plant — improves upon gains achieved in the union's national contract with GM for those workers. From Reuters:
Specifically, the agreement ensures fair work practices and workplace safety at the plant and secures "fair pay and benefits," according to the union's negotiating committee.
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The deal's highlights include a one-time $3,000 lump sum payment and wages that align with what Ultium workers make at a plant in northeast Ohio, which was the first to unionize. The wages currently start at $26.91 and include increases every year to reach $35 per hour by September 2027.
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UAW officials have voiced concerns about members' job security with more EVs coming. UAW President Shawn Fain has made organizing these plants a priority and a sticking point during the UAW and Detroit Three talks in 2023 that led to a six-week strike.
In September of last year, Ultium Cells agreed to recognize the union at the plant. It came fairly soon after workers at another Ultium Cells plant on Ohio signed a new contact with the UAW they fought for in 2022.
4th Gear: Explosion kills one at Toyota supplier
A worker was killed and two more were injured in an explosion at the Chuo Spring Co.'s Fujioka plant in Toyota City, Japan. This is less than two years after an explosion at the same factory derailed Toyota's production for over a week. The Japanese automaker is the plant's biggest shareholder, and the plant reportedly makes chassis springs, precision springs and controller cables among other automotive parts. From Automotive News:
By midday, Toyota had not received any reports about interrupted production following the morning accident, a spokesman said. Toyota is Chuo Spring's biggest shareholder, with a take of around 24 percent, according to the supplier's investor relations webpage.
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Another explosion at Chuo Spring's Fujioka factory, in October 2023, caused Toyota to sequentially shut down assembly plants because of parts shortages, Japan's Kyodo News reported.
In that case, Toyota suspended production on 13 lines at eight plants and needed 10 days to resume output, it said.
The explosion apparently happened in a dust collector, and there are some TV reports that show aerial footage of the plant with a hole in the roof and blown-out windows.
Reverse: We thank Bayer for its service
On this day in 1899, Bayer patented Aspirin. I don't know where I'd be today without it, but I know my head would be pounding. Here's more from History.com:
Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow trees. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid-19th century, it was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to damage the stomach.