Updates on the Auto Industry Strikes and Electric Vehicle Transitions

Welcome to another in wheel time podcast, a 30 minute mini version of the in wheel time car show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central From the fabulous sugar shock studios. It is the in wheel time car talk show coming up we're going to have I have to turn the page because I thought it's a Bob.

Seeger song.

Turn the page, is it really? Only you would know that Coming up. We're going to get an update on the UAW strike. Remember, the new proposed contract still is yet to be ratified. We have the upcoming events calendar as well. In this segment, mr Mars reviews the new Chevy Trailblazer and later Auto teacher Jonathan couch joins us. Plus, you'll hear the stories making automotive news headlines. All that and more just ahead in this hour Of the in wheel time car talk show. Oh, if you're listening in a podcast 30-minute segment, it's about to happen. You just have to listen to the next segment to get the full out. Yep, so there's that. Don't be late, along with Mike out of this world, mars King, conrad DeLong. We always need more. Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us on this Saturday for this mashup of a car show.

It's going pretty smooth. You know we've had a couple guests not sure a guest not show up and I kind of like the format.

I do that that kind of format, whether you don't show up.

Mike's got Mike and you have done something different with the commercial brakes and all that good stuff. It seems to be working. Just dandy is it?

well, I'm glad that you, that you, approve because we like the way your sound system worked first, first, right off the bat.

Yeah, that didn't work too good, because I had this. I had this. I had this Mike Mars cable plugged into my computer and it caused my computer not to put out any audio.

Which is good to know that. We were going to test that after the show, but we got that out.

We got that out of the way without, so we just tested it on you. There's that All right, and thank you for your feedback. Thank you for your patience and no, no, thank you Thank you.

Oh no, thank you, thank you, Thank you.

Hello.

Do it next week.

All right, joining us now, sundar Ash Haragu. I go associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Engineering, architecture and technology at Oklahoma State University and we're gonna go cowboys. We're gonna talk to him about the UAW strike and get an update on it. Good morning sir. How are you? I'm doing very well, thank you for having me on your show and I hope I I didn't, I hope I didn't mash, I hope I didn't mash up your name too too much.

You did it quite well. Thank you oh.

I Guest right, yay me. So let's talk about the UAW strike. It seems to be going in the right direction. I think that I Hear that the only thing it's left now is for the auto workers themselves to Verify, ratify the contract that has been proposed to all three of the US automakers. Am I correct?

Yeah, that is correct. In fact, I think one plant you know ratified it just yesterday I believe. I think it was a Ford, one of the Ford plans. So with an overwhelming majority, by the way, they are in support of the new Contracts. So I think things are going in the right direction and I would say for both, not just the worker employees Of the auto plans, but also the companies themselves.

Well, you know and I'm glad this this is taking this kind of turn that everybody said, yes, we'll agree to the 25% Pay raise, but there's more to just the 25% pay raise. It doesn't all happen at once, does it.

Now it happens over a period of four years. But there's all. There are also other things that that's in the package. You know they got rid of the tiered system. There are benefits that are now going to be in place. I think one of the companies I think it was Stellantis that had to open a plant in Illinois as part of these negotiations. So I think it's you know, from my vantage point, I look at it as a win-win-win for all.

Well, that plant that you're referring to is the Belvedere plant. As a matter of fact, we talked about it on this show a few weeks ago when I went to visit my cousin up in Wisconsin. Going from Chicago to Wisconsin, you passed right past that plant and it's right there on the highway going up to Wisconsin 90 I think it is, and you know, passing these ginormous assembly plants, it breaks by heart to see one that's sitting there, not running. Not, there's no one in the parking lot. They got a guard sitting out there so you can't go in. Okay, I got that, but it's really not about the plant, the physical plant itself. It's about all of the people that that plant employed Thousands 1500, I think it was when they closed, that weren't under contract but were people around the plant that did business with the contractors. And that goes with all of these plants that shut down, because you know the little bar down the street, the hangout that these employees to the automakers go and hang out after their shift, is over with. And how about the parts suppliers? Those guys too, hurting as well, because if the assemblers aren't putting the cars together, well, what are they going to do? They're going to have to shut down too.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, if a plant is shut down, like you said, it just doesn't impact the employees there, but you know they say that for every automobile worker, there are six other jobs that are dependent upon it, so it has a huge ripple effect. And the other thing, too, is, you know, if you go back to the financial crisis of 2008, following which there was a ton of money that was put into the automotive sector and, of course, with the new inflation reduction act, again there's more resources that are coming, that have already come via ways to see all of these plants that can be performing at peak capacity. So it's been what? Seven weeks since the strike started? And, like we said earlier, things are going in the right direction. One plant has ratified the contract and I think you know the short term, the automobile companies are probably going to take a bit of a hit. But if you look at their profits since for the last 10 years, the total profits have gone up by 92 percent, right, it's a total of $250 billion or something, and this year they're expected to make north of $30 billion, despite the strike, by the way, I mean that might put a little bit of a dent but that's good for, you know, American manufacturing. That's good for certainly the employees, but just the whole economy around a plant. You know, not just the suppliers that's an important component but also, you know, like the mom and pop shops, the cafeterias, the Starbucks and all that that surround these plants. So, yeah, it's a way to have them sit any longer in an idle state.

Well, I also heard that there is some effect on some of these companies where they have pulled back on some of their EV expansions, delayed them, postponed them and, in some cases, actually canceled them. So there's going to be a much longer term effect, I think, on some of these companies, don't you?

Yeah, in fact I think GM is going to postpone as of now, postpone the transition to EV or building new EV plants by about a year. That's probably reasonable, but if they do it any longer than that, you know, then they are kind of out to play catch-up five years from now. I know currently the EV sales have gone down a bit, but you know, we all know that that's the future right. So they don't do the steps that they need to do now to transition to that environment, whether it's battery manufacturing or just EV plants. They might be left behind and other competitors will take over. You know their core business.

How much impact do you think this strike has had on tier two and tier three suppliers as far as closing down and maybe never coming back?

Yeah, if you look at, you know companies like you know suppliers to all three automakers. Actually you know companies like AppTiva and others. They are actually hurting. They're going to have reduced sales in the next, certainly this quarter. Longer-term effects you know could be perhaps minimized if they take some concrete actions to get back up. So the companies. I was thinking was data and active right that they supply to the big three. But if you look at, the tier three, tier four suppliers. There are many small companies that you know have cash flow issues that might not be able to make payroll, you know, from one month to the other they are definitely going to hurt in the short term hopefully not the long term. But this is where the big three perhaps has to step in and help stabilize their supplier base. You know they're all sitting on a high level of profit but if they work with their suppliers, especially the tier three, tier four, and support them with good financing terms and assured sales and things like that With the new clients opening, I think that's going to be helpful. But they can do a lot of things to make sure that their supplier base is not hurt.

And then, how many hits can these suppliers take through the years, getting hit back in 2008 with the collapse, getting hit with COVID and now getting hit with this strike? I think there's going to be. Some of them are just going to shut their doors and never come back.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, if you right go back to 2008,. But the pandemic for sure. But in between they had slowdowns, small strikes here and there, the chip shortage that put them way behind, plus the unpredictable demand. Right, who knew that the demand for cars right after the series, after the pandemic, was going to skyrocket, right? So, the economic uncertainties and other factors labor shortage right, we are sitting at about 3.8, somewhere around 3.8% unemployment rate, and not to mention the transition to EVs, right. All of this is just things that are impacting the stable operation of a business. So the ones that are nimble, the ones that are, you know, are able to adapt, are the ones that are going to do very well. But I think it's an interest for the big three to support all of their suppliers in the best way that they can.

Well, you know here's another thing too that I think people lose track of the fact that the guys that guys and gals that have been on the picket line, they were paid by the union $500 a week. So do the math how much is that? Over a year's period of time, they've lost money going into the Christmas holiday season. Oh yeah, and you know, despite the fact that, yeah, they got this four year agreement that raises their pay by 25% Over four years, over four years. So I don't know, as if they'll ever be able to make up the money that they've lost for the seven weeks that they've spent on the picket line.

Yeah, well, let's start with the employees first. Right, in the 10 year period, their wages have really gone down by around 10%. The estimates are somewhere between 10 and 15%, depending upon the type of skill that they bring in and now over a four year period, they've got a 25% wage increase. So that barely puts them back to where they were. You know, given inflation and you know, and the employees go to buy a car, they also see a huge increase in price, right, not to mention all of the other things that they buy. You know those prices have gone up. And for the companies themselves, I think you know again, when you're looking at the big three, they're what $30 billion profit that they're expected to take. So they will take a hit in the short run. But you know, all of the companies and the UAW, they get their act together, they work together. I think they can push the regular car market envelope even more, but also make a quick transition to EVs. You know that's coming. I don't know how much longer companies can afford to say I'm gonna push it by a year, I'm gonna push it by two years or three years. You know, use one excuse or the other, yeah, but it hurts everybody.

Well, especially the fact that these companies have already committed and invested billions of dollars in making EVs, and let's not even talk about the battery plants that are being built all over the United States, and those plants alone are a billion dollars apiece. I mean, we're talking about a lot, a lot of money.

Well, one of the things I read about the contract that they're gonna ratify or some of them will is that if a manufacturing plant closes in the United States, the contract can be null and void and they can go back on strike. So this is actually preventing the manufacturers from building new facilities like EV or hydrogen or whatever the case in the US, because down the road some of them will have to close.

And some more sell in EVs Right if you let them build them offshore Right, and that's where they're going with it, and I think building them offshore is gonna be a high probability yeah.

Yeah, oh yeah, Interesting, yeah. And think about the automobile industry, right, they're share of the US economy is something like one and a half trillion dollars, somewhere between three and 5%. You know not they produce how many cars I think almost a little more than 9 million cars in the US. So they have to make these investments and plans on a continuous basis. You know, they really need to have their eye on the long-term picture, right, Even if they close down some of these plans and if it's not in the contract to offer employment to the people who lost their jobs. By the way, some contracts they are saying, if you convert from gasoline engine based car to an EV car, some of the contracts are saying that the job needs to be guaranteed for the workers. But whether they have it in or not, they, you know with the labor shortage, right, they need to make sure that they've got, they're taking care of their employees well in the short term and the long term and offer them opportunities so they can begin to contribute because they already have the expertise right and doing the assembly plans and all that. So why not? You know, if you have to train new people, bring them in. That's going to cost them a whole lot more. I think, you know companies will probably need to look at longer term rather than just the quarterly results.

in my opinion, Well and your opinion is truly appreciated on this program and you bring quite a bit of knowledge to the whole thing and we want to stay in touch with you if we can, and get some more of your input once everybody gets back to work here in the next few weeks and see how things are going. Can we do that?

I would love to do that. Thank you, Don, Mike and everybody else on this crew. I appreciate you having me on this program.

And we appreciate you too, Senator.

Scherrigo Thank you very much.

Yeah, and you know I really didn't give him due justice in the introduction of his actual background. Yeah, the credentials. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering, architecture and Technology at Oklahoma State, where he is a Regents professor and holds the John Henricks Chair. He served at the University of Louisville as Director of the Logistics and Distribution Institute at Rensselaar Polytechnic Institute, state University of New York, pittsburgh, and held visiting appointments at State University of New York, buffalo, technical University of Eidenhoven University in the Netherlands and IBM's Thomas J Watson Research Center. Author of the fifth edition of Facilities Design and an expert on supply chain logistics I mean I could go on and on.

He's forgotten more than we'll ever know.

And you know what? I went to public school.

I graduated Oklahoma State in 78. Go Pokes Go.

Pokes.

Senator Resch, thank you so much. It's a pleasure and an honor to talk to you, sir. Thank you, thank you Awesome.

Thank you again, you bet.

Hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email. The address here is info at inwheeltimecom, and be sure to follow us on Facebook as well. Time now for the events calendar. We have events, and some of them we're going to participate in.

And some good ones. You know we're advertising now for Auto-Rama. Thanksgiving weekend Always the big event here in Houston. You want to go see a lot of custom cars. Auto-rama is a place to go. It's also a place a lot of car clubs will show up. I think Northside Mustang Club is going to have a big outing. They always do. They always have a big space set aside there. And then the fourth annual Memorial Benefit Taps and Turbo car shows is going to happen today at 12.30 at no Label Brewing in Katie. The 17th annual Heroes and Hot Rod Veterans Day weekend is next weekend in downtown Bastrop, hosted by the Bastrop Area Cruisers. They have 300 registered vehicles already. They have 400 registration openings, so they're still available for another 100 cars. If you're interested, go to BastropAreaCruiserscom and register your vehicle. It's a great show put on. It's been going on for quite a while and downtown Bastrop is kind of a cool little place to visit as well.

Definitely is. Thank you, sir. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with Mr Mars' review of the Chevy Trailblazer after this. Tailpipes and Tacos is back. It's been a while, but the popular tailpipes and Tacos cruise in returns to the loopy tortilla Tex-Max in Katie, and it's an extra special one. Bring your hot rod classic or modern classic to compete for one of the famous chili pepper trophies and get a free breakfast taco. Just make a donation of any size to God's Garage and loopies will match it. You'll be helping single mothers who need a set of wheels. It's been almost a year in the making so you won't want to miss tailpipes and Tacos. Saturday, November 11th, 8 to 11 am. Cruise in, donate what you want to God's Garage and grab a free loopy tortilla breakfast taco. Tailpipes and Tacos only happens at the loopy tortilla Tex-Max in Katie at 703 West Grand Parkway at Kingsland Boulevard, just south of the Katie Freeway. It's car show season and what better way to kick it off than a free taco and comradery at Tailpipes and Tacos. Saturday, November 11th, 8 to 11 am. The in real time car talk show will be there too. Perseance Benefit God's Garage.

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Yeah, he got it All right Time now for this hour's car review here on the in-wheel time car talk show, and mr Mars has a review of the Kia Kona. Oh, I'm sorry, never mind the Chevy Trailblazer.

So make sure you leave a space there that I can edit that out, please. So we're talking about the 2024 Chevrolet Trailblazer all-wheel drive RS. Now this is actually a second gen of this vehicle that was introduced in 2021, does come in for trim levels and LS and LT and active that I think you've had, don, and then the RS. You can get all-wheel drive in any of these vehicles, so we had the RS with their all-wheel drive. This is a subcompact SUV supposed to seat five. Better be friends in the back seats. All I can tell you. Well, it's a small, it's very small, it's calm, it is it is, and but it ain't your mom's truck based trailblazer that Used to be well, the people that watch this show.

They're young, they're enthusiastic and they don't remember the. That's true. That's what a grandpa and I will tell you that?

my teenage grandchildren. They really like this vehicle and they liked all the buttons there. I've got one too. The RS has got a unique grill on. It's got some unique RS badging with black trim on it. It's a blacked-out package. So we had the black roof with the summit white Body with a black panels across the bottom and the blacked-out wheels and stuff is really a sharp looking vehicle, you got it out in the sun. I agree it's really nice up front. You're gonna find LED lighting. It's also all around it. You're gonna find the heated side mirrors. Got some roof rails, got a power sunroof, power lift gate. That's hands-free. We were rolling on 19-inch gloss black aluminum wheels available on the RS Trim level and I really have to say I think some of the things that we're gonna get into, particularly in the interior, I was really surprised that a subcompact SUV had this much content on it. I really was. So you get inside you're gonna find that the seating on the RS trim level is it evo-tex seating material? Now that's a synthetic leather replacement, supposed to wear better but feel like leather, whatever. It was nice. Front seats are heated and ventilated. Passenger seat on this vehicle falls flat all the way down so that you can literally put an 8-foot object in there if you want to. And the second row, second seat folds 6040 and it falls down. And with this has the. For this year, the 24, they had the new 11-inch touchscreen where you're gonna find your nav and all your convenience to controls in the middle of the dash and there's an 8-inch driver screen. That's got all your content. Now, this is the vehicle I'm driving now is the same way. I've noticed the 24s. They're starting to take some of the stuff out of the driver screen, like trips and Mileage and things like that, and they're moving it over in the software into the center stack screen, so where you might normally like if you were looking for I reach that, the road trip. That's what happened. Yeah, yeah, can't find it over here in the driver's it's over in the center. Stack under some different. You got a dig for it, but it's. It's in there and it's nice.

Search for the menus to find.

Yes, yes, yes, you got to kind of look. We also had the premium Bose audio with seven speakers and it was really cool and we had the wireless charging. The second row has a and see USB type Charging port. You can't go out on the internet but you can charge your devices with either type In the second row. Now up under the hood, because it's the RS, it has the 1.3 liter turbo and this is a three cylinder. And Because it's the all-wheel drive and it's the RS, the standard engine in the trailblazer is the 1.2 liter three cylinder. The one we had is a hundred fifty five horsepower, 175 pound feet of torque, back by a nine speed automatic. Now if you get the 1.2 liter with a hundred and thirty seven horsepower, you're gonna get a CVT with it. That's just the way it is. Now the EPA says you should be looking for 26 miles to the gallon city out on the highway, 29 combined 27. Now I drove this vehicle a little much. I drove it for 145.3 miles a week I had it and I got 25.9 miles to gallon it, which I Pretty good, pretty, pretty happy with that concern, and most of that was in the city have enough horsepower.

Yeah, they look, get up and go it was adequate.

The way I put it, it's a little slow on the downshift because of the nine speed. We've talked about that before. With the small motors if you put a nine speed, you know sometimes you figures. Yes, it's got to go a little too far. Now. If you pull it down in about halfway down and step off into it, like it's more like a regular six-speed, it'll get up and go. So maybe a six-speed, performance wise, may have been a better choice. I don't know about gas, my eyes, I don't know if it would have it have paddle shifters. No, okay, did have three drive modes modes normal, sport, and then you get into the all-wheel drive and all that stuff and I couldn't tell much difference between any of them in this vehicle and I didn't really see any need to. I like driving it just the way I had it. Now, the base model price for this vehicle Again, remember the subcompact SUV $23,100 dang. Now, that's the base. The stripper, now the trim price on the RS was $28,700 still. However, we had some options. We had some package that pushed the MSRP up to 34 670. No, well, it did, but I really, looking around, I didn't really think that was too bad for the game out of content you get, because I didn't. There's still some More stuff in there that we just didn't have time to go into, so we're kind of hitting the highlights. But if you go, look at a Volkswagen toss toss, top house Tows yeah that one 24,155 dollars. A Mazda CX 30 26,360 these are the base trims and then the Subaru Crosstrek at 26 290. These are the four all-wheel drive vehicles that I could find in that same size, to kind of compare them to. But I was really surprised. Been a long time since I've said I really like this Chevrolet.

In the grand kids did too. Yeah, Kylie likes the one. She liked the tracks at the auto show.

Yeah, this is kind of price is situated, the size wise, between the tracks and the equinox. It's kind of fits in between the good eyes a little bit bigger, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah and but anyway I was. I was fairly impressed, and so if you're looking for a vehicle in that size, I would definitely go check this out when you're checking out the rest of the in real time car talk shows available 24-7 on I heart radio.

Just search in wheel time car talk. We also video stream on Facebook, youtube, twitch and in wheel time, calm and 30 minute podcasts. Right your fingertips on over a dozen of the most popular podcast outlets out there. The end wheel time car talk show will continue Right after this quick break. Hey.

Houston. America's greatest hot rod tradition is back Thanksgiving weekend the O'Reilly auto parts At the George R Brown Convention Center for action packed days of hot rods, customs Classics trucks and performance cars the ultimate lowrider showcase sponsored by shorties hydraulic, see lone-star Throwdowns, texas size truck spread. And don't miss the traditional rotten custom section Friday, saturday and Sunday see wild, high-flying freestyle motocross stunt shows. Shop, the swap meet and women's world all weekend on the celebrity stage presented by Nick's auto repair and classic car restoration. Friday meet a W-tag team superstars, the lucha bro. Saturday it's no old G Hector from the fast and furious. Sunday it's Lou Ferrigno, the original incredible help. The O'Reilly auto parts on a November 23rd through 26 at the George R Brown Convention Center. Discount tickets at O'Reilly auto parts part of the summer racing equipment Show car series see auto rama dot com for more info.

Houston's finest cars are invited to another Gulf Coast Auto Shield car social Saturday, december 2nd. And you're invited to show off your personal pride and joy or just stop in to see the likes of Lucid Lamborghini, porsche, ferrari and more. Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your one-stop shop for paint detailing, coatings, window tint, clear bras and wheel repair. The car social is your Opportunity to get a tour of this state of the art facility, located at 11 to 75 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest freeway. It all takes place Saturday, december 2nd, 9 to noon. This is the perfect opportunity to connect with other car enthusiasts, from BMWs to mentally's, corvette's to McLaren's. The car Social is a different kind of show. Talk to the owners. See Gulf Coast Auto Shields facility. You'll be amazed. Put it on your calendar now the Gulf Coast Auto Shield car social Saturday, december 2nd, 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest freeway. The in real-time car talk show will be there too. We'll see you then. That's it for this podcast episode of the in-wheel time car show. I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning, 8 to 11 am, central on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our in wheel time comm website. Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts.