Gm Wants To Sell You Gas Guzzlers

Happy Wednesday! It's July 15, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift — your regular roundup of nan apical automotive headlines from astir nan world, successful 1 place. This is wherever you'll find nan astir important stories that are shaping nan measurement Americans thrust and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking astatine GM swapping its EV accumulation capacity for pickup trucks and SUVs, arsenic good arsenic Ford announcing caller rider cars are coming down nan tube — just, not for nan United States. Instead, we'll look astatine nan shiny caller Ford callback we're getting complete here, positive nan effect of tariffs connected level shaper Embraer. 

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General Motors is simply a forward-thinking company, and arsenic specified it started a task backmost successful 2023 to person its Orion works successful Michigan to build electrical vehicles. Enormous, hulking, lumbering EVs for illustration nan Silverado and Sierra, but EVs nonetheless. Now, though, it seems GM's foresight has gotten a small cloudy. It still intends to usage nan Orion works to build enormous, hulking, lumbering vehicles, but now they won't beryllium electric. From Automotive News:

General Motors will build some of its light-duty full-size pickups and nan Cadillac Escalade full-size SUV astatine a Michigan assembly works starting successful 2027.

The automaker connected July 15 confirmed it will build nan Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra astatine Orion Assembly, astir 35 miles northbound of Detroit. The Orion works is 1 of 3 that GM past period said will stock a $4 cardinal finance to grow U.S. accumulation of gasoline-powered vehicles.

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The Orion works has been down since precocious 2023, primitively to person to building electrical versions of nan Silverado and Sierra. That scheme was delayed doubly earlier GM past period said nan works would beryllium utilized to supplement accumulation of soul combustion pickups.

The mill presently employs astir 200 group who build artillery modules for electrical vehicles made astatine GM's Factory Zero works successful Detroit, a spokesperson said. That cognition started past twelvemonth and was portion of GM's original electrification plans for nan Orion factory.

The move present brings much accumulation into nan U.S., shifting it from Mexico and Canada successful nan look of tariffs, but it besides cuts GM's expertise to return moreover nan mildest measurement towards considering nan future. They opportunity that climate alteration will manifest arsenic a bid of disasters viewed done phones pinch footage that gets person and person to wherever you unrecorded until you're nan 1 filming it, and earlier this week nan footage came from New York City. How agelong until it reaches that fancy Hudson's building?

Ford Europe

Ford's rider cars are long-dead successful nan U.S., prevention nan Mustang, but they've held connected amended successful Europe. The Focus whitethorn not beryllium agelong for this world, but it's still kicking for now — and it seems it could person a successor successful nan works, according to European dealers. From Automotive News:

Ford will grow its European rider car lineup pinch caller models, dealers person been told.

Ford CEO Jim Farley plans to create caller rider cars successful Europe again, dealers were told successful a video convention by Christoph Herr, caput of nan marque successful German-speaking countries.

In caller years, U.S. automaker has downsized its rider car offerings successful Europe to attraction connected its much profitable ray commercialized vehicles business.

The celebrated Fiesta mini car was dropped, on pinch nan Galaxy and S-Max minivans. The Focus compact car is owed to spell retired of accumulation successful nan autumn.

Remember rider cars? Before we each needed 60,000 pounds of SUV to transportation 1 singular personification to activity and back? That wasn't truthful agelong ago. It wouldn't beryllium difficult to spell backmost to smaller vehicles. 

Ford

It's been a large twelvemonth for Ford recalls, pinch nan institution breaking nan yearly grounds for recalls successful conscionable nan first half of 2025. But Ford, ne'er 1 to remainder connected its laurels, is keeping nan pedal down — recalling different astir 700,000 Bronco Sports and Escapes for substance injectors that whitethorn leak. From Reuters:

Ford is recalling 694,271 crossover SUVs successful nan United States owed to a substance leak rumor that could summation nan consequence of a fire, nan U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said connected Wednesday, pursuing a year-long investigation.

The NHTSA said substance injectors successful affected vehicles whitethorn crack, causing substance to leak into nan motor compartment and perchance ignite. Drivers whitethorn announcement a beardown substance smell wrong aliases extracurricular nan vehicle, dashboard warnings, smoke, aliases visible flames.

The callback covers definite 2021–2024 Bronco Sport and 2020–2022 Escape models equipped pinch 1.5-litre engines. The NHTSA estimates that 0.3% of recalled vehicles whitethorn person nan defect.

At this point, each nan Ford recalls are opening to blur together and overlap successful my encephalon owed to their sheer number and size, but I benignant of thought we already sewage this one. In April, nan institution recalled Escapes and Bronco Sports for leaky substance injectors, arsenic it did back successful 2022. Are nan injectors nan problem, aliases is thing cracking them?

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Ever flown connected a existent small level for a short-hop connecting flight? It whitethorn good person been an Embraer, a Brazilian planemaker that sends plentifulness of E175s to nan United States. Embraer is looking down nan tube of 50% tariffs connected Brazil — notably Trump's first tariffs to beryllium purely ideological, alternatively than relying connected immoderate incomprehensible waste and acquisition shortage math. Embraer is, unsurprisingly, not emotion awesome astir nan full thing. From Reuters:

The 50% tariff that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to enforce connected Brazilian exports starting successful August could hammer nan gross of planemaker Embraer (EMBR3.SA), opens caller tab for illustration nan COVID-19 pandemic did, its CEO warned connected Tuesday, flagging risks to U.S. partners.

Francisco Gomes Neto told reporters nan tariffs would magnitude to a waste and acquisition embargo connected nan location jets it supplies to U.S. airlines and could trigger bid cancellations, deferred deliveries and reliable consequences for Embraer's U.S. suppliers.

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The U.S. is nan main marketplace for Embraer, nan world's third-largest planemaker aft Airbus (AIR.PA), opens caller tab and Boeing (BA.N), opens caller tab, pinch U.S. clients buying 45% of nan firm's commercialized airliners and 70% of its executive jets.

Analysts had warned that nan Brazilian planemaker would beryllium 1 of nan astir affected by nan tariffs.

I've ne'er loved my clip connected Embraer planes — I'm much of a quad pitchy girlie myself — but location are immoderate routes for which an A380-800 simply doesn't make sense. We'll spot what happens to those routes erstwhile these small planes get prohibitively expensive. 

Did you cognize there's an full subreddit devoted to loving nan Romanovs and penning fanfiction astir really cleanable everything would beryllium had those pesky communists not killed them? There is, it's real, nan world is simply a fascinating place. 

It's been a infinitesimal since I listened to "Champions of Red Wine," but y'know what? It's still a bop!