Of course, there are two sides to every negotiation — or arguably four sides as the UAW seeks to negotiate three automaker contracts. And preposterous posturing is hardly limited to labor’s side.
Stellantis is the most likely strike target of the UAW, though the union continues to negotiate with all three. (UAW presidents traditionally have not narrowed efforts to one company until after Labor Day.)
The manufacturer of Jeeps, Rams and Peugeots, based in France, has become the largest and most profitable of the Detroit 3, and its predecessor was most involved in the UAW’s bribery scandal.
It’s tried to maintain a positive disposition about the talks, even noting in a statement that it is not looking for concessions from the union.
But CEO Carlos Tavares, wary of the costly transition to electric vehicles, stressed the need to ensure that middle-class consumers can continue to buy new cars.
“If we want to protect the jobs in the U.S. and the manufacturing footprint in the U.S., we need to find the conditions to make a $25,000 BEV in the U.S. that we can sell at significant volumes with reasonable margins for that proposal to the market to be sustainable,” Tavares told reporters.
A clean, affordable, low-maintenance car that sells for about a third of the median U.S. household income — and also generates a reasonable return for the manufacturer — sounds like a fantastic idea.
And while it would be fantastic — in the sense of wonderful or marvelous — his vision sounds a lot like fantasy.
EVs cost several thousand dollars more to make than gasoline-powered autos, and the cheapest car Stellantis sells in the U.S. is the slow-selling Fiat 500X, which starts at $27,965 before shipping charges. That’s 12 percent more than his supposed EV target price.