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Ford workers vote to ratify new four-year UAW contract

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union said on Friday that rank-and-file members at Ford have voted in favor of a new four-year labor contract with the No. 2 U.S. automaker. The UAW will now focus on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the sole remaining Detroit automaker without a new labor contract. Talks with FCA are expected to begin on Monday, a UAW spokesman said. The union said 56.3% of Ford's hourly workers voted to approve the deal, which allowed the company to avoid a strike like the one that cost its larger rival General Motors about $3 billion (GBP2.3 billion). UAW leaders said earlier this month that Ford under the deal agreed to invest more than $6 billion in its U.S. plants, and to create or retain more than 8,500 UAW jobs. The deal also includes pay raises and lump-sum payments over the life of the contract, a pathway to full-time employment for temporary employees and unchanged healthcare coverage. Workers at GM approved a deal in late October that ended a contentious 40-day U.S. strike, the longest automotive labor stoppage since 1970. Detailed terms of the Ford deal — released just a week after GM workers approved their new contract — echoed those agreed to with GM, as the union typically uses the first deal as a template for those that follow. UAW leaders managed contract negotiations with Ford and GM, including the lengthy strike, while struggling with an ongoing federal corruption probe. To date, 10 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the criminal investigation into illegal payoffs. Just last week former UAW vice president and former GM board member Joseph Ashton was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud. Earlier this month the UAW said that its president, Gary Jones, who had been linked to the ongoing corruption probe, was taking a leave of absence. Rory Gamble, the union's acting head, said last week he will examine every department of the union in response to the spreading federal corruption probe to prevent future misuse of members' dues.

Lincoln confirms the MKZ only has a few months left to live

Lincoln confirmed it will put the MKZ out to pasture in 2020. The sedan is based on the Ford Fusion, which is also scheduled to retire in the coming months as the company pivots towards high-riding models. Introduced at the 2012 New York Auto Show, the MKZ is the oldest member of the Lincoln portfolio by a wide margin, so its demise hardly comes as a surprise. The firm quietly broke the news as it announced plans to release an electric SUV built using technology borrowed from Rivian. The 2020 model is already out, and Lincoln tells Autoblog production will end in mid-2020, with sales continuing through the rest of the year. There will be no 2021 model.   Though never a home run, the MKZ will be remembered as a significant car because it ushered in the design language that characterizes every model Lincoln sells in 2020 when it received a mid-cycle update for the 2017 model year. And, with up to 400 horsepower on tap, it also stood out as the most powerful production Lincoln ever released. Power and an elegant design weren't enough to give the nameplate a significant boost, and annual sales dropped to 17,725 units in 2019 from a peak of 34,009 cars in 2014. Even the Navigator outsold it. In recent years, the MKZ perplexingly became the autonomous car world's darling. Faraday Future, Didi Chuxing, Aurora, and Qualcomm are among the companies that tested their technology with MKZ-based prototypes. Lincoln explained the Hermosillo, Mexico, factory that makes the MKZ and the Fusion will "prepare for production of new Ford vehicles," but it didn't specify which ones. There's absolutely no evidence the company is developing a direct replacement for its entry-level sedan, so the Continental will carry the torch on its own. Its days might be numbered, too, because several unverified reports claim Lincoln will again consign the nameplate to the attic in the coming years to free up the production capacity it needs to build electric cars in Flat Rock, Michigan. Once it goes, Lincoln's range will be entirely sedan-free for the first time since the company was created in 1917. Some automakers still believe in the sedan, like Audi, but Lincoln seems to be a student of Ford's philosophy. Related Video:    

BMW, Hyundai score big in JD Power's first Tech Experience Index

While automakers are quick to brag about winning a JD Power Initial Quality Study award, the reality, as we've pointed out before, is that these ratings are somewhat misleading, since IQS doesn't necessarily distinguish genuine quality issues. JD Power's new Tech Experience Index aims to solve that problem. The new metric takes the same 90-day approach as IQS but focuses exclusively on technology – collision protection, comfort and convenience, driving assistance, entertainment and connectivity, navigation, and smartphone mirroring. It splits the industry up into just seven segments, based loosely on size, which is why the Chevrolet Camaro is in the same division (mid-size) as Kia Sorento and the Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class is in the same segment as the Hyundai Genesis (mid-size premium). It makes for some screwy bedfellows, to be sure. Still, splitting tech experience away from initial quality should allow customers to make more informed and intelligent decisions when buying new vehicles. In the inaugural study, respondents listed BMW and Hyundai as the big winners, with two segment awards – the 2 Series for small premium and the 4 Series for compact premium, and the Genesis for mid-size premium and Tucson for small segment. The Chevrolet Camaro (midsize), Kia Forte (compact), and Nissan Maxima (large) scored individual wins. Ford also had a surprising hit with the Lincoln MKC, which ranked third in the compact premium segment behind the 4 Series and Lexus IS. This is a coup for the Blue Oval, whose woeful MyFord Touch systems made the brand a victim of the IQS' flaws in the early 2010s. But Ford and other automakers might not want to celebrate just yet. According to JD Power, there's still a lot of room for improvement – navigation systems were the lowest-rated piece of tech in the study. Instead, customers repeatedly saluted collision-avoidance and safety systems, giving the category the best marks of the study and listing blind-spot monitoring and backup cameras as two must-have features – 96 percent of respondents said they wanted those two systems in their next vehicle. But this isn't really a surprise. Implementation of safety systems from brand to brand is similar, and they don't require any input from users, unlike navigation and infotainment systems which are frustratingly deep.