The United Auto Workers (UAW) union escalated its strike against General Motors (GM) on Saturday to include a Tennessee engine plant, after Ford and Stellantis reached tentative contract agreements this week.
After Ford and Stellantis reached tentative deals with the UAW in the past few days, the union officially launched a new round of strikes against GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, engine plant on Saturday, according to a report from Reuters. The plant employs 4,000 workers and supplies motors to nine different assembly plants, which build the automaker’s most profitable vehicles.
On Saturday, Reuters also reported that UAW President Shawn Fain said the union was “disappointed by GM’s unnecessary and irresponsible refusal to come to a fair agreement.”
GM stated that it was disappointed by the UAW’s move to strike against its Spring Hill plant. The automaker also said it expected at least two of its larger pickup factories to be affected by the walkout, adding that it hoped to reach an agreement quickly.
The statements came after the union reached agreements with both Ford and Stellantis this week featuring a 25-percent wage increase over the lifespan of the next contract. With cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) factored in, the Ford and Stellantis pay hikes amount to over 33 percent increases, and both are expected to begin with an initial 11 percent wage boost.
GM is the only remaining “Big Three” automaker that hasn’t reached an agreement yet with the union, though it isn’t clear exactly what obstacles prevented the company from progressing toward an agreement.
According to sources familiar with the talks, pension costs and temporary workers were a few sticking points during contract negotiations.
“We look forward to welcoming our 43,000 employees back to work and resuming operations,” Stellantis said after it came to a tentative agreement with the UAW on Saturday.
In a statement, U.S. President Joe Biden called the Stellantis contract “a testament to the power of unions and collective bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs.”
ICYMI: Here's how the ratification process works for UAW Stellantis.#StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/U7KZo9aj57
— UAW (@UAW) October 29, 2023
The deal with Stellantis also includes the reopening of the automaker’s Belvidere, Illinois plant, along with keeping two other facilities open that were expected to close: an engine manufacturing plant in Trenton, Michigan and a machining facility in Toledo, Ohio.
Stellantis is expected to invest as much as $19 billion in the U.S., creating around 5,000 jobs after the company previously expected to cut that many workers.
Bargaining with GM is expected to continue, though it’s not entirely clear when talks will reconvene.
The union is also expected to meet with local union leaders from Ford on Sunday afternoon in Taylor, Michigan, to begin the contract ratification process. The UAW is also expected to offer a video update at 7:00 p.m. ET on the discussions with Ford.
Following the discussions on Sunday, union leaders will attend larger regional meetings to discuss the deal with workers, all of whom must approve the plans before the contract is ratified. Last month, Mack Truck workers voted to reject a deal that Fain and the UAW had recommended, and the same could happen with the current contract talks.
The UAW has a strike still ongoing at GM’s Arlington, Texas assembly plant, which the automaker said was costing the company around $400 million per week.
Stellantis and GM furlough more workers as UAW strike expands
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
