News
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Greg Biffle’s Estate Is Now Facing $40 Million in Claims. His Ex-Wife Just Asked to Freeze the Money.
Nicole Biffle wants $10 million from Greg Biffle’s estate over their daughter Emma’s death in the Statesville plane crash, and she wants payouts frozen until her claim is settled.
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Hyundai’s $5.8B Mississippi River Mill Is a Tariff Hedge Wrapped in Direct-Reduced Iron
Carmakers usually treat steel the way most of us treat tap water. It shows up, you pay the bill, and you only think about it when something goes wrong. Hyundai Motor Group has decided it would rather own the well. On September 4, Hyundai Steel held a ceremonial event at the RiverPlex MegaPark in Ascension…
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Today in Automotive History: September 25, 1926 — Henry Ford Announces the Five-Day, 40-Hour Workweek
Henry Ford announced the Ford five-day workweek on Sept. 25, 1926. The weekend it helped create still shapes how cars are sold, built and driven today.
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California Opened the Door to Robot Semis. Most of the Homework Gets Done in Texas.
California’s new heavy-duty AV rules demand a million autonomous miles before a driverless semi can deploy, but up to 800,000 of them can be logged in other states.
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Mercedes-Benz Ties the Future of Two German Factories to Longer Hours Without Extra Pay
Mercedes-Benz has finally said the quiet part out loud. At a works meeting at its Sindelfingen plant on Monday, September 21, production chief Michael Schiebe told employees the company’s clear goal is to keep all of its German sites. There was a condition attached, though: management and labor must agree on cost cuts. The company…
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A Model Y Hit a Wall on I-90. The Lawsuit’s Real Target Is Tesla’s Service Bay.
A Washington driver says his 2022 Model Y lost stability on a wet I-90 after two warranty visits for its rear drive motor. In an EV, that motor is part of the stability system, and at Tesla, the service center is the manufacturer.
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BMW xDrive Owners Take “Lifetime” Differential Fluid Promise to Federal Court
Every gearhead has heard the joke: “lifetime fluid” means the fluid lasts exactly as long as the part it’s protecting. A Pennsylvania lawsuit is now asking a federal judge to decide whether BMW wrote that joke into its maintenance schedule. The case targets the front differential on BMW’s big xDrive SUVs. A second, earlier suit…
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The Service Bay Pays Your Dealer’s Bills. AutoNation Just Warned It’s Slowing Down.
AutoNation’s stock fell 10.5% after a cautious investor talk. The real story is the service bay that earns half of every dealer’s gross profit, and why it’s slowing.
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Autobell’s Data Breach Settlement Isn’t About Your Car. It’s About Who Dried It.
The 2024 Autobell Car Wash breach reached 52,714 people, more than 17 times its workforce. The real story is what a high-turnover employer keeps after the job ends.
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Land Rover Blamed a Chip. Its Newest Recall Quietly Changes the Story.
Jaguar Land Rover has added 23,677 vehicles to a safety recall it filed five months ago. The unit count is the least interesting thing in the paperwork. What changed is the explanation. In April, JLR told federal regulators that one piece of silicon was at fault: an internal defect in the boost control microchip inside…
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Tesla’s Optimus Robot Factory Depends on Car-Parts Suppliers, and the Math Is Brutal
Word coming out of China’s supply chain this week is that Tesla’s humanoid robot team has been touring factories around the Yangtze River Delta. The chatter says those visits are meant to vet parts makers for Optimus production. Neither Tesla nor any supplier has publicly confirmed the visits, and no exchange filing I could find…
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Tesla’s Semi Plant Opens, Rivian Recalls Nearly 99,000 EVs, and What Else Moved
Tesla’s Semi factory opens, Rivian recalls 98,828 EVs over backup cameras, Geely hits four-minute charging, and the BYD question hangs over Xi’s visit.
