On Thursday before the bell, Ford Motor (NYSE:F) shares rose 3% before the bell as it reached a tentative deal with the UAW. Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) also followed with a 1% rise as analysts expected the automaker to follow Ford’s footsteps and end an unprecedented strike that the consultancy Anderson Economic Group estimated to have had an economic cost of $9.3 billon. Also today, Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) revealed that it will be buying a 21% stake in Leapmotor, a Chinese EV maker, for $1.6 billion in attempt to revive its appeal in China. 

Ford and the UAW agreed upon a 25% wage hike over the 4-1/2-year contract, beginning with an initial increase of 11%. General Motors as well as Stellantis previously offered a 23% increase in wages. The ratification of 57,000 UAW workers employed at Ford will take up to 2 weeks, kicking off on October 29th, upon approval of the deal by the UAW's leadership. Ford’s deal will undoubtedly serve as a template for GM and Stellantis. According to Reuters, the UAW stated that when compounding and cost-of-living mechanisms are factored in, GM and Stellantis are in for total pay hikes of more than 33%. The agreement that Ford made reverses concsessions the union agreed to when GM, Chrysler and Ford were desperately trying to stay afloat. By ending the strike, Ford avoided the UAW going against its facility in Dearborn but only time will show if these concessions put it at a disadvantage against non-unionized EV makers such as Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). 

While the world eagerly awaits for Tesla to bring its Cybertruck to life, this year will end with plenty of developments on the electric pickup front. For example, Hyundai Motor Company (OTC:HYMTF) was among the first to express its interest in Worksport’s game changing solutions. Hyundai will be getting a customized version of Worksport’s proprietary solar-powered pickup for its Santa Cruz pickup. Moreover, Hyundai Motor is a rare automaker who is not toning down its EV ambitions. Today, Hyundai confirmed it will not be delaying its EV plans and showed optimism for continued growth this year, which is a sharp contrast to its rivals. Considering that Hyundai Motor is not a member of the UAW and that it has been making significant effort in reducing logistics costs, its assembly plant in Alabama and EV-factory in the making in Georgia are protected from the effects of the strike.

After securing $16 million USD annual sales agreement for its hard-folding and soft-folding covers with a leading U.S. aftermarket reseller earlier this year, Worksport announced today a Canada-based automotive market reseller has expressed interest in its hard-folding covers that were already sent as samples. Worksport is unable to disclose the name of private-label customers but revealed that the annual sales volume of this potential client surpass $10 billion CAD.

Tesla also reported today it received an order from BP EV unit that ordered $100 million worth Tesla chargers. As it gained a new revenue stream, Tesla announced that this is first deployment of its chargers on an independent network. After Tesla took a beating after a dissapointing quarterly report and the UAW embarked on an unprecedented strike against all three Detroit automakers, these developments are all good news that the automotive world needs right now.