Latest news with #Reindustrialize
Axios
a day ago
- Business
- Axios
Archer and Anduril are "deep in the work" on secretive VTOL aircraft
Archer Aviation and Anduril Industries are "deep in the work, building stuff," for their hybrid-power vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, the former's CEO, Adam Goldstein, told Axios. Why it matters: Very little has been shared about the project, which was initially described as targeting a potential Pentagon program. What they're saying: "I think the U.S. and its allies have an increasing demand for autonomous and attritable assets, especially big flying things," Goldstein said in an interview on the sidelines of the Reindustrialize conference in Detroit. "The need is very near-term for this stuff. The question is: How much of it can you build?" Catch up quick: The companies announced their exclusive partnership in December. At the time, Goldstein told Axios: "You can imagine things that helicopters do are the things that we're building toward." Flashback: Archer most recently raised $850 million. It disclosed the funding ahead of the Paris Air Show, where it displayed its Midnight aircraft.
Axios
a day ago
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: Jake Sullivan encourages Trump team to buy munitions in bulk
Years of industrial complacency, including not putting "enough energy or emphasis on munitions," has painted the U.S. into a corner, former national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Axios. Solving the problem, he said, requires a "generational project" spanning business interests and political affiliations. Why it matters: Today's defense news cycle is dominated by questions of American manufacturing might. The conversation is set against a backdrop of competition with Russia and China (and their growing symbiosis). The sudden shipbuilding obsession, including President Trump's own preoccupation, is a symptom of this. Driving the news: Sullivan spoke to Axios on the sidelines of the Reindustrialize conference in downtown Detroit, a city experiencing its own metropolitan rebirth. There's a pressing need, he said, "for the national security community — not just the economic policy community — in the United States to be focused on reconstituting our industrial base in critical sectors that are going to define the future." The status quo "was decades in the making," he added. "When I came in, I found just how weakened a state our defense-industrial base was in." State of play: Reams of studies, white papers, op-eds and surveys detail the fragility of the defense-industrial base (DIB). Govini's National Security Scorecard, published this summer, warned that China's "relentless three-decade military modernization — with an estimated $236 billion expenditure in 2024 — and Russia's industrial surge capacity — quintupling artillery shell production since 2022 — starkly contrast with the U.S. DIB." The Ronald Reagan Institute's National Security Innovation Base Report Card, shared in March, cautioned that the U.S. "struggles to manufacture and field new national security tech" at speeds and scales that matter. And the Commission on the National Defense Strategy concluded last July that the Pentagon's "business practices, byzantine research and development and procurement systems, reliance on decades-old military hardware, and culture of risk avoidance" reflect a bygone era. Yes, but: There's hope the ship can be righted. It will take time — meaning multiple administrations and, potentially, conflicts. Sullivan in conversation with Axios encouraged the Trump administration to pursue multiyear contracting for munitions. Such deals give defense contractors "the certainty to make the capital expenditures to build the factories, to supply the munitions, rather than make this a year-by-year thing." Multiyear munitions buys were also favored by the House China Committee. What they're saying: "The more you challenge the industrial base, you build the muscle, and it's like a flywheel," Darin DiTommaso, a GE Aerospace vice president, told Axios at the conference. "You actually enhance the capability of the supply base by putting more challenge on them, as opposed to starting and stopping programs, because that's when you lose people, and you lose skill sets," he said. "It's really hard to restart a production line once you've stopped it." By the numbers: The U.S. Air Force in 2024 inked a $3.2 billion multiyear contract with Lockheed Martin for Long Range Anti-Ship and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff missiles. That same year, the Navy secured a bulk deal with HII for four amphibious warships, expected to save the service $1 billion. The bottom line: "A country without robust manufacturing is hardly a country at all," Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, said in a Reindustrialize speech.
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Slate shows its bare-bones, ‘mid-$20s' EV truck at Detroit summit
DETROIT - Slate Auto, the Michigan electric vehicle startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has publicly touted a starting price for its pickup of "under $20,000" since coming out of stealth mode in April. But that was before President Donald Trump's big tax and domestic policy bill was signed into law on July 4, halting the $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers by the end of September. Now, Slate CEO Chris Barman said in Detroit this week, the starting price will be in "mid-$20s" when the two-seater trucks ideally start rolling off the line at a facility in Warsaw, Indiana, late next year. "Our business model was never built upon that tax credit being in place," Barman told The Detroit News at the Reindustrialize summit, a gathering of executives and policy experts focused on bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Slate showed off one of its vehicles at the summit. "We always viewed it as something that would be great for the customer to be able to get an even more affordable vehicle. But we've always, you know, had a target of being priced in the mid-$20s, and that's what our business case has been built upon," she said. Still, the company had widely touted the sub-$20,000 price tag upon its launch. TechCrunch reported that the carmaker stopped promoting that figure on its website once Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill" passed at the start of the month. A mid-$20s price tag would put the stripped-down EV truck in line with a number of entry-level vehicles on the road today - rather than, at the initial sub-$20,000 mark, potentially the cheapest new car out there. Slate, headquartered in Troy, has built much of its early brand on going against the grain of the auto industry's ever-increasing focus on bigger screens, more sensors and various other luxury accoutrements. A hype video Barman showed to Reindustrialize attendees noted that "cars are getting bigger, fancier and more expensive, because of ... stuff." Chief Commercial Officer Jeremy Snyder pointed out at an April launch that the average new car payment tops $700 per month and that many new cars face frequent warranty issues due to being packed with so much technology. "The industry has abandoned the majority of Americans," he said. Slate says it will offer a basic truck with only a few standard features, including air conditioning, cruise control and rear and forward-facing cameras. Much more can be customized later by the owner - items like additional speakers, colorful wraps and a DIY conversion kit to turn the little pickup into a five-seat SUV. "By eliminating the complexities of build configurations as well as a paint shop, we passed savings back to the customer without cutting corners," Barman said in a presentation. She said Slate's idea has quickly gained traction, with more than 100,000 people so far placing a $50 reservation. The startup is also advertising that the truck will be America-made at a moment when there is increasing interest in domestic manufacturing with Trump's tariff policies. The company is converting an old printing press facility in Warsaw, population 16,000, into its assembly site and expects to eventually employ close to 2,000 people. "We're still doing quite a bit of demolition" on the interior of the production site, Barman told The News. "We're gonna be, within the next few weeks, starting to get into laying in some floors where we had to take (them out) because the depth of the cement there wasn't enough for the equipment we put in. So we're really putting a lot of infrastructure in right now." Barman said her company aims to source parts domestically wherever possible, with a number of suppliers so far based in the Midwest. But some parts for the truck simply can't be found in the United States anymore, the CEO said, like the truck's manual-crank window regulator, which is sourced from Brazil. She said Slate sees itself as drawing in customers who would otherwise only be considering used cars, which on average sell for about what the Slate truck aims to retail for, in the mid-$20,000s. "We're going to be pulling from the whole 35 million used vehicle (market)," Barman said, where shoppers figured they may be forced to settle for fewer safety standards and no warranty. "Now, they can step into a vehicle that has all the latest safety standards, comes with a warranty. It's an EV, so repairs will be lower because there's less parts to maintain in the vehicle, and it can grow with them. ... If they can't afford to make it an SUV when they first buy it, a year later, two years later, they can then change it out." Several EV startups have gone bankrupt or faced dire financial straits in over the last year as demand for the vehicles hasn't met expectations and funding has dried up. Even established players like Tesla Inc., Rivian Automotive Inc. and Lucid Group Inc. face headwinds, especially now that the tax credit is ending. Slate, though, is pushing ahead and advertises almost 100 open positions on its website in Michigan, Indiana and elsewhere. The startup has drawn attention from more established automotive players because of its Bezos connection and its focus on being cheap and customizable. "It was really interesting seeing that (Slate truck) out there," Paul Stephens, Ford Motor Co.'s global strategy manager, said on a panel at the Reindustrialize summit. "Complexity reduction is one thing, and part-count reduction is another thing too. So when we're looking at future product designs, trying to reduce the number of components while keeping the same task, is one of the top priority items that I've been seeing, and not just at Ford but the industry at large." And Tim Kuniskis, the CEO of the Ram truck brand who also oversees other U.S. Stellantis NV brands, recently called Slate's approach "super interesting" during a press event. "The idea behind it, you know, we've talked about that idea a million times. Super interesting. I give (Barman) a lot of credit," he said. "It's a cool idea. Now what's it going to actually transact at in the marketplace where the tax credits are gone and people start to option them up? It's not going to be $20,000. It's going to be $35,000, and by the time you get to $35,000, you're in midsize truck territory." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Some fear Chinese automakers' playbook is existential threat to US auto industry
DETROIT - Aggressive component-sharing efforts have contributed to lower cost structures at many Chinese automakers, and there's an increasing push for Western automakers to catch up. The strategy stretches from internet-connected vehicle technologies and electric vehicle powertrain systems to actuators and even engines that once defined models. Automakers agree to use common specifications for vehicle parts, sometimes at the behest of the government, to create economies of scale, ensure quality and offer better functionality to customers. The effort has contributed to lower-cost and technologically advanced vehicles from China that people like Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley have called an existential threat to the U.S. auto industry. "We have to beat (Chinese EV giant) BYD, and we're not going to do it with cheaper batteries," Farley said last week during a panel at the Reindustrialize summit in Detroit. "We're going to have to do that with smarter engineering and better supply chain and manufacturing." A key part of that, said Terry Woychowski, president of automotive at Caresoft Global Technologies Inc., a benchmarking consulting firm, is common parts between brands and automakers. "To compete from a cost perspective and time perspective, there needs to be much more sharing of components," he said at the company's vehicle tear-down facility in Livonia. He gave an example: Three automakers go to a supplier for a windshield wiper motor, each providing several thousand specifications for the parts. The supplier agrees to make the individual part for 100,000 vehicles for each company. In contrast, Chinese brands are increasingly agreeing on a list of requirements for a supplier to produce one part many times over. "If you could all get together and say, 'OK, we took 8,000 requirements (each), and we made it 4,000, and we've all agreed - boom. Can you make that for all of us?' You say, 'Yeah, 300,000 at scale,'" Woychowski said. "We all need a motor to do this, but we all think we're smarter than anyone else, and that our smartness is what makes us a better product. "Who would know?" he continued. "Who would care? Nobody. It's got to work. But we fixate on those things because we rely on 100 years of experience. We rely on our specs. We rely on the way we specify a product." As a result, Chinese automakers take advantage of greater economies of scale and introduce product faster compared to U.S. companies for a part of the vehicle that probably won't make or break a sale, Woychowski said. Meanwhile, some automakers in China adopting a common structural design have reduced their bill of materials costs by 5-10%, said Sharath Reddy, senior vice president of research and development at Magna International Inc. Standardization also has been key to unlocking product development timelines of less than two years and driving reliability and quality benefits from tested designs built at scale. Reconciling different engineering philosophies, protecting intellectual property and balancing standardization with the need for differentiation, however, can be a challenge, Reddy said. Additionally, legacy companies work with processes and specifications that have been put in place over decades. "For them, adopting standardization can take years," Reddy said in an email, "especially as it needs to align with sourcing cycles." That's less of a challenge for the startups and new brands working from the ground up in China, he added. Additionally, the role of government and the work of organizations like the China Automotive Technology and Research Center and China Society of Automotive Engineers have contributed to accelerating adoption. For example, the government's standardization of the hardware interface and communication protocols for charging ports for new-energy vehicles, including EVs and plug-in hybrids, allows drivers to use any public or private charging station. That access has helped EV adoption, whereas it's struggled in the United States, where automakers traditionally have used a different charging port from Tesla Inc. "In North America and Europe, there isn't the same level of centralized collaboration. OEMs tend to operate more independently, which makes broad standardization harder to achieve," Reddy wrote. "That said, we're seeing signs of change. With rising cost pressures and increased competition - especially from Chinese OEMs - some global automakers are beginning to revisit how they approach standardization." The most effective use of this approach is sharing components that aren't tied to a brand's identity or for areas where customers don't interact with the vehicle, such as structural parts, seat frame closures, actuators and certain electronic modules, Reddy said. More challenging areas are lighting, exteriors, interiors, powertrains, advanced driver assistance systems and infotainment. "These areas often define the user experience and brand identity," he said, "so OEMs typically want more control and differentiation there." Shifting consumer expectations The line for what parts are important for differentiation is shifting, experts said. As the lifespans of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles extend amid a bumpier transition to EVs, automakers are pressed on where to invest. Plus, newer technologies like the interior's digital cockpit experience are increasingly becoming a way for models and brands to separate themselves from the competition. Bill Russo, CEO of consulting and investment platform Automobility Ltd. in Shanghai, said "the foreign brands have had to rethink, because the whole pricing strategy and the whole content strategy has always been pegged around brands that are defined and differentiated based on their driving performance. It's not about that in the 21st century." More people in China ride than drive, which means they are looking for a vehicle space to live in and enjoy, he explained. The bragging right of the car, Russo said, isn't about the 0-60 mph acceleration. "When the transition happens to EV, it goes from an analog to more of a digital measure of technology differentiation," he said. "It's not that I-get-the-good-stuff-if-I buy-the-bigger-engine way of thinking about product planning. I get the good stuff or I opt in for more intelligence, more experience, more comfort, more cabin comfort." As a result, even engines are increasingly becoming an area of commonality. Horse Powertrain Ltd. is a joint venture between China-based Volvo parent Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and French automaker Renault SA that produces engines, transmissions and other powertrain parts, including for hybrids. Horse also said publicly that it's supplying engines for Mercedes-Benz and other brands. With 17 plants and five research and development centers on three continents, Horse now has its eyes set on expanding into North America, CEO Matias Giannini said on a recent visit to Detroit. Traditionally, engines were a part of the DNA of a brand or model. Although that still might be true for performance-oriented vehicles, it may not be as much of a priority for other offerings, creating opportunity for economies of scale, Giannini said. Collaboration may be a move to save on costs to fill out a company's portfolio for ICE and hybrid vehicles when capital is spread thin investing in EVs and other advanced technologies that automakers see is their future, Giannini said. "By 2040, 50% of vehicle sales still will not be EVs," he said. "A lot of OEMs had given up (on investing in ICE), and they're realizing there is more than one road to net zero (carbon emissions). We offer solutions to close gaps, as companies realize they need to have more hybrids, and the biggest question is: What is the most efficient way? We can help them get the volume they need." Giannini said cost savings depend on whether an automaker uses an off-the-shelf product or develops something with Horse. The manufacturer makes 8 million engines and transmissions per year and has $17 billion (15 billion euro) annual revenue outlook. What the industry says General Motors Co. had said it's going "all in on EVs," only to reverse that decision by announcing plans to launch plug-in hybrids in 2027 in North America. A representative for the Detroit automaker declined to comment on shared component efforts, citing competitive reasons. GM has partnered with Hyundai Motor Co. on vehicle development, supply chain and clean-energy technology, with GM CEO Mary Barra in recent months teasing that more information on that collaboration will be coming soon. In a statement, Stellantis NV - parent of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram - shared that the automaker isn't a part of any external or industrywide standardization effort, but that it uses collaboration and scale across its 14 brands globally. Ford Motor Co. spokesperson Mike Levine pointed to the Dearborn automaker's partnership with Volkswagen AG that shares platforms and plants. For example, the VW Amarok truck is based on the Ford Ranger pickup, and both are built at a Ford plant in South Africa. Ford and GM have also developed together nine- and 10-speed transmissions. Ford also referred The Detroit News to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which didn't respond to a request for comment. German supplier Robert Bosch GmbH seeks standardization of products within its portfolio to save on costs, though automakers define their individual specifications, spokesperson Tim Wieland said in a statement. Japanese supplier Denso Corp. spokesperson Andrew Rickerman said in a statement that standardization is an area the company is always evaluating. Denso leverages a "core and customize approach" when co-developing products with customers in which it presents a core product that can be altered for the unique applications and requirements of individual customers and the regions in which they operate. "This approach allows us to produce dependable products," Rickerman said, "that still offer opportunities to innovate for consumer value, helping us make continual advancements in traditional and new product areas." SAE International in the United States works with stakeholders to develop standards in the automotive and aerospace industries. The organization's standards are voluntary, though it does provide information to governments developing regulations when requested. Regarding China, "they have certain benefits that we may not recognize as easily in a free market society where their market is somewhat constrained to a certain degree," Christian Thiele, SAE's senior director of ground vehicle standards, said about government support and subsidies in China for standardization. But industry collaboration in the United States to improve safety, health and other benefits for customers has been ongoing for decades. ADAS, driver monitoring systems and sustainability are major topics today Thiele said. SAE reviews existing standards every five years, though some areas that represent rapidly changing technologies, like those around the North American Charging Standard, are discussed more frequently. "Getting 125 engineers in the room, you might think sometimes it's efficient, but it doesn't get that efficient, because now you have a lot of strong-willed individuals with their opinions," Thiele said. "But what you're doing at the end of the day is you're delivering the best product there is." And even in these discussions, Chinese competitors are participating as they look to expand into the U.S. market, Thiele said. "You may not get a complete vehicle on four wheels from BYD next week," he said, "but eventually that will happen." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
