GM's profit outlook is rising after announcing restructuring in November

Jan 11, 2019
Back in November, General Motors unloaded a big bummer of an announcement: five plant closures, about 15,000 layoffs and the dispensing of several car models. GM said all that would save $4.5 billion by 2020. Today, GM CEO Mary Barra said the company expects 2018 earnings will be stronger than previously expected and said 2019 […]

Ford plans to close plants and slash its workforce in Europe

Jan 10, 2019
The Ford Motor Co. announced Thursday morning that it’s going to “transform” its operations in Europe. That means the automaker will close plants, stop producing some models and lay off what a Ford executive called a “significant number” of its 50,000 European employees. Ford’s been in Europe for more than a century. It’s also the […]

The backstory of Hot Wheels, the most popular toy 50 years ago

Dec 20, 2018
Fifty years later, the toy cars are still going strong.
There are more than 20,000 variations of Hot Wheels, according to Mattel.
Renata Sago/Marketplace

Uber and Lyft race to IPO finish line

Dec 10, 2018
Potentially, Uber or Lyft will get to plant the first flag in a new public business: ride-hailing apps. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

How Lyft's IPO could challenge Uber's dominance abroad

Dec 6, 2018
Uber’s valuation still dwarfs Lyft’s, as both companies prepare to go public in 2019.
A Lyft driver is waiting for a ride in the city on Feb. 3, 2016 in San Francisco, California. 
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Lyft

GM Canada's company town has learned from past layoffs

Dec 6, 2018
As the automaker's Oshawa, Ontario, plant has shed jobs, the local economy has been forced to diversify.
Image of the General Motors plant and headquarters in the 1940s.
Courtesy of the Archival Collection at the Oshawa Museum

How the U.S. outgrew 1980s trade anxiety over Japan

Nov 29, 2018
The tariff war between the U.S. and China echoes an earlier episode of trade history but with some key differences.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold a joint news conference in the East Room at the White House Feb. 10, 2017 in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Why American auto companies no longer want to sell actual cars

Nov 26, 2018
The Big Three — Ford, GM and Chrysler — are moving away from car sales in the U.S. and instead focusing on bigger vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks for the American market.
Chevrolet Cruze cars offered for sale in Lyons, Illinois.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

GM to slash 14,000 jobs in North America

Nov 26, 2018
The reduction includes 8,100 white-collar workers, some of whom will take buyouts and others who will be laid off.
GM CEO Mary Barra addresses the 2018 General Motors Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Bill Pugliano / Getty Images

What did America buy with the auto bailout, and was it worth it?

Nov 13, 2018
About $80 billion helped save GM and Chrysler, but autoworkers and auto-dependent communities haven't fully recovered.
From left, G. Richard Wagoner Jr., CEO of General Motors; Robert Nardelli, CEO of Chrysler; and Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, testify at a hearing on the U.S. auto industry on Capitol Hill on Dec. 5, 2008. GM and Chrysler were bailed out with TARP funds; Ford  received other federal assistance.
Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images