GM Agrees to Pay $220 Million to Resolve Driver Privacy Lawsuit

1st Gear: GM settles privacy suit for $220 million

2nd Gear: VW puts ID Golf work on hold as the outlook worsens

3rd Gear: Aston Martin keeps losing money

4th Gear: Audi may land a favorable tariff arrangement from its U.S. factory

The Trump administration has said it plans to ease tariffs on foreign automakers that pledge more U.S. manufacturing, a shift that has surfaced in discussions over a proposed $4 billion Audi assembly plant in Georgia that could eventually produce 200,000 vehicles a year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Audi executives traveled to Washington in recent weeks seeking tariff relief, and the request is not hard to understand. Last year, Audi brought all of its U.S.-bound cars in from Mexico and Europe, paying more than $1 billion in duties along the way. Now the company could gain tariff relief alongside the new factory. From The Wall Street Journal:

Officials are still working out details of the plan, which is likely to allow companies that invest in U.S. factories to receive exemptions or offsets for tariffs on imported vehicles or parts, said the people. Companies must commit to starting factory construction before the end of next year to qualify, one of the people said.

The Audi factory has been touted as a win for Trump's industrial policy ahead of midterms that are expected to be highly contentious for his party. The administration has used tariffs as a bargaining chip for winning manufacturing investments, even as they have driven up the cost of many goods.

Tariff relief, in turn, bolsters automakers slammed by billion-dollar tariff bills that are eating into profits, upending their global supply chains and forcing them to rethink manufacturing strategies. Many automakers have since unveiled significant investments in U.S. production.

The tariff-relief program is likely to be similar to one that the Commerce Department established for its tariffs on polysilicon, a key ingredient in solar panels. Under that program, solar companies can submit plans to reshore production to the Commerce Department and receive tariff exemptions for certain products upon approval.

[...]

Company representatives also made several trips to Georgia to see the site, Lewis said. Audi evaluated more than 70 locations before settling on the Georgia site, executives have said.

Audi, for its part, badly needs a breakthrough. The company has been struggling for some time.

In January, Volkswagen Chief Executive Oliver Blume said the company couldn't afford a new Audi U.S. plant while footing the big tariff bill.

Audi is on a bleak run in the U.S. The U.S. tariff hit has forced the automaker to raise prices on several models, and its U.S. business is hit by falling sales and financial losses. Last year, the company announced plans to cut up to 7,500 jobs in the hopes of saving money.

The proposal still requires approval from VW's Supervisory Board, which is made up half of workers and labor-union representatives.

IG Metall, a German metalworkers' union with several seats on the company's supervisory board, criticized Audi CEO Gernot Döllner for joining Trump onstage at a political rally.

"The way Gernot Döllner has presented himself and Audi in the U.S. is highly embarrassing, politically unacceptable, and unworthy of the company," Christiane Benner, the union's leader, said.

Fair enough, I suppose.