Good morning! It's Tuesday, August 12, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.
In this morning's edition, VinFast comes to terms with its U.S. debacle, GM wants to get back into the driverless car game, Audi must protect its workers in Germany before building in the U.S. and Ford issues yet another recall.
Read more: These Are What You Wanted As First Cars (And What You Got Instead)
1st Gear: VinFast Knows The U.S. Isn't The Answer
Things have not been easy for VinFast in the U.S., thanks to a subpar product and miserable sales. Now, Pham Nhat Vuong, the automaker's owner and the richest man in Vietnam, is betting on Asian markets like India, Indonesia and the Philippines to save his company.
If Vuong is anything, he's deeply committed. At least $14 billion has already been poured into VinFast. That includes funding from his mega-corporation, Vingroup, as well as over $2 billion of his own fortune. He's apparently said in the past that he's willing to support VinFast until he's out of money. That could take some time, as Forbes has him listed with a net worth of about $12 billion.
Although that is a fun sentiment to think about, VinFast is taking on water very fast. In 2024, it booked $1.57 in costs for every $1 of sales it made. That equated to a $3.2 billion loss. Ouch. From Bloomberg:
It's a race against time, said Tu Le, founder of Detroit-based auto consulting firm Sino Auto Insights. While VinFast is now gaining traction in Vietnam, it's unclear whether it can build a presence in Asia quickly enough to compete against rivals from China and elsewhere.
The opening of its first overseas assembly plant in India earlier this month is a crucial piece in Vuong's Asia pivot. The factory near Thoothukudi, the Indian port city, will be capable of producing 150,000 vehicles annually for South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It's part of $500 million VinFast will spend in its initial India foray — an investment the company expects to eventually grow to $2 billion.
In June, the company inaugurated its second Vietnam plant that initially can produce 200,000 vehicles annually, and it's months away from a planned opening of a smaller factory in Indonesia.
The new target markets are "late bloomers" in terms of EV sales "but hold tremendous potential and are currently entering a vibrant phase of growth," the company said.
These expansion plans follow VinFast's push to get itself established in North America and Europe. The effort has been pretty much thwarted by miserable reviews and recalls. Of VinFast's 97,399 global deliveries last year, around 90% of them were to Vietnam.
Even if VinFast does make a go of it in other parts of Asia, it won't exactly be an easy task. The southern half of the continent is home to rapidly growing economies with over 2 billion consumers. However, the rate of car ownership is far lower than it is in the Western world and its less affluent. I suppose we shall see.
2nd Gear: GM To Give Driverless Cars Another Go
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's apparently General Motors' mantra right now when it comes to autonomous vehicles. The automaker is trying to lure back some of its former employees who worked at its now-defunct Cruise self-driving vehicle unit as it looks to develop a new driverless car.
It's not planning on doing the same thing as Cruise again, though. This time, it would focus on autonomous vehicles for personal use, rather than for a robotaxi service. The first step GM wants to take is developing a hands-free, eyes-free driving system while a human is in the vehicle. From there, the ultimate goal is that the car can drive itself without anyone behind the wheel. From Bloomberg:
The plan was detailed in an employee meeting on Aug. 6 by Sterling Anderson, the former Tesla Inc. Autopilot chief who joined GM earlier this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the meeting was private. Anderson said he sees autonomy as the future and that GM will add more talent, including trying to bring back some Cruise workers and hire new staff for the automaker's Mountain View, California, office and other locations, the people said.GM told Bloomberg that it has been running human-driven vehicles on public roads gathering data for the development of self-driving technology.
"We're accelerating the development of autonomous driving technology capable of operating without active human oversight," spokeswoman Chaiti Sen said in a statement. The lidar-equipped fleet is logging data to "build simulation models that will guide development."
Plans for a hiring push show Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra remains committed to the increasingly competitive driverless-vehicle market even after shuttering Cruise last year. GM exited the robotaxi business following an incident that seriously injured a pedestrian, drawing a crackdown by regulators and eventually leading to the firing of nine top executives and the resignation of former CEO Kyle Vogt.
Earlier this year, GM laid off nearly 1,000 employees who worked at Cruise. That accounted for about half of the unit's entire workforce. The automaker threw in the towel on the idea because of high development costs, but it did say at the time that it would start working on a personally owned autonomous vehicle.
3rd Gear: Audi Must Take Care Of Its Homegrown Workers Before Heading To The U.S.
Audi has plans to build a factory in the U.S. to avert some of President Donald Trump's tariffs, but the automaker must secure jobs and production in Germany before it does, according to the company's top labor official.
It is currently reviewing several options for setting up shop in the U.S., and labor leaders are willing to back an expansion in the country only if management gives long-term guarantees for jobs and output in Germany. From Bloomberg:
"We are not refusing to discuss the matter, but for capacity reasons we do not see any need to build a plant in the US at present," Schlagbauer, who also is Audi's deputy board chairman, told Bloomberg in emailed comments. "If we need a plant in the US for political reasons, it cannot be at the expense of employees and capacity utilization in Germany."
Trump's trade moves and his push to curtail support for EVs are hitting Volkswagen's premium brands at a difficult time. While Audi and Porsche AG are under pressure to move production to the US because they lack plants there, lower demand in China and muted sales in Europe mean their factories at home are running below capacity, and labor leaders are wary about giving up more output.
Earlier this year, Audi reached an agreement with employee representatives to cut 7,500 German positions by 2029 through buyouts and early retirement. The move is being done in exchange for extending job security guarantees for remaining workers until at least 2033. Right now, Audi is in the process of informing employees about the offers, though "no signifcant staff reductions" have happened so far.
4th Gear: Another Day, Another Ford Recall
Ford has been a little too quiet for a little too long when it comes to fixing cars it recently built, but you recall fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The Blue Oval just announced that it is recalling over 103,000 F-150s in the U.S. because their axle bolts might break. When that happens, there's an increased risk for vehicle rollaways or a loss of drive power, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recall affects certain F-150s between model years 2023 and 2025. NHTSA says that about 1% of those vehicles will actually have the defect. From Reuters:
A broken axle bolt can damage axle hub splines - components that transfer power from the axle to the wheels and help them rotate.
Damaged splines can cause vehicles to roll away when in park without the parking brake engaged or result in a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash, the U.S. auto safety authority said.
The report said that if the rear axle bolt becomes loose, customers may report a clicking noise. If the bolt breaks, they may hear a rattling noise.
To fix the issue, Ford dealerships will replace the truck's rear axle shaft assembly free of charge. I'm sure that's going to cost the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker a pretty penny.
Reverse: Happy Birthday, GOAT
On this day in 1935, actor John Cazale was born. If you know anything about movies, you know there's a real argument that he could have been the greatest to ever do it. During his short career — which was cut tragically short by his death in 1978 — Cazale was in five movies: "The Godfather," "The Conversation," "The Godfather Part II," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "The Deer Hunter." Every single one of those movies was nominated for Best Picture and he was a huge reason why. No one has ever done it like him, and no one else ever will.
On The Radio: The Lonely Island - I'm On A Boat Feat. T-Pain
I'm not sure what's been going on in my brain lately, but I've been on a real Lonely Island kick over the past few weeks. I think it's high time you all join me on this boat.
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