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U.S. consumers looking for the least expensive new vehicle option are facing both bad and good news.

The bad news is that the U.S. market no longer has a new vehicle with an average MSRP below $20,000. According to Kelley Blue Book, the all-but-gone Mitsubishi Mirage was the last hope. 

The good news is that the new cheapest car, the Nissan Versa, carries a fairly reasonable MSRP of $22,315. But the other bad news is that the Versa i...

Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing, a podcast where I talk to young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer.

For this episode, I welcome Colton Harnar, a 29-year-old CNC programmer for SendCutSend, an on-demand, custom sheet metal and CNC machining manufacturing company. 

Harnar has been in the machining industry for 10 ye...

Nearly two years after its workers voted to establish one of the first unions at an auto factory in the South, employees at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have approved their first contract.

The United Auto Workers union announced Thursday that 96% of workers at the Chattanooga plant voted in favor of the deal, which was hashed out over months of often slow-moving talks between the union and the German aut...

One of the nation’s largest brewers says it expects tariffs on the aluminum used in its cans to dent its profits this year.

Molson Coors said in its latest financial results that an 8.1% jump in its average cost of goods sold in the quarter, in part, reflected increases in the U.S. Midwest aluminum premium, and noted that commodity inflation would continue to affect profitability this year. Company officials estimated at a...

The State of Texas filed a lawsuit against Darling Ingredients, accusing the company of illegally emitting odors and air contaminants from its rendering facility near Austin, Texas. The complaint noted that the smells can be detected up to 10 miles away, with some described as resembling “boiling blood and death.”

Founded in 1882 and based in Irving, Texas, Darling Ingredients converts materials from animal agriculture and food indu...

Last month, Conn-Selmer – a manufacturer that’s said to be the last to produce brass musical instruments in the United States – announced that it would be closing its plant in Eastlake, Ohio.

And while it’s not exactly an unfamiliar story, this situation has a bit of an interesting twist: the production is reportedly going to a Conn-Selmer plant in China, and the company’s owner, John Paulson, has been an outspoken critic of offshor...

The U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona is filled with all manner of things that can seriously hurt or kill a person. And the U.S. military would really appreciate it if people would stop trespassing there.

The giant desert training facility, which was formed by General George S. Patton during World War II, is used as a test center for just about every piece of equipment used in ground combat. The 1,300-square-mile facility i...

The State of Texas filed a lawsuit against industrial waste recycler Global Fiberglass Solutions for illegally compiling approximately 3,000 wind turbine blades and parts at two disposal sites in Sweetwater, Texas. The lawsuit claims that Global and other entities violated the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act and Texas Water Code.

Court documents state that Global, a Texas corporation with a principal place of business in Washington, ...

Cargill says it plans to shut down its beef plant in Milwaukee and lay off more than 200 workers amid turmoil in the U.S. beef industry.

Reuters reports that the agribusiness giant notified Wisconsin officials that it intends to halt production at the facility in mid-April and close it entirely at the end of May. The move would affect 221 workers, although some could shift to a nearby plant in suburban Butler, Wisconsin — ...

The world’s second-largest brewer says it plans to combat a sluggish beer market by using technology to make its operations more efficient — and, in turn, slash thousands of jobs.

Heineken, which announced its latest financial results Wednesday, said that it expects to cut between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs over the next two years — amounting to up to 7% of the Dutch brewer’s global workforce.

Company officials indicate...

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has opened an investigation into a fatal chemical release at Woodland Pulp in Baileyville, Maine.

On January 27, 2026, 20-year old intern Kasie Malcolm, a chemical engineering student at the University of Maine, was killed and nine other workers were injured when a highly toxic gas was released into the facility. Two employees were also seriously hurt, one still remains h...

The race for the first viable driverless taxi fleet is still moving forward at a rapid pace, with players like Tesla and Waymo generating regular headlines highlighting the good and the bad.

And though the vision is there, the technology that’s being tested now in a handful of American cities is not perfect just yet.

Recent reports point to comments made by Waymo’s chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, regarding the degree of independ...

A proposed merger between two of the largest packaged ice companies in the U.S. has been met with a list of divestiture requirements from the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-reddy-ice-divest-assets-proceed-proposed-acquisition-arctic

Reddy Ice, the biggest bagged ice manufacturer in the U.S., is looking to acquire Arctic Glacier, the country’s third largest pack...

It’s hard out there for any automaker dealing with tariffs, development costs, consumer sentiment and a muted shift to electric vehicles – and luxury carmakers are not exempt.

A new report suggests that Porsche’s cost cutting efforts may be so aggressive that the luxury automaker could kill two brand new models before they’ve even left the building.

At issue are the all-electric Cayman and 718 Boxer, models that Carscoops says were “...

Forty-nine workers are set to lose their jobs when The Campbell’s Company closes a plant in the Massachusetts town of Hyannis this spring.

And with it, the region will lose production of the snack staple that bears its name – the  

Cape Cod chips have been made at the Hyannis plant since 1985 though, over time, the factory volume of this location has declined to just 4% of the overall output of these potato chips for Campbell’s.

#Camp...

Many have tried, but no one has quite perfected the solar car.

The average vehicle spends most – or all – of its time outside, either in use or parked, and with more than 6 million electric vehicles now present on American roads, many auto companies have been captivated by the prospect of capturing the energy of the sun to provide a boost in range.

One of those is Nissan, which recently unveiled a concept that pairs its all-electric ...

John Deere announced that it would recall 99 laid-off employees to its facilities in eastern Iowa. The workers will report to the machinery manufacturer’s Davenport and Dubuque Works sites starting in mid-February.

The decision came one day after President Donald Trump announced in Clive, Iowa, that John Deere planned to establish a parts distribution center near Hebron, Indiana, and add an excavator factory to its campus in Ke...

https://www.ien.com/video/video/22959460/honda-gm-to-end-us-manufacturing-joint-venture-this-year

Honda said earlier this month that it reached a decision with General Motors to discontinue their Fuel Cell System Manufacturing (FCSM) joint venture by the end of 2026, bringing nearly a decade of collaboration to a close.

The Japanese company’s announcement comes a few months after GM said the joint venture would stop producing hydroge...

https://www.ien.com/video/video/22959340/volkswagen-chief-puts-plans-for-us-audi-factory-on-ice

In spring of 2025, after a flurry of tariffs were announced, foreign automakers were in crisis mode. Among them was Volkswagen, a German company with a substantial US footprint for some brands, such as VW, but a non-existent one for others, like Audi.

Specifically, Audi vehicles have thus far been produced at plants in both Germany and Mex...