Turns out, things aren't quite rosy for James Bond: the Broccolis and Amazon MGM can't agree on how to handle his next outing.

GM’s decision to shut down its Cruise robotaxi program continues to ripple through the market, extending to the self-driving car company’s minority investors. Microsoft, which in 2021 made an investment into Cruise, will take $800 million impairment charge as a result of GM’s actions, according to a regulatory filing. Microsoft said the charge will be […]

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• The Cruise founder Kyle Vogt criticized GM's decision to pull robotaxi funding.
• GM's decision to divest from Cruise comes as other tech giants forge ahead with robotaxi plans.
• Investors have appeared to welcome the news as GM looks to cut costs.

General Motors' decision to pivot away from robotaxis has one big critic: the Cruise founder Kyle Vogt.

Vogt, who resigned from the company in 2023, posted on the social-media platform X following GM's announcement that it would stop funding Cruise and fold it into the company's other driver-assistance efforts: "In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies."

Vogt did not immediately respond to an interview request.

GM cited the hefty costs of fleet operation. Since taking control of the startup in 2016, GM has invested more than $10 billion in its development and operation.

The automaker has been trimming costs all year as demand for electric vehicles slows, and the company reckons with a longer road to profitability for these vehicles.

"Cruise was well on its way to a robotaxi business — but when you look at the fact you're deploying a fleet, there's a whole operations piece of doing that," GM CEO Mary Barra said on a conference call, according to CNBC.

Ending investment in Cruise's robotaxi business is the latest blow for the self-driving division. Commercial robotaxi rides have been on pause since October 2023, when one of its cars injured a pedestrian.

Vogt's departure last year came just weeks after the company suspended all autonomous operations. The company has since resumed autonomous-vehicle testing with safety drivers in Arizona and Texas.

The state of the robotaxi business

GM isn't the first legacy car company to scrap autonomous-vehicle funding. In 2022, its rival Ford pulled out of its joint venture with Argo AI.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk's Tesla is all in on robotaxis, and the tech giant Alphabet is barreling forward, with driverless Waymo rides open to consumers in many cities.

Still, some investors seemed to welcome GM's decision to pull Cruise's funding in favor of $2 billion in annual savings, sending GM's stock price up more than 3% in after-hours trading Tuesday. Shares fell more than 4% in trading Wednesday.

"While some bulls may have hoped for external funding to give Cruise a life extension, we strongly believe that most investors did not want to see GM commit more capital to Cruise," Joseph Spak, a UBS analyst, wrote in a note to clients.

The company had invested billions into the self-driving car company.

The news came by Slack message.  Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, who took the top post in June, posted a message Tuesday afternoon in the company’s announcements channel along with a link to a press release entitled “GM to refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles.” GM, which acquired the self-driving car startup in 2016, would […]

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• Robotaxis in large cities like San Francisco can be targets of vandalism.
• General Motors, which operates Cruise, has a patent that could address "adversarial" behavior.
• Some measures include auditory warnings and finding a different route, the patent shows.

General Motors has a patent that outlines a detection system for robotaxis that can respond to "adversarial behavior" or "bullying" from pedestrians.

The patent, which was published in November by the US Patent and Trademark Office, shows how a robotaxi could asses the threat level from a pedestrian and respond accordingly.

A spokesperson for GM did not respond to a request for comment sent during the weekend.

According to the patent, the detection system involves an "adversarial intent algorithm" that determines whether a pedestrian presents a risk to the autonomous vehicle.

Depending on the level of the risk, the robotaxi could resort to several actions, including "visual and auditory warnings" to the offending pedestrian or finding a different route, the patent said. The system could also alert authorities, the patent said.

The filing is an apparent response to a recurring issue for robotaxi companies operating in busy urban areas such as San Francisco or Phoenix.

In recent years, videos of robotaxis owned by GM's Cruise or Alphabet's Waymo have surfaced online, showing pedestrians taking a hammer to the autonomous vehicles or setting one on fire.

In June, over a dozen Waymos had their tires slashed by a 36-year-old woman, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said.

"With the introduction of automated driving vehicles, adversarial behaviors by pedestrians and other vulnerable road users toward autonomous vehicles is becoming an issue, particularly in urban environments," GM's patent said. "Adversarial behaviors, often in the form of bullying, come from both pedestrians and other road users."

Waymo has a similar system in which the vehicle can warn a pedestrian, emit a siren, or take evasive maneuvers, such as finding a different route.

GM's Cruise faced a major roadblock last year. It suspended its operations nationwide after California regulators deemed the vehicles dangerous to public safety and revoked Cruise's license. The move came after a pedestrian was dragged underneath a Cruise robotaxi in 2023.

The company said in June that it will restart testing operations in Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Waymo has opened its service to the public in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, providing over 100,000 paid rides a week as of October, the company said.

The Alphabet-owned company said it plans to expand its service to the public in Miami by 2026.

To fill a car with gas, you generally just need a credit card or cash. To charge an EV at a DC fast charging station, you need any number of things to work—a credit card reader, an app for that charger's network, a touchscreen that's working—and they're all a little different.

That situation could change next year if a new "universal Plug and Charge" initiative from SAE International, backed by a number of EV carmakers and chargers, moves ahead and gains ground. Launching in early 2025, the network could make charging an EV actually easier than gassing up: plug in, let the car and charger figure out the payment details over a cloud connection, and go.

Some car and charging network combinations already offer such a system through a patchwork of individual deals, as listed at Inside EVs. Teslas have always offered a plug-and-charge experience, given the tight integration between their Superchargers and vehicles. Now Tesla will join the plug-and-charge movement proper, allowing Teslas to have a roughly similar experience at other stations.

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• President-elect Trump plans to levy 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, he said Monday.
• These tariffs could include vehicles imported into the US.
• There are dozens of Mexican and Canadian-made models sold in the US.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday announced plans to enact 25% tariffs on goods made in Canada and Mexico when he takes office in January.

Mexico is the largest trade partner for the US, accounting for nearly 16% of total trade over the first three quarters of this year. Canada isn't far behind as the country's second-largest trading pattern, accounting for about 14.5% of trade.

Tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada are especially problematic for the US automotive industry.

Mexico alone exports more than 2.3 million cars a year to the US, according to Commerce Department data.

Foreign and domestic carmakers like Ford, GM, and Nissan have invested decades of time and billions of dollars to establish a well-oiled, cross-border manufacturing and supply chain operation to make vehicles destined for US dealerships.

A 25% tariff would not automatically mean a matching price increase, though it would leave automakers — already struggling with shrinking profit margins — with little room to eat the cost without increasing the sticker price of their vehicles.

Large retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have already said consumer prices are likely to rise if businesses pass on cost increases to consumers.

Parts for cars, trucks, and SUVs sold in the US can cross the border several times during their production process, thanks to friendly conditions fueled by various regional trade agreements over the years.

Representatives from Ford, Honda, and the American Automakers Policy Council, a lobbying group representing Detroit's Big 3, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nissan, Stellantis, General Motors, and Toyota declined to comment.

This comes at a bad time for US consumers who have seen the average cost of a new car skyrocket more than $10,000 since 2019 to more than $48,000. Many automakers, meanwhile, are planning layoffs and plant closures amid a slowdown in EV demand.

Information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that several dozen vehicles made in Canada and Mexico are currently sold in the US.

Here's a closer look at these models, which range from pickups to luxury SUVs and EVs:

• Car companies are scrambling to adjust to a rapidly changing EV market.
• Restructuring efforts include massive job cuts in some cases.
• Cost-cutting measures come as automotive execs double down on expensive EV commitments.

A protracted transition to electric vehicles is taking its toll on global car companies, many of which still have yet to profit from battery-powered vehicles.

Demand for EVs, particularly in the critical US market, has slowed considerably this year as green car shoppers get more frugal and practical. This presents a problem for car companies that need mass adoption to deliver profits for these expensive vehicles.

Automotive executives have been scrambling to adjust to this new EV market, pulling back on some EV production and speeding up the development of more popular hybrid cars. As 2024 draws to a close, many manufacturers opt for more drastic cost-cutting options as they continue investing heavily in EV technology.

Major car companies like Detroit's GM, Ford, and Stellantis have begun slashing jobs as they cut costs and reshape their business models for this next stage of the EV transition.

Here are all car companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.

General Motors lays off about 2,000 employees

Detroit car giant General Motors laid off about 2,000 workers in two rounds of layoffs in August and November. GM cited cost cutting and changing market conditions in both instances.

The majority of the 1,000 jobs cut in November were white-collar, but the United Auto Workers union reported that about 50 of its members were also affected. According to reports, most affected workers were stationed at GM's global technical center in suburban Detroit, where most design and engineering work occurs.

Prior to the November job cuts, GM also trimmed another 1,000 salaried positions in software and services, according to reports.

GM aims to trim $2 billion in costs as it adjusts its EV strategy and manages slowing sales in the US and China.

Ford to cut 4,000 jobs in Europe amid EV slowdown

Ford said in November that it plans to slash 4,000 positions from its European workforce by the end of 2027. Ford said the Germany and UK divisions are likely to be the hardest hit, as these regions suffer "significant losses."

In addition to these job cuts, Ford also announced curtailed production at a factory in Cologne in the first quarter of 2025.

The cuts to Ford's European business come as companies in the region grapple with intense competition from Chinese EV maker BYD.

In the US, Ford also recently announced an extended pause in F-150 Lightning production, which will affect the roughly 730 hourly workers at that Metro Detroit plant until 2025.

Volkswagen plans historic job cuts in Germany

German automotive giant Volkswagen announced big restructuring actions in October, which could include closing factories and cutting tens of thousands of jobs.

The planned cuts, which still face the scrutiny of German unions, were announced after VW issued its second profit warning in three months. Volkswagen faces similar issues to its rivals, with slowing EV sales in China and stiffer competition from BYD in Europe.

VW's planned restructuring would include closing three German factories for the first time in the company's history, as well as cutting salaries by 10% and freezing wages for two years.

Jeep-maker Stellantis slashes jobs amid tough year

Stellantis, the company that owns brands like Chrysler and Jeep, has had a particularly tough year.

As it struggles with oversupply, it has initiated plans to cut nearly 4,000 factory jobs in the US. Meanwhile, the company laid off 400 white-collar workers in the spring and has offered broad buyouts to salaried workers.

The factory cuts have become a lightning rod for the UAW, accusing Stellantis of violating its contract by removing product commitments from an Illinois factory that built the discontinued Jeep Cherokee.

The UAW has threatened to strike over the alleged violation. Stellantis maintains that its actions fall within its contractual right to change plans based on market conditions. The car company has filed a lawsuit against the UAW in reaction to strike authorization votes.

Tesla reduces global workforce by more than 10%

In an April memo obtained by Business Insider, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told his employees that the company would eliminate "more than 10%" of its staff.

The cuts came after Tesla reported declining sales in the first quarter of the year. After initially weathering a slowdown in EV demand, Tesla is finally feeling the pinch of a more competitive EV market in the US.

Nissan plans to cut 9,000 jobs

Japanese car company Nissan announced in November that it would cut 9,000 jobs and reduce manufacturing output amid poor performance in the critical Chinese and US car markets.

The move came as Nissan reduced its operating profit forecast for the year by 70%.

• Formula 1 and General Motors announced that Cadillac will join the sport as its 11th team in 2026.
• The move reflects the growing push to popularize F1 in the US in recent years.
• The US now hosts three Grands Prix every year. 2024's Miami GP attracted record viewing figures in the country.

Formula 1 has reached "an agreement in principle" with General Motors to support adding its Cadillac brand as the sport's 11th team during the 2026 season.

The announcement comes just months after Andretti Global's bid to join the grid as a US-based team, which was backed by Cadillac, was rejected. The team, led by the US' most successful F1 driver, Mario Andretti, had been pushing to join the sport for several years.

Instead of an Andretti-Cadillac team, a GM-Cadillac team has been granted entry, and the statement revealing the addition does not mention Andretti. Andretti said on X that he will be involved in the Cadillac team but not in its day-to-day operations.

Formula 1 did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Traditionally, a total of 10 teams make up the F1 grid with a total of 20 drivers.

"With Formula 1's continued growth plans in the US, we have always believed that welcoming an impressive US brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport," Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty Media, the owner of Formula 1, said in a press release on Monday.

Americans have been increasingly exposed to F1 since the sport's 2017 takeover by Colorado-based Liberty Media. Three races are now held in the country every year: the Miami Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Netflix's "Drive to Survive," a behind-the-scenes documentary about the sport, has also been credited with increasing F1's popularity in the US.

According to F1, 3.1 million people watched ABC's coverage of the Miami Grand Prix in March, breaking a record for the sport's largest US audience.

The previous TV record in the US was 2.6 million viewers, which was set in 2022 for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

In 2023, Logan Sargeant became F1's first full-time American driver in over 15 years, though his team, Williams, dropped him during the 2024 season.

• Donald Trump has vowed to hit Mexico with a 25% tariff, which would affect automakers including Tesla.
• Tesla announced plans in 2023 for a $10 billion factory in Mexico, whose future remains uncertain.
• Analysts said tariffs on cars imported from Mexico would have dire consequences for US automakers.

President-elect Donald Trump said he would impose sweeping tariffs on Mexico — and that could be a problem for Tesla, whose CEO is one of Trump's most vocal supporters.

The announcement, on Truth Social, comes after Trump floated imposing tariffs of 200% or more on vehicles imported from Mexico during the election campaign.

The Mexican peso fell over 1% against the dollar on Tuesday following Trump's post.

The threat of tariffs on Mexico has also put a $10 billion new factory proposed by Elon Musk in limbo.

Tesla announced in March 2023 that it was planning to build a gigafactory near the industrial hub of Monterrey, Mexico.

The project has since been hit by delays and uncertainty, with Musk telling investors earlier this year that it was on pause until the election outcome was clear.

"Trump has said that he will put heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico, so it doesn't make sense to invest a lot in Mexico if that is going to be the case," the Tesla CEO said in July.

Musk backed Trump's election campaign and has been given a role to target wasteful government spending. The world's richest person praised Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexico and China in an X post on Monday, saying they would be "highly effective."

Trump's victory has pushed Tesla's project even further into purgatory. Mexico's economy minister said earlier this month he planned to set up a meeting with Musk to clarify the factory's status.

During the campaign Trump vowed to clamp down on automakers building cars in Mexico. The prospect of new tariffs could force US automakers such as Tesla to make some hard choices about operational or planned factories in Mexico.

Investment bank UBS warned that any tariffs on Mexico would be "highly disruptive" to the entire US automotive industry, in an analyst note released after the election. Analysts told BI that the tariffs floated by Trump would deter automakers such as Tesla from investing south of the border.

"Everything's up in the air with Tesla's plant," said Sam Fiorani of AutoForecast Solutions. "Depending on the level of the tariffs, it could complicate the investment in Mexico."

A looming crisis

Fiorani told BI that factories in Mexico were crucial for US manufacturers — particularly the Detroit "Big Three" of Ford, General Motors, and Jeep owner Stellantis — because it offered cheap parts and labor.

GM and Stellantis have around a third of their full-size pickup truck production in Mexico, according to Morningstar analyst David Whiston, while Ford builds its Maverick compact pickup there.

Mexico is also a crucial production hub for Ford's Mustang Mach-E EV, built at the company's Cuautitlan plant.

The country's free trade agreement with the United States, which allows automakers to import vehicles across the border without duties and is up for review in 2026, has attracted other automakers outside the Big Three.

Toyota, the world's largest carmaker, announced in 2020 it would move production of its Tacoma pick-up from the US to Mexico, while Nissan and Volkswagen also have factories in the country.

Mexico has also attracted interest from Chinese automakers, sparking fears from some lawmakers that they could use the country as a "backdoor" to the US market.

Chinese EV giants BYD and MG, a brand owned by SAIC, have both announced plans to build factories in Mexico.

In September BYD denied reports that it put those plans on hold to wait out the election result.

BYD Americas head Stella Li told Reuters that Mexico was a "very relevant" market because the plant would make cars for local market rather than to export.

Some Mexican officials fear a BYD plant could provoke the new Trump administration, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Other automakers have expanded their presence in Mexico, despite the uncertainty of the election and the prospect of tariffs under a second Trump term.

Jeep is building its first EV, the Wagoneer S, at its Toluca plant in Mexico, per a breakdown of the company's 2024 manufacturing operations.

The CEO of Chrysler, another Stellantis brand, also recently confirmed it was expanding a factory in Mexico as a "relief valve" for US truck production, after the Journal reported the company was considering making its bestselling Ram 1500 truck south of the border.

Germany's BMW, meanwhile, is investing 800 million euros ($861 million) in expanding its factory at San Luis Potosí, Mexico. It's expected to the company's latest range from 2027.

"Imposing tariffs would be a deterrent. It would make it difficult if you're planning on exporting to the US," Stephanie Brinley, an automotive analyst at S&P Global, told BI. "It makes building a plant in Mexico more expensive and less attractive."

Costly dilemma

Brinley added that many automakers with a significant US presence had been operating in Mexico for decades, meaning it would be expensive as well as highly difficult to shift production in response to tariffs.

"That would be a massive investment issue ... it would probably require a staggering amount of money and would not be something they could do quickly. Changing that manufacturing footprint would take at least five years," she said.

Ultimately, Brinley said many US automakers may decide it's in their best interests to stay put, despite the tariffs — something that she said could lead to higher prices for Americans.

"That's where the tariff ends up hurting the consumer, because these companies are not going to just eat the tariff. Some, if not all of the cost would be passed on to consumers," Brinley said.

Tesla, GM, Ford, and Stellantis did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

• The Chevrolet Trax is a subcompact crossover SUV and the lowest-priced model in GM's lineup.
• I was impressed by the Trax's strong feature content, attractive design, and great value.
• The Trax lacks engine power when filled with passengers and does not offer all-wheel-drive.

The average price of a new car has risen by more than $10,000 over the past five years, making a good, affordable new car harder to find.

Enter the second-generation Chevrolet Trax, which launched this year.

With a starting price of $20,400, the Trax is not only the most affordable model in the Chevrolet lineup but also the cheapest model offered by General Motors in the US.

The subcompact SUV competes with the Toyota Corolla Cross, Nissan Kicks, Hyundai Kona, and its corporate cousin, the Buick Envista.

The prolific hacking group broke into Caesars Entertainment, Coinbase, DoorDash, Mailchimp, Riot Games, Twilio (twice), and dozens more. 

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EV owners of GM vehicles like the Chevrolet Silverado EV and Cadillac Lyriq will now officially have access to Tesla’s Superchargers.

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• Major automakers around the world have announced layoffs and factory closures in recent weeks.
• Ford, GM, Stellantis, and Volkswagen Group all plan to lay off workers in the coming months.
• This is due to unprofitable EV investments, Chinese market losses, and more domestic competition.

Major automakers around the world have announced multiple rounds of layoffs and factory closures in recent weeks as they struggle to turn a profit on EVs and face a potential onslaught of cheaper competition.

Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis plan to slash thousands from their workforce in the coming months. Volkswagen has announced plans to shutter three of its factories in Germany, which could come with massive layoffs.

Unfortunately for the world's major carmakers, they aren't facing one issue but an agglomeration of several significant interconnected challenges at once. Add to that an ultracompetitive business with high overhead costs and low profit margins, and things quickly get very difficult.

When market dynamics, regulatory requirements, and financial costs shift dramatically in a relatively short period of time, the results can be dire. That's what we're seeing play out.

A massive and expensive pivot to EVs has failed to turn a profit

The auto industry has invested or announced plans to invest more than $300 billion in US EV and battery production since 2016, the NRDC estimates. That's led to a slew of new models on the market and (relatively) cheaper pricing for consumers.

But despite that growth — and with EVs accounting for roughly 10% of US auto sales — companies not named Tesla have struggled to make their EV businesses profitable.

GM, for example, has invested $35 billion in its EV and autonomous-driving businesses, which has led to new electric models like the Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Despite the warm reception from the public, the company's profits this year are entirely driven by the strong sales of its internal-combustion trucks and SUVs.

GM has said it expects its EVs to reach profitability sometime before the end of the year.

It's the same story at Ford.

The company's Model e EV division lost nearly $3.7 billion during the first nine months of this year, including $1.2 billion in the last quarter alone.

The rapid transformation of the Chinese market

The exponential growth in China's appetite for cars over the past two decades made it a steady profit center for global automakers like VW Group and GM. From 2014 to 2018, GM took in an average of $2 billion a year from its Chinese joint ventures.

But in recent years, Chinese consumers have increasingly turned to competitive domestic automakers like BYD and the Geely Group, whose brands have sold 1.6 million vehicles in the market so far this year.

GM's market share in the country peaked at around 15% in the middle of the last decade and was down to just 6.5% in the most recent quarter.

So far this year, Volkswagen Group's sales in China, its largest market, are down about 10% over last year, and the company predicts the situation may deteriorate further.

In response to the potential competition, European leaders have readied tariffs on cars imported from China. VW warned that potential retaliatory tariffs on European cars by China could only make things worse.

An increasingly competitive domestic market

Competition for automakers in their domestic markets has heated up.

In the US, Stellantis saw its sales plummet by 17% this year thanks to slower sales of its Jeep-branded SUVs and Ram pickup trunks.

Price seems to be a major factor. The average price of a Stellantis vehicle is around $56,000, far above the industry average of $48,000.

The company had to offer aggressive incentives (on top of lower production) during the third quarter to help dealers clear the glut of unsold cars off their lots. Analysts say inventory levels are improving at Stellantis and industry-wide as automakers react to a slower sales environment.

But uncertainty looms large as President-elect Donald Trump threatens tariffs on all goods imported into the United States and eyes ending tax credits for electric vehicles, which could be another headwind for sales, industry experts say.