Happy Wednesday! It’s June 3, 2026, 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, we’re looking at looming European layoffs thanks to high energy prices, and new hybrid Kia Sportage production in the States. We’ll also look at Stellantis’ plans for more alternative-fuel Peugeots, and yet another Ford recall.
1st Gear: High energy prices thanks to the war on Iran could lead to 1.3 million European layoffs
Ever since the United States and Israel decided to attack the sovereign nation of Iran, seemingly entirely on a whim, things have been bad for everyone. You’ve likely noticed higher prices at the pump, but did you know that industries also use fuel? And that, when businesses’ costs go up, they like to fire people in a form of equivalent exchange? It’s all true! From Reuters:
European automotive, construction, metals, chemicals and transport sectors could lose up to 1.3 million jobs this year as a result of a surge in energy prices caused by the U.S.-Iran conflict, Labour Commissioner Roxana Minzatu said on Wednesday. “Due to the war in the Middle East, up to 1.3 million jobs are at risk and we are talking about jobs in energy-intensive industry, particularly,” Minzatu told a news conference.
The EU automotive sector could face the biggest layoffs of up to 600,000, the European Commission estimated.
Construction, metals, chemicals, transport could lose 56,000 jobs.
Some 85,000 jobs in battery projects could be at risk and 58,852 jobs in solar manufacturing.
Another 4,500 jobs could go in the steel sector because of low-carbon measures.
Low-income households could spend an additional 1.4% of income on transport fuel.
The EU manufacturing sector employs around 30 million people, while services provide almost 87 million jobs.
600,000 layoffs of good, unionized automotive jobs is what we in the industry call “bad.” Good thing those freshly laid-off workers won’t also have to deal with increased costs for basic necessities like fuel, because that’s how political situations get very dicey very quickly.
2nd Gear: Kia spins up Sportage Hybrid production in Georgia
Kia built a big factory in Georgia to produce EVs, before the Trump administration decided that EVs were woke and bad and we shouldn’t buy them. Now the company has pivoted that factory to produce hybrids as well, and the first examples are now rolling off the line. From Automotive News:
With production of the hybrid version of Kia’s top-selling model, the Sportage crossover, shifting from South Korea to Georgia, Hyundai Motor Group expects to see its $5 billion tariff bill ease.
The first Sportage hybrid rolled off the line June 2 at Hyundai’s Metaplant, the first Kia-badged vehicle built here.
Kia will no longer have to pay a 15 percent U.S. tariff on the Sportage hybrid, which was built at Kia’s AutoLand plant in Gwangju, South Korea.
The Sportage is also the first hybrid vehicle built at the Georgia plant.
Kia is making a big show of producing the Sportage in the United States, likely to assuage the egos of the Trump administration in the face of tariff blowback. No, mister president sir, your tariffs are so good and big and hot. We love the tariffs, and we’re making good American jobs where strong men hit metal with hammers thanks to your perfect and beautiful tariffs. Please don’t hurt us.
3rd Gear: Stellantis will make more Peugeot EVs and hybrids in France
Stellantis has been all-in on internal combustion, V8s, and anti-woke sentiment here in the United States. In smarter countries like France, however, the company still has to pretend to believe in things like “a planet that will remain habitable for more than ten minutes.” As such, it’s planning new EVs and hybrids for Peugeot in France. From Reuters:
Stellantis will produce three new electric and hybrid Peugeot models at its Mulhouse factory in eastern France from 2029, the automaker said on Tuesday, as part of a revamped global that includes a major new product push.
The launches will be backed by a €400 million ($466 million) investment in the Mulhouse plant, alongside a further €500 million for research and development. Most of the R&D spending will go into the new STLA One platform, which is designed to underpin a new range of electrified vehicles.
Stellantis wants to build two million cars per year on the STLA One platform, so we’ll likely get at least something from that mix here in the States. It probably won’t be an electric Peugeot hot hatch, but we can dream.
4th Gear: Ford is recalling 420,000 cars for faulty seat belts
Another Ford recall! This time it’s for Expeditions and Navigators, which may lock up the seatbelt improperly and prevent it from extending (to be worn) or retracting (to hold you in place), which are two pretty important jobs for a seatbelt. From Reuters:
Ford Motor will recall 419,967 vehicles in the U.S. as seat belts that do not retract or extend properly can fail to restrain occupants as intended, increasing the risk of injury in a crash, the U.S. auto regulator said on Wednesday.
The recall affects certain 2018-2022 Expedition and Lincoln Navigator vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said.
The seat belt pretensioner in the driver and front passenger seat, or one of them, may inadvertently lock the belt, preventing it from retracting or extending, the NHTSA added, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.
This is hard for a writer to admit, but I’m really starting to run out of quips for Ford recalls. I’ve already run the drinking game reference well dry, and Ford just keeps recalling more and more cars. Please, Jim Farley, think of the automotive writers.
Reverse: Everybody cut, everybody cut
It’s so funny to think of a rock and roll ban in the ’50s. That Chuck Berry was really hastening the moral decay of American society, for sure. I want to play Nine Inch Nails for a ’50s lawmaker. First Aid Kit. 100 Gecs. They’d bleed out their ears.
The Fuel Up
Prices are still going down! Surely this will continue unabated forever. Don’t look at the panicking Exxon execs.
On The Radio: King Woman – ‘Golgotha’
It’s one of those days, babes.
