Shifting Gears: Tesla's Cybertruck, a bombshell union lawsuit, BI's Car of the Year, and holiday shipping heats up.

Advertisement
Shifting Gears: Tesla's Cybertruck, a bombshell union lawsuit, BI's Car of the Year, and holiday shipping heats up.

Tesla cybertruck elon musk

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk introduces the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019.

Advertisement

Happy Friday and welcome to Shifting Gears, Business Insider's weekly round-up of the biggest transportation news.

Tesla is dominating the news Friday, with the reveal of its long-awaited Cybertruck, but there was no shortage of other stories. In today's issue, we've got updates on the impending holiday travel (and shipping) crunch, FCA's juicy lawsuit against GM, Boeing-versus-Airbus drama, and more.

Did someone forward you this email? You can subscribe here to get this digest direct to your inbox every week.

Here's the menu this week:

Advertisement

Exclusive FREE Slide Deck: Future of Retail: Delivery & Fulfillment by Business Insider Intelligence

{{}}

Tesla's long-awaited truck is here

Tesla's long-awaited truck is here

Thursday night, before a packed house at Tesla's design studio in Hawthorne, California, CEO Elon Musk finally unveiled the electric "Cybertruck" he's been working on since at least 2013.

The event was action-packed, and I don't say that lightly. It had lasers, fire, creepy animated figures, and even a Tesla ATV.

But not everything went according to plan. The truck's "armor glass" windows got smashed. Twice. On purpose.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Cybertruck — and more —is here.

Ford goes electric

Ford goes electric

Ford's not scared of Tesla.

The company released a somewhat sarcastic statement about Tesla's Cybertruck, which came out the same week Ford unveiled its all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV.

It's the first new Mustang-branded vehicle since 1964, and the SUV could be a real Tesla challenger. Here are the full specs.

The announcement came amid the Los Angeles auto show. You can see all of the cool cars, SUVs and concepts on display here.

Advertisement

Airbus flies past Boeing

Airbus flies past Boeing

The Boeing 737, a plane near synonymous with air travel, is no longer the king od the skies. Airbus' A320 has officially become the most popular plane in the world, fueled in part by Boeing's ongoing 737 Max crisis.

Did I say 737 Max? You bet. There's still no end in sight for the embattled jet. This week, Boeing shareholders sued the company's board, alleging "careless" handling of the plane's development and the crisis that followed.

Not all was lost for Boeing though, which successfully inked a deal for 60 of the 737 Max jets at the Dubai Air Show.

Holiday shipping heats up

Holiday shipping heats up

There's one week fewer between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, and that's making things even worse (or better) as e-commerce becomes the dominant holiday shopping choice.

Amazon's in-house delivery network is set to face its biggest challenge yet, as the retail giant doubled down on competing with UPS and FedEx.

Speaking of FedEx, you might have seen that the company paid $0 in federal income taxes for 2018. That's a point the CEO rejected, touting the company's voluntary pension payment as an example of ways it's helping invest in its employees and community.

One slight problem: FedEx is slashing its pension plan for new hires.

Advertisement

Uber's never ending spiral

Uber's never ending spiral

Uber's founders are cashing out. Former CEO Travis Kalanick has now sold well over $1 billion in stock as he scales up his deliveries-only "ghost kitchen," and his cofounder Garrett Camp has made significant sales too, according to regulatory filings.

And, insiders continue to sell, including soon-to-be former Chief Product Officer Manik Gupta, and Chief Accounting Officer Glen Ceremony

Seeking to calm the water, and give investors a vote of confidence, current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi bought up $6.7 million worth of shares, sending the company's stock price soaring after hours.

In other Uber news, the US National Transportation Safety Board this week chided the company's lax safety culture as the cause of a pedestrian's death after she was struck by an Uber self-driving car last year.

GM's salacious FCA lawsuit

GM's salacious FCA lawsuit

In a bombshell 95-page lawsuit this week, GM accused executives of its crosstown Italian rival of bribing United Auto Workers officials in order to undercut competition and violating federal labor law in the process.

The allegations include a union-financed mortgage, swimming pool, an Italian wedding, fake charities, and more.

Advertisement

BI's 2019 Car of the Year

BI's 2019 Car of the Year

Business Insider will reveal its 2019 Car of the Year on Saturday, November 23. Ahead of that, we took another look at the five vehicles that were runners-up selected from a pool of 16 finalists. Thus far, we've named the Lamborghini Urus, Nissan Leaf SL Plus, Cadillac XT4, the Mercedes-Benz A220, and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo SUV.

You can read our full 2019 Car of the Year coverage here.