The Detroit 3 workers who went on strike early Friday don't churn out the full-size pickups and SUVs that generate the automakers' biggest profits, nor do they build the engines or transmissions needed to keep other factories humming.
Instead, the UAW's unprecedented walkout against General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis targeted three assembly plants where a shutdown won't make too big of a dent in the bottom line. The plants make Chevrolet's ninth-biggest seller, the Colorado midsize pickup; Ford's No. 4 utility vehicle and No. 3 pickup, the Bronco and Ranger; and the Jeep Wrangler, an SUV that dealers aren't expected to run out of for nearly three months.
The plants — Wentzville Assembly in Missouri for GM, Michigan Assembly near Detroit for Ford and Toledo Assembly in Ohio for Stellantis — employ about 13,000 hourly workers, or roughly 9 percent of the UAW's membership at the Detroit 3.