So, I have some speculation based on motive.

Mitsubishi pulled out of China today, Toyota (biggest worldwide) forecast from last year was projecting huge dropoff in sales around this time— and with high interest rates, a credit crunch, and the “not a recession,” new cars just aren’t selling.

There’s been a bunch of other news regarding cycling down production, and dealers having issues moving new cars.

So wouldn’t the big 3 in Detroit benefit from shutting the lines down for a couple of weeks to produce a stopgap instead of flooding the dealer lots with unsellable product?

Even if it cost them more in the longrun, they might’ve ran the numbers and thought the publicity from the strike would sell more American cars this year. It’s free press. And companies are shortsighted these days.