Garrett Motion, a New York-listed auto parts manufacturer based in Switzerland, filed for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy that would include a $2.1 billion sale to KPS Capital Partners.

Behind the scenes: This deal is driven as much by ongoing litigation with former parent company Honeywell as it is by the pandemic-driven slowdown in auto manufacturing.

Nikola announced Monday that executive chairman Trevor Milton, who is also the company's founder, is out as the electric and fuel cell truck startup reportedly faces federal inquiries into a short-seller's allegations of inaccurate or misleading statements.

Why it matters: It's the latest move in a head-spinning series of events for Nikola.

United Airlines' CEO Scott Kirby and union leaders asked Congress and the White House in a letter on Friday to restart talks on coronavirus aid, warning that United may be forced to furlough as many as 16,000 employees starting Oct. 1 if the current aid package is not extended.

The state of play: The federal government's payroll support program for airlines is set to expire on Sept. 30. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in a meeting with airline executives on Thursday said President Trump would support a $25 billion extension to Congress' current aid package.

This week General Motors found itself having to defend a deal in which it can't lose — illustrating how distorted the markets have become over newly public electric vehicle companies.

Catch up quick: On Sept. 8, GM announced a strategic partnership with Nikola Motor Co., a high-flying startup with ambitions to build electric and hydrogen fuel-cell trucks, but no revenue. Nikola shares soared 40% on the news, and GM climbed too.

This week I drove the 2020 Lincoln Corsair Reserve, a compact luxury SUV offering more evidence that Lincoln is back.

The big picture: As Ford Motor's premium brand, Lincoln has struggled to find its footing among Japanese and European luxury competitors. But starting a few years ago, it stopped trying to copy those guys and focused instead on pampering customers with a modern interpretation of American luxury.

The clock is ticking for tens of thousands of anxious airline employees, who face mass reductions when the government's current payroll support program expires on Sept. 30.

Where it stands: Airline CEOs met Thursday with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who said President Trump would support an additional $25 billion from Congress to extend the current aid package through next March.

The pandemic put Boeing and its European competitor Airbus on nearly the same playing field, at least in the eyes of investors.

Between the lines: Boeing and Airbus have a duopoly on the plane manufacturing market. In the midst of Boeing's 737 MAX crisis, Airbus delivered more than Boeing and became the world's top aircraft deliverer for the first time in years. But it was COVID-19 — not that victory — that brought the companies’ market caps to the narrowest gap on record earlier this year. Since then, Boeing has rebounded to widen its lead.

The grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX was the worst crisis in the plane-maker’s century-long history. At least until the global pandemic hit.

Why it matters: Wall Street expects it will be cleared to fly again before year-end. Orders for what was once the company’s biggest moneymaker were expected to rebound after the ungrounding, but now the unprecedented slump in travel will dash airlines’ appetite for the MAX and any other new planes, analysts say — putting more pressure on the hard-hit company.

Ford is offering more info about the design and strategy around its long-awaited entry into the electric truck market, the battery-powered F-150 pickup arriving in mid-2022.

Why it matters: There's new capital coming into the increasingly competitive electric pickup race, with Tesla, Rivian and others bringing new models to market over the next couple of years.

The House Transportation Committee on Wednesday released a scathing report, highlighting "repeated and serious failures" by Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration that preceded two deadly 737 MAX jet crashes in 2018 and 2019.

The big picture: The 239-page report says the crashes, which killed 346 people, were the result of a "horrific culmination" of poor technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency by Boeing’s management and insufficient oversight by the FAA.