Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Friday, Jan. 31.
Cadillac and its new ad agency launched a major EV marketing campaign this week. As part of the planning, they took a deep dive into the lifestyles of their customers. Literally. Turns out they discovered Cadillac's luxury clientele do indeed own more swimming pools than other folks.
"There's a lot of pools because everyone wants people to come to their house. They want to celebrate with their friends and family," Melissa Grady Dias, Cadillac's CMO, told our affiliate Ad Age in this story.
As our story reports, Cadillac customers' social tendencies sparked a campaign that debuted this week for the new Escalade IQ, the first electric version of the SUV, whose recent debut at dealerships comes as Cadillac takes another step toward an all-electric future.
Cadillac has other things cooking to market this EV, such as chicken dinner deliveries for back-seat occupants, our Nick Bunkley reports today.
The bottom line for parent General Motors: This launch needs to be a success if GM is going to meet its aggressive profit forecast for 2025 and get into the black with EVs.
President Donald Trump was expected to announce new tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico that would become effective on March 1, and was to include a process for the countries to seek specific exemptions for certain imports, according to a Reuters report. However, during a press conference today, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "I saw that report, and it is false. I was just with the president in the Oval Office, and I can confirm that tomorrow the Feb. 1 deadline that President Trump put into place" remains.
Friday's developments leave plenty of wiggle room, and indeed the sources, who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said they did not have details on a final tariff rate but noted Trump has consistently said he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from the two countries.
While North American suppliers have been in near-panic mode all week, Japanese suppliers are a little less alarmed, if remarks early today from the CFOs of Toyota suppliers Denso and Toyota Boshoku are any indication.
"Rather than panicking and making a fuss, we want to proceed with ... sound price transfers where possible," Denso CFO Yasushi Matsui said at a financial results briefing, according to Reuters.
Another supplier executive not panicking is American Axle & Manufacturing CEO David Dauch. Despite the many unknowns ahead for his industry, Dauch just bet the future of his 30-year-old GM drivetrain supplier — founded by an investment group led by his late father, Richard Dauch — on a $1.44 billion acquisition of the U.K.-based parent of competitor GKN Driveline North America Inc. It's a high-risk, high-reward proposition.
There might have been times in the past where a company such as American Axle would have sold out, but Dauch aims to be the buyer, not the seller. It won't be a surprise if American Axle has more deals in mind.
"We want to be a consolidator," Dauch told our affiliate Crain's Detroit Business in an exclusive interview this week. "We're going to continue to try to operate in that position."
That's it for now. Have a great rest of your day.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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