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Daily 5

Friday, January 24, 2025

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How long will the Donald Trump-Elon Musk lovefest last?

Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Friday, Jan. 24.

We're about one week into Donald Trump's second presidency and the lucrative and powerful alliance with the president's newfound friend — the richest man in the world, Elon Musk — is already showing signs of strain.

On Thursday, Trump dismissed criticism from Musk about a $500 billion artificial intelligence project that Trump announced with great fanfare at the White House this week, Reuters reported. "He hates one of the people in the deal," Trump said of Musk. "People in the deal are very, very smart people. But, Elon, one of the people he happens to hate. I have certain hatreds of people, too."

For those familiar with Musk's well-documented track record of parting ways with key executives at Tesla, coupled with Trump's longtime reputation for firing people, it's easy to speculate how long this bromance is going to last. Maybe weeks? Months? Years?

The answer: as long as they both think they can benefit from it.

Trump clearly holds more leverage — his administration can regulate Musk, Tesla and other Musk entities with several powerful agencies such as the IRS, the Department of Justice, NHTSA, the Department of Labor, the EPA and the Securities and Exchange Commission, to name a few.

To be sure, some good things could happen if the Trump-Musk alliance can survive a few years. Notably, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, could help obliterate at least some of the red tape and inefficiency that has permeated Washington for decades.

So grab some popcorn and stay tuned for the next episode.

While Musk is busy trying to fix the federal government, his company is still producing formidable new products. As reported by our Laurence Iliff, Tesla launched a freshened version of its wildly popular Model Y crossover in the U.S., starting with a pricey special edition that stickers for $61,380 with shipping, a $12,000 premium over the comparable older version still on sale, according to Tesla's website.

In other EV news, Jeep's North America chief Bob Broderdorf told our Vince Bond Jr. that the well-appointed electric Wagoneer S will draw a varied set of buyers, including purchasers of top-end Grand Cherokees, plug-in hybrid owners ready to go fully electric and fans of other domestic premium options. The Wagoneer S, which began rolling out to dealerships this month, is Jeep's first global EV. The loaded Launch Edition — $71,995 with shipping — is reaching dealerships now, our story says.

Despite the New Orleans snowstorm that has disrupted the NADA Show this week, plenty of news is being made. CDK Global CEO Brian MacDonald, speaking Thursday, said he expected relaxed EV rules from Washington, mixed with a good business environment, will equal a positive outlook for the automotive industry in 2025, as Julie Walker reported in this story.

You can get all the updates from the NADA Show all weekend right here on our live blog.

Finally, remember Karma Automotive? The automaker took a significant step to reinvent itself as an ultraluxury brand when production of the updated Revero sedan restarted at its California plant in late 2024, as our Jack Walsworth reports today. The brand is aiming to build off the momentum in 2025 and will be aided by a limited-run, Revero-based performance variant and a new nameplate in the Gyesera sedan.

Karma Automotive was formed in 2014 when Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang Group acquired some of the assets of bankrupt Fisker Automotive.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend!

If you want to view this story in your browser, click here .

— Philip Nussel, online editor

Trump waves off criticism from Elon Musk on AI announcement

U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 23 dismissed criticism from close ally Elon Musk about a $500 billion artificial intelligence project that Trump announced with great fanfare.

READ MORE >

Tesla launches freshened Model Y in U.S. — with Cybercab styling — as $61,380 special edition

The freshened Model Y features updated front and rear fascias with light bars that take inspiration from the Cybertruck pickup and the Cybercab robotaxi.

Jeep officials say they didn't try to do just one thing well with the plush EV, instead making sure the Wagoneer S excels by offering a full range of perks.

READ MORE >

Faster appraisals and smarter acquisitions, thanks to your new AI assistant.

When it comes to stocking the best-selling vehicles for your market, leave the manual research and timely calculations in the past. There's a better – and faster – way to bring clarity to your inventory with Avery from AutoVision.

Meet Avery >

CDK Global CEO Brian MacDonald looking forward to 'good setup' in 2025 for dealers

CDK Global CEO Brian MacDonald said a new inventory product suite will help dealers evaluate used vehicles.

Karma Automotive began building vehicles again in 2024. The brand's lineup will expand in 2025.

READ MORE >

Have some news to share? Want to offer your opinion? Please send your feedback to Philip Nussel at pnussel@crain.com

Market close

Winners and losers
Here are the top 5 winners and losers among 65 automotive companies followed by Automotive News on U.S. stock exchanges today.

Top 5 winners

	Yesterday's close	Today's close	Percent change
Canoo	$0.33	$0.48	43.94%
Dana Inc.	$13.23	$15.20	14.89%
EVgo Inc.	$3.17	$3.44	8.52%
Mullen Automotive Inc.	$0.41	$0.44	8.47%
Chargepoint Holdings	$0.94	$1.00	6.09%

Top 5 losers

	Yesterday's close	Today's close	Percent change
ACV Auctions	$22.09	$21.39	-3.17%
Nvidia Corp.	$147.22	$142.62	-3.12%
Stoneridge	$5.69	$5.52	-2.99%
Shyft Group Inc.	$12.47	$12.13	-2.73%
Ally Financial Inc.	$40.09	$39.01	-2.69%

Quotes from 4 p.m. Jan. 24

Automakers
Here are today's stock trading results from 10 vehicle assembly companies trading on U.S. stock exchanges.

Automakers

	Yesterday's close	Today's close	Percent change
Ford Motor Co.	$10.16	$10.12	-0.39%
General Motors	$54.22	$53.91	-0.57%
Honda	$28.60	$28.66	0.21%
Lucid	$2.72	$2.79	2.57%
Polestar	$1.02	$1.04	1.96%
Rivian	$12.49	$12.77	2.24%
Stellantis	$13.24	$13.41	1.28%
Tesla	$412.38	$406.58	-1.41%
Toyota Motor	$186.27	$186.61	0.18%
VinFast Auto Ltd.	$4.12	$4.01	-2.67%

Quotes from 4 p.m. Jan. 24

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