Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, Feb. 18.
In a refreshing lack of panic, Toyota Canada Inc.'s new CEO is off to a good start when it comes to discussing U.S. tariffs and the potential for a trade war between the neighboring nations.
CEO Cyril Dimitris told reporters last week that trade between Canada and the U.S. is "very balanced and working very well," and that the current rhetoric appears to be part of broader negotiations between the two governments.
"If we do see new tariff policy, we'll need to take some time to properly review it and assess any potential impact on our industry and consumers before we're able to respond," Dimitris said in our story today from Automotive News Canada.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc., a unit of Toyota Motor North America, employs about 8,500 and built more than 500,000 vehicles last year at plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario, our story reports.
Speaking of Toyota, the automaker tomorrow is unveiling the third generation of its hydrogen fuel cell system. The technology promises improved durability and efficiency for a 20 percent increase in range, as the Japanese carmaker targets expanded deployment to trucks, buses and other heavy-duty applications. As our Hans Greimel reports today from Tokyo, the system will go to market as early as 2026, though Toyota hasn't specified exact timing or said which vehicle or machine will be the first to get it.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. is making some surprising cost-cutting moves. About half of the company's middle managers will not get stock bonuses this year in what is seen internally as CEO Jim Farley's latest attempt to cut the automaker's bloated costs, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Back in Japan, reports emerged overnight suggesting the merger talks between Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. could still be revived — with a really big "if" attached.
That is, Honda would supposedly restart the negotiations if Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida steps down, the Financial Times reported, citing a person familiar with the discussions. Nissan declined to comment. The story begs the question of why such a demand would leak to the Financial Times. Perhaps it's a message someone at Honda wanted to send to Nissan shareholders.
Looking ahead the next few days, we'll be covering two key fourth-quarter earnings reports: Carvana's numbers come out tomorrow afternoon. Rivian is on tap for Thursday.
That's it for now. Have a great rest of your day!
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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