Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, March 4.
The Stellantis management fence-mending efforts are underway following the December departure of CEO Carlos Tavares, but faced with new tariffs and other major North American headwinds, the automaker is also making a refreshing change back to regional leadership.
Stellantis North America purchasing chief Marlo Vitous, backing up previous statements given to Automotive News, emphasized at a recent supplier gathering that regional decision- making has resumed. As this story by Kurt Nagl of Crain's Detroit Business explains, this also signals stability for the Stellantis North American headquarters in suburban Detroit, which has faced an uncertain future since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Per a memo sent in January, Stellantis employees are required to be in the office three to five days per week beginning March 3, the story says.
As for repairing strained relations with suppliers, Vitous said those looking for pricing relief must come with documentation and be willing to enter a three-year cost savings plan with the automaker, people who attended the gathering told Crain's Detroit Business, a sibling publication of Automotive News.
Meanwhile, with tariffs issued today by President Donald Trump, a key ally for the auto industry in the Senate is supporting Trump's efforts. Former auto dealer and freshman Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said this in a Bloomberg story on March 3:
"Trump's 100 percent right, and all of us should rally around his demand that our two neighbors step up," Moreno told Bloomberg. "Until they do what they need to do, yes, am I willing to take some amount of short-term pain? Absolutely, 100 percent."
Ohio is home to several major automotive assembly plants owned by Stellantis, Ford and Honda. It also is home to numerous component suppliers that could be impacted by the tariffs.
By the way, Stellantis and Volkswagen are the European automakers most highly exposed to the new tariffs on vehicles imported from Mexico and Canada, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, which says the levies could wipe out €5.88 billion ($6.2 billion) of European automakers' earnings this year.
In case you missed this earlier today, our story about the Department of Transportation's former inspector general unearthed some compelling facts.
The story by Molly Boigon says the DOT inspector general's office has 303 ongoing investigations and 52 ongoing evaluations, audits and other unfinished projects, plus more scheduled audits as of Jan. 24, according to a letter from the office to Congress.
"I was acutely aware when I was nominated that I was going into a position where I could be directly removed by the president," Eric Soskin, the outgoing inspector general, told Automotive News. "We all recognize that replacement of the [inspector general] at any time is a possibility." Mitch Behm is serving as the acting inspector general.
And last but not least, be sure to check out our story on Honda's updated Prologue, now with a bit more range.
That's it for now, have a great rest of your day.
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— Phil Nussel, online editor
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