Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Thursday, Jan. 23.
Toyota Motor Corp. has executive turnover just like everyone else in the automotive and business worlds, but the difference is that the departure of key executives is usually orderly and signaled ahead. Toyota rarely uses the term "effective immediately" in these kinds of announcements. Toyota's North American unit has shown especially stable management for many years.
So our longtime Toyota reporter Larry P. Vellequette was surprised to learn of Jack Hollis' unexpected retirement as North American COO and sales chief on Wednesday at age 58. Mark Templin was named his successor.
As is often the case in these kinds of sudden departures, there's no obvious reason why it happened.
As we reported, Automotive News asked to speak with Hollis, but a company spokesman referred to a written statement from him. No other reason for the retirement was cited, but Hollis in the written statement said he was preparing "to take on new challenges." It's a good bet Hollis signed a nondisclosure, nondisparagement agreement that most companies require from departing executives as part of their severance deals. Today he made it known he's available for new opportunities on his LinkedIn page.
The exit of a popular, successful sales chief such as Hollis often triggers alarm bells among dealers. Not at Toyota. Vellequette, in seeking reaction from Toyota dealers, wrote: "Not a single one of them expressed any concern that the departure would in any way alter either their relationship with the Japanese automaker or the path that it was on."
In other news, Stellantis said another one of its brands will advertise during the Super Bowl on Feb. 9. We already knew Jeep would air a spot, but today the company said Ram would debut a commercial at the two-minute break of the second quarter.
Most automakers appear to be sitting out the Big Game this year. Kia, General Motors and several usual Super Bowl advertisers told our affiliate Ad Age that they aren't participating.
We'll see. We've been surprised before with unexpected automotive Super Bowl ads.
Speaking of GM, Cadillac said today it is giving its V-Series badge to its first electric vehicle — the Lyriq midsize crossover — and added that the high-performance variant will be its fastest vehicle ever, according to our story by Lindsay VanHulle.
Meanwhile, the chaos caused by the historic snowfall in New Orleans continues to wreak havoc on the 2025 NADA Show as organizers struggle to reschedule events and the all-important dealer make meetings. Automotive News and other organizations have been forced to cancel events because, well, people haven't been able to fly into New Orleans.
Fortunately, the show will go on as more people find their way into the Big Easy. You can follow everything here on our live blog.
Finally, in case you missed it, Ford Motor Co. issued yet another recall on its Bronco Sport crossover ― the 16th so far, according to NHTSA data compiled by Cars.com. The vehicle's 12-volt battery may experience degradation and suddenly fail, which can result in a loss of electrical accessories, including the hazard lights, or cause a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash, NHTSA documents showed in the story from Reuters.
That's it for today. Have a great rest of your day.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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