Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Most automakers have been careful about how they respond to President Donald Trump's tariff blitz with Canada, Mexico, China, steel and aluminum in the crosshairs since he took office last month.
Suppliers, especially Canadian suppliers such as Linamar Corp., took the gloves off right away and bitterly criticized tariff plans. Automakers have been more circumspect, as we reported last week.
But today, Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley took issue with Trump publicly, citing the cost and "chaos" of the tariffs.
"President Trump has talked a lot about making our U.S. auto industry stronger, bringing more production here, more innovation to the U.S., and if this administration can achieve that, it would be, I think, one of the most signature accomplishments," Farley said at an industry event. "So far what we're seeing is a lot of cost and a lot of chaos."
Farley's comments came after Executive Chair Bill Ford voiced optimism ahead of Trump's inauguration that the president would be helpful to U.S. auto companies. "He clearly understands the importance of our industry and of Ford in the industry," Ford said Jan. 9. "I know he wants to be helpful to us. I feel very confident going forward Ford will have a voice and a seat at the table."
General Motors CEO Mary Barra was a little more restrained in her remarks at today's event.
Barra believes GM could take actions to mitigate 30 to 50 percent of the tariffs' impact without the need for additional capital, our story says. "We are prepared when we know exactly what's going to happen," she said. "Of course, if tariffs are longer, there's additional things that we've studied that we know we can do from a capital-efficient way."
GM, by the way, is cutting 79 jobs in Canada, but that doesn't appear to be related to tariffs.
The cuts at CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll, Ontario, which builds Chevrolet BrightDrop delivery vans, are taking place just after the plant returned to two shifts, according to Unifor Local 88. GM pointed to overstaffing as the reason for the cuts, Local 88 said in a notice to members.
Back in the U.S., we reported on some fresh data underscoring the ongoing stagnation of EV sales.
Electric vehicles will retain the same share of retail sales as last year, the result of tariff and incentive uncertainty, according to projections released today by J.D. Power. Our story by Molly Boigon says the firm predicts the EV retail share will hold steady from 2024 at 9.1 percent in 2025 with 1.2 million EVs sold.
On Wall Street, AutoNation Inc. posted a fourth-quarter net income decline of 14 percent and a revenue drop of 1 percent, but most of its other key metrics were pretty stable. New-vehicle sales improved for the quarter and year, while used-car deliveries fell slightly in both periods.
That's it for today. Have a great rest of your day.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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