Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Thursday, Feb. 13.
Nissan Motor Co.'s dim outlook issued today — and its failed merger/acquisition plan with Honda Motor Co. — could make this troubled automaker a little more vulnerable to outside interests.
One signal of the vulnerability emerged this morning when Bloomberg reported that KKR & Co., the private equity buyout pioneer from the 1980s, is sniffing around the wounded automaker.
KKR, which has operated globally for decades, is "in the early stages of evaluating an equity or debt investment to improve Nissan's financial position," sources told Bloomberg. "Talks are ongoing and KKR may decide not to pursue a deal," the report said. Neither KKR nor Nissan commented on the report.
In the end, Nissan's management decided that going it alone was better than the benefits of becoming a subsidiary of Japanese rival Honda. With that decision, however, comes KKR and any number of other potential investors who may or may not be friendly. And, of course, France's Renault still has a seat at the table with its 36 percent stake in Nissan. Taiwan's Foxconn signaled interest in Renault's stake on Feb. 12.
In the U.S., the stories breaking from President Donald Trump's relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, continue to move nonstop. The latest revelation is that the State Department was going to buy $400 million worth of "armored" Teslas, but the budget document for such a transaction has disappeared.
We also have this supplier innovation story from our affiliate Automotive News Europe about a new type of safety airbag being introduced by German supplier ZF Group. It is designed to protect ankles and feet in the event of a crash. It's easy to think of airbags as a commodity component, but this story shows that's hardly the case.
Finally, the nation's third-largest auto dealership group, Penske Automotive Inc., reported a strong 24 percent bump in fourth-quarter net income while revenue improved 6.2 percent to $7.7 billion. Net income for the year slipped 13 percent. As we've seen with other dealership groups, Penske sold more new vehicles but fewer used vehicles in the quarter and year.
That's it for today. Have a great rest of your day.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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