Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, March 11.
Weeks of speculation over Nissan Motor Co.'s future leadership ended overnight with the embattled Japanese automaker naming Mexican national Ivan Espinosa as its new CEO, taking over April 1 for outgoing Makoto Uchida.
As our Hans Greimel reports today from Japan, the selection of Espinosa, 46, injects product know-how and international perspective into Nissan's executive suite as it struggles with renewing its vehicle line and stoking sales and profitability in key overseas markets such as the U.S. and China.
But the tough decisions that were expected to be made by Uchida have yet to be made as this automaker's fortunes continue to fester amid global economic tensions, tariff questions in the U.S. and existential threats following failed merger talks with Honda Motor Co.
Today's Nissan has deteriorated from the Nissan that announced the merger talks with Honda in December.
Espinosa faces a huge fix-up job and precious little time to do it, Koji Endo, senior analyst and auto team lead at SBI Securities Co. in Tokyo, told Greimel in today's story.
"The short- and long-term outlook for Nissan is substantially worse than it was just three months ago," Endo said. "Espinosa has to move very quickly to find a new partner and make a more drastic restructuring program. I wouldn't be surprised if Nissan's profit situation worsens."
There will no doubt be arguments that Nissan needs an outsider to fix the company the same way former Boeing executive Alan Mulally reengineered Ford Motor Co. during his tenure as CEO from 2006 to 2014. And clearly there was sentiment by some within Nissan for an outsider with Nissan experience, such as Jun Seki, to get the job, as we reported last week.
But Nissan's board obviously sees Espinosa as the best immediate answer to the company's many challenges.
"Given the circumstances of the company, it would be a very challenging start for Ivan," Yasushi Kimura, chair of the board of directors, said at an evening news conference.
Indeed. We'll know more after April 1.
In other news today, a December report from the U.S. Treasury Department could spur more use of artificial intelligence in auto lending.
In a story by Paige Hodder, lenders and regulators have been becoming more comfortable using AI, but so far there has been little federal regulation of the new technology.
The Treasury in its December report found that "AI would not be a detriment to financial stability," said Jessica Gonzalez, vice president of customer success and lending director of lending strategies at financial technology startup Informed.IQ. The department's report could make lenders more comfortable using AI technology, she said. The auto finance industry likely will follow suit and adopt AI tools even in smaller segments such as leasing, Gonzalez said in our story.
It's almost impossible to keep up with all the Elon Musk-related news and how it impacts Tesla and the auto industry, but this story by Laurence Iliff gives some good updates. Here at Automotive News, our standard rule of thumb toward Musk's nonautomotive adventures is this: What if General Motors CEO Mary Barra or Ford CEO Jim Farley did the same thing?
Keeping that rule in mind, check out this overnight story from Bloomberg. President Donald Trump said he would buy a Tesla today to help Musk after Monday's crash of Tesla shares as a "show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???" Trump didn't specify which Tesla model he would buy, Bloomberg said.
It's a good bet Barra or Farley would welcome a presidential endorsement of a GM or Ford product. As always, here's the best place to see all of our Tesla and Musk news.
Looking ahead, keep an eye on the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war news, particularly in light of Trump's actions on Canadian metals imports earlier today, which he then reconsidered this afternoon. See our tariff live blog for all additional updates.
That's it for now. Have a great rest of your day.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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