Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Friday, March 14.
Like the rest of the global auto industry, European automakers are riding the Trump tariff roller coaster every day in real time. Volkswagen Group and BMW today both tried to grapple with the long-term implications while keeping up with the latest developments.
Cupra, VW's sporty Spanish brand, still plans to enter the U.S. by 2030 despite the Trump administration's threat to impose additional tariffs on European cars, CEO Wayne Griffiths said in this story from Automotive News Europe.
"Our decision to bring Cupra to the U.S. by the end of the decade remains unchanged," Griffiths said at a news conference March 13. "This is a long-term decision that cannot be determined on the basis of short-term fluctuations."
President Donald Trump has said European passenger cars will face 25 percent tariffs, up from 2.5 percent now. Cupra models are built in Europe and China.
Meanwhile, BMW's brass expect newly imposed U.S tariffs will not last long, although the automaker warned of a $1.1 billion hit this year from the escalating trade war, Reuters reported. CEO Oliver Zipse told Bloomberg Television: "We don't think that all these tariffs will last very long, though some of them might last longer."
Back in Detroit, Ford Motor Co. announced an interesting executive hire today. Ford hired Mike Aragon, a former Lululemon executive in charge of its digital fitness efforts, to become president of integrated services as it seeks more revenue from subscriptions and other software-enabled features, Michael Martinez reported. Aragon starts March 17 and will report to CEO Jim Farley.
In the dealer world, this story from Eric Freedman tells us about an ugly dealership vs. factory dispute in Florida, where a jury awarded more than $3.3 million to an Orlando store in a lawsuit over Hyundai Motor America's vehicle allocation system. The jury found the automaker's conduct toward Universal Hyundai violated the state Dealer Act and breached the dealership's franchise agreement.
Hyundai said it was disappointed and "reviewing and considering the available options moving forward."
From the dealership mergers and acquisitions world, #1 Cochran Automotive purchased a rare Mercedes-Benz-Ford dual dealership in Youngstown, Ohio, adding to the group's presence in the Mahoning Valley area. #1 Cochran, of Monroeville, Pa., said that with this acquisition, it has eight dealerships in the area in northeast Ohio, according to our story today.
And on Saturday, look for more dealership merger and acquisition coverage from our retail team. In the meantime, click here for details of all buy-sell transactions known by Automotive News.
That's it for now. Have a great weekend.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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