Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Thursday, April 24.
Nissan Motor Co. CEO Ivan Espinosa has been at the helm for just over three weeks and he's no doubt feeling his first deer-in-the-headlights moments leading this troubled automaker.
The company today warned it will post a net loss of as much as ¥750 billion ($5.3 billion) for the fiscal year that ended in March — a record annual deficit — as restructuring charges weigh on the struggling Japanese carmaker, Bloomberg reported.
With an aging lineup, Nissan has been discounting its cars in order to avoid building up inventory, eroding profits, Bloomberg said. Analysts on average were projecting a loss of ¥112 billion, which itself was worse than Nissan's prior outlook for a deficit of ¥80 billion, the story said.
Click here for real-time updates on automotive stocks.
Hence, our story today by Urvaksh Karkaria brings up the existential pressures faced by Nissan in Asia and the U.S. as it brings new products to market. The most immediate U.S. priority: the Xterra SUV.
"If I could bring a car tomorrow, that would be Xterra," Nissan Americas Chairperson Christian Meunier told Automotive News. "We're working on it. We'll find a way."
Meunier said the Japanese automaker has a "big" capital expenditures budget and robust pipeline of U.S. market-tuned products, including an electrified Frontier. It's been planning to infuse some of the Xterra's iconic design elements into an EV launching in 2028: a brawny crossover with squarish rear styling and a boxy headlight design, Karkaria wrote.
"It's about prioritization," Meunier said in the story. "Is there any room to compromise on one project — eliminate one — and do what we think is more of a white space?"
In other news today, Sonic Automotive Inc. generated a strong first-quarter net income gain of 68 percent following yesterday's robust results from Lithia Motors Inc. But Sonic tempered expectations going forward as retailers prepare for U.S. tariffs impacting vehicle prices.
As Julie Walker reports, the company's updated guidance to investors removed the expectation of "low single digit percentage growth in revenues and gross profit," which was guidance given in February. It also removed the February expectation for "low single digit percentage growth in new and used retail unit sales volume, consistent with projected industry growth rates" in 2025.
At Group 1 Automotive, first-quarter net income slipped 13 percent. With U.S. tariffs looming on imported vehicles, the Houston-based dealership group said it is preparing for contingencies and the possibility of dramatic shifts in the auto retail market, Paige Hodder reports.
"We do have a contingency plan developed in writing should something dramatic happen," Group 1 CEO Daryl Kenningham said in a call with investors. "A plan that outlines the steps that we would take from least severe to most severe."
Shares in the six major publicly traded U.S. auto dealership groups so far have weathered tariff uncertainty and volatility.
Coming up tomorrow, we'll have AutoNation's first-quarter results. We'll also get the first solid look at the supply chain's first-quarter results when Michigan-based mirror maker Gentex Inc. reports its three-month performance. Gentex is often seen as a bellwether for supplier earnings.
That's it for now. Have a great rest of your day.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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