Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Thursday, Sept. 18.
With U.S. electric vehicle tax credits ending Sept. 30, the shakeout for future EVs in this market is well underway. Cancellations of new EVs are almost a daily story, but a few automakers are standing by current plans to build electrified sales without the credits. Both strategies make sense depending on the individual company's situation.
For the brass at Nissan Motor Co., the decision to terminate U.S. sales of the imported 2026 Ariya EV was probably an easy one as the company seeks new cost cuts and to avoid U.S. tariffs.
"This decision enables the company to reallocate resources and optimize its EV portfolio as the automotive landscape continues to evolve," Nissan said in a memo to U.S. dealerships.
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As Urvaksh Karkaria wrote in this story, several automakers, including Stellantis, Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen, have canceled or delayed EV projects in recent weeks.
Even full-EV brands such as Polestar are rejiggering their plans. The Polestar 6 roadster is still in the company's plans, but the Geely subsidiary will prioritize other models, including the Polestar 7 compact crossover, Jack Walsworth reported.
Other global automakers are resolved to keep EVs a viable part of their overall product mix.
Mercedes-Benz plans to launch its next-generation CLA sedan with a fully electric version in late 2025, Karkaria reported in this story.
The new CLA is a template for Mercedes' pragmatic pivot from an EV-only strategy to one with diversified powertrains, Karkaria wrote.
Mercedes' U.S. sales chief Bart Herring said the CLA creates "an opportunity in the BEV segment to target customers that we haven't addressed." He said the goal in part is to attract buyers of the Audi E-tron, BMW i4 and Tesla Model 3, our story says.
In other news, Automotive News Canada took a closer look at recent moves by General Motors to push back a plan to cut the third shift at its Oshawa Assembly Plant as well as Stellantis starting the clock on resuming three-shift output in Windsor, Ontario.
The automakers said the moves were a response to demand. But after two significant Canadian policy developments, industry experts see a wider set of circumstances, David Kennedy wrote.
That's it for now. If you want to see this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
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