Welcome to today's edition of the Daily 5.
Volkswagen Group is getting serious about cutting costs in Germany — seeking thousands of job reductions, paring back billions of dollars in expenses and attempting to close three plants.
"Management is absolutely serious about all this. This is not saber-rattling in the collective bargaining round," Daniela Cavallo, VW's works council head, told employees in our story today from Reuters. "This is the plan of Germany's largest industrial group to start the sell-off in its home country of Germany."
It's too early to tell if VW's cost-cutting binge could impact plans in North America, such as the much anticipated Scout launch or the $5 billion electric vehicle software partnership with Rivian Automotive Inc.
Perhaps the most troubling part of VW's problems is that the automaker is hardly alone among its European counterparts. Profit warnings have been common. Mercedes-Benz faces sagging China sales, BMW is recovering from an expensive recall, and Stellantis must combat cratering U.S. sales.
Then there's Volvo, which posted a 12 percent drop in U.S. deliveries during the third quarter. Our story today by Urvaksh Karkaria reports that North American marketing chief Leigh Moynihan has resigned — the latest in a series of management changes at the Swedish automaker. "She understood the DNA of Volvo and got who the Volvo customer was," a person briefed on the matter told Automotive News. "The hope is that whoever replaces her does as well and can reflect it in all they say and do."
Meanwhile, Elon Musk is making more political news. Reuters reported that the district attorney's office in Philadelphia filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a political action committee controlled by Musk from awarding $1 million to registered U.S. voters in battleground states ahead of the Nov. 5 election. The prosecutor's complaint calls Musk's giveaway an "illegal lottery." Musk's America PAC backs Republican former President Donald Trump.
In other news today, we have another installment in our series about artificial intelligence in the auto industry. This one focuses on how Michigan's Fox Motors is working with AI to help staff answer highly specific day-to-day questions and to analyze data for compliance purposes.
Finally, we published our fourth annual feature on Notable Champions of Diversity in the auto industry. These 10 people are leading their employers' efforts to achieve greater diversity, equity and inclusion.
Looking ahead, we are covering Ford Motor Co.'s third-quarter earnings report this afternoon, and our coverage should be going live very soon after this report drops into your e-mail.
That's it for today. Have a great rest of your afternoon!
If you want to view this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
