Robot taxi tech is the technology behind self-driving taxis that can pick you up and take you places without a driver. They use special technology to find their way around just like regular taxis do.
Autonomous vehicle tech is technology that helps cars drive themselves without needing a driver. It uses cameras and sensors to understand the surroundings and make decisions like when to stop or turn.
Infotainment is the system in cars that provides entertainment and information, like music, GPS navigation, and phone connections, usually controlled by a screen.
A digital cockpit is a car's dashboard that uses screens instead of regular dials and gauges. It shows information like speed and navigation in a modern, easy-to-read way.
Hardware consolidation is when car manufacturers try to use fewer parts in their cars to make them lighter and cheaper. It helps them add more advanced technology without needing more space.
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes many types of vehicles, including cars and SUVs. They are known for providing good value and have a strong warranty program.
EVs stands for electric vehicles, which are cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. They are considered better for the environment because they produce fewer emissions.
Software-defined vehicles are cars that use a lot of computer software to operate. This means they can get updates and new features through the internet, similar to how your phone works.
Autonomous vehicles are cars that can drive on their own without needing a person to control them. They use technology like cameras and sensors to see and understand their surroundings.
An electric powertrain is the system in an electric car that provides power to make it move. It includes the motor and battery that work together to drive the vehicle.
The Nissan Rogue is a type of car called a crossover SUV, which means it's a mix of a car and an SUV. It's known for being roomy and good on gas, making it a popular choice for families and people who need extra space.
The Nissan Frontier is a smaller truck that can carry heavy loads and is great for outdoor adventures. It's built to be tough and reliable, which makes it a good option for people who need a vehicle for work or play.
The Nissan Kicks is a small SUV that's easy to drive around town. It's stylish and affordable, making it a good choice for city dwellers.
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Welcome to Daily Drive for Monday, January 5th, 2026.
I'm Kellan Walker in Las Vegas.
Today on the show, we kick off our coverage of CES this week here in Las Vegas
with a look at what we expect to see at the show.
Toyota sends Venezuelan employees home as political upheaval intensifies,
and the U.S. auto market ended 2025 with mixed signals
and signs of a slowing market.
Plus, Nissan dealer advisory board chair Mike Rezzi
talks about the brand's plan to restore dealer profitability
and why new product is the key.
Basically what we need is just this new product that is working on to get to the show.
Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up in the auto industry.
Toyota is sending its Venezuelan employees home, not permanently,
but to work remotely as the country deals with major political upheaval.
The Trump administration ousted President Nicholas Maduro over the weekend,
and Toyota is watching closely to see what happens next.
The automaker says sales and production continue for now.
But Toyota's Venezuela operations have never been robust.
The plan in Cumana was making just hundreds of vehicles a year by 2020,
hampered by the country's outgoing economic crisis.
The U.S. auto market ended 2025 with mixed signals
that could reveal where the industry is heading.
Toyota's December sales jumped 10 percent,
driven by strong hybrid demand.
Electrified vehicles now account for nearly half of Toyota's total sales.
Meanwhile, Honda slipped 13 percent,
hurt by a microchip shortage,
and an 88 percent drop in EV sales after the federal tax credits ended.
The market is losing momentum.
The sales pace has fallen below $16 million for three straight months.
Analysts expect 2026 to be even weaker as affordability challenges deepen.
You can find all the latest U.S. sales results from December at AutoNews.com.
And auto dealers are feeling more optimistic about their profits and valuations in 2026.
But not all brands are benefiting equally.
A new survey from Carrigan Advisors finds
that 32 percent of dealers expect higher profits this year,
more than double last year's figure.
The catch?
Dealers are losing faith in certain brands.
Nissan and Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram tied for least trusted,
with 64 percent of dealers saying they have zero confidence in them.
Meanwhile, 62 percent expect Nissan dealerships to decline in value.
Toyota and Lexus top the trust rankings.
The takeaway?
Dealer confidence matters.
When retailers trust a brand, they invest in it.
We'll hear from Nissan's dealer council advisor board chair Mike Rezzi in a minute
here on Daily Drive.
And those are today's headlines.
You can find more details on all those stories at AutoNews.com.
Execs who are spearheading the latest automotive tech
are descending on Las Vegas this week for CES.
It's become a major platform for automakers and suppliers to showcase tech innovations,
software, and future mobility.
Our own Jake Nier spoke with Molly here in Las Vegas.
Molly Boygon, welcome back to Daily Drive.
Thanks so much for having me, Jake.
So what are the major announcements we're expecting this week and what are you watching for?
You know, I thought last year was the year of AI and I think that this year is actually the
real year of AI at CES.
There's going to be a focus on a lot of autonomous vehicle tech and robot taxi tech.
AI enabled in vehicle experiences like digital cockpit and infotainment.
And I do think that there's going to be a continuing conversation around
hardware consolidation and what needs to happen to really enable the software to find vehicle.
There was a time that CES was sort of like the U.S. auto show.
It seems like it's become more again about a tech show.
Which automakers have the biggest presence here this year?
I think you're right.
Yeah, there was a time when people predicted that it would kind of be
the next Detroit auto show.
And I think that this year because of the broader macro environment and because of some of the
regulatory uncertainty and just the state of the economy, there's fewer automakers exhibiting
on the scale that they have in the past.
Hyundai has a pretty significant presence, both automaker and Hyundai Mois for parts.
And in addition to that, BMW has a pretty significant presence at the show.
And Hyundai and Sonia Fila are all exhibiting at the show.
And then how is the conversation shifting, the tech conversation,
as the federal government takes away its previous support for EVs, consumer incentives,
that sort of thing?
I would say that in past years, there were kind of three parallel and intertwined tracks of
innovation. It was EVs, autonomous vehicles, and software-defined vehicles.
And now the EV conversation, despite I think still technically being aligned with those other two,
is much quieter.
There is still an advantage to an electric powertrain enabling all of these electric systems,
but it's no longer on the same level of excitement and hype as something like
AVs and the software-defined vehicle transition.
And I would actually argue that even SDVs appear to me to be not as
central to this show as AVs and robo-taxis because of all of the innovation that's happened
in the perception stack using AI. Like, AI really appears to have, at least, you know,
according to the releases and according to the chatter, accelerated some of the AV and
robo-taxi stuff we'll be seeing at the show.
Really excited for all of your coverage through the week, Molly. Thanks again for joining us.
Thanks, Jake, and good to be here in person.
You can follow Molly Boygon's reporting from CES all week at AutoNews.com and on the Automotive
News Shift podcast, which she hosts every Sunday. Coming up next, Nissan dealer advisory board chair
Mike Rezzi talks about the brand's ambitious plan to restore dealer profitability and why
getting there depends on fresh product-hitting showrooms. That's next on Daily Drive.
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Welcome back to Daily Drive. I'm Kellan Walker. Nissan dealers ended 2025 with higher profitability
than the year before, but return on sales remained stuck. The brand has set a goal to lift that to
3% by the end of fiscal 2026. But dealers say hitting that target will require more than incentive
tweaks. It demands compelling new product. Mike Rezzi is chair of the Nissan dealer advisory board
and president of Mike Rezzi Nissan in Connecticut. He spoke with our own Urvash Kikari about Nissan's
profitability strategy, the revamped Nissan One program, and why a new rogue is critical to the
brand's future. Here's a piece of that conversation.
Product is the number one way to increase throughput. What are some other ways that Nissan can help
dealers increase rooftop sales? How did dealer profitability trend in 2025 and what key initiatives
increase helped dealer profitability? We had an erosion of dealer profitability
right around the launch of Nissan One. It's quite interesting because there could be a correlation
where we can also be market conditioned. But what Nissan is doing is revamping Nissan One
for the next quarter to be able to make sure that dealer profitability comes back up.
This is starting in January, right? Correct, in January. The program that is wide support for
the program, however, right around the same time, dealer profitability has been eroded.
Therefore, it needs to be revamped to increase the profitability. It did achieve the volume.
Nissan has been having two volume months, however, dealer profitability has been impacted.
How did Nissan One affect dealer profitability or how could it have affected dealer profitability?
Well, most likely, graphic per units have been eroded to nothing.
Because dealers were trying to hit the volume number?
Exactly.
So in addition to revamping Nissan One to lift dealer profitability, what else are they doing?
So they launched a pilot program for co-op marketing to flow back money to dealers that
spend in their local market. That program is being launched now, like right now, back in the last
few weeks in a couple of markets in the nation. It will be monitored all the way till April and
if it's successful, it will be launched nationwide.
Okay, but what does that have to do with dealer profitability?
Because it will support dealer marketing efforts. So basically Nissan will flow back money from
tier two to tier three to help dealers with their marketing expense.
Okay, anything else on increasing profit?
So basically, the way it works, we go right now, we are getting $250 per unit for marketing it,
for as a marketing assist, now we've increased to roughly $400 in a unit.
And this is because of the pilot or in general?
The pilot is based on that. So if it works, then it will be launched nationwide.
Okay, okay.
The way it works is like dealers, we all spend marketing money in our local markets.
Yeah.
Already. So a dealer needs to be supporting us with about $250 a unit.
So with this pilot, they will divert some of the tier two funds to tier three and increase that
pot so there is more assist for dealer marketing efforts.
Okay. Any other initiatives to increase dealer profitability?
No, the Nissan one revamp would probably be the one, especially if he has two components.
One is a more of a set component without any goal, without a retail target,
and then another one with a retail target.
Oh, okay. So let's talk about that in a minute.
Okay. To what extent is Nissan corporate, like the Nissan management,
and the dealer advisory board aligned on retailer profitability goals?
Do you both agree on the on the percent that ROS needs to be?
We agree on the percent. Yes.
What is it?
We do. It's three percent.
Okay. And what is the timeline? Go ahead.
Yeah.
So the goal is to get dealers to three percent.
By what?
By 2026.
End of 2026?
By end of 2026.
And this is calendar year or fiscal?
Calendar year.
Okay.
I'm sorry. It is fiscal year because it will go to 2027.
Yes. It's in Nissan fiscal year.
Nissan corporate is very supportive to dealers.
However, the reality is on the ground, it's, you know, the resources that
Nissan has are limited. So the investment has to be smart.
Okay. And three percent by end of fiscal 26.
What is it right now? I thought it's like one point,
one point three, one point four.
Roughly it's in that area.
Yeah.
It depends on the market, but it's probably around the one to one and a half percent.
Why do you feel that three percent is realistic?
Three percent is actually feasible.
If the Nissan one program is well deployed.
It's because, you know, with the Nissan one program and with the marketing
network, those are money that goes straight to the bottom line.
So to get a dealers from one to three percent, that money can achieve it.
Now the question is, will the retail numbers be enough to get to that number
to be able to have realistic so that it is not eroded?
I don't also explain it better.
Meaning like the money that Nissan wants to put in the system could get us to three percent.
Now the question is, will be able to retain these margins or will have to give it away
to get to the target? That's the challenge right now.
Right. Good. Good. Good. Okay.
What is the market share goal for end of fiscal 2026,
similar to the ROS, the retail share? Where do they want to be?
So their goal for this year was to be over five percent and then to get to the 5.5
percent consistently. Three percent ROS, we have to be close to a six percent market share.
It does enjoy with 1100 dealers, five percent market share, 1100 dealers does not correlate
with a three percent ROS. A percent ROS is achieved when you go over six percent market share.
Got it. Perfect. And the five?
You know what I mean? Because that's when the funds of Nissan 1 will not be eroded to
hit those numbers, if that makes sense. If that makes sense.
The five percent that you said, market share, that's for end of fiscal 25?
Yes. So they're already there. They're a 5.1, I believe in the last quarter,
a 5.1 market share and declining TIV. So it's actually a better job. It's just the market is
strong than what we were expected. Nissan wants to be between the 5.1, 5.5 market share. It's
very realistic. However, that does not relate to a three percent ROS. The three percent ROS will
be achieved once we get to the six percent range. Perfect. Perfect. And when is that expected to
happen? Do you even think that's realistic? It is realistic with the product that Nissan is having.
It's a time issue right now. Obviously, the rogue used to be our best seller.
And that's the missing component right now. If we had the new rogue today, we will probably be in
the six percent market share. Because all our other models are working fine. There are opportunities
on the frontier that they're still exploring. And it's not about the truck. It's more about
probably the positioning of the truck and the marketing of the truck in the marketplace. The
truck is actually great. The pathfinder is doing extremely well. The kicks and center have been
impacted by the tariffs. Obviously, so they lost a little bit of momentum, but they're coming back
because Nissan is incentivizing those vehicles despite the tariffs. So they're coming back.
But the missing component is the rogue. If we had the new rogue today, I would think that six percent
will be feasible. When you say new rogue, you mean the e-power rogue or just the next generation
rogue? No, the next generation e-power rogue. Both are necessary.
Come back tomorrow for more coverage from CES as we bring you the biggest announcements and
innovations from the show floor. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you think of
the show and the topics we covered today. Send us an email at dailydrive at autonews.com
or leave us a voicemail at 313-444-2774. And if you enjoy the podcast, remember to like,
leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
About this episode
Coverage of CES kicks off with insights on the latest automotive tech trends, highlighting a strong focus on AI and autonomous vehicle technologies. Toyota's response to political turmoil in Venezuela and mixed signals in the U.S. auto market are discussed, revealing challenges and opportunities for manufacturers. Nissan's dealer advisory board chair, Mike Rezzi, shares strategies to boost dealer profitability, emphasizing the need for compelling new products and marketing support. The conversation underscores the importance of dealer confidence and the impact of market dynamics on sales and profitability.
CES festivities get underway in Las Vegas. Nissan Dealer Advisory Board chair Mike Rezi discusses the brand’s plan to lift dealer profitability to 3 percent by end of fiscal 2026 — and why fresh product is critical to hitting that goal. Plus, Toyota and Honda post mixed December results as the U.S. market shows signs of slowing.
