Tesla Sales Keep Falling As Its Stock Keeps Rising
Happy Thursday! It's July 3, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.
In this morning's edition, we're looking at the divergence between Tesla's sales and share price, as well as gazing down the barrel at the return of "reciprocal tariffs." We'll also take a look at how tariffs have already hit Rivian, and NHTSA's latest investigation.
1st Gear: Tesla's sales keep dropping, and investors can't get enough
Tesla's in a bad spot. President Trump's big budget bill will cut the $7,500 EV incentive that has made eco-friendly cars viable in the United States, and who knows what happens to the company's emissions credits business when CAFE gets gutted. Sales are down, prospects are dim, and the share price is... up? What? From Reuters:
Tesla is headed for another year of shrinking sales after it posted a second straight drop in quarterly deliveries, dragged down by CEO Elon Musk's right-wing political stances and an aging vehicle line-up that has turned off some buyers.
...
It reported on Wednesday that deliveries fell 13.5% in the second quarter, missing analysts' expectations even after Musk said in April that sales had turned a corner.
Still, shares, down about a quarter this year, rose 4.5% as the drop was less severe than the bleakest analysts views, partly helped by a modest demand recovery in the competitive Chinese market, where its refreshed Model Y has gained some traction.
As of this writing, Tesla stock is down today, this week, this month, and this year. It's oddly flat across that time, though, for a business that's becoming more and more fundamentally unsustainable by the day. It's almost as if Tesla is a meme stock, just a way for weird nerds to donate their money to Elon Musk's pet project of securing a future for some very specific children.
2nd Gear: Reciprocal tariffs come back next week...
Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs are coming back next week, and nations around the world are uneasy. Will they truly return, or will they be delayed again? Can other countries make deals in time to stave off the worst effects? Will those deals even be honored? No one knows, but everyone's scrambling anyway. From Automotive News:
A pivotal week on global trade looms as President Donald Trump's 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs is scheduled to end on July 9.
The end of the tariff pause could have significant ramifications for the auto industry, even though it applies only to the reciprocal tariffs Trump announced in April and not to the sectoral levies he placed on vehicles, parts, steel and aluminum. The auto and metals tariffs have been major topics of discussion in negotiations between the U.S. and many of its trading partners, and broad trade deals with those countries could include adjustments to those duties.
The U.S. has reached some deals with other nations, but the Trump administration seems to run on whims — just look at the will-they-won't-they that we've been playing with Canada. Nothing's predictable any more.
3rd Gear: ...but they're already hurting Rivian
Trump's tariffs have hurt at least one company, though: Homegrown automaker Rivian. The company is now spending more on materials to build its trucks, while buyers have less in their pockets to spend on high-dollar EVs. From Reuters:
Rivian Automotive reported a sharp fall in second-quarter deliveries on Wednesday, as demand for its electric vehicles takes a hit from stiff competition and tariff-driven economic uncertainty, sending its shares more than 2% lower.
Trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump have led to a surge in manufacturing costs for the sector, with carmakers scrambling to reorganize supply chains to mitigate the hit to their businesses.
High interest rates are also holding back some buyers, while many are opting for cheaper hybrid- and gasoline-powered cars.
Rivian makes some of the best EV trucks on the market right now, and the company makes them in America. This is exactly the sort of company that you'd expect Trump to support, but the automaker is struggling under the administration's policies. Who could have ever forseen this?
4th Gear: NHTSA is investigating every single Dodge Dart
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening another investigation, right after it began looking into 92,000 Range Rover Sports. Now, it's looking at every single Dodge Dart ever built — nearly 300,000 cars. From Automotive News:
NHTSA opened an investigation June 30 into all 299,000 2013-16 Dodge Darts for alleged shifter cable bushing failures after complaints following a previous recall.
If the shift cable becomes detached from the transmission, the vehicle might not completely change gears, including into park, causing the vehicle to potentially move in unexpected ways, NHTSA said.
This investigation comes after a similar recall back in 2019, for shifter issues in earlier Darts, but the new NHTSA look expands the issue to every Dart. Luckily, it seems like a relatively simple fix if it turns out to be a truly widespread problem.
Reverse: Everything old is new again
The fighting against Iran might feel like it's reached a new level recently, but remember back to just a few decades ago when the United States killed 290 people on a commercial flight from Tehran to Dubai. A little excerpt from the History.com article:
Iran called the downing of the aircraft a "barbaric massacre," but U.S. officials defended the action, claiming that the aircraft was outside the commercial jet flight corridor, flying at only 7,800 feet, and was on a descent toward the Vincennes. However, one month later, U.S. authorities acknowledged that the airbus was in the commercial flight corridor, flying at 12,000 feet, and not descending.
We've always been like this.
On The Radio: Digable Planets - 'Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)'
Happy long weekend eve, everyone. Let's get the next three days kicked off right.
