EV Registrations Jump Before Trump Kills Tax Credit At The End Of The Month
Good morning! It's Wednesday, September 17, 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, EV registrations take a big jump ahead of the death of the $7,500 vehicle tax credit, Rivian finally breaks ground on its Georgia plant, Nissan is shuttering design studios in the U.S. and Brazil, among other cost-cutting efforts, and GM is idling its midsize truck plant for three weeks because of a parts shortage.
1st Gear: EV registrations jump 27% in July, but Tesla falls
EV buyers are doing everything they can to take advantage of the $7,500 tax credit before it expires on September 30, thanks to President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress. That means new EV registrations at legacy automakers were up 27% in July, according to S&P Global Mobility.
In a not-entirely shocking development, Tesla missed out on July's surge. Of course, it still led the way when it came to overall sales, but its five models lost ground compared to a year earlier. The Austin, Texas-based company's registrations were down 13% overall. Rivian and VinFast also saw slips, while Lucid saw a small gain.
The top five were as follows: Tesla (49,774), Chevy (11,655), Hyundai (7,898), Ford (7,572) and Honda (6,089). From Automotive News:
EV registrations from all brands grew 6 percent in July to 124,961, S&P Global Mobility said. EV share of the light-vehicle market rose to 8.9 percent from 8.5 percent in July 2024.
From January to July, EV registrations grew 6.8 percent to 745,616 vehicles. Their share of the light-vehicle market rose 0.1 percentage point to 7.7 percent, the data showed.
Cox Automotive said third-quarter sales of new electric vehicles should hit an all-time record. It estimated August EV deliveries at 146,332 for a nearly 10 percent market share.
Aside from a race against the clock to buy an EV before the tax credit expires, incentives are driving EV sales, according to Auto News. Many of the most popular EVs on sale right now, like the Tesla Model Y and Honda Prologue, carry massive amounts of cash on the hood to help them get off showroom floors. It's tough to say how long those will last — especially after September 30 and especially as automakers continue to refocus on hybrids.
If you want my advice, I think that if you really want an EV in your driveway, you'd better get going, because this might be your last chance to get any sort of deal for a good long while.
2nd Gear: Rivian finally breaks ground on long-delayed Georgia plant
It has been a long time coming, but Rivian has finally broken ground on its Georgia factory near Atlanta that is supposed to build the R2, R3 and other future lower-cost vehicles using a new platform. The EV maker had done prep work at the nearly 2,000-acre site before pausing in 2024 as it shifted production plans for its next vehicles, the R2, to its factory in Illinois. From Automotive News:
Rivian revived the Georgia project after approval of a $6.6 billion loan agreement with the Department of Energy in the waning days of the Biden administration in mid-January.
The automaker has said the Stanton Springs, Ga., project is critical to transforming into a mass-market brand and gaining the scale needed for future profitability.
[...]
The automaker has said the Stanton Springs, Ga., project is critical to transforming into a mass-market brand and gaining the scale needed for future profitability.
The automaker needs to scale up as quickly as possible using the federal loan package and state incentives for its Georgia plant before they expire, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.
[...]
Rivian first announced the Georgia factory in December 2021 with production planned for 2024. When Rivian unveiled the R2 and R3 in 2024, it said it would first expand its Normal, Ill. factory for the R2 and pause Georgia to a future date.
The automaker now plans the first phase of construction to begin in 2026, followed by the start of production in 2028. Rivian will also make the R2 in Georgia, followed by the R3.
It's expected that the R2 will start around the $45,000 mark and the smaller R3 will be even less than that. Both undercut the larger R1T pickup and R1S crossover, which start well above $70,000. There are even some early rumblings of plans to make even lower-cost vehicles like an R4 and R5, but details on those cars are hazy at best.
Regardless, Rivian needs to lock in quickly. It's burning through cash like nobody's business, and while it does make a good product, that sort of thing cannot last forever.
3rd Gear: Nissan shutters design studios around the world to save money
More cuts are coming to Nissan. The Japanese automaker says it is closing design centers in California and Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is also scaling back its operations in London and Japan as part of a larger realignment of its global design organization. These changes are expected to be done by the end of the 2025 fiscal year. From Reuters:
The changes, part of its broader "Re:Nissan" plan, will consolidate its design organization into five hubs: Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, Tokyo and Japan's Atsugi.
Nissan said its Los Angeles "Studio Six" will become its primary U.S. design hub, while London will continue to support the automaker's Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania regions in collaboration with partner Renault.
The company did not disclose how many jobs would be affected.
Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa, who took over in April, in May unveiled the "Re:Nissan" turnaround plan to restore profitability. It included measures such as cutting global production capacity to 2.5 million vehicles from 3.5 million and manufacturing sites to 10 from 17 by fiscal 2027.
Nissan is doing everything it can to right its sinking ship, so it makes sense that it would be making cuts like these. Let's just hope not too many jobs are impacted, though I'm sure that's going to be the case.
4th Gear: GM idles Colorado, Canyon production for three weeks due to parts shortage
General Motors is idling its Wentzville Assembly mid-size truck plant in Missouri and temporarily laying off workers for three weeks because of a parts shortage. The pause is set to begin on September 29, and it'll last until October 20, impacting about 3,800 employees who build the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks as well as the Chevy Express and GMC Savana vans. From the Detroit Free Press:
"We have temporarily adjusted production schedules at Wentzville Assembly to address supply chain issues and align with overall business needs," GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said in a statement provided on Sept. 16. "The plant is expected to resume normal operations on Oct. 20.
Plant executive Eric Shelhorn and UAW Local 2250 chairman Jon Daughterty notified employees in a letter posted to the union's website on Sept. 12.
"Although this temporary layoff will affect the majority of our team on all three shifts, skilled trades, stamping, body shop, final process and those groups that support these departments may have work available during this time," the letter read.
GM wouldn't provide specifics on what part or parts were causing the shortage, and I desperately want to know what parts are shared between the relatively new Canyon/Colorado and the Express, which has been relatively unchanged for nearly 30 years.
Reverse: Accomplishing nothing together!
I was pretty young when Occupy started, but I still remember being hopeful that it would turn into something amazing. Well, that sure as hell didn't happen. If you want to learn more about Occupy Wall Street, head over to History.com.
On the radio: Elon John - Amoreena
There's no better way to get through the middle of the week than with a little Elton John. Am I right or am I right?
