Tesla is having a bad year, with a double-digit percentage decline in global sales thanks to a combination of fairly obvious factors. In response, the automaker is piling on the discounts, especially in markets where sales are really slumping. Depending on where you live, it might be the best time to buy a Tesla in ages, provided you’re not terribly concerned with optics.
At the same time, Germany isn’t happy with the European Union’s negotiated U.S. tariff rate on cars, Acura looks to bring back hybrids just years after discontinuing all of them, and DC fast chargers might be making the air around them slightly worse. Weird, that.
Welcome back to The Morning Dump, where we corral the freshest bite-sized automotive news stories and assemble them into a sort-of information casserole for your enjoyment. At least, I think that’s what a casserole is. I’m not actually sure, and I don’t even know if I want to know. All I know is that they sometimes involve unspeakable uses of tuna. Anyway, Matt’s travelling today, so I’m in the kitchen this morning. Let’s get into it.
Tesla Juices Deals As Its Bad Year Continues
Typically, when supply of a particular model of car outstrips demand, the way to move all that metal is to throw some cash the consumer’s way by discounting cars, subsidizing interest rates, adding freebies, or if an automaker’s really desperate, a combination of all three. Just look at Tesla right now. A precipitous drop in sales in several important markets outside of the United States has resulted in the company throwing some serious incentives at its cars. Let’s start in Britain, where the Times reports:
Tesla sales in the UK dropped by 60 per cent in July to 987 units, from 2,462 a year earlier. The decline pushed Tesla’s market share to 0.7 per cent, while China’s BYD claimed 2.3 per cent of all new registrations, according to the latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
While it’s easy to chalk this one up to the antics of the man in charge of the company, that likely isn’t the only factor. Car shoppers in the United Kingdom can get into inexpensive Chinese-made EVs, and some of them have fairly strong showroom appeal. Alright, so an MG S5 EV has some bits inside it that feel a bit cheap, but guess what? It starts at £28,745 for a spacious Model Y-sized electric crossover. So, between increased competition, a decline in public sentiment, and a reported shortage in places to put unsold cars, Tesla is incentivizing leases big-time. As the Times reports:
A Tesla Model 3 can be leased for as little as £252 a month plus VAT on a 36-month contract at Silverstone Leasing, one of Tesla’s partners in the UK.
Tesla’s latest model, the Model Y, retails for about £60,000, but it was advertised for as low as £376.97 a month plus VAT on Synergy Car Leasing’s website last week. Other deals on the Model Y, which was only launched in May, were priced at just over £400 a month.
Those are significant incentives at play considering a lease on a Model 3 used to be about double that, and Britain isn’t alone. Up in Canada, General Motors has overtaken Tesla to be the top seller of battery electric vehicles after Tesla sales fell by 67 percent over the first half of 2025. As Automotive News reports, “Buyers registered slightly more than 9,000 Teslas from January through June, far short of the more than 26,000 in the first two quarters of 2024 according to data from S&P Global Mobility.” Clearly, things haven’t turned around substantially because Tesla is now offering free lifetime Supercharging on in-stock Canadian Model 3 sedans, along with thousands of dollars on the hoods of in-stock examples and freebies like no-charge premium paint and upgraded wheels. Even in the States, Tesla is offering programs like a $299-per-month 24-month Model 3 lease with $3,000 down and a 10,000-mile annual limit.
It’s a stark difference from a few years ago, when a new car bubble let Tesla hike pricing without turning off too many buyers. So, will incentives be enough to claw back from a 13.5 percent year-over-year decline in global Q2 deliveries? Maybe, maybe not. Still, if you can live with the current social stigmas that some assign to Tesla ownership, there are some deals to be had.
Tariffs And Buts
If there’s one thing we’ve likely learned in recent years, it’s that nothing’s over until it’s over. The European Union has negotiated a 15 percent tariff rate with America, but it’s not quite set in stone just yet. Unsurprisingly, an agreement between the two entities hasn’t been finalized, and cars are shaping up to be a huge sticking point. As Reuters reports:
“In particular, car tariffs must be reduced quickly as agreed. We are also aware of the considerable burden on the export-orientated economy. … Our role here is to continue to fully support the European Commission in this process,” a German government spokesman said in a press conference.
Considering how significant the American market is for German automakers, it’s only fair for Germany to object to the current tentative tariff rate. After all, not only is America the second-largest market by volume for BMW and Mercedes-Benz, it’s also the largest single-country market for Porsche. Does the door swing both ways? Well, the made-in-America Ford Mustang was Germany’s favorite sports coupe in 2017, 2020, and 2021, so there is at least some demand for certain American cars in Germany. No matter how you look at it, there’s big money on the line here, and we’d expect sensible negotiations if these were more precedented times. Unfortunately, we aren’t living in precedented times, so hold onto your hats because this all has the potential to go sideways.
Acura Is Pivoting Back To Hybrids
It’s been a big year for backtracking. While Acura is set to launch its second EV next year, the RSX crossover, the brand seems to be recognizing that the leap from combustion-powered vehicles straight to battery electric vehicles was premature. As American Honda director Katsushi Inoue told Automotive News:
“We will maximize the production of ICE and hybrid models to meet the needs of our customers and to fuel investment in the technology,” Inoue said.
“But we have not changed our commitment to electric vehicles,” he said. “It’s just about adjusting the timing to match the needs of the customers.”
Despite the brand previously offering the MDX Sport Hybrid crossover, RLX Sport Hybrid sedan, and NSX hybrid supercar, all those models have disappeared over the past few years. The RLX and NSX are gone in their entirety, and the MDX has gone all-combustion, meaning Acura currently doesn’t sell a hybrid in North America. It does offer the GM-built ZDX electric crossover, but customers who don’t want a full-on battery electric vehicle don’t have a middle ground in the Acura lineup anymore. Bringing back hybrids would allow Acura to better compete with Lexus, along with plug-in hybrid offerings from European brands.
Although we don’t yet know which Acura models are going hybrid, the Integra sedan and ADX crossover would both benefit from the Civic Hybrid’s powertrain, especially since both models ride on the Civic’s platform. Likewise, we’re coming due for a new RDX compact crossover soon based on a historic six-year model cycle for the vehicle, and with the new CR-V benefitting from a hybrid powertrain, don’t be surprised if it’s considered for the next RDX.
Dirty Chargers
Thanks to a combination of the scientific process and everyone being very tired, new developments happen, better studies are run, smart people find out new stuff, and the stream of both knowledge and outdated information eventually becomes saturated to the point where nobody can keep track of, say, whether eating butter is better or worse than eating margarine. If that doesn’t wear you out enough, here’s a new one: Researchers have found that DC fast charging stations may contribute to local air pollution. Wait, what?
According to researchers at the University of California, the fans inside DC fast charging power cabinets can kick up dust and other settled PM2.5 fine particulate matter, which seems rather obvious. However, how bad is this, really? As Bloomberg reports:
Researchers took air quality measurements at 50 direct current fast charging stations in Los Angeles County, California, the majority of which were Tesla Supercharger locations. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The average concentration of fine particulate matter in the air at the charging sites was 15.2 micrograms per cubic meter, slightly higher than what researchers found at gas stations and significantly higher than in other urban locations such as parks.
Alright, so, not ideal considering the EPA annual average limit for PM2.5 sits at nine micrograms per cubic meter, but it could be way worse. For instance, cooking can easily spike localized PM2.5 well beyond 15.2 micrograms per cubic meter, and most of us do that every dar. Besides, this certainly isn’t an insurmountable problem, as exhaust filters could help reduce fine particulate matter thrown up by charging cabinet fans. Who knows? Maybe a consumable like that would actually require charging companies to maintain their stuff.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
“Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2” was a good time, yeah? While Hot Action Cop got the most coveted spot on the soundtrack, accompanying the intro sequence, “Build Your Cages” by Montreal-based alternative metal band Pulse Ultra also ripped.
The Big Question:
What’s your big prediction for what happens to Tesla next?
Top graphic image: Tesla
I’d imagine the car-manufacturing part of Tesla would be spun off and sold to one of the Chinese giga brands (BYD or Geely). It would be a wedge to break into the US market, with US factories and a sorta established service network. Not sure if Tesla brand equity would still be worth anything down the road though, pre-owned 3s sell for 13K USD in China and I still ain’t gonna buy one
Any news on the stockboys who have been trying to short sell Tesla? Seems like they might have the opportunity now if they held out. It was always over valued but now they are really hurting
I am stupified, at what point in time did stirring up already existing particulate matter become the fault of a fan instead of what actually created it? Is an EV or ICE blamed for dust stirred up driving down the road? How many times is a participant counted as pollution during the course of the year? One it is created, two dropped off at a charger, three on the road as the stirred up matter drifts in the air, four wherever it lands, five when it is stirred again? This makes no sense to me
Here’s the actual study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412025003320 and.. it’s kind of weird.
Why would you even be looking for PM2.5 specifically near chargers? Why did they collect at the power cabinet that’s off to the side instead of near the stations where people will actually be if their goal is to measure harm? Why did they choose parks as a control instead of parking lots without chargers? How did they even find such low PM2.5 baselines in the LA metro? It’s better than it used to be, but a quick look at Purple Air shows it over 50 as often as below it.
The intro reads like they were looking for every possible cherry-picked reason electric cars could be bad while maintaining a facade of impartiality. At first I started looking for a sponsor or a think-tank publisher rather than a scholarly one, but I think they’re actually just looking a bit too far into an all-electric future and anticipating problems in order to find a way to apply the electric/environmental grant criteria to their actual area of expertise (respiratory health) then stretching way too far trying to show significance in their work.
You say it better than I could have, but I had the same general thoughts. I guess if someone is over there leaning against the cabinet (and OMG wait until the EMF studies right next to the cabinets) then there could be some “increased risk.” But this is sooooo far from meaning anything in practical reality that its worthless.
My parents are looking at an electric car here in Australia and there’s so many options below the cheapest Model 3 that Tesla doesn’t even get a look in. Of course they’ve mostly been looking at Chinese cars but at the moment it looks like the Kia EV3 is their number one prospect. It’s more expensive than the equivalent Chinese cars and the battery is NMC rather than LFP, but buying from an established brand still holds a lot of away, especially for my (financially) conservative retired parents.
Cars they’ve also considered:
– MG S5 (the salesperson was rude so they left. Reasoning being if the salespeople are that bad imagine how bad the service staff must be.)
– Geely EX5 (Dad really liked the car but the company has only been in Australia for a couple of months so he had concerns about longevity)
– BYD Atto 3 (They didn’t like the interior styling)
They also could have considered the Chery E5, which is even cheaper than all the above, as well as the Jeep Avenger, which is currently on a $10,000 discount. The Jeep was out because Stellantis has an appalling reputation for after sales service in Australia (yes, even worse than the upstart Chinese carmakers), and I think they didn’t realise the E5 exists.
It’s crazy to think 18 months ago most of the above options either didn’t exist or were about $10,000 more expensive than they are now. Tesla, with their average, cheap-feeling interiors and large price premiums, is really starting to fall behind the curve. You might be surprised hearing me say the Tesla interiors are worse than the Chinese cars, but honestly in most cases it’s true. At least when brand new.
What’s your big prediction for what happens to Tesla next?
Musk announces he’s pivoting away from cars and going all in on autonomous animatronic Labubus.
Tesla seems to be relegated to a money printing machine for musk with different buzz word industries targeted . There seems to be enough people who want model 3 and y still sell just less. If they actually innovate instead of acting like apple car company maybe they can get some where. Teslas energy business could be their most valuableal venture at this point. I could see them pivot to that or energy spun off in some kind of ge style confusing corporate structure. With the SMR boom that seems to be happening I expect musk to get invloved with it in some manner if they put it under Tesla energy then I guess status quo for at least a while. Utilities seem happy with batteries as peakers with all the data centers being built all over energy is the important missing piece.
I was walking by a middle school last year where I saw a bunch of kids holding up signs with nothing written on them. The kids told me the signs were boards with a thin layer of petroleum jelly. After waving them around they would scrape off the petroleum jelly and look at it under a microscope counting the particulates. They discovered there are 3 times more particulates in the air closer to traffic signals than by the open road. Conclusion: traffic signals cause pollution.
Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure. Confirmation bias is a thing.
I mean, are you trying to say that traffic signals don’t increase vehicle pollution? They do, as a matter of fact.
They do, actually. Acceleration produces extra tire wear along with a little extra tailpipe emissions (not a lot of particulates these days, except from older vehicles, but some), and deceleration produces tire and brake pad wear. Plus the engines just sitting there and running. Traffic circles lead to measurably lower pollution than traffic lights.
Their science was accurate and correct?
“export-orientated economy” Orientated?
It’s China, see? It’s the Orient.
What’s your big prediction for what happens to Tesla next?
At some point, Tesla buys xAI and the stock goes up like a rocket ship. Musk is just waiting for the right time / all the bad new to break. Maybe there’s a huge layoff at Tesla due to a sales catastrophe and the stock craters. Then the next day Musk announces the xAI purchase and the stock gains everything back plus more.
This sounds pretty plausible. I hadn’t thought of this, but it seems pretty good.
Yea, you know what else kicks up “particulates” aka dust?
A light breeze.
Fortunately Plymouth doesn’t make Breezes anymore.
Hey – The Cloud Cars were actually pretty good for what they were in their time.
Fair point.
It would be great to see the Cirrus/Stratus/Breeze model names return (as long as they aren’t SUVs – looking at you Hornet).
It would be great to see the Cirrus/Stratus/Breeze return as midsize hybrid sedans to compete with Hyundai Sonata/Elantra, VW Jetta/Passat, Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic/Accord, etc….
…but we’re talking Stellantis “HELLCAT ALL THE THINGS” here.
A new sedan? Blasphemy. We need more crossovers.
Tesla keep’s Tesla-ing, it’d be nice if the current CEO followed through and moved to Mars but until then we’ll keep having occasional good cars mixed in with ketamine fueled visions of “the future”.
As for the charger fans stirring up particulates, pretty sure most of them have filters for their cooling fans, exhaust side is stirring, intake side is filtering, so it’s a wash, and also smells of a reason to say EVs are ‘dirty’.
I think another car company should buy it, at 5% of its current value. Gonna be hard to do if the stock price stays at this level.
It is exactly this most picayune, inconsequential BS that hamstrings actual change every damn time. The perfect, at the expense of the greater good.
THE GREATER GOOD
Live long and prosper
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.
If society is to function, yes. I’m all for individual freedom, but we do live in a society of all that may curtail that. Everyone gives, everyone takes. We must all be tolerant of dissent and different view points. No harm to others, no harm to me. Dissagreement is healthy.
Didn’t Elon fire most of the Supercharger team a while back to cut costs? I wonder if that impacted whatever maintenance schedule there was/is for the charging stations?
Also, why exactly the particulates? I can certainly see why there’d be an exhaust fan (to remove heat) from the chargers, but there’s no actual combustion going on in there. So the particulates are just because there are fans, and those fans are ‘kicking up’ ambient dust/particles that have settled in/near the chargers. If that’s the case, I dunno how fair it is to blame the chargers… I live in SoCal and even though the air seems infinitely cleaner now than it was 30 years ago, clean windowsills here tend to get filthy within months (not that I personally/regularly clean my windowsills much/ever of course).
Happily, there’s no current Tesla, BMW, or Acura that inspires sufficient lust in me to actually think about buying one, aside from how silly it would be to buy a new car these days (from a $ perspective). My current practical automotive lust objects currently involve buying a(nother/nicer) used first-gen Volvo XC90 (6 cyl/AWD) or a used recentish Mazda CX-5/CX-30 (naturally aspirated/AWD). Luckily, there are enough of those around that there’s no reason for me to rush ATM.
No, that was Nole Ksum, a saboture,
I had to google that to figure out what you were talking about. 😉 I’m slow on the uptake lately.
Hey Elon, there’s only one way to redeem yourself now: RELEASE THE LIST
What happens to Tesla?
Probably nothing. As I have stated below and before, most of the population is not paying attention. My best friend basically does not follow the news, at all. And the folks that are paying attetion, aka us and our community, aren’t enough to bring Tesla down with how big they have become.
Other nations, though, are different. For instance, the Germans are much more likely to not buy a Tesla based on the impact of what is going on is on them. While they may not be paying attention, even the stuff that is happening causes everyone to know about it. From Gigafactories ignoring environment laws, to Nazi solutes, to tarriffs on their largest export, everyone knows what’s going on, and will respond accordingly.
The US is so full of ignorance that Tesla is basically too big to fail at this point. Hurt, harmed, and made smaller, sure, but I don’t see them disappearing or going under. Once this hits their stock, then it’s going to just get worse, immediately, due to how much the stock market has propped them up and and become so dependent on portfolio’s succeeding due to it.
Oh its absolutely not too big to fail. Tesla at this point has an ancient and ancient-looking lineup. Almost all of the other automakers have their own EVs including the Equionox EV we are leasing meaning people have other and often better choices.
I suspect Tesla will either go bankrupt or bought by a competitor within the next few years.
I agree with the first part, not too big to fail, but not the second part, bankruptcy. It’s already basically a meme stock with no basis in reality and, much like Gamestop, it’ll keep chugging along for a decade or more as long as weirdos keep pumping money into it.
In which case, it would not fail. Whence my suggestion it’s too big. I mean, they are a legitimate car company at this point, even though everything is super old and outdated. I think if they started approaching things like the traditional automakers, things would stabilize, even with the robber baron running it. I feel like I’m giving them too much credit, for some reason.
True all R&D is paid, the factory amortized the cost to build any of these older than Dodge, or is it DOGE, must be like raw material and oil for Moms robots.
Much larger and more established companies have failed in the past. Remember 2008? Yeah… a bunch failed then too.
While your first part there makes sense, you totally undo it in the end with “America is so full of ignorance,” as if it is the most dire sin imaginable, rather than “wow the country is huge and there’s lots of people who are into different things and place value upon this over that.” That’s like saying I’m a car enthusiast and I’m sad about not having lots of small affordable convertible sports cars with a manual transmission anymore and then being mad about “people being ignorant.” I love those kinds of cars, and to me I value that over a lot that the general public just doesn’t – that’s not to say they are ignorant or evil, as you clearly try to imply – they just have different interests and sets of priorities.
Yes, you are correct. I am trying to shy away from these comments, as it’s too judgmental and does not offer a lot of value. Every now and then one slips out though, like a Hershey squirt.
Hershey Squirt! I love it, I haven’t heard that term in decades. You know the Hershey Squirt is how they get that Hershey Kiss shape
I might consider a Tesla in the future if the company is no longer owned by a Nazi. The whole giving money to a Nazi part is a deal breaker for me. It’s practically impossible to avoid giving money to awful people in our oligarchy. Tesla makes it really easy to avoid giving a fat bag of money to one particular awful person though.
He could get away with so much more evil if he just kept private.
Big ego needs frequent stroking.
Definitely don’t support Nazi’s. Especially the rare breed like Elon that supports Israel over Palestinian Terrorists.
Bolded for emphasis. Being exposed once in a while to a rate that’s slighly above the annual average is not only fine, it’s expected. It is an average after all.
It’s the same reason people can visit Chernobyl with no ill effects. Short-term exposure to mildly elevated radiation is not meaningfully harmful. Neither is short-term exposure to dust from an EV charger.
People have been living in the Chernobyl exclusion zone for decades eating food they grow and forage there with no ill effects:
https://theworld.org/stories/2016/04/24/30-years-after-chernobyl-babushkas-still-living-their-toxic-land
Yeah, I was thinking more of the building interiors where the radiation is higher, but that’s a good point that more people need to understand.
DOGE is just de-fund the police for white collar criminals.
In 50 years, I believe Tesla will be referred to as an owner of a large vehicle charging network and a former automobile manufacturer.