Tesla Done With Price Cuts, Lordstown Endurance To Drive Into Oblivion, Fisker Ocean Makes Waves And More: Biggest EV Stories Of The Week

Electric vehicle stocks closed the week ending on May 5 on a mixed note, as a strong comeback by the broader market in the final session of the week overrode several negative catalysts.

Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

Tesla Price Changes, China Sales And More: Market leader Tesla, Inc.'s TSLA China sales slowed in April, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association. Tesla sold 75,842 cars in April, down 14.66% from the 88,869 cars sold in March. On a year-over-year basis, April sales surged higher compared to a year ago when China was grappling with COVID-19.

In comparison, Warren Buffett-backed BYD Company Limited BYDDF BYDDY reported pure EV sales of 104,364 units for April, up 1.7% year-over-year.

Tesla apparently has also begun normalizing prices. After implementing a string of price cuts since the start of the year, the company raised prices of the Model S and Model X cars in China by about $2,750. Earlier in the week, the company hiked the prices of the Model 3 and Model Y in several markets, including the U.S.

As the release of Tesla's Cybertruck inches closer, reports said that Tesla has placed orders worth over $227 million for parts from South Korea's Seoyon E-Hwa.

See Also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

Fisker Begins First Deliveries Of Ocean: The widely-awaited Ocean SUV launched this week. Fisker, Inc. FSR confirmed that the vehicle’s first owner received a limited Ocean One launch edition from CEO Henrik Fisker at a recently-opened Fisker Center+ facility in Copenhagen, Denmark. In a statement, the company said that the Ocean One and Extreme trims offer the highest driving range of any battery-electric SUV currently available on the European market.

Lordstown To Pull The Plug On Endurance: Struggling EV truck maker Lordstown Motors Corp. RIDE warned in its 10-Q filing that it expects production of the Endurance to cease in the near future due to production delays that occurred between January and April, the company’s failure to identify a strategic partner for the EV truck and an extremely limited ability to raise capital under current market conditions. Lordstown ran into rough weather with its manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Manufacturing Company Limited HNHPF, with the latter accusing the former of breaching an investment deal.

Rivian Wins Another Laurel: Rivian Automotive Inc. RIVN said this week that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced its R1S as a "Top Safety Pick+."

"To date for the 2023 model year, the Rivian R1S is the only vehicle in the large SUV category to win the TOP SAFETY PICK+ award," the company said.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Faraday Future Taps Auto Veteran: Startup Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. FFIE announced the appointment of Rich Schmidt as its vice president of manufacturing. The company said Schmidt will focus on the Hanford, California manufacturing plant and oversee its continued development, component tooling, and hiring related to the production of the FF 91.

Schmidt had a 16-year stint at Toyota Motor Corp. TM and previously worked in other OEMs, including Tesla.

Read Next: The EV Market Through The Eyes Of Warren Buffett, Adam Smith And Charles Darwin: An Analyst’s Take

EV Stock Performances for The Week:

	Weekly Change
Tesla	+3.50%
Nio	+3.56%
XPeng	+9.47%
Li Auto	+1.83%
Fisker	-3.42%
Workhorse	+14.63%
Lordstown	-35.74%
Hyzon	-1.22%
Canoo	-6.31%
Rivian	+4.60%
Lucid	-2.65%
Faraday Future	+40.65%
Arrival	-10.75%
Nikola	+10.53%
Kandi Technologies	-6.29%
Blink Charging	+0.56%
Quantamscape	-8.71%

Photo: Shutterstock