Electric vehicle stocks mostly fell in the week that ended on May 24, as the midweek market weakness and a lack of any meaningful catalyst weighed down on them.
Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:
Tesla China’s Rumored Production Cut And More: Tesla has cut Giga Shanghai’s output of the company’s bestselling Model Y EV by a double-digit percentage since March, a Reuters report said this week, citing industry data and a source. The production cut has come amid the ongoing demand weakness and intensifying competition in China.
The EV giant is going all out to get shareholders to agree on CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 compensation plan. The company released a new letter this week, with Chair Robyn Denholm as the letter’s signatory.
“Elon hit every ‘jaw-dropping’ target in the innovative and ambitious 2018 Award, leading to staggering growth,” Tesla said in the letter. “We have seen what the leadership of an incentivized Elon can do to drive innovation and create value. Protect that same value creation for the future.”
The company also criticized the annulment of the 2018 pay plan.
“And in America, a deal should be a deal. Despite having a signed contract in place, Elon has not been compensated for any of his work for Tesla over the past six years, even though he led Tesla to significant growth and stockholder value,” it said.
In a post on X, Musk underlined the futility of valuing Tesla merely as an automaker. He agreed with the view of one Tesla influencer, who said valuing Tesla as simply an auto company is like valuing Nvidia as a gaming GPU company. For context, gaming GPUs contributed only $2.65 billion to Nvidia’s revenue in the first quarter, while the company’s data center business brought in $22.56 billion.
This week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also acknowledged that Tesla has the most advanced self-driving technology.
Lucid Trims Workforce By 6%: Struggling premium EV maker Lucid Group, Inc. LCID announced a structuring plan aimed at optimizing operating expenses, including the elimination of 400 employees or 6% of its workforce. The cuts mainly affect leadership and mid-level management. The company plans to complete this by the end of the third quarter, anticipating one-time charges of $21 million to $25 million, with $19 million to $23 million likely recognized in the second quarter.
See Also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks
Nikola Announces Truck Orders: Battery and fuel-cell energy truck maker Nikola Corp. NKLA announced this week new orders from AiLO Logistics, with deliveries scheduled for 2025. AiLO Logistics, a drayage carrier operating in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, placed orders for 100 Nikola fuel-cell EV trucks with Tom’s Truck Centers, a member of the Nikola sales and service dealer network.
Ford To Ease EV Sales Norms For Dealers? Legacy automaker Ford Motor Co. F, struggling with its EV transition, is reportedly easing the strict norms previously set for dealers selling its EVs, Automotive News reported. The company has asked dealers to pause its EV certification program, promising to communicate changes next month.
Blue Oval will reportedly meet with its dealer council in early June to further tweak the program based on feedback from a series of nationwide retail gatherings organized this month.
“We don’t want them to make any decisions between now and the middle of June, when you can maybe have a more informed decision-making process based off what we work out with council in the next few weeks,” Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue, told Automotive News.
Hyundai To Steepen EV Investments: South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co.‘s HYMTF American CEO Randy Parker told Verge in an interview that the company plans to go out all on EVs despite the current inclement conditions in the industry. The company’s investment plans include a $7.6 billion manufacturing facility in Georgia.
“We're trying to make driving an EV affordable … but at the same time removing some of those objections when it comes to range and charging,” Parker said.
The KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index ETF KARS ended Friday’s session down 0.15% at $21.26, according to Benzinga Pro data. For the week, the ETF fell 4.88%.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Read Next: Elon Musk Agrees Tesla Not Merely Automaker: ‘Like Valuing Nvidia Based On..Gaming GPU Segment’
| Performances (+/-) | |
| Tesla | +1.00% |
| Nio, Inc.NIO | -8.52% |
| XPeng, Inc. XPEV | -1.21% |
| Li Auto, Inc. LI | -18.40% |
| Fisker, Inc. FSRN | -5.27% |
| Workhorse Group, Inc. WKHS | -10.38% |
| Hyzon Motors, Inc. HYZN | -7.54% |
| Canoo, Inc. GOEV | -11.51% |
| Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN | -0.57% |
| Lucid Group | +2.11% |
| Faraday Future Intelligent Electric, Inc. FFIE | +12.62% |
| Nikola | -1.51% |
| VinFast Auto Ltd. VFS | +0.41% |
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