Good morning! It's Wednesday, August 6, 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, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk are sued by shareholders because of misleading robotaxi claims, Rivian lost an astonishing amount of money in the second quarter, Lucid is having its own delivery struggles and even Honda is feeling tariff pains.
Read more: 2025 Cadillac Optiq May Finally Be The Car To Attract Young Buyers
1st Gear: Shareholders Go After Tesla, Musk
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have been sued by shareholders who are accusing them of securities fraud. The group alleges that they concealed the idea that the company's robotaxi and other self-driving vehicles were dangerous. The proposed class action lawsuit was filed earlier this week, and the move comes following Tesla's first public test of robotaxis in Austin, Texas a few months ago.
Since these robotaxis are a bit of a half-baked product, it's no surprise that tests have shown them speeding, braking suddenly, driving over a curb, entering the wrong lane and dropping customers off in the middle of a multilane road. Musk and his company have been accused of repeatedly overstating the effectiveness of the robotaxi and the prospects for their autonomous driving tech. From Reuters:
Shareholders said this included Musk's assurance on an April 22 conference call that Tesla was "laser-focused on bringing robotaxi to Austin in June," and Tesla's claim the same day that its approach to autonomous driving would deliver "scalable and safe deployment across diverse geographies and use cases."
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Expanding robotaxis is crucial for Tesla as the company faces falling demand for its aging electric vehicles and a backlash over Musk's politics.
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Monday's lawsuit in Austin federal court is led by Tesla shareholder Denise Morand, and seeks damages for shareholders between April 19, 2023 and June 22, 2025.
This isn't the first time Tesla has had to deal with autonomous driving claims in court. Just a few days ago, Tesla was found 33% responsible for a fatal 2019 crash that involved its driver assistance software. It was ordered to pay about $243 million in damages to the victims, but it continues to blame the 22-year-old driver and plans to appeal.
2nd Gear: Rivian Lost $1.1 Billion In Q2
Rivian just posted disastrous second-quarter results that are still somehow an improvement over the prior year. The automaker reported a gargantuan net loss of $1.1 billion, yet that's a win over the $1.5 billion loss it posted during the same time last year. Revenue also rose 13% from last year to $1.3 billion. It also kept its 2025 delivery guidance of between 40,000 and 46,000 vehicles intact, but it's going to need some help in the second half of the year. Small victories, I suppose.
Riv posted a gross loss of $206 million in the second quarter — far better than the $451 million loss it posted a year earlier. CEO RJ Scaringe said the automaker faces a more challenging business climate thanks to policies enacted by the Trump administration that increase tariffs and cut federal support for EVs. So much for supporting American companies, Don. From Automotive News:
"The policy environment continues to be complex and rapidly evolving," Scaringe said. "Changes to EV tax credits, regulatory credits, trade regulation and tariffs are expected to have an impact on the results and the cash flow of our business."
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The automaker said it no longer expects to reach positive gross margin in 2025, citing headwinds including policy changes that have reduced the value of regulatory credits and other subsidies.
Rivian also forecast a bigger adjusted EBITDA loss this year, expecting it to be $2 billion to $2.25 billion, compared with a previous forecast of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.
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Rivian expects a significant drop in revenue from emissions-related regulatory credits that it sells other automakers, McDonough said on the call.
Last month, Rivian reported a 23% decline in second-quarter deliveries from a year earlier to 10,661 vehicles. When you add in 8,640 Q1 deliveries, Rivian needs to sell about 21,000 vehicles in the second half to meet the low end of its 2025 forecast. That's a tall order given everything that is going on.
3rd Gear: Lucid Is Having Serious Issues
Despite Rivian's struggles, it's still doing quite a bit better than Lucid. The automaker just lowered its annual production forecast and missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue. This comes as Lucid navigates uncertain times for the industry as a whole, thanks to tariffs and less support for EVs from the federal government. These changes have threatened to upend supply chains and raise the costs of vehicles by thousands. From Reuters:
The company has been aggressively striking deals with North American companies in order to domestically source critical minerals used in EV manufacturing amid a push by the Trump administration to reshore production and strengthen American manufacturing.
Lucid's fortunes rely heavily on the success of its newly launched Gravity SUV and the upcoming mid-size car, which targets a $50,000 price point, as the company looks to expand its consumer base.
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Lucid now expects to make between 18,000 and 20,000 vehicles this year, compared to its previous forecast of 20,000 vehicles.
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Lucid reported revenue of $259.4 million in the second quarter, missing estimates of $279.9 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.
I need you rich dopes to lock in, because there aren't many — if any — automakers out there building better cars than Lucid right now.
4th Gear: Tariffs And EV Issues Come For Honda
Honda isn't so sure its electric vehicle plans are going to work out. Money issues within its EV unit are compounding with U.S. tariffs to take a huge chunk out of Honda's profits. In just the last quarter, the Japanese automaker booked a $780 million one-time charge for EV-related issues. That's nearly as much as U.S. tariffs are costing it. This combination halved Honda's operating profits in its fiscal first quarter that ended June 30. It cut earnings to $1.69 billion from the $3.35 billion it posted the same time last year. From Automotive News:
In announcing the financial results Aug. 6, Managing Executive Officer Eiji Fujimura blamed the added EV costs on Honda's conservative outlook for EVs. The company has ]delayed product development and investment in a Canada EV production hub as it readies its new 0 Series of EVs.
"We are not very optimistic, to put it plainly," Fujimura said.
The loss of the U.S. tax credit incentive for EVs was a further blow, as is cooling EV demand growth, he said. Meanwhile, Honda's attempts to gain traction in China's big EV market with a new line of locally developed vehicles have largely missed the mark. Honda's new EVs for China were too expensive for the market amid ongoing price wars there, and they lacked the smart-car user interface and connectivity demanded by Chinese consumers, Fujimura said.
[CEO Toshihiro] Mibe shifted gears, saying Honda would slash its planned R&D investment in electrification and software by 30 percent through the end of the decade. Among the changes, Honda suspended investment in the Canada EV production hub amid uncertainty about environmental regulations and trade policy in North America after the Trump Administrations tariff rollout.
Honda says its EV volume will come in around 700,000 or 750,000 vehicles in 2030. That might sound like a lot, but it's down drastically from the 2 million EVs it announced just a year ago.
Still, fans of the 0 Series (like me) can breathe a sigh of relief. Honda says there are no changes to the company's plan to launch the EV in the U.S. in 2026. Right now, the only EVs Honda sells are the Prologue and Acura ZDX. They're fine vehicles, but in reality, they're just rebadged Chevy Blazer EVs — not exactly inspiring.
Reverse: LBJ And Jumbo Get It Done
Johnson may have had some major flaws, but it's hard to argue he wasn't one of the better presidents we've had in our history. To learned more about the Voting Rights Act and why it was so important, head over to History.com.
On The Radio: Mac Miller & Empire Of The Sun - The Spins
God, it's so nice to rediscover music you've long forgotten about. Today, you should all look back and think about what you were listening to 15 years ago. Put it on, and I'm sure you're going to be thrilled with the results.
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