Musk's Mess In Europe Allows VW To Clean Up In EV Sales

Date:2025-08-21 23:17:20 Category:tech Views:1 Comment:0

It's August 21, 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, VW's penitence for its diesel sins is starting to pay off, more tariff nonsense eases some of the pain for European automakers in the U.S., Nissan looks to make some quick cash by selling its home base, and a tiny recall from Mitsubishi.

Volkswagen Looks On Track To Hit Its Goal Of Beating Tesla In European Sales By 2025

the ev ID Every1 concept. A small, gold colored car sits in front of a screen that reads "The all-electric ID. EVERY1" - Horacio Villalobos/Getty Images

A decade ago, Volkswagen got caught out on its "clean diesel" claims by some scrappy university students who independently tested the emissions on a TDI vehicles and found way more pollutants coming out the tailpipe than the onboard computers recorded during emission testing. Shady software was the culprit, and VW spent $37.2 billion in recalls, fines, and fixes for its dirty diesels, and the exposure of the cheating through other automakers chicanery into the public's eye.

In response to the Dieselgate scandal, VW leaned hard into EVs. The company had a goal of beating best-selling Tesla at its own game, a strategy that saw sales flailing until recently. Thanks to the rise in quality of VW's EVs and the drop in Musk's cachet in Europe, VW has finally over taken the EV giant. From Bloomberg:

The group's vehicle sales increased in the second quarter, driven by a 38% gain in global EV deliveries from the previous year. VW's updated ID models—a hatchback, an SUV crossover and a full-size sedan—have garnered praise for fresh interiors and revamped software. In Europe its latest battery-powered cars have outsold Tesla's in recent months, benefiting in no small part from Elon Musk's political antics, but also from improved quality. The group is on track to be Europe's top EV maker for 2025, ahead of Tesla, Stellantis and Renault.

VWs early EVs left a lot to be desired, but it looks like European buyers have forgiven the company for both its bald-face emissions cheating (on a continent where they take that sort of this very seriously) and its shaky first steps into the electron-powered car world. The introduction of a €25,000 hatchback next month could be the nail in the Tesla sales coffin that VW has been looking for. A good thing too, as sales in the world's largest EV market, China, are looking weaker all the time thanks to the sharp rise of domestic manufacturers.

Trump's Tariff Tango With Europe Drops Levy On Cars From 27.5% To 15%

a man with glasses stands in front of a blue screen that reads EU-US Joint Commission in yellow and white font - Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Tariffs man. They go up, they go down, they disappear, they reappear, and all on a whim despite tariffs being the business of Congress and not the president, according to the Constitution of these United States. But who cares about that document; it was written by guys who wore tights and spoke in funny accents.

The current tariff rate between the U.S. and our traditional friend on the international stage, western Europe, has come down from 27.5% to a measly 15%. You can really feel love between our two governments. From Reuters:

Cars and car parts will be subject to the 15% tariff, compared to the 27.5% they face now, but only from the first day of the month in which the European Union introduces as legislative proposal to remove its tariffs on U.S. industrial goods.
The joint statement also says that the U.S. and the EU intend to accept and provide mutual recognition of each other's standards for cars.

The EU also promised to buy $750 billion in natural gas, oil, and nuclear product before the end of this decade and "at least" $40 billion in U.S. AI chips, according to Politico. The kind of metals used in building cars coming into the states from the EU, like steel, aluminum, and copper, will stay at 50% but the two powerhouses will work on lowering that rate as well as reducing overproduction of the metals. The EU will likely drop tariffs on incoming cars to 0%, as the EU is axing all tariffs on U.S. goods coming into the country.

Nissan May Have A Buyer For Its $610 Million HQ

Nissan logo on a building - Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

Things aren't going great at Nissan. Its new CEO wants to shutter facilities in order to shore up the car manufacturing giant's financial health. Instead of closing down factories, CEO Ivan Espinosa is looking to unload the company's 22-story HQ in the heart of Yokohama, a port city south of Tokyo. It looks like Nissan might have found a buyer in Japanese real estate giant KJR Management, a subsidiary of KKR & Co. The market likes the deal, but if they can pull it off remains unclear, according to Bloomberg:

KKR and KJRM are considering ways to raise money to finance the potential transaction, and the deal includes leasing the office back to Nissan for 10 years, the people said. Discussions are ongoing and the parties involved may decide against proceeding with a deal, they added.
Shares of Nissan rose 1.5% in Tokyo trading Thursday, after jumping as much as 3.7% on the news of its office sale. Nissan and KKR representatives declined to comment.

Nissan is on its back foot in this difficult environment of constantly shifting tariffs and changing customer desires. An aging and, let's face it, boring line up, constantly shifting tariffs and massive debt--$5.6 billion is due next year--all conspired against that long-sought return to profitability. Remember Nissan, it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Mitsubishi Recalls Outlanders Again Over Bad Back Ends

a white suv parked on a high-end street - Mitsubishi

Speaking of car companies fading into obscurity, Mitsubishi has a recall out on 91,697 Outlander and Outlander Hybrid SUVs. The rear hatch on these vehicles could fall on owners unexpectedly, resulting in injury.

This isn't the first back-end recall Mitsubishi has issued this summer. In June, the automaker recalled the same vehicles but on a much larger scale; nearly 200,000 Outlanders both hybrid and gas-only were recalled over faulty backup cameras. The issue then was software that could lead to frozen displays, that in turn could lead to folks backing up into things. Now the actual rear hatches are affected, and will need more than just a software update to clear things up.

Check your recalls periodically folks, you really don't want to arrive at the hospital and have to explain that your Mitsubishi tried to eat you.

Reverse: The Oldsmobile Is Born

We don't talk about Ransom E. Olds enough. He was an innovator who was miles ahead of Ford and the Dodge brothers at the turn of the century. He had his curved-dash Oldsmobile on the market when other early Detroit automakers were still futzing around with quadricycles. Plus what a name! Not enough Ransoms running around anymore.