Good morning! It’s Friday, July 5, 2024, and that’s it Morning shift, your daily roundup of top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
First takeaway: Elon Musk loses $5 billion every month
At the beginning of this year, Elon Musk had so much money that he could almost single-handedly solve world hunger with his $251 billion fortune. However, Tesla’s stagnant salesENDLESS struggles with getting it on Twitter and Tesla’s troubled stock value means it has lost money this year—a lot of money.
Musk is said to be the billionaire who has lost the most money so far this year and has lost value at a rate of about $5 billion every month. reports Forbes. According to the site, his fortune fell by more than 10 percent between the end of 2023 and June 28, 2024. As the site explains:
Musk’s net worth fell from $251.3 billion to $221.4 billion from Dec. 31, 2023, to June 28, the stock market’s last day of normal trading of the first half, more than any other billionaire tracked by Forbes, though Musk remains the richest person on the planet. .
Much of Musk’s shrinking piggy bank stems from a Delaware judge’s January stripping of his record Tesla compensation package, valued at $51 billion at the time, which prompted Forbes to downgrade the value of the equity price by 50% due to the uncertainty that Musk would ever own those shares. options.
Excluding the price, it was still a shaky six months for Musk’s fortunes, as the value of his existing 13% stake in Tesla fell by about $20 billion after the automaker’s shares fell 20% on falling earnings and car deliveries, partially offset by Musk’s stake in his artificial intelligence-generating startup xAI rose to $14.4 billion (Musk also has a stake of about $75 billion in private aerospace company SpaceX, a stake of 7 billion in his social media company X and smaller holdings in his other endeavors such as experimental human brain startup Neuralink).
Despite the struggles Musk faces during the first half of 2024, many of the world’s richest people fared much better. In fact, Forbes reports that the value of the super-rich rose dramatically during this period. The collective wealth of Forbes’ 10 richest people increased from $1.47 trillion at the end of 2023 to $1.66 trillion at the end of June 2024.
While he may have lost a few billion here and there, Musk remains the richest person in the world in front of Amazon boss Jeff Bezoswhose net worth is around $214 billion at the time of writing.
Second takeaway: Tesla’s German production will reach 1 million cars per year
However, there’s no need to feel sorry for Musk for long, as his company has just been given the green light to expand production and try to sell even more cars. After several turbulent months since protesters attack the factoryTesla’s German factory has been given the go-ahead for an expansion that could see it produce up to one million cars annually.
Tesla’s factory in the German state of Brandenburg has just had its expansion application approved by lawmakers in the area. REPORTS Automotive News. This move will allow the company to increase production in the country to around one million cars per year. like Automotive News reports:
The approval initially allows Tesla to create a paved logistics area for the new vehicles, as well as stairs to its pressurization plant and an access guard, authorities said.
The expansion is part of the Elon Musk-owned company’s plans to double the site’s capacity to 100 gigawatt hours of battery production and 1 million cars a year, setting it up to dominate the European electric vehicle market.
American car manufacturer assembles Model Y cars on site in Germany for sale throughout Europe. In 2023, it was operating at a rate of about 5,000 cars per week, increasing that output to 6,000 cars per week from 2024.
However, the expansion of the zone has been repeatedly criticized by environmental groups in the region, who accuse Elon Musk and Tesla of greenwashing and claim that expanded operations in the area will adversely affect the water supply and local wildlife.
Third takeaway: EU hits Chinese-made EVs with 38 percent tariff
After weeks of will they, or not, the legislators in the European Union have described this the steps they are taking to combat cheap Chinese electric cars from wiping out the continent. of The Biden administration imposed a 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric cars imported into America earlier this year, and now the EU has announced a 38 percent tax on cars imported from China.
Tariffs of up to 37.6 percent on Chinese electric cars will come into effect today (July 5) and are said to fighting “unfair” state subsidies which benefit car manufacturers in China, Al Jazeera reports. As the site explains:
The Commission, the EU’s executive, launched an investigation last year into Chinese electric vehicle makers over whether state subsidies were unfairly undercutting European carmakers.
After four months, when the investigation is complete, the Commission can propose “defined tasks” that will apply for five years and on which the 27-member bloc will vote.
The move raises tariffs from the current level of 10 percent as trade spats between the EU and China widen, particularly focusing on green technologies.
The temporary tariffs of between 17.4 percent and 37.6 percent, with no back dates, are designed to prevent what Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said is a threatened flood of cheap electric vehicles built on state subsidies.
However, the tariffs have not been warmly received by all in Europe, with some carmakers warning that they set the bloc on a slippery slope leading straight to a trade war between Europe and China. VW warned that the tariffs would have a negative impact on the European car industry in the long term.
4th gear: Toyota has reached the bottom of its fake emissions certificates
after General Motors was fined more than $140 million for yesterday’s failed emissions tests, Toyota has completed an investigation into an emissions scandal of its own after it identified falsified certificates describing the pollution emitted by some of its cars.
Toyota was one of several Japanese automakers accept the presentation of forged emission certificates last month. The automaker has now completed an investigation into the scandal, adding that it has not found any additional cars with forged documents. Reuters reports. As the site explains:
Toyota Motor did not find any new cases of wrongdoing in its model certification applications beyond those it had already reported last month, the Japanese automaker said in a statement on Friday.
The world’s best-selling automaker said it reported its findings to Japan’s transport ministry after completing its investigation into the certification process for all domestic models for the past 10 years.
Toyota said on Friday it was committed to continuing to take measures in line with transport ministry guidelines.
In addition to Toyota, falsified emissions certificates were also identified from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha. It followed an internal investigation at Toyota that uncovered falsified crash test documents at its Daihatsu subsidiary last year affecting light vehicles built by the company.