TESLA Motors

Jan. 12 (UPI) — The European Union published new pricing guidelines Monday that could allow the relaxation of tough import “anti-subsidy” duties on Chinese electric vehicles of up to 35.3% imposed by the 27-country economic block in October 2024.

The framework deal prescribes how Chinese EV-makers will submit “price undertaking offers” under which they commit to a minimum selling price where, if accepted, the EU will waive the anti-subsidy duties, Brussels said in a news release.

The European Commission said the guidance, the result of 15 months of negotiations with the Chinese Commerce Ministry, covered sales channels, cross-compensation and future investment in the EU — in addition to the minimum price offer — and that every submission would receive a fair hearing.

“Each price undertaking offer is subject to the same legal criteria and the European Commission will conduct each assessment in an objective and fair manner, following the principle of non-discrimination and in accordance with World Trade Organization rules,” said the commission.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry hailed the agreement as an important step forward to resolving the long-running dispute over EU claims that the Chinese government is subsidizing its EV manufacturing sector, but which Beijing insists is overblown, unwarranted and manufactured from selective data.

“The progress fully reflects the spirit of dialogue and the outcomes of consultations between China and the EU. It shows that both China and the EU have the ability and willingness to properly resolve differences through consultation.

“This is conducive not only to ensuring the healthy development of China-EU economic and trade relations, but also to safeguarding the rules-based international trade order.”

The deal could offer relief for big producers like BYD, Geely and SAIC, which were slapped with tariff rates of 17%, 18.8% and 35.3%, respectively, beginning on Oct. 30, 2024, for five years following a year-long antitrust investigation into the EV market.

Tesla was given a rate of 7.8% following a “substantiated request” that its situation receive an individual examination.

However, the guidelines set a high bar for the Chinese to surmount, requiring offers to counterbalance the negative effects of the subsidies, with the EU claiming its EV industry is taking major hits, including being priced out of competing in the net-zero marketplace, with 2.5 million jobs under imminent threat and 10.3 million indirectly.

EU member states were split over the tariffs, with only 10 voting in favor in October 2024, with the sector itself, as well as economies with very large trade relationships with China, such as Germany, skeptical and fearful of Chinese retaliation.

Back then, Beijing accused the EU of protectionism, arguing Chinese EVs were cheaper because they were simply more efficient at making them.

“China’s competitive advantage in EVs is not due to subsidies but rather to a robust supply chain, developed through intense competition,” the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU said.

Since then, the market share of Chinese-made EVs has risen steadily in Europe and around the world, with Tesla being toppled from its position as the best-selling brand by BYD sometime in 2025.

Jan. 4 (UPI) — A far-left activist group sent police a letter taking credit for setting fire to part of a power plant near Berlin, leaving nearly 50,000 customers in the dark, as a protest against the fossil fuel industry.

The German activist group Vulkangruppe, or Volcano Group, acknowledged in a 2,500-word letter that it set a fire on Saturday near the Lichterfelde heat and power station, damaging high-voltage cables to “cut the juice to the ruling class,” The Guardian reported.

On Sunday morning, Stromnetz Berlin, the power company that owns the station, reported that roughly 45,000 homes and 2,200 businesses had lost power in the outage, Deutche Welle reported.

The power company said that while some connections have been turned back on in small waves, some customers may not have their electricity until as late as Thursday afternoon.

Some schools may also be closed for the part of the week because they do not have power, The BBC reported.

“We are expecting damage costing millions to plants and machines and owing to high losses in revenue,” Alexander Schirp, director of the regional business associations in Berlin and Brandenburg, said of the arson.

“This is a serious problem and stokes a feeling of insecurity in the business world,” he added.

Early Saturday, cables near the power plant were spotted burning and incendiary devices were later found to have caused the inferno.

In the aftermath, several hospitals and health care facilities received emergency generators, but many people had to be moved from either facilities or their own homes because there was no power.

Vulkangruppe said in the letter, which police have said is credible, that they set the fire in an “act of self-defense and international solidarity with all those who protect the Earth and life.”

The group condemned “greed for energy” by burning fossil fuels for the ever-growing electricity needs of humanity, and specifically called out the massive, and exponentially growing, use of electric for artificial intelligence computing.

“We are contributing to our own surveillance and it is comprehensive. The tech corporations are in the hands of me with power, which we give them,” the group wrote, calling the fire an “action in the public interest.”

Vulkangruppe previously took credit for a fire that was set at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin in March 2024.

That arson included deliberately setting fire to a high-voltage electric pole, which damaged the electric line and cut power to the surrounding area, including the plant, officials said at the time.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — Chinese electric car maker BYD surpassed Tesla in annual sales in 2025.

BYD said it sold 2.26 million battery electric vehicles in 2025, a boost of 28% year over year, the company said in a statement Thursday. BYD’s total deliveries from BEVs and plug-in hybrids were about 4.6 million vehicles.

Tesla sold 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, which is about an 8% decline from 2024, the company announced Friday. It’s the company’s second-straight annual drop.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk once laughed at BYD cars in an interview on Bloomberg TV in 2011. He said, “I don’t think they have a great product,” CNBC reported Musk said.

Musk spent the first half of 2025 working for the federal government in the administration of President Donald Trump as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency. He left in May amid a fight with Trump.

In November, Tesla shareholders approved a new pay package for Musk.The firm said 75% of shareholders with voting rights backed Musk’s 10-year pay deal, which could net him $1 trillion over that time by boosting his stake in Tesla by more than 423 million shares.

Though shares dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2025, they are back on track with an all-time closing high of $489.88 last month, after Musk said it had been testing driverless vehicles in Austin, Texas.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla Model 3 sedans, which might have a deadly flaw in the emergency door release mechanism.

The NHTSA investigation covers about 180,000 Model 3 sedans and is in reaction to recent media reports and a defect petition that suggest the occupants of the Tesla sedans and first responders had trouble using the emergency door release mechanisms after a crash, Electrek reported.

The NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation’s probe into the matter applies to the 2022 model year Tesla Model 3 sedans and their electronic door handles.

“The petition cites that the mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled and not intuitive to locate during an emergency,” the ODI said.

The problem might have contributed to several deaths in fatal crashes, according to media reports.

The front manual emergency door release latch is located ahead of the window switches, which many passengers accidentally pull instead of using the door-opening button, which could damage the door window.

The rear doors are more complicated to open, which makes it important for Model 3 owners to learn how to use the emergency door mechanisms and to explain how to their passengers.

Instructions are included in the owner’s manual. A Tesla dealership can show owners how to use the mechanisms and afterward show their passengers how to use them in an emergency and to prevent damaging windows via accidental deployments.

Those who are unsure of whether their Tesla Model 3 sedan is subject to the investigation can do a search on the NHTSA recall page by entering their respective state and license plate number or the vehicle identification number or year, make and model.

The results will reveal if the vehicle is subject to a recall in this matter or any other.

Dec. 16 (UPI) — Tesla shares closed at a record-high $489.88 on Tuesday, days after CEO Elon Musk announced the company had been testing driverless vehicles in Texas.

Shares rose 3.1% for the day and were up 21% for the year, CNBC reported. This came after Tesla’s worst quarter since 2022 when it dropped 36% in the first quarter of this year.

Techstock² reported that in addition to the roboatxi announcement, Tesla saw a boost on the stock market in response to a fresh round of filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.

The filings showed that WT Wealth Management increased its Tesla stake by 178.7%, Carter Financial Group opened a new Tesla position, Orion Portfolion solutions increased its holdings of Tesla by 14.8%, National Wealth Management Group increased its stake by 26.3% and Momentum Wealth Planning purchased a new stake of 9,802 shares worth about $3.11 million.

Tesla also invested $1.2 billion in a battery cell plant in Berlin.

With Tuesday’s bounce, Tesla’s market cap reached $1.63 trillion, making it the seventh-most valuable company in trading behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, CNBC reported.