Tesla Sends Cybertruck Workers Home

1 month ago 10

Good morning! It's Monday, May 12, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your regular roundup of the apical automotive headlines from astir the world, successful 1 place. This is wherever you'll find the astir important stories that are shaping the mode Americans thrust and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking astatine Tesla idling the Cybertruck and Model Y lines, arsenic good arsenic the 90-day U.S.-China commercialized warfare armistice. We'll besides instrumentality a peek astatine Nissan's plans to chopped 20,000 workers, and Mazda's tariff interaction estimates for April.

Read more: These Are The Worst New Car And SUV Deals Right Now, According To Consumer Reports

1st Gear: Tesla Wants Cybertruck And Model Y Workers Off The Production Lines For A Week

The Cybertruck is simply a income failure, to the grade that Tesla has trucks piling up successful parking tons due to the fact that nary 1 wants to bargain them. There's not overmuch the institution tin bash astir the erstwhile issue, too replacing its CEO and wholly redesigning the pickup, but it tin bash thing astir the latter: Stop making truthful galore of the things. So, that's precisely what it plans to do. From Business Insider:

Tesla told Austin workers connected its Model Y and Cybertruck lines to enactment location for the week of Memorial Day, 3 workers told Business Insider.

The interruption is unusually long, the workers said. Production lines were up and moving during the aforesaid play past year, they said.

...

The workers said their schedules had been progressively inconsistent since February. Some said they had been sent location aboriginal connected aggregate occasions.In February, the Austin mill began cracking down connected overtime hours, the workers said. Two said they were told by absorption that if they clocked overtime hours, they could yet look disciplinary action.

Inclusion of the Model Y present is interesting. The Cybertruck debuted with a litany of problems, but the Model Y was erstwhile a best-seller. Maybe Elon Musk has truly wounded Tesla's estimation that much.

2nd Gear: U.S. And China Agree To 90-Day Truce Of Lighter Tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremonial for caller U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue successful the Oval Office astatine the White House connected May 07, 2025 successful Washington, DC.

The United States has been large connected commercialized warfare successful the past fewer months, and China's been the superior target. Now, though, Americans are seeing the consequences of tariffs: The small treats, the video crippled consoles and Temu trinkets, person each gotten much expensive. In short, radical haven't been happy. Now the White House is reducing its tariffs connected China, but lone for 90 days — unless a much lasting statement tin beryllium reached. From Automotive News China:

The U.S. and China said they volition temporarily little tariffs connected each other's products successful a melodramatic ratcheting down of commercialized tensions that buys the world's 2 largest economies 3 months to enactment toward a broader agreement.

The combined 145 percent U.S. levies connected astir Chinese imports volition beryllium reduced to 30 percent including the complaint tied to fentanyl by May 14, portion the 125 percent Chinese duties connected U.S. goods volition driblet to 10 percent, according to a associated connection and from officials successful a briefing Monday successful Geneva.

...

In a probe note, Maeva Cousin of Bloomberg Economics said today's determination "substantially lowers the U.S. mean tariff daze connected China," though the remaining import taxes stay precocious and could inactive chopped U.S. imports from China by astir 70 percent successful the mean term.

The fentanyl framing lone gets funnier with time. It's truthful intelligibly unrelated to the ongoing commercialized war, but folks successful some authorities and the media support pretending it means anything. Y'all tin springiness up connected the fentanyl thing.

3rd Gear: Nissan To Cut 20,000 Jobs

Nissan hasn't been looking truthful blistery recently. The institution tried to merge with Honda, stopped trying to merge with Honda, ousted its CEO, and that was each earlier the tariffs hit. Now the institution is cutting a monolithic swath of its workforce, which is ne'er a bully sign. From Bloomberg:

Nissan Motor Co. volition destruct 11,000 much jobs than antecedently planned, NHK reported Monday, arsenic portion of a program to restructure its flailing business.

The Japanese carmaker said successful November it would chopped 9,000 positions aft anemic income successful the US and China led to a 94% driblet successful first-half nett income. Now those occupation cuts volition beryllium person to 20,000, oregon astir 15% of the full workforce, according to Japan's nationalist broadcaster. The redundancies volition hap some astatine location and overseas, it added.

Cutting 15% of each your employees, globally, is simply a monolithic reduction. If the talks with Honda were the firm equivalent of opening up your narration successful a hopeless past bid to prevention it, what does that marque this? Sending the kids to enactment with Grandma for a bit?

4th Gear: Mazda Expects $68 Million Tariff Hit In April Alone

Mazda 3 car successful beforehand of dealership gathering connected March 31, 2017 successful Prague, Czech republic.

Automakers springiness net estimates to their investors annually, successful a papers called a guidance. In 2025, beauteous overmuch each automaker has been rescinding that guidance and saying determination won't beryllium a replacement until the commercialized warfare settles. Mazda is conscionable the latest to propulsion the aforesaid move, but the institution did contented immoderate benignant of estimate: A $68 cardinal tariff deed successful conscionable 1 period of 2025. From Bloomberg:

Mazda Motor Co. withheld its yearly nett guidance aft its short-term future, on with astir planetary carmakers, was muddied by US President Donald Trump's commercialized war.

The Japanese automaker's forecast for the fiscal twelvemonth that volition extremity March 2026 has yet to beryllium determined owed to uncertainty implicit factors including US tariffs connected car and car parts, Mazda said Monday, adding that it volition denote its expectations erstwhile it becomes imaginable to found a tenable projection.

...

For Mazda, the interaction could magnitude to arsenic overmuch arsenic ¥10 cardinal ($68 million) conscionable successful April, Chief Executive Officer Masahiro Moro said Monday. Mazda was reporting its full-year fiscal results. Net income came successful astatine ¥114 billion, little than the company's ain guidance of ¥140 billion.

Remember that April was inactive an introductory play for tariffs, with pre-tax banal sitting connected trader lots. As that proviso dwindles, the numbers aren't apt to get amended for Mazda. Someone should lobby for a Miata exemption.

Reverse: Thank You, Ghost That Possessed Keith Richards

Richards "had nary idea" helium wrote "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Probably due to the fact that a shade did it, and simply utilized Richards arsenic an instrumentality with which to prosecute successful the mortal realm.

On The Radio: Tally Hall - 'Ruler Of Everything'

I conscionable woke up with this 1 stuck successful my caput today. Not definite why. It's a bully track, though, truthful you each get to perceive it too.

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