Good morning! It’s Monday, August 4, 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, Elon Musk gets a gift worth billions from Tesla’s board as it struggles in China continue, we’re still a long ways away from a trade deal between Canada and the U.S. and Foxconn still has big ambitions for the U.S. once it sells off its Lordstown, Ohio plant.
There’s no better way to start the day, friends.
1st Gear: Tesla board rewards Musk with $29 billion stock package
In a normal world, the type of CEO who puts out bad, half-baked products, doesn’t deliver on promises and tanks the brand’s reputation by aligning themselves with one of the most divisive political figures of our time just to have a very public falling out with that guy, doesn’t get a bonus of any kind from their company. Well, Tesla doesn’t exist in a normal world, and that’s why its board just approved a share award to CEO Elon Musk worth $29 billion.
The move comes after a Delaware court ruling voided his original 2018 $50-ish billion pay package as being unfair to shareholders. The judge said the board’s approval process was flawed and unfair to shareholders. They probably have a point. From Reuters:
Musk kicked off an appeal in March against the order, claiming a lower court judge made multiple legal errors in rescinding the record compensation. Earlier this year, Tesla said its board had formed a special committee to consider some compensation matters involving Musk, without disclosing details.
Tesla is at a turning point as Musk, its largest shareholder with a 13% stake, shifts focus from a promised affordable EV platform to robotaxis and humanoid robots, positioning the company more as an AI and robotics firm than an automaker.
The new award is designed to gradually boost Musk’s voting power, something he and shareholders have consistently said was key to keeping him focused on Tesla’s mission, the special committee said in the filing.
«While we recognize Elon’s business ventures, interests and other potential demands on his time and attention are extensive and wide-ranging … we are confident that this award will incentivize Elon to remain at Tesla,» the committee said in a regulatory filing on Monday.
It added that if the Delaware courts fully reinstate the 2018 CEO Performance Award, the new interim grant will either be forfeited or offset and there will be no «double dip,» it added.
This package will theoretically keep Musk tied to Tesla through at least 2027. He’ll need to stick around or it won’t actually vest.
Of course, all of this is happening as the company struggles more than it ever has before. The stock has lost about a quarter of its value so far this year as sales continue to tumble due to an aging lineup and Musk’s devious political antics. It also has to deal with strong competition in the U.S. from GM, Hyundai and BMW, and don’t even get me started on China.
2nd Gear: Tesla’s Chinese struggles continue
OK, you’ve got me started on China. Nice going, because it’s a goddamn mess for Tesla right now. Shipments from the automaker’s Shanghai factory continued to fall in July as the company moved just 67,886 vehicles last month. It’s not currently known what percentage of that number was exports and what was domestic sales. Regardless, its an 8.4% decrease from a year earlier.
Tesla’s flagship plant in China has seen shipments decline six out of the seven months, for which data will be available in 2025. You can thank strong home-grown competition from companies like BYD and Xiaomi for the backslide. The dip for Tesla comes despite the fact that overall EV and hybrid sales are up in the country. From Bloomberg:
Overall sales of EVs and hybrids in China grew 25% in July to 1.18 million units, defying what’s typically a slow period for car sales.
[…]
Tesla, which has a limited line-up in the world’s largest EV market, is preparing to launch a longer, six-seat version of the Model Y SUV in China.
I’m really not sure a slightly stretched Model Y will be enough to right the ship in China. Honestly, I’m not sure if anything is going to fix the issues Tesla has. It’s not really a politics thing, either. The big issue it faces is the simple fact that its competition is just better.
3rd Gear: U.S.-Canada trade deal is a ways away
The U.S. and Canada still aren’t particularly close to locking in a trade deal, according to Ottawa’s chief negotiator. The worrying news comes just a day after President Trump imposed higher tariffs on imports from Canada. From Automotive News:
Trump — who had set an August 1 deadline for an agreement — signed an executive order increasing tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 percent from 25 percent on all products not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. That exemption essentially means automotive trade is not affected by the increase.
Prime Minister Mark Carney insisted on the talks to reset bilateral relations, saying Trump’s tariffs have upended decades-old trading and security ties. The negotiations, though, have so far produced little.
Canadian cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc, in charge of U.S. trade relations, said Canada had always made clear it would only accept a good deal.
The White House told reporters that it was Canada’s failure to stop fentanyl smuggling and address U.S. concerns about trade barriers as the reasons a trade agreement hadn’t been reached yet.
Folks within the Trump Administration are also ticked off that Canada has refused to drop its own countermeasures, which were first imposed by former Prime Minister (and current Katy Perry love interest) Justin Trudeau. Mark Carney, Canada’s current PM, won an April election by promising to stand up to Trump.
4th Gear: Foxconn has big plans for the U.S. after plant sale
Foxconn is selling its massive former General Motors Lordstown, Ohio, plant that it bought just three years ago, but it has no plans to leave the U.S. Instead, it says its going to reinvest proceeds of its $88 million asking price to expand its U.S. business.
The world’s largest contract manufacturer of iPhones is set to sell the site’s land and buildings to an entity called Crescent Dune — a company it described as an «existing business partner.» From Automotive News:
In separate transactions Foxconn is also selling one batch of machinery and equipment on behalf of its EV Asset Management subsidiary to Crescent Dune for $257.0 million and a second batch of the equipment and machinery from its EV System LLC to Crescent Dune for $30.0 million.
[Foxconn] said it plans to channel the $375.0 million in total proceeds into «new business areas.»
It did not identify the new businesses. But possible areas of investment may include the cloud and networking data center business, which Foxconn is prioritizing as a global growth segment.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., as Foxconn is officially called, said in a separate statement it plans to continue to operating at the Lordstown site and still values the automotive segment.
«Foxconn will be involved in the manufacturing of products for customers at the Lordstown facility,» the company said. «The U.S. is a key automotive market and we are committed to customers and suppliers in this market. Foxconn will be able to rapidly ramp up automotive production to meet customer demand when required.»
It’s not totally clear exactly what the plant is going to build now. It has the capacity to pump out hundreds of thousands of vehicles every year, and it was on pace to be doing so as early as next year, but this sale means that plans have definitely changed.
Reverse: If you’re not first, you’re last
History.com
It’s hard to believe, but «Talladega Nights» is now a 19-year-old movie. In an era of big-budget studio comedies, there’s a real argument that this is the best one. Of course, since it’s about cars and came out at such a formative age for me (I was just about to turn 11 when this hit theaters), it has always held a very special place in my heart. If you want to learn more about it, head over to History.com.
On the radio: The Blam – Various Disgraces
This song played for a split second in the background of an episode of «The Office,» and now I’ve got to assume I am responsible for 99% of the plays this little-known Indie song from 2002 has gotten on Apple Music over the past week or so.
