Business
business
Rani Molla
8/15/25

Tesla sales jumped from June to July but were down year over year

July data from Cox Automotive shows US EV sales grew 26.4% month over month and 19.7% year over year, their second-best month ever.

The highest sellers by volume were Tesla, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Ford, and Honda. Tesla still accounts for roughly 5x the EV sales of the others, but they are growing far faster on a monthly and annual basis. (Tesla saw a slight year-on-year decline in sales.)

The data is a rare bright spot for Tesla’s automotive business, which dropped 16% last quarter compared with a year earlier as the company faces declining demand for its cars.

One of the reasons for the growth in US EV sales, including Teslas last month, is that next month will mark the end of the $7,500 regulatory credits, so it’s pushing forward demand. How much the change will affect the companies’ top and bottom lines will depend on how steep the price cuts they enact to compensate are.

Additionally, the US government this month stopped issuing compliance letters to automakers for violating fuel economy standards, effectively dissolving the market for regulatory credits. Tesla is expected to miss out on about $255 million in regulatory credits — essentially pure profit — each quarter going forward.

Combined, the end of US regulatory credits and EV tax credits could jeopardize more than half of Tesla’s profits, according to JPMorgan estimates.

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Volkswagen is reportedly closing in on its own, separate tariff deal with the US

In a bid to get its own tariff rate below the 15% applied to most EU exports, Volkswagen is dangling big US investments.

Speaking at a trade show Monday, VW CEO Oliver Blume said the automaker is in advanced talks on a deal to limit its own tariff burden. Volkswagen reported a tariff cost of $1.5 billion in the first half of the year.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Blume said the company is in close contact with the Trump administration and has had “good talks” about its separate deal. The current 15% tariff rate on EU vehicles would still “be a burden for Volkswagen,” Blume said.

A company reaching a tariff deal separate from its home country isn’t typical, though there’s already precedent this year, with Apple’s $100 billion US investment deal amid chip tariffs and President Trump’s threats to add a levy to smartphones. Nvidia and AMD similarly struck a deal to receive the ability to sell chips in China and in exchange agreed to give the US 15% of the revenue from those sales.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Blume said the company is in close contact with the Trump administration and has had “good talks” about its separate deal. The current 15% tariff rate on EU vehicles would still “be a burden for Volkswagen,” Blume said.

A company reaching a tariff deal separate from its home country isn’t typical, though there’s already precedent this year, with Apple’s $100 billion US investment deal amid chip tariffs and President Trump’s threats to add a levy to smartphones. Nvidia and AMD similarly struck a deal to receive the ability to sell chips in China and in exchange agreed to give the US 15% of the revenue from those sales.

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