Union tries to seize control of works council at Tesla’s German factory

Lawsuits and slander claims fly in IG Metall’s battle with Elon Musk over employment rights and conditions

Europe’s largest trade union is trying to gain control of the works council at Elon Musk’s Tesla gigafactory near Berlin, in an industrial relations showdown marked by lawsuits and mutual accusations of slander.

The works council, an elected body of employees that negotiates everything from working hours to pay deals with a company’s management, is considered an entrenched aspect of the German corporate world, particularly in the car industry.

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Tesla reports steep drop in profits despite US rush to buy electric vehicles

Carmaker exceeded Wall Street’s expectations with more than $26bn in revenue, but saw a 37% drop in profits

Despite record vehicle sales, Tesla saw a precipitous drop in profit in its most recent quarter.

A rush to buy electric vehicles before a US tax credit for them disappears had boosted Tesla’s flagging sales, leading to the automaker exceeding some of Wall Street’s projections in its most recent financial quarter. Yet the company failed to meet earnings expectations and its stock fell in after hours trading.

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Tesla debuts ‘affordable’ Model Y and 3 in US that strike some as too expensive

CEO Elon Musk touts SUV and sedan, with starting prices of $39,990 and $36,990, as way to tap wider swath of buyers

Tesla rolled out “affordable” versions of its best-selling Model Y SUV and its Model 3 sedan, but the starting prices of US$39,990 and US$36,990 were too high, some said, to attract a new class of buyers to the electric vehicle brand.

CEO Elon Musk has touted the car as a way to tap a wider swath of buyers, saying last year that a price below $30,000, after incentives, was the key.

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Four Chinese carmakers enter Australian top 10 for first time, while Tesla sales slump

BYD overtakes Mitsubishi after nearly quadrupling sales in past year, according to official figures, as GWM, MG and Chery also surge

Australians bought more than 20,000 Chinese-made vehicles in August, putting four Chinese brands into the top 10 for the first time, while Tesla sales have slumped by more than a third.

BYD came in sixth for the month, overtaking Mitsubishi, after its sales nearly quadrupled compared with August 2024, while GWM, MG and Chery each outsold Isuzu Ute in the month to round out the top 10.

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Thousands of Tesla SUVs recalled in Australia over software fault that ‘can increase risk of injury’

All 2025 Tesla Model Y variants affected by issue that risks window closing on body parts ‘with excessive force’

More than 7,000 Tesla electric vehicles have been recalled in Australia due to a software fault that could injure drivers.

Australia’s federal transport department issued the recall over the weekend, warning that all 2025 variants of the Tesla Model Y were subject to an issue affecting the driver’s side automatic window and its safety system.

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Elon Musk’s Tesla applies to supply electricity to households in Great Britain

US carmaker makes move for licence that would allow it to provide energy to domestic and business premises

Elon Musk’s Tesla is gearing up to launch a household electricity supplier in Great Britain in the coming months.

The US electric car manufacturer run by the world’s richest man has formally applied to the energy regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, for an electricity supply licence, according to a notice published on the watchdog’s website.

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Elon Musk is turning US liberals off not just Tesla but electric vehicles in general

Disgust at the CEO’s rightwing activism is casting a pall but conservatives are no more likely to buy EVs

US liberals have become so disgusted with Tesla since Elon Musk’s rightward turn that they are now not only far less likely to purchase the car brand but also less willing to buy any type of electric car, new research has found.

The popularity of Tesla among liberal-minded Americans has plummeted since Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and the world’s richest person, allied himself with Donald Trump and helped propel the president to election victory last year.

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Tesla’s European sales slump as Musk warns of ‘rough quarters’ ahead

Electric carmaker struggles to emerge from sales rut on continent despite updating its bestselling Model Y

Tesla sales in Europe have collapsed by one-third this year, data shows, after Elon Musk warned the electric carmaker faced “a few rough quarters” ahead.

According to the figures published on Thursday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), sales of Tesla vehicles in Europe slumped by 33% to 110,000 in the first half of 2025, compared with 165,000 in the first half of 2024.

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Musk should stay out of politics, treasury secretary says after ‘America’ party news

Scott Bessent suggests Musk focus on business a day after tech billionaire announced his new political party

Elon Musk should focus on running his companies and keep himself out of politics, Donald Trump’s treasury secretary said on Sunday, a day after the world’s richest person – and a former White House adviser – announced the formation of a new political party.

“The principles of Doge were very popular – I think if you looked at the polling Elon was not,” Scott Bessent said on CNN’s State of the Union, referring to the so-called “department of government efficiency” that Musk temporarily headed after Trump’s second presidency began in January.

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BYD launches cheapest UK model in bid to overtake Tesla as biggest electric carmaker

Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650 – among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain

The Chinese manufacturer BYD has launched its cheapest model in the UK, in the latest stage of its efforts to overtake Tesla as the world’s biggest electric carmaker.

The Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650, a price that puts it among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain.

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‘They went too far’: Musk says he regrets some of his posts about Trump

Tesla share price rises as former head of president’s ‘efficiency’ drive seems to retreat from explosive falling out

Elon Musk has expressed contrition for some of his tweets about Donald Trump last week, in an apparent effort to retreat from an explosive falling out that has threatened to damage the Tesla boss’s business interests.

Musk was by far the biggest donor to Trump’s presidential campaign, but tensions between the two erupted into public view last week and rapidly escalated, as the world’s richest man called for the president’s impeachment and mocked his connections to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a series of posts.

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Tesla share plunge amid Trump feud wipes $152bn off Elon Musk’s company

Car company’s shares dropped by 14.2% and its billionaire CEO’s net worth reduced by $8.73bn

Tesla’s shares dropped by about 14.2% on Thursday at market close, wiping roughly $152bn off the value of the company as a feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump erupted into public view. The former political allies traded threats and insults through posts on their respective social media platforms throughout the afternoon as the company’s price fell.

Trump suggested on Truth Social that he could cut Musk’s government subsidies and contracts, of which both Tesla and SpaceX have been immense beneficiaries. Musk meanwhile threatened to decommission the SpaceX spacecraft that Nasa relies on for transport missions, called for Trump’s impeachment, derided the president’s signature tariffs and accused him of being affiliated with the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Musk said late Thursday evening his company will not decommission its spacecraft.

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Musk is pivoting from DC and Doge’s failures – and wants investors to know

The billionaire mogul is signaling far and wide that he’s back to business, and even criticizing Trump’s tax bill

Elon Musk really wants the public – and investors – to know that he’s leaving Washington DC behind.

In a series of interviews and social media posts this week, Musk has criticized Donald Trump’s marquee tax bill and emphasized his recommitment to leading SpaceX, Tesla and the artificial intelligence company xAI. The world’s richest person claimed that he was back to working around the clock at his companies – to the point of sleeping in conference rooms and factory offices once again.

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Tesla wins council approval for new factory in South Australia despite vocal anti-Musk sentiment

Marion council votes to seek state government approval for battery factory in Adelaide despite hundreds of submissions opposing it

Elon Musk’s Tesla is one step closer to opening a factory in an Adelaide suburb despite overwhelming community opposition from “anti-Tesla and anti-Elon Musk sentiment”.

On Tuesday night the City of Marion council voted to seek state government approval to sell the site to a developer who will build the factory.

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Chaos unleashed by Musk’s Doge is starting to wane – what does that mean?

Tech billionaire plans to hang up the chainsaw as he steps away from ‘efficiency’ role amid Tesla sales slump

“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy!” screamed Elon Musk, wielding the power tool before a cheering crowd at a rightwing political conference. The tech titan promised to slice and dice the US federal government and save taxpayers a trillion dollars. Oozing confidence, the world’s richest person seemed unstoppable.

That was February. Last week Musk announced that he is hanging up his chainsaw and stepping back from his role overseeing the unofficial “department of government efficiency”, or Doge, to focus on Tesla, his beleaguered electric vehicle company. The news led some to hope the chaos unleashed by Doge is finally waning.

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Elon Musk to pull back in Doge role starting May amid 71% dip in Tesla profits

CEO to pare back White House work to one to two days weekly as analysts say role has caused branding crisis

The Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, said he will start pulling back from his role at the so-called “department of government efficiency” starting in May. Musk’s remarks came as the company reported a massive dip in both profits and revenues in the first quarter of 2025 amid backlash against his role in the White House.

On an investor call, Musk said the work necessary to get the government’s “financial house in order is mostly done”.

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Tesla stops taking orders in China for two models imported from US

Carmaker removes ‘order now’ buttons for Model S saloon and Model X SUV on its Chinese website amid tariffs war

Tesla has stopped taking orders in China for two models it previously imported from the US, as companies scramble to adapt to prohibitive tariffs imposed in Donald Trump’s trade war.

The manufacturer, run by Trump’s close ally Elon Musk, removed “order now” buttons on its Chinese website for its Model S saloon and Model X sports utility vehicle.

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Italian police increase security at Tesla dealerships after 17 cars destroyed in Rome fire

State police anti-terrorism unit investigating whether blaze in Torre Angela was started by anarchists

Italy’s interior ministry has written to police forces across the country to increase security at Tesla dealerships after 17 of the electric cars made by Elon Musk’s company were destroyed in a fire in Rome.

Italy’s state police anti-terrorism unit, Digos, is investigating whether the fire at the Tesla dealership in Torre Angela, a suburb in the east of the capital, was started by anarchists.

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Le boycott: French customers shun McDonald’s, Coca Cola and Tesla to protest against Trump

France has been urged to shun Maga America as #BoycottUSA hashtag spreads, but teenagers say they can’t afford to join the action

On the rainy Grands Boulevards in Paris on Friday, the branches of McDonald’s and KFC were doing brisk business.

There was little sign of “le boycott” – a movement among French customers to reject American brands and products made in the US, in protest at Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and anti-Europe rhetoric.

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Las Vegas police arrest suspect in Tesla arson attack

Paul Hyon Kim allegedly set vehicles ablaze in latest attack on Tesla amid protests over Elon Musk-led budget cuts

Las Vegas police have arrested a man suspected of attacking a Tesla service center earlier this month with molotov cocktails that he allegedly used to set several vehicles on fire.

Paul Hyon Kim, 36, who is in custody at the Clark county detention center, faces multiple felony counts, including suspicion of arson and destroying or injuring real or personal property, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

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