Tesla's Swedish Union Woes Compound, Lucid Booted Off Nasdaq 100, Nio Gains On Spin-off Rumors And More: Biggest EV Stories Of The Week

Electric vehicle stocks had a mixed close in the week that ended on Dec. 8 despite the broader market strength, with mid-cap startups losing ground. Market leader Tesla, Inc. TSLA, while up for the week, has largely been rangebound since it reported its third-quarter results in mid-October.

Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

Tesla’s Swedish Cup Of Woes, China Sales And More: A labor union strike by IF Metall has precipitated into a crisis for Tesla. A company representative in Sweden told local media outlet Jönköpings-Posten that the situation is sensitive and that the security of the employees is the company’s top priority, Teslarati reported. Employees reportedly were receiving threats on social media.

The week also saw Tesla losing a court case in Sweden against the nation’s postal service over the latter’s refusal to deliver license plates to the company’s Swedish arm.

Danish pension fund PensionDanmark announced this week that it plans to include Tesla in its exclusion list — a compilation of investments that it has earmarked for sale due to non-compliance with its investment guidelines. A Reuters report said the decision to divest Tesla was due to the EV maker’s refusal to enter into collective bargaining agreements with labor unions. The report also said labor unions in Norway and Denmark said they would start blocking transit shipments of Tesla meant for the Swedish market.

Data released by the China Passenger Car Association showed that Tesla’s made-in-China sales totaled 82,432 units in November, CnEVPost reported. This marked a 17.8% drop from a year ago. On a month-over-month basis, sales rose 14.3%. Domestic sales came in at 65,504 units, a 4.8% year-over-year increase and a 129% month-over-month jump. Exports of MIC EVs, however, slipped 55% year-over-year and 61% month-over-month to 16,928 units.

The performance is in line with Tesla’s typical focus on domestic sales in the second half of the quarter.

See Also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

Lucid’s Mixed Week: With fundamental woes weighing down on Lucid Group, Inc. LCID, the company sprung into action this week. It announced that it would streamline its Lucid Air lineup, with the Air Pure priced at $77,500 and with the Air Touring, which has a starting price of $85,900, anchoring the lineup. The number of Air sedan models was trimmed from five to four, and the all-wheel drive version of the Pure variant was scrapped. The company also lowered starting prices to make the EVs more affordable.

Moreover, Lucid added “Comfort & Convenience Packages” as extra-cost options for the Air Pure and Air Touring. 

Late Friday, Nasdaq announced that Lucid would be removed from the Nasdaq 100 Index, effective prior to the market open on Dec. 18. The ouster was based on a routine annual reconstitution of the index. The move will likely negatively impact the stock, as funds mirroring the index’s makeup could sell the stock.

Nio Said To Spin-off Battery Unit: Chinese EV startup Nio, Inc. NIO is mulling a spin-off of its battery manufacturing unit as part of an effort to turn profitable, a Reuters report said. The spin-off will reportedly happen as early as the end of 2023.

Rivian Wields The Ax: Efficiency seems to be the mantra of startups that are striving to survive the inclement economic environment — and Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN proved to be no exception. The Information reported that the company laid off about 20 members from its long-range battery-cell development division, including its lead cell engineer Victor Prajapati.

The company confirmed to Benzinga that the layoff impacted less than 8% of its total workforce. “While we place a very high value on the cell engineering competence we have built at Rivian, we’re focusing the team on R2 and its defined programs,” it said in a statement.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Fisker Drives Into India: As Tesla struggles to get its operation going in India, a report by Team-BHP.com noted that Fisker, Inc.’s FSR Ocean SUV was spotted in the country. In another development, following a slump in the company’s stock price, founder Henrik Fisker released a statement this week to assuage investor concerns.

“I believe the negative reports about the company have been overblown. We have made considerable progress on our business plan and achieved many firsts in the industry, including launching in 11 countries,” he said. “I believe the current share price does not reflect our accomplishments and our long-term opportunities,” he added.

The KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index ETF KARS ended Friday’s session up 0.20% at $24.46, according to Benzinga Pro data. For the week, the ETF edged down 0.69%.

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