EV Week In Review: Double Crown For Tesla's Musk, Rivian's Q3 Spooks Investors, Toyota Charts Out Ambitio

Stung by the broader market weakness and deterioration in sentiment toward Chinese stocks, the EV sector closed the week ending Dec. 17 mostly in the red. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) came under selling pressure amid further stock sales by CEO Elon Musk. Meanwhile, Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN), which is touted to be a Tesla challenger, had a forgettable week.

Tesla CEO, Car Win Accolades, Doge Payment Mooted, And More: The week brought in a double delight for Musk, who was named by both the Time magazine and the Financial Times as their respective "Person of the Year."
Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

Musk's products also came out on top, with Tesla's Model 3 vehicle winning Edmund's top-rated EV badge.

In other noteworthy Tesla news, Musk announced on Twitter that Tesla will try out Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) payments for some merchandise. He also released another video tour of Tesla's Giga Shanghai.

Musk continued to offload Tesla shares, while Tesla bull Cathie Wood's Ark Invest also extended its Tesla selling.

Rivian Forecasts Production Shortfall In 2021: Rivian disappointed with its first quarterly report as a public company, with the EV maker warning of production shortfalls in 2021. Sell-side, however, did not attach too much significance to the negative catalyst and instead chose to focus on the long term.

The company also confirmed speculation regarding the establishment of its second plant in Georgia and expects to have an annual capacity of 400,000 EVs, globally. In a positive turn of event, Rivian's R1T won the Edmunds Editors' Choice Award.

General Motors Teases GMC Sierra: General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM), which has embarked on a journey toward electrification, teased an EV version of its GMC Sierra pickup truck. The teaser image showed only the front end of the vehicle. The EV is likely to be pitched against Rivian's R1T, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) F-150 Lightning and Tesla's Cybertruck.

Ford Means Business: Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an interview to Bloomberg this week that the company hopes to produce 600,000 EVs per year in two years. Farley also hinted at the prospect of the company overtaking market leader Tesla.

Plug Power Inks Hydrogen Fuel Cell System to Edison Motors: Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) and South Korea's Edison Motors signed on the dotted line for the mass launch of hydrogen-powered EV buses, first in the South Korean and eventually to overseas markets.

Lucid to Join Nasdaq-100 Index: The news of Lucid Group, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:LCID) inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 Index proved salubrious to this Tesla killer.

Arrival Completes Prototype Of Car Targeting Ride-hailing Industry: Arrival (NASDAQ:ARVL) said it has finished its first prototype of the Arrival Car, a EV designed specifically for the ride hailing industry. The company said it will now commence testing the vehicle and will incorporate the feedback into the next design phase, continuing to evolve the product.

Toyota Announces Big EV Push: Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) unveiled 16 concept BEVs under the Toyota and Lexus brands. By 2030, the company expects to roll out 30 BEV models and sell about 3.5 million vehicles, President Akio Toyoda said in his presentation.

The company also announced that the Lexus brand will be 100% electrified in Europe, North America and China by 2030.

This is a marked reversal in stance from Toyota, which showed reluctance to enter the BEV market.

Among the other EV news items of the week were BYD Company Limited's (PNK: BYDDF) plan to double down on its EV production in 2022, Canoo Inc. (NASDAQ:GOEV) upwardly revising production guidance and announcing a shift in production to the U.S., Hyzon Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:HYZN) announcing a couple of deals and Wood's Ark Invest piling up on XPeng, Inc. (NYSE:XPEV) shares.

EV Stock Performances for The Week: