

News
BMW’s next CEO could revive an electric car initiative amid assault from EVs like Tesla
BMW CEO Harald Krueger is leaving his post as the German automaker’s chief executive. In an update on Friday, the company announced that Krueger would not be seeking another term in his contract as CEO after it expires next year. A press release from BMW noted that the Supervisory Board will be discussing Krueger’s replacement during a meeting on July 18, though a report from the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, citing people from within the company, claimed that production chief Oliver Zipse is the frontrunner to take over the CEO role.
This would likely translate to a potential revival, or at least an acceleration, of BMW’s push into electric mobility. Krueger has received a fair amount of skepticism over his leadership of BMW over the past years, particularly due to the company losing ground in the luxury segment to its main rival, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, according to the Associated Press. BMW has also been left out in the premium electric vehicle market, which is currently being dominated by Silicon Valley-based Tesla and increasingly populated by veteran carmakers like Audi and Jaguar. This was unfortunate, as BMW, at one point, actually had a lead in EVs.
Prior to Krueger’s appointment as CEO, BMW had launched the i3, a curiously-designed battery electric car that was considered as an alternative, or even a competitor, to the Tesla Model S. Under Krueger’s leadership, BMW shifted away from all-electric vehicles, focusing instead on plug-in hybrids, which combine an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. This strategy ultimately resulted in BMW losing the lead that it established with the i3. Today, the company’s next expected EV, the iX3, has been beaten to the market by the Jaguar I-PACE, the Audi-e-tron, and even the Porsche Taycan, which is set for release later this year.
Leading up to Friday’s announcement about Krueger’s departure, BMW insiders have mentioned to German news agency Handelsblatt that the company is considering two candidates who could take over the CEO post: the ambitious Head of Development Klaus Fröhlich and the more tempered Oliver Zipse, who took over BMW’s production department from Krueger back in 2015. Fröhlich is more aggressive than the head of production, but he is also a staunch electric car critic. Back in October, for example, Fröhlich committed to diesel, arguing that ongoing discussions about electromobility are “a little bit irrational.”
Fröhlich’s more recent comments showed an even more dismissive stance on electric cars. In a round table interview in Munich, the BMW executive argued that “there is no customer requests for BEVs.” Doubling down, he added that “If we have a big offer, a big incentive, we could flood Europe and sell a million cars, but Europeans won’t buy these things. Customers in Europe do not buy EVs. We pressed these cars into the market, and they’re not wanted. We can deliver an electrified vehicle to each person, but they will not buy them.”
Zipse, provided that he does get named as CEO, would have a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. BMW is currently facing headwinds, including a “hiring freeze” and stagnating sales. The company has also issued two profit warnings over the past nine months, suggesting that it will take much effort to turn the automaker around. Rivals Volkswagen and Daimler have already gone ahead with their electric cars such as the ID.3, Audi e-tron, Porsche Taycan, and the Mercedes-Benz EQC. Tesla still holds a notable lead in key metrics such as batteries, efficiency, and charging infrastructure, but with a new captain at the helm, perhaps BMW can start catching up to the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker as well. If there’s anything that Tesla has proven over the years, after all, it is that the demand for well-designed, high-performance electric vehicles is notable, as could be seen in the disruption being caused by the Model 3 in markets such as the United States.

Elon Musk tends to use social media platform X as his personal platform to express himself, so much so that critics tend to allege that the CEO is no longer serious about his numerous companies.
As per Musk, he is still very much in wartime CEO mode, despite all the jokes and fun posts about Ani on X.
Elon Musk leads several prolific companies, much more than the average CEO. And while Tesla is the only publicly traded entity that he currently leads, Musk is so visible that everyone across the internet pretty much has a strong opinion of him one way or another. For his longtime supporters and followers, however, what truly matters is if Musk is locked in.
Considering that Elon Musk’s feed on X has recently been filled with AI imagery, a good portion of which involve AI-rendered women, some X users have expressed concerns that the CEO may be losing focus once more. Musk responded to one such user by highlighting his very busy schedule and his numerous active projects.
Needless to say, Elon Musk is still locked in. He is still in “wartime CEO” mode.
As per the CEO, even his recent AI posts about AI are “part of a broader vision and strategy.” He also highlighted that SpaceX’s Starship Flight 10 is launching in a few days, xAI’s Grok 5 is starting its training next month, and Tesla’s Autopilot V14 is also coming next month. As per Musk, “long-term strategy is compelling.”
Elon Musk’s comments are quite accurate. While he may seem to spend all his time on X, after all, he is very much still neck-deep in all his companies’ projects. There is a reason why Musk became known as a visionary, and a lot of it is because he really is intimately involved in all of his companies’ projects.
News
Tesla watchers spot mysterious castings at Fremont Factory
The castings seem to be quite new, as they do not seem to match any of the castings that are currently being used for the Model Y.

A recent flyover of the Fremont Factory has triggered speculations about Tesla’s ongoing initiatives that are yet to be unveiled publicly. This was hinted at by the sighting of some apparent vehicle castings around the factory that have never really been observed before.
A Fremont Factory flyover
In a recent update, drone operator Met God in Wilderness, who has been chronicling the progress and developments of the Fremont Factory for years, shared some footage from his August 14, 2025 flyover. Based on the video, the Fremont Factory seemed very much alive. Vehicles were being pumped out of the factory, and a rather interestingly covered car could be seen going around the test track.
What is quite fascinating about the footage from the Fremont Factory is the fact that the vehicles that were moving from the production line to the outbound logistics lot are not driven manually anymore. As per Tesla in previous updates, vehicles produced at the Fremont Factory navigate to the outbound logistics lot on their own using Unsupervised FSD.
Mysterious castings
Perhaps most interestingly, the drone operator also managed to capture some footage of some castings that were being gathered just outside one of the facility’s sprung structures. These castings seem to be quite new, as they do not seem to match any of the castings that are currently being used for the Model Y. This has brought speculations suggesting that the new components, which seem smaller than standard Model Y megacasts, may be for a different, perhaps more compact, vehicle.
As per Tesla in its second quarter earnings call, the company actually started the initial production of more affordable models sometime in June. These vehicles, as per Elon Musk, will be made available for consumers in the fourth quarter. “Given that we started in North America and that our goal is to maximize production with higher rates by the end of Q3, we’re going to keep pushing hard on our current models to avoid complexity… We’ll be running with the more affordable models available for everyone in Q4,” Musk said.
Watch the recent drone footage of the Fremont Factory in the video below.
Investor's Corner
Shareholder group urges Nasdaq probe into Elon Musk’s Tesla 2025 CEO Interim Award
The SOC Investment Group represents pension funds tied to more than two million union members, many of whom hold shares in TSLA.

An investment group is urging Nasdaq to investigate Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) over its recent $29 billion equity award for CEO Elon Musk.
The SOC Investment Group, which represents pension funds tied to more than two million union members—many of whom hold shares in TSLA—sent a letter to the exchange citing “serious concerns” that the package sidestepped shareholder approval and violated compensation rules.
Concerns over Tesla’s 2025 CEO Interim Award
In its August 19 letter to Nasdaq enforcement chief Erik Wittman, SOC alleged that Tesla’s board improperly granted Musk a “2025 CEO Interim Award” under the company’s 2019 Equity Incentive Plan. That plan, the group noted, explicitly excluded Musk when it was approved by shareholders. SOC argued that the new equity grant effectively expanded the plan to cover Musk, a material change that should have required a shareholder vote under Nasdaq rules.
The $29 billion package was designed to replace Musk’s overturned $56 billion award from 2018, which the Delaware Chancery Court struck down, prompting Tesla to file an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court. The interim award contains restrictions: Musk must remain in a leadership role until August 2027, and vested shares cannot be sold until 2030, as per a Yahoo Finance report.
Even so, critics such as SOC have argued that the plan does not have of performance targets, calling it a “fog-the-mirror” award. This means that “If you’re around and have enough breath left in you to fog the mirror, you get them,” stated Brian Dunn, the director of the Institute for Comprehension Studies at Cornell University.
SOC’s Tesla concerns beyond Elon Musk
SOC’s concerns extend beyond the mechanics of Musk’s pay. The group has long questioned the independence of Tesla’s board, opposing the reelection of directors such as Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch. It has also urged regulators to review Tesla’s governance practices, including past proposals to shrink the board.
SOC has also joined initiatives calling for Tesla to adopt comprehensive labor rights policies, including noninterference with worker organizing and compliance with global labor standards. The investment group has also been involved in webinars and resolutions highlighting the risks related to Tesla’s approach to unions, as well as labor issues across several countries.
Tesla has not yet publicly responded to SOC’s latest letter, nor to requests for comment.
The SOC’s letter can be viewed below.
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