Elon Musk
Trump’s auto tariff delay might benefit Tesla & the Big 3
Wedbush backs shifting Trump’s auto tariffs to finished cars vs. parts. Tesla & Big 3 could dodge a bullet here.
According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, Tesla and Detroit’s Big Three—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—could benefit from a potential delay in President Trump’s auto tariffs.
In late March, President Trump announced 25% tariffs on imported vehicles, effective April 3, 2025. The U.S. President also announced tariffs for auto parts, slated for May. Ives previously criticized Trump’s auto tariffs, calling them a source of “pure chaos” for the auto industry.
“A U.S. car made entirely with U.S. parts is a fictional tale,” he said, warning that tariffs could spike car prices by $5,000 to $10,000.
Ives emphasized that dismantling a decades-old global supply chain overnight is impractical. He predicts the delay could shift the May tariffs’ focus on fully assembled vehicles rather than parts, a move the Wedbush analyst sees as less disruptive.
“Wedbush firmly believes that the more practical and effective approach would be to impose tariffs on finished vehicles rather than on auto parts, which are still essential to U.S.-based car production,” he added.
A shift to fully assembled vehicles from auto parts could ease immediate pressures on U.S. automakers, preserving production stability. For Tesla and the Big Three, the auto tariff shift offers a strategic advantage in a turbulent trade landscape, though global market reactions remain a key variable.
The Wedbush analyst believes Tesla is well-positioned to handle Trump’s auto tariffs due to its robust U.S. production footprint.
“When it comes to the tariff issue, they are actually best positioned relative to the Detroit Big Three and others and obviously foreign automakers. Still impacted, Musk has talked about that, in terms of just auto parts,” Ives noted.
Wedbush maintains a $315 price target for Tesla’s stock, reflecting confidence in its resilience. However, Ives cautioned that China’s response to Trump’s auto tariff looms over Tesla. The next few quarters will be critical for Tesla to navigate these challenges while capitalizing on its domestic manufacturing edge.
Meanwhile, The Big Three is reliant on imported parts but builds many vehicles domestically. As such, GM, Ford, and Stellantis would also gain from avoiding an auto parts tariffs.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends final warning to Bill Gates over short position
“If Gates hasn’t fully closed out the crazy short position he has held against Tesla for ~8 years, he had better do so soon,” Musk said.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a final warning to former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates over his short position, which he confirmed he held to Musk directly several years ago.
Gates has been a skeptic of Tesla for some time, but he has also tried to work with Musk on philanthropic opportunities several years ago, which was coincidentally when he admitted to the company’s frontman that he held a short position.
Musk was, in turn, “super mean” to Gates, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography about the Tesla CEO. Gates had put $500 million against Tesla, shorting the stock and hoping to profit from its failure.
Elon Musk explains Bill Gates beef: He ‘placed a massive bet on Tesla dying’
A short position essentially means Gates is betting Tesla shares will go down, which would make him money. However, shares have gone up over six percent this year and increased nearly 150 percent over the past five years.
At the recent Annual Shareholder Meeting, Musk made many claims about Tesla’s future projects and how they could manage to disrupt various industries. He also recently had a massive $1 trillion compensation package approved, which will be awarded in twelve tranches, all of which combine a company valuation goal and an individual goal related to a product.
Musk was able to complete his last approved pay package, but it was not awarded due to a ruling by a Delaware Chancery Court. Nevertheless, his track record of proving growth for Tesla shareholders is excellent, and investors are obviously very encouraged by his capabilities as a CEO, considering 76.6 percent of shareholders voted to approve his new compensation.
After it was revealed that the Gates Foundation dumped 65 percent of its Microsoft position for nearly $9 billion, Musk had one final message for him: drop your Tesla short position soon, or else.
If Gates hasn’t fully closed out the crazy short position he has held against Tesla for ~8 years, he had better do so soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2025
Musk’s rivalry with Gates is mostly founded on the Tesla CEO’s discontent with the former Microsoft frontman’s short position. However, Musk might have a bit of a soft spot for Gates, considering he is giving him a warning of what is potentially to come. If he really wanted to do some damage to Gates, he would not give him any heads-up at all.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk debunks report claiming xAI raised $15 billion in funding round
xAI also responded with what appeared to be an automated reply, stating, “Legacy Media Lies.”
Elon Musk has debunked a report claiming his AI startup xAI had raised $15 billion from a funding round. Reports of the alleged funding round were initially reported by CNBC, which cited sources reportedly familiar with the matter.
CNBC’s report
The CNBC story cited unnamed sources that claimed that the new capital injection would help fund GPUs that xAI needs to train its large language model, Grok. The news outlet noted that following the funding round, xAI was valued at $200 billion.
Artificial intelligence startups have been raising funds from investors as of late. OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in October, valuing the startup at a staggering $500 billion. Reuters also reported last month that OpenAI was preparing for an IPO with a valuation of $1 trillion. Elon Musk’s xAI is looking to catch up and disrupt OpenAI, as well as its large language model, ChatGPT, which has become ubiquitous.
Elon Musk and xAI’s responses
In his response on X, Elon Musk simply stated that the CNBC story was “false.” He did not, however, explain if the whole premise of the publication’s article was fallacious, or if only parts of it were inaccurate.
Amusingly enough, xAI also issued a response when asked about the matter by Reuters, which also reported on the story. The artificial intelligence startup responded with what appeared to be an automated reply, which read, “Legacy Media Lies.”
xAI, founded in July 2023 as an alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic, has aggressively built out infrastructure to support its flagship products, including Grok and its recently launched Grokipedia platform. The company is developing its Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, which is heralded as one of the world’s largest supercomputer clusters.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk hints at when Tesla can fix this FSD complaint with v14
Tesla has worked on resolving the issue and has worked on it with subsequent rollouts, but it has only improved slightly. The company has mentioned that it is working to fix it completely, but it seems the next big Software Update to actually resolve the issue altogether will likely be 14.2.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted at when the company will resolve a major complaint with the Full Self-Driving suite. This particular issue has been persistent and a common complaint within the v14 suite.
Tesla has had its v14 FSD rollout deployed for over a month, and its earliest iterations featured a vast majority of improvements from the past versions. However, one common complaint has continued to be mentioned: stuttering and hesitancy.
Tesla Full Self-Driving’s biggest improvements from v13 to v14
Most commonly, FSD users have experienced this at intersections when the Tesla is at a complete stop. The vehicle will inch forward, contemplate proceeding, and then stutter pretty significantly before ultimately moving forward.
Tesla has worked on resolving the issue and has worked on it with subsequent rollouts, but it has only improved slightly. The company has mentioned that it is working to fix it completely, but it seems the next big Software Update to actually resolve the issue altogether will likely be 14.2.
Musk confirmed that on Wednesday:
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 12, 2025
When will v14.2 rollout? It’s likely a month or more away. Currently, Tesla is rolling out v14.1.7, which is the latest version and features some minor improvements to Hardware 4 vehicles.
These cars are currently on v14.1.4, but are not receiving v14.1.5 or v14.1.6, as both of those seemed to be internal releases to company employees.
Tesla FSD v14.1.7 incoming…. pic.twitter.com/6zuMDZRVD2
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 12, 2025
The stuttering issue has been a main complaint of many FSD users, and it is something that is being addressed. Musk’s confirmation that the suite is likely to receive a fix for this issue with the next major FSD release is a sign of good things to come, but we’re hopeful it comes sooner rather than later.
Overall, v14 has been an excellent improvement from v13 with the addition of the additional Speed Profiles of Mad Max and Sloth, as well as new Arrival Options that give the driver an opportunity to let the car park in a suitable location upon arriving at the destination.
@teslarati 🚨🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving and Yap is the best driving experience #tesla #fsd #yapping ♬ I Run – HAVEN.
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