Connect with us
Volkswagen Volkswagen

Investor's Corner

VW investor meeting erupts into chaos over EV woes

Credit: Volkswagen Group

Published

on

Volkswagen’s (VW) investor meeting descended into chaos this morning as concerns from investors and activists regarding electrification swelled.

VW Group has been one of many companies rebuked over the past year for its electrification plans, which some allege are not aggressive enough. Furthermore, with the company’s stock continuing a two-year decline and its market position in top regions collapsing, investors have also raised concerns regarding the automaker’s plans. According to Reuters, those concerns came to a head today, with activists and investors sharing their displeasure with company leadership at an investor meeting this morning.

Three primary concerns took center stage at the VW investor meeting this morning in Germany. Foremost, investors and protestors raised concerns about alleged forced labor at a VW production facility in Xinjiang, China. These concerns mounted with institutional investors calling for an independent review of the facility and protestors storming the meeting area and throwing a cake at Volkswagen leadership.

Advertisement

VW noted in the shareholder meeting that a company representative visited the plant earlier this year and found no evidence of forced labor. Investors and human rights organizations believe a third-party investigation may be necessary as working conditions may not immediately reveal forced labor.

The second primary concern focused on China and Volkswagen’s market position within the world’s second-largest economy. Investors were keen to highlight that competition, particularly from Tesla and BYD, has been slowly eroding VW’s historical dominance of the region, which could result in the fall of the market hegemon in the coming years.

Defending his company’s position, VW CEO Oliver Blume noted that the automaker is on track to continue to hold its Chinese market position well into the future and will be looking to grow its sales in the coming months by tailoring to Chinese tastes and building local partnerships.

The third and final concern was regarding VW’s overall electrification strategy. Most prominently, protestors glued themselves to the road outside the meeting location, demanding VW accelerate its EV adoption to reduce its carbon footprint. While perhaps not as vocally, investors noted that VW’s shrinking market position in China and the United States could be aided by an increased focus on EV offerings that consumers want to buy.

Following this morning’s meeting, VW stock continued its more than 2-year-long fall.

Advertisement

William is not an investor in Volkswagen Group but is invested in the subsidiary brand Porsche AG.

What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!

Advertisement

Will is an auto enthusiast, a gear head, and an EV enthusiast above all. From racing, to industry data, to the most advanced EV tech on earth, he now covers it at Teslarati.

Advertisement
Comments

Investor's Corner

Tesla needs to confront these concerns as its ‘wartime CEO’ returns: Wedbush

Tesla will report earnings for Q2 tomorrow. Here’s what Wedbush expects.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to report its earnings for the second quarter of 2025 tomorrow, and although Wall Street firm Wedbush is bullish as the company appears to have its “wartime CEO” back, it is looking for answers to a few concerns investors could have moving forward.

The firm’s lead analyst on Tesla, Dan Ives, has kept a bullish sentiment regarding the stock, even as Musk’s focus seemed to be more on politics and less on the company.

However, Musk has recently returned to his past attitude, which is being completely devoted and dedicated to his companies. He even said he would be sleeping in his office and working seven days a week:


Nevertheless, Ives has continued to push suggestions forward about what Tesla should do, what its potential valuation could be in the coming years with autonomy, and how it will deal with the loss of the EV tax credit.

Advertisement

Tesla preps to expand Robotaxi geofence once again, answering Waymo

These questions are at the forefront of what Ives suggests Tesla should confront on tomorrow’s call, he wrote in a note to investors that was released on Tuesday morning:

“Clearly, losing the EV tax credits with the recent Beltway Bill will be a headwind to Tesla and competitors in the EV landscape looking ahead, and this cash cow will become less of the story (and FCF) in 2026. We would expect some directional guidance on this topic during the conference call. Importantly, we anticipate deliveries globally to rebound in 2H led by some improvement on the key China front with the Model Y refresh a catalyst.”

Ives and Wedbush believe the autonomy could be worth $1 trillion for Tesla, especially as it continues to expand throughout Austin and eventually to other territories.

In the near term, Ives expects Tesla to continue its path of returning to growth:

Advertisement

“While the company has seen significant weakness in China in previous quarters given the rising competitive landscape across EVs, Tesla saw a rebound in June with sales increasing for the first time in eight months reflecting higher demand for its updated Model Y as deliveries in the region are starting to slowly turn a corner with China representing the heart and lungs of the TSLA growth story. Despite seeing more low-cost models enter the market from Chinese OEMs like BYD, Nio, Xpeng, and others, the company’s recent updates to the Model Y spurred increased demand while the accelerated production ramp-up in Shanghai for this refresh cycle reflected TSLA’s ability to meet rising demand in the marquee region. If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver’s seat at this pace, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle.”

Tesla will report earnings tomorrow at market close. Wedbush maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating and held its $500 price target.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2025 earnings call: What investors want to know

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to report its second-quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 23, after markets close. With this in mind, Tesla investors have aggregated their top questions for the company at its upcoming Q&A session.

The upcoming earnings report follows a mixed delivery quarter. Tesla produced over 410,000 vehicles and delivered more than 384,000 units globally. In the energy segment, Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of storage products, continuing momentum for its Megapack business. Tesla’s vehicle sales are currently down year-over-year, though a good part of this was due to the Model Y changeover in the first quarter.

Following are Tesla investors’ top questions for management, as aggregated in Say.

  1. Can you give us some insight (into) how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
  2. What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
  3. What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
  4. Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
  5. When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
  6. Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
  7. Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next, and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year-end?
  8. Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years? We still do not know much about HW4.
  9. Cybertruck ramp is now a year in, but sales have lagged other models. How are you thinking through boosting sales of such an incredible product?
  10. When will there be a new CEO compensation package presented and considered for the next stage of the company’s growth?

Tesla will release its Q2 update letter on its Investor Relations website after markets close on Wednesday. A live Q&A webcast with management will then follow at 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. ET) to discuss the company’s performance and outlook.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla still poised to earn $3B in ZEV credits this year: Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Alex Potter maintained his $400 per share price target on TSLA stock.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is still poised to earn about $3 billion in zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) credits this year despite growing concerns over policy shifts under United States President Donald Trump. This is, at least, according to Piper Sandler analyst Alex Potter, who maintained his $400 per share price target and “Overweight” rating on TSLA stock.

Tesla’s ZEV credit revenue

In a recent investor note, Potter acknowledged that Trump’s efforts to undo EV-related incentives could impact Tesla’s ZEV credit income. The analyst noted that these effects would likely not be too drastic, however, even if ZEV credits provide Tesla’s finances with a substantial boost. Last year, Tesla earned about $3.5 billion from regulatory credits, equal to nearly 100% of the company’s FY24 free cash flow, as noted in a Benzinga report. 

Potter estimated that the impact of potential regulatory reversals from the Trump administration will likely not be immediate. “Tesla will still book around $3B in credits this year, followed by $2.3B in 2026,” the Piper Sandler analyst wrote.

Considering his reiterated $400 price target for Tesla stock, Potter seems to be expecting an upside of over 20% for the electric vehicle maker. It should be noted, however, that Tesla is a volatile stock by nature, so huge swings in stock price may happen even without material developments from the company.

Robotaxi developments

The Piper Sandler analyst also highlighted the progress of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) program and Robotaxi developments as potential offsets to regulatory headwinds. Potter pointed to expanding operations in Austin and Tesla’s push to launch Robotaxi services in Phoenix and the Bay Area, pending regulatory approval. 

Advertisement

“In our view, these favorable FSD-related developments are likely to overshadow any/all negative commentary arising from lower 2025/2026 estimates,” the analyst wrote.

In addition to rescinding ZEV programs, the Trump administration has proposed ending the $7,500 federal EV credit by September 2025 and rolling back Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

Continue Reading

Trending