Tesla currently  imports all of the cars that sells in China from the U.S. – thereby  getting affected by retaliatory tariffs in China.China threatened last week to hike duties on U.S.-made cars to as high as 50% in response to President Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs on Chinese goods. But the recent tax exemption on some of the Tesla models  could potentially lower the overall tariff effect for Tesla.

Ford Motor Co. shares got a boost in rating and a hike in price target from Morgan Stanley analysts. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas raised his rating on the automaker to 'Overweight' from 'Equalweight" in a client note Tuesday.The collaboration will focus on commercial vehicles and could later expand to electric and self-driving vehicles.

Tesla reported a loss wider than anticipated for its second quarter. The electric car maker reported adjusted loss of -$1.12 a share, compared to the - 40 cents loss expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Revenue of $6.35 billion came in lower than analysts’ estimates of $6.41 billion. Earlier this month, the company announced its record high vehicle production and deliveries, selling 95,200 vehicles during the second quarter and producing 87,048 cars during that period. According to the company, it has a weekly run-rate of 7,000 Model 3 vehicles, and hopes to be able to produce 10,000 Model 3s weekly by the end of 2019.

The Dodge Challenger, for example, hasn’t been fully redesigned since 2008, and the Chrysler 300 has not been updated since 2011.Fiat Chrysler plans to redesign both in 2021.  Nevertheless, Galliers indicated that Fiat Chrysler's brand appeal and significant heritage along with strong European sales could help offset some of its challenges.

Tesla shares jumped more than +5% on Wednesday, following report of its record car deliveries in the second quarter. The electric car maker said that total deliveries for the three months ending in June surged +51% from the year-ago period to a company record high of 95,200 vehicles.Combined sales of Model S full-size sedan and the Model X sport utility vehicle also increased to 17,650 vehicles, from 12,100 in the first quarter. According to Tesla, new orders had outpaced deliveries in the second quarter.

Analyst Colin Langan indicated that they are expecting the electric carmaker's losses in the second half of the year to widen, as they feel that deliveries might decline and Tesla’s product pricing would weigh on margins. UBS predicts a second-quarter loss of 78 cents per share, compared to a prior forecast of 49 cents loss.The analysts at the bank also lowered their earnings per share outlook through 2019 until 2023.   Langan is concerned that the $2,400 average estimated Autopilot price cut would hurt Tesla’s margins.

Back on April 23, I posted a blog entry about Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) and how the stock was in a clear downward trend ahead of the company’s earnings report.The stochastic readings have been hovering in overbought territory for the past few weeks and made a bearish crossover on June 20. The Tickeron Trend Prediction Engine generated a bearish signal on Tesla back in April and it did so again on June 19.

Ford Motor Co. announced plans to slash more than 12,000 jobs across Europe by the end of next year. The job cuts are a part of the automaker’s restructuring plan to boost profts.According to the company, many of the job layoffs will come from voluntary separation agreements. Ford’s earnings for the three months ending in March surged nearly 52% from the same period last year, to 44 cents a share – beating analysts’ estimates. Last month, Ford CEO Jim Hackett said that the company is entering the final phase of its plan to lay off 7,000 salaried positions globally, which is about 10% of its workforce, as it seeks to save $600 million a year. 

Tesla shares declined Thursday, following a price cut by Goldman Sachs analysts. Goldman analyst David Tamberrino slashed his 12-month price target on Tesla to $158.00 from $200.00 while maintaining a "sell" rating for the electric carmaker’s stock. Tamberrino indicated that the current quarter’s car deliveries could meet market forecasts, but estimates for the second half of the year look stretched.He feels that there are  fewer levers (such as lower prices and leasing options) to use for stimulating demand going forward. Earlier this month, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk said there was a "decent chance" of a blockbuster quarter, which could include deliveries of between 90,000 and 100,000 clean-energy cars.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet early Monday he “just deleted” his Twitter account. He made his statement in a tweet, but the account still appeared to be active after the post.

Its shares are trading close to $200, well below the company’s $300-plus share price at the beginning of 2019. The month of May witnessed Tesla ahead of other electric auto making competitors.Also, Tesla’s estimated total U.S. sales of 11,300 vehicles in May was 2.6 times the combined total of its competitors’ EV offerings - up from 2.1 times last year. Morgan Stanley (MS) forecasts Tesla will deliver between a range of 360,000 and 400,000 vehicles this year, an increase of approximately 45% to 65% compared to 2018.

Other manufacturers like Bridgestone-Firestone have also been working on airless tires. The new Uptis will look like a conventional tire, but it will have three individual components.Instead, the latest prototype uses high-strength composite spokes that are mated to an aluminum hub, which mounts to a car’s axle, just like a conventional tire. The Uptis can neither be inflated nor can it go flat which means it can improve highway safety. Airless tires have long been on the list of manufacturers but so far they have progressed rather slowly.

Fiat Chrysler has withdrawn its merger proposal for French automaker Renault “with immediate effect,” the board of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced Wednesday in a statement.

China’s market regulator has fined Ford Motor’s joint venture with Changan Automobile Group for $23.55 million (162.8 million yuan), equivalent to 4% of the joint venture’s sales, for violating anti-monopoly law. According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, the joint venture called the 'Changan Ford' had set a minimum resale price for its cars in the Chinese municipality of Chongqing since 2013, in breach of the law.The joint venture did not provide evidence of compliance with the country’s anti-monopoly law during the investigating. The State Administration for Market Regulation alleged that Ford Changan’s actions infringed upon the autonomy of the downstream dealers to decide their pricing, restricted their competition with the brand, and also damaged fair competition in the market and consumers’ legal interests. The regulator’s move comes as Ford has been struggling to revive sales in China — the second biggest market globally for the Dearborn, Michigan

Major automakers on Monday reported better-than-expected U.S. new vehicle sales for May, posting the first monthly increase for 2019 as a strong economy and upbeat consumer sentiment boosted demand.

Over assumed execution risks, Fiat Chrysler’s $40 billion merger deal with Renault is far from complete, and if the deal does see through, it would take a year or even 18 months to reach fruition. The first major obstacle is choosing the right leader for the combined entity as both companies have complex business models.This will add a significant burden on investments. The Italian-American automaker has offered Renault a 50-50 merger of equals that would create an 11-member board split equally between Renault and Fiat Chrysler, with one seat going to Nissan.

General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. each fell more than 3%. The latest blow in the trade disputes adds to a month that has trimmed 12% from the 24-member S&P Supercomposite Automobiles and Components Index, shaving about $20 billion in market value in May through Thursday.It was on track to be the worst month for the sector since December’s 14% slump, although Friday’s declines could push the group beyond that.

Japan’s leading automaker Toyota Motor is contemplating to invest $550 million in Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.Previously, it has made large investments in other ride-hailing firms such as Uber and Grab as more and more traditional automakers are competing towards cutting edge technology when it comes to vehicles.

Fiat Chrysler (NYSE: FCAU) has delivered a non-binding letter to the Renault (OTCPK: RNLSY) board proposing a combination of their respective businesses as a 50/50 merger.

So perhaps a partnership is on the horizon. However, it is still unclear whether the probable partnership would also mean Fiat eventually joining Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance, the French-Japanese strategic partnership since 1999 joined together through a cross-sharing agreement. Apparently, The Financial Times was the first to get hands on the story.Back in March, it reported that Renault is likely to initiate merger discussions with Nissan within a year which may further lead to the acquisition of Fiat Chrysler. Fiat’s CEO seems to be extremely eager to join the partnership as he believes it may make the company even stronger. If Fiat Chrysler eventually becomes part of the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance, the latter would become the largest global automaker specializing in a plug-in electric vehicle with annual combined sales of 15.6 million cars.