Tesla Owners Selling Cars In Protest Of Elon Musk Are In For A Shock

Good morning! It's Wednesday, March 12, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, find out how Tesla owners are struggling with the realities of protest-selling their electric vehicles. Plus, Elon Musk still thinks he's worth $56 billion, change is on the horizon at McLaren, and job cuts hit Porsche as sales falter.

There's no escaping from Tesla these days. The automaker builds some of the best-selling electric vehicles in the world, its charging network comprises more than 2,500 stations across the U.S., and it's run by a man who's hell-bent on running the country. Current Tesla owners are now finding out just how hard it is to escape the grasp of Tesla as they attempt to sell off their electric vehicles in protest of company boss Elon Musk.

Musk's rating around the world is tanking alongside his net worth. After getting into bed with Donald Trump on the campaign trail last year, the billionaire set up shop in the White House and began gutting the federal government. This hasn't gone down well with Tesla owners and prospective buyers, leading to a dramatic drop in Tesla sales around the world and a mass-sale of Tesla cars.

Selling a second-hand Tesla is proving easier said than done, however, and many owners are now having to contend with cratering prices as the market floods, reports Business Insider. Things have gotten so bad for reluctant Tesla owners that the average price of a pre-owned Tesla is now nearly $10,000 less than a non-Tesla EV:

Used Tesla prices have been in freefall since 2022, dropping from a high of more than $70,000 to hit $30,000 in February, per CarGurus data. In the shorter term, prices have dropped about 10% since August, when the average Tesla resale price was more than $33,000.

U.S. Tesla owners vowed to get rid of their EVs after Musk began firing government workers and gutting departments. This was followed by a spate of protests and vandalism that targeted Tesla cars and showrooms, with Musk's old pal Trump even going so far as to brand the acts "domestic terrorism."

Of course, this isn't the only reason Tesla values have been cratering on the used market. A series of aggressive price cuts on new models mean that the cheapest new Tesla is now just $40,000, which makes it much harder to justify a high price on the second hand market.

While alienating buyers and witnessing an impressive downturn in fortunes for Tesla, company boss Elon Musk had one thing on his mind: his $56 billion paycheck. The package was rejected by the same U.S. judge twice, but now the company boss is appealing that decision to try and claw back some of the worth he's lost while tanking Tesla's share price.

Musk managed to convince shareholders that he was worth up to $56 billion back in 2018, however the deal was blocked by a Delaware judge who branded it "unfathomable." To fight back, the Tesla boss moved his company out of Delaware, asked shareholders about the deal once again and tried to get it approved, but it was blocked by the same judge.

Now, after wiping more than 50 percent off Tesla's share price in a year and leading the brand to its first decline in sales for more than a decade, Musk is appealing the judge's decision and claims "legal errors" were made previously, as Reuters reports:

"That counterintuitive result defies settled principles of Delaware law, sound corporate governance, and common sense," said the opening appeal brief by Musk and the current and former Tesla directors who are defendants in the case.

The challenge argues that the eye-watering payment is required for Musk to keep "his attention on Tesla," Reuters adds. If not, some fear he may begin developing products "outside of the company." However, as the Tesla boss also finds himself at the head of SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and floundering social media platform X,  you could ask how much of his attention is really on Tesla these days?

Add to the mix Musk's work with the Department of Government Efficiency, which prescient Trump left him to lead, and you could be left asking what Tesla will really get for its $56 billion investment in Elon Musk?

British automakers aren't very good at making money, with historic brands like Aston Martin and Jaguar all facing financial woes over their lifespan. McLaren is no different, and after receiving the backing of Abu Dhabi's CYVN Holdings last year, the supercar maker may now partner with a British EV startup to launch electric models and even an SUV.

McLaren will merge with electric-vehicle startup Forseven Holdings, which is also owned by CYVN Holdings, reports Bloomberg. It's hoped the move will reverse "years of losses at McLaren," and will pave the way for the release of new electric models under the two brands as well as McLaren's first SUV to compete with the likes of the Aston Martin DBX and Ferrari Purosangue.

The British supercar maker was much slower to the SUV party than its rivals, but last year the automaker confirmed that a high-riding McLaren is in the works. The move followed years of refusal from McLaren to make a family-friendly model:

Former CEO Mike Flewitt had previously declared McLaren would never build a larger car, saying in a 2018 interview with TopGear.com that there were "more than enough SUVs in the world and we don't need another one." Leiters last year confirmed plans to enter the SUV market.

As for what Forseven will bring to the party when the two companies merge, not a lot is known. The automaker is a relatively new name in the electric vehicles space, and doesn't yet have any cars in production or concepts to show off. It does, however, tout itself as a "luxury car company," like McLaren, and already has partnerships in the works with Chinese EV maker Nio.

It's not just British automakers that are struggling these days, however, and troubles have hit Germany's automotive giants in recent months. Volkswagen was the first to falter and admitted that it would need to shut factories and offload staff to remain competitive, and this was soon followed by further cuts at brands like Mercedes. Now, Porsche is the latest German brand to cut its workforce as troubles mount.

The automaker says it may need to reduce its workforce by around 3,900 workers to remain profitable, reports Automotive News. The move comes as Porsche faces falling demand in China and the prospect of increased tariffs on cars imported into the U.S.:

Porsche lowered its profitability goal after its earnings slumped due to tumbling sales in China. The automaker is now aiming for a return on sales of between 15 percent and 17 percent in the medium term, Breckner said, having previously targeted as much as 19 percent.

Porsche struggled with demand in China last year and sales were down 28 percent. The automaker could also be caught up in Trump's increasing trade war with Europe and the rest of the world. As it stands, all of Porsche's cars sold in the U.S. are made in Europe, at factories in Germany and Slovakia, which leaves it vulnerable to the escalating trade war.

Picture the scene, you go into the local diner and sit down for a classic American breakfast of pancakes, bacon and a Coke float. The flapjacks are flipped, the bacon is crisped and you expect the crisp Coca-Cola to be poured from the fountain. But then, the server reaches for a bottle opener, goes to the fridge and pulls out a Coca-Cola in a glass bottle! Ever since this (maybe a little bit made up) moment on March 12,1894, people have been arguing about the taste of bottle Coke versus fountain soda. Which side are you on?