Record Tesla Trade-Ins Hit As Owners Turn Their Backs On The Brand

Good morning! It's Friday, March 21, 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, we're diving into the latest drama to hit Tesla: mass trade-ins of its cars. We'll also find out how Hyundai slashed vehicle thefts in the U.S., see which brand GM is considering collaborating with on new electric vans and find out how Lucid is hoping to bolster sales.

Tesla's share price is down 50 percent, its sales have dropped for the first time in a decade and now its owners are turning their backs on the company and trading their cars in. The monumental shift came after CEO Elon Musk buddied up with convicted felon Donald Trump on his way to the White House, which then evolved into a role scrapping all kinds of federal projects.

This, understandably, left many Tesla owners wanting to distance themselves from everything that represents the church of Musk, so record numbers are now trading in their electric vehicles, reports Reuters:

Tesla cars from model year 2017 or newer accounted for 1.4% of all the vehicles traded in until March 15, up from 0.4% in March last year, according to data provided to Reuters by Edmunds. Analysts at the national car shopping website said that share could grow through the second half of the month.

The increase in trade-ins means that motorists across the U.S. have swapped out their EVs in record numbers over the past month. It follows a similar high rate of trade-ins for Tesla cars in February, with the automaker accounting for 1.2 percent of vehicle trades.

If the trend continues through March, it would be the highest monthly share "Edmunds has on record" for Tesla vehicles. That's excluding trade-ins of Tesla cars for newer Teslas or EVs from other direct-to-consumer brands such as Polestar, which launched a whole promotion dedicated to poaching Tesla owners.

Not long ago, the security of a Kia or Hyundai car was a joke, even sparking a social media trend for stealing the Korean cars. Until a clampdown on vehicle security at the two companies brought about an enormous drop in the number of vehicle thefts across the country over the course of 2024.

Lax security on Hyundai and Kia vehicles led to a surge in car thefts across American in recent years, but a clampdown appears to be reversing the trend, reports CarScoops. The two automakers worked to address weaknesses with their cars, which led to a 17 percent drop in car thefts last year:

Maine was the only state to experience an increase in vehicle thefts as the rate climbed 2%. Numbers fell everywhere else with huge declines in Washington (-32%), Nevada (-31%), Oregon (-30%), Nebraska (-29%), and Colorado (-26%).

In total, 850,708 cars were reported as stolen last year following the largest drop in car thefts for more than 40 years, the site adds. In fact, the decline in thefts was so sharp that the number of cars stolen fell below 2020 levels.

There's still work to be done at Hyundai and Kia, however, as despite tightening security the automakers still lead the list for America's most stolen cars. In 2024, the most stolen car in America was the Hyundai Elantra, closely followed by the Hyundai Sonata.

Other cars making up the five most stolen models were the Chevrolet Silverado, Honda Accord and the Kia Optima.

Remember Hyundai's slick electric Staria van concept that showed off the Korean automaker's plans for an electric van? Well it never launched in the U.S. but could find a backroute into the country after it emerged Hyundai and GM were considering sharing intel on electric vans and pickup trucks.

The two companies could reportedly share ideas with one another to bring new models to market here in the U.S., reports Automotive News. As part of the deal, Hyundai would share designs for two electric vans with GM and the American company would provide the Elantra maker with a pickup truck that it could sell under its own brand:

Hyundai would produce vans to be sold under both its own and GM brands, initially importing them from South Korea, according to the documents and the person familiar with the talks. But Hyundai is considering manufacturing the vans in North America by 2028. The person said Hyundai is exploring building a new plant, adding production to an existing facility or contracting out the manufacturing.

With regards to a Hyundai pickup truck, AN suggests that GM may share its mid-sized trucks with the Korean brand. This could see a Hyundai-badged Chevrolet Colorado hit the streets one day, and the automaker is also reportedly keen to enter the full-sized pickup segment as well.

There's no word on whether the pickups sold by Hyundai would be electric, hybrid or gas-powered. GM currently only offers full-size electric trucks under its Chevrolet, GMC and Hummer brands.

American automaker Lucid is following Polestar's lead in attempting to lure Tesla owners. The California-based company kicked off a new deal that pays Tesla owners $2,000 to switch to one of its EVs, reports CarScoops.

Lucid will already pay EV owners $2,000 to trade in their old car for one of its shiny battery-powered beats. The company sweetened the deal this week, though, and will pay Tesla owners another $2,000 if they jump ship, as CarScoops explains:

Lucid's conquest offer has been running for some time and isn't just limited to those with a Tesla. Anyone who owns or lessees a model from brands like Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volvo, and others, can receive a $2,000 discount when purchasing or leasing a new Lucid Air.

There are limitations to the offer, and Lucid will only pay out to buyers registering their EVs in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, California, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

On top of that, the deal is going to be pretty short-lived, as you'll have to take delivery of your new Lucid Air electric sedan before March 31 in order to qualify for the extra payment. Still, at the rate Tesla values are dropping that $4,000 trade-in bonus that you'll be eligible for could convince even more owners to upgrade.

We made it, another week in the bag. Nice work, everyone! I don't know about you, but it's been a pretty long one for me with lots of extra-curricular dramas and a killer cold to deal with. That's maybe why I've spent the past few days listening to the calming sounds of Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

This 1970s musical project from a British composer has some pretty lovely music out there that's great if you're feeling a bit sensitive, as I am these days. This song, "Perpetuum Mobile," is one you might already know or at least have heard in passing on countless TV ads, movies and hit shows.