Mark Twain famously quoted a British Prime Minister who allegedly said: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Even if Twain himself made up the quote, it’s stuck around the popular consciousness because everyone has seen a person of authority use some random statistic to make a weak argument better. Also, it’s that time of year when automakers release their quarterly sales numbers and, oh boy, we’ve got at least one whopper.
I’ll start with Stellantis, where the news is still not good and there’s some minor tomfoolery afoot of the “and statistics” variety related to the new Dodge Charger. Chinese automaker BYD is doing much better, showing that the Chinese EV market still has more room for “new energy vehicles.” Does this mean Tesla is doing better? Nope. Of course not. The company missed estimates as its quarterly deliveries fell sharply, but is there a reason for this?
Last night, a state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin (of all places) became a referendum on Elon Musk. Why? Because in our exhausting version of modern politics, this is a thing that happens. The results? People would like to hear a lot less from Elon Musk. Maybe a lot less about Elon Musk?
Stellantis Had A Bad Quarter, But At Least They Made Me Laugh
Stellantis hit a wall last year, and then tumbled down a hill adjacent to the wall. It was not good. The company essentially fired CEO Carlos Tavares when sales dropped 15% and has been saying this year will be a rebuilding year. So far, the organization isn’t off to a great start in the United States, where sales were down 12% year-over-year.
Jeep was down 10% as every model saw a sales decline except for the aged-but-cheap Compass. Ram sales were down for everything that isn’t the Promaster Van. Chrysler was actually up 1%. Dodge was the worst with a 49% drop due to the loss of Challengers and Chargers (more on that in a minute). Fiat, which now has cars to sell, was up 239%, but that’s only 522 total vehicles. It’s crap.
How is Stellantis trying to spin this?
“We’ve seen consecutive monthly market share growth since January, in addition to retail growth momentum, with the right mix of pricing and incentive actions put in place at the end of last year, leading both Jeep and Ram brands to post their best retail months of the year this March,” said Jeff Kommor, head of U.S. sales. “Additionally, our company year-over-year retail sales were up by 13.8% when disallowing for discontinued models, and we expect to see this gap corrected as our new model offerings continue to fill out our growing U.S. brand portfolios.”
This is somewhat true. The loss of a bunch of affordable Jeeps is hurting the bottom line, and the expensive EVs the company is putting out instead aren’t going to help much. Eventually, new products will come. Sam drove the new Charger for us and generally liked it, which is not a view shared by the faithful, considering the huge markdowns we’re already seeing on the car.
This sets me up for my favorite spin from the company’s sales press release:
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All-electric Dodge Charger Daytona accounted for 65% of total Dodge Charger sales in Q1 2025
That’s funny, right? I had to go back and just confirm that you can’t yet walk into a dealer and drive out with the inline-six-powered version of the new Charger. If you’re buying a new Charger in a store, you’re either getting the EV or you’re buying a car that was built in 2023. Sure enough, Dodge dealers sold 1,052 of the remaining stock of old, gas-powered Chargers and just 1,947 of the electric ones.
Flipping that stat on its head, 35% of people would still rather have a car that’s probably been sitting on the lot for a year than your brand new, too-costly EV.
BYD Sold 416,388 Passenger Electric Cars In Q1
The Chinese car market got off to a slow start this year, following a huge fourth quarter for EVs. This doesn’t seem to have phased BYD, which managed to sell 416,388 electric cars according to CNEVPOST, an increase of almost 39% year-over-year. That’s down 30.7% from Q4 of 2024, which saw the company’s highest ever EV sales.
As an automaker, BYD has entirely abandoned purely gas-powered cars and sells a mix of hybrids, PHEVs, and electric cars. It’s also an exporter, and the stat that’s most interesting to me is that BYD has managed to sell 72,723 in foreign markets, which is up 89% year-over-year.
It’s been guessed that BYD will be the biggest electric automaker this year, outshining even Tesla, so let’s look at Tesla’s quarterly numbers.
Tesla’s Q1 Sales Down
Unless you’re the biggest Tesla stan on the planet, the news that the company had one of its worst quarters in years isn’t going to be a big shock. In total, the company delivered 336,681 vehicles in Q1 globally, down 13% from Q1 of 2024. That’s a lot of electric cars and still makes it the second biggest EV automaker by a large margin.
The consensus of Wall Street estimates was around 390,000 vehicles sold. Is this a sign that it super biffed it? Well, some of those estimates came before everyone knew just how weird the world would get and how much blowback Musk could get from his activities with President Trump.
Some of this, of course, is due to factories switching over to the updated Model Y, as Tesla itself says:
“While the changeover of Model Y lines across all four of our factories led to the loss of several weeks of production in Q1, the ramp of the New Model Y continues to go well.”
This is almost certainly a legit excuse, but it doesn’t explain the huge drop in places like Europe. Also, wasn’t Tesla supposed to sell a huge number of Cybertrucks? That doesn’t seem to be happening, given that all non Model 3/Model Y sales added up to just 12,881 vehicles total, globally, for the quarter.
What’s going on here?
Elon Musk The Cheesehead
If you have not been following::checks notes:: off-cycle Wisconsin judicial elections, you might be surprised to find out that one State Supreme Court seat in the Upper Midwest could somehow become a referendum on the Tesla CEO. Honestly, if you didn’t know that you can just skip to the song part of TMD and you might be happier.
Here’s how NBC News put it:
Musk, the billionaire White House adviser, played a starring role in the race, using personal funds and allied outside groups to put more than $15 million behind former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, the Trump-endorsed candidate who ran against Madison County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford. Crawford and her allies responded in kind, using Musk as a foil and scoring a decisive win.
Though the race was technically nonpartisan, there were intense partisan overtones — and it functionally transformed into a proxy vote on Trump’s first two months in office and especially on Musk, who has become one of the most powerful people in Republican politics since Trump won last year.
Musk referred to the race as a contest that would be important for the future of America and “Western Civilization.”
I guess Western Civilization is in trouble, because the Musk-endorsed candidate got spanked. Technically, these are non-partisan elections, but no one really believes that. Musk’s interests here probably have a lot to do with the fact that Wisconsin is a state with a highly partisan redistricting scheme that keeps a generally purple state tilted heavily towards putting Republicans in Congress. Musk not only spent money and campaigned, he also wrote checks to volunteers, which is something that feels like it should be extremely illegal.
We should have better stats on registration in the United States in a couple of weeks, which will just be more data for people to interpret based on preexisting feelings. And while we’re talking about Midwestern politics, I should probably mention that former Jalopnik contributor, car nut, and Hot Wheels designer Mallory McMorrow is running in the Democratic primary for the Michigan U.S. Senate seat that’s going to open up in 2026. Obviously, we know Mallory very well as a site, so take that disclosure for what it’s worth, and if she were to win, we’d never stop bugging her about Kei cars.
It’s interesting that her launch video includes a bunch of clips of Elon Musk…
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
San Francisco-based singer-songwriter John Vanderslice should be better known for all the great records he’s produced, or the ones he’s recorded. Likely, though, you know him for calling the frontman of Third Eye Blind the rudest person he ever met while running a recording studio. Enjoy “Trance Manual,” a good song.
The Big Question
Have you seen a Dodge Charger EV on the road?
No.
“Have you seen a Dodge Charger EV on the road?”
Not yet.
No EV Chargers here and yes, that’s a double entendres.
That would be because it is.
“Have you seen a Dodge Charger EV on the road?”
Yes. And I also test drove one at the recent Toronto Auto Show. I have to say that I really like what I see. The only question is whether it will have teething issues the way the GM EVs had.
Many like to rag on the new Charger because of the fake exhaust sounds. But you know what? That complaint is bullshit because if you don’t like it, you can turn it off. I think it’s a great looking car and I think the front spoiler design is really cool.
I agree. We might have to fight our way out of this bar, but I agree. BTW, others happily plunk lots of money just to make their cars louder. They’ll claim better performance, better mileage, but it’s all about noise.
Enjoy these quotes if you’re looking for more information on why everyone hates Stephan Jenkins:
https://www.theringer.com/2021/06/09/music/semi-charmed-life-third-eye-blind-max-collins-eve-6
This includes Rob Thomas saying “He’s really just a cock”
My rural area of Ohio has a decent amount of EVs in it which still continues to shock me.*rimshot* I have yet to see an EV Charger at my local CDJR dealer though. I’ve been told they are at one about 30 minutes away though.
I saw an EV Charger at my local dealer, before it got sold. Definitely don’t like how it’s not catching on, but when you can about 40 million people hoping on the “HeMi Is DoDge” bandwagon, it makes anything with no V8 basically unsellable, so eh.
Maybe I’ll see like 4 exact copies in a few months driving right behind another going to a rental lot like I did the Hornet’s when they first came out lol
I never gave it much thought, but now I’m beginning to miss the Tavares pictured here bit. Can we get some more coverage on him? Even if it’s not automotive related. Maybe he’s running for school trustee or something. Anything more interesting than Musk please.
So I’m reading this headline and the image that pops into my head is one with a bunch of those little power bricks like for charging my MacBook Air versus a couple Honda generators sitting in my front lawn. Or is it just my twisted brain that interprets “electric chargers versus gasoline chargers” that way…?
I appreciate the selection of the symmetrical but opposite BYD and Tesla shots. Is it reading into it too much to infer that one is pointed ahead and one is moving backward?
Lol, I didn’t notice that.
I live in a town called Hutto which is a suburb outside of Austin, TX. Got a few CDJR dealers in the general vicinity. So far I have seen precisely one Charger EV, maybe about a week and a half ago. My understanding though is they have only become available to purchase very recently?
My small town’s dealer doesn’t even have an electric Charger. I’ve never seen one, though there are some new electrics around. I’ve seen a Lyriq, Incel Camino, a couple Lightnings, Hummer, and a handful of the H/K offerings. Electric is not what Charger buyers want. And electric buyers sure don’t want a charger.
I mean electric buyers do want a charger, just not a Charger
….ill show myself out
I couldn’t even tell you where the closest CJDR dealer is, so no, I definitely haven’t seen a Charger EV in real life.
I’m starting to wonder if all of the stuff I see about Stellantis having months or years worth of vehicle inventory sitting around might accidentally end up being a hedge against the new tariffs. In a couple months, most other automakers might be only selling new vehicles with increased prices from the tariffs, but Stellantis might have a bunch of 2023 and 2024 stock to sell that was produced long before any of the tariffs at a better price. Having a bunch of vehicles no one wants to buy might help them avoid the impacts of the tariffs for longer than anyone else?
If that is what ends up happening, I assure it’s 100% an accident.
That’s a very generous interpretation. I seriously doubt that Stellantis has been purposefully selling undesirable products at laughably high prices for years in order to hedge against a potential increase import costs.
I bet they’re just gonna slap some mark-u.. I mean ‘market adjustments’ on top of the regular prices to get them in line with the tariff-afected cars
I’ve been in Brazil since early Feb and I’ve only seen one Tesla, but BYDs are absolutely everywhere.
I’ve seen one 4 door charger and a handful of 2 doors out in the wild. Although the general area of where I live fortunately has a decent sighting of M plate goodies and new car adopters.
Same story for me. I live in SE Michigan so I see M plates often. I also live just about across the street from a CDJR dealer so I see them there too. I have seen a decent number of them, and eh, they are not awful looking, but nothing special either. I could see some kind of widebody Demon version looking pretty interesting, but still not something I will be buying.
SO far I’ve seen precisely one electric Charger in the wild.
My area has 7 or 8 CJDR dealerships and lots of EVs driving around, and I’ve still yet to see any of the new Chargers. Seen at least three Cybertrucks, hard to tell since they’re all the same color, other than one beige wrapped one and a couple Lucids and lots of Rivians and Polestars. But no Charger or Wagoneer S yet.
The GM of my local CDJR Dealer lives in the neighborhood behind mine and has a silver one as his demo car. I actually like the design, and if they found a way to make it the Hurricane I6 with a manual it would rule (and exactly 4 people would buy one)
I would buy a hurricane with a manual. There are at least a dozen of us
They could appeal to the age and taste demographic with an ad campaign built around “Rock You Like a Hurricane”, but since the band’s German, the 4:12 cut would have to be extended to 5:15 to cover the tariff.
The almost void-of-information Tesla press release indicates Tesla produced ~22,000 more Model 3 and Model Y vehicles than it sold in Q1. Maybe all of the production overage was Model 3s, but I find it curious Tesla blames its vehicle sales drop on a shortage of Model Ys. Maybe so, but it could also be a smokescreen for an overall U.S. sales drop for Tesla.
Not a peep about the CT in the press release. That’s telling.
No. I live in an area with lots of EV early adopters. For example, not long after Ford’s F-150 Lightning started selling I saw one in the wild hauling 2x4s. I actually cheered. Not seeing a Charger EV tells me the buyers in my area are not impressed by the Charger EV, or the Charger EV was too late to market..
Whenever there’s a quarterly drop in sales, Tesla blames it on a changeover or line upgrade. Which could very well be the case, but when they intentionally obscure data it leads me to assume they are just lying.
Surprisingly enough, I have. Just one, though.
I haven’t seen any being driven on the road, but I see truckloads of them heading South on I-75 everyday. I’m sure they’re basically forcing them on very reluctant dealers at this point.
I really don’t hate them at all, but it’s bizarre that A: There was such a big gap between the last Challenger/Charger being discontinued and this thing coming out, and B: That they didn’t release the ICE and sedan versions simultaneously with the EV coupe. Just bizarre product planning all around.
Throwing the muscle car traditionalists a consolation prize by launching the coupe first was a dumb move. There’s no pleasing them because what they really want is their youth back. Now Stellantis is stuck with an EV that’s too big and not enough doors for EV buyers, powered the wrong way for muscle car buyers and costs too much for almost anyone.
Local dealer has a few of these sitting on the front line outside.
Thought about stopping to look.
But having driven by them several times now, they just look like crap to me.
Still have not seen any running loose on the roads though…
YMMV as always.
I actually really like the look of them, I just don’t find a half baked EV that weighs as much as a Tahoe to be particularly appealing. Once the straight 6 sedan starts showing up I’m definitely going to at least test drive one. On paper they’re super compelling but I just don’t trust Stellantis….
Understood.
I would like to check out a gas powered model.
But my brain trusts Stellantis about as much as I trust the Big Orange Turd, and his demented little helpers.
I mean, I technically haven’t seen a Charger EV on the road because I’m on the inside of the one I drive. It’s a fun car to drive, super comfy. Was definitely too expensive, but I did it anyway. Sales are pretty much what I expected, my local Mopar Owners Club all seem to like the styling but hate the price and the electric engine (in that order).
Have you let any of them actually drive it? And, did they still hate it after??? (I bet they don’t)
I’ve only been to one meeting and we didn’t have time, but I’m planning on it at the next one. My friend’s dad, the one who convinced me to meet the club, has ridden in it and loves it.
Glad to hear. I feel that so many people hate EV’s because they have never tried one. There is a minor learning curve to EV adoption, but once you get past that, you’ll never really want to go back. I am becoming less and less enamored by my ICE vehicle every time I drive them. (that said, I still want a RWD V8 with a 6spd once in my life)
Over the years I’ve driven countless ICE Chargers/Challengers as rentals, and never liked them. Out of the many things I disliked, the worst was the horribly flexing chassis, it felt like something that should fail some kind of safety norm for a new car made in the 21st century.
I assume the new ones have better chassis rigidity than some old Mercedes from over half a century ago, since they’re, you know.. new.
I hope I get the chance to drive one, or even better, two of them (EV and inline6).
Hey, that’s cool! I’ve only heard from auto journalists about that car, I’d love to hear more from an actual owner!
If you have time please submit it for Member Rides or write a review or something. I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re very interested in the ownership experience. Love or hate the car, you can’t deny that it’s fascinating.
I’ll look into it!