Oct. 23, 2025 9:44 am EST Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Good morning! It's Thursday, October 23, 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, the world's richest man, Elon Musk, hijacked Tesla's somewhat mixed third-quarter earnings report to beg for his $1 trillion pay package, Volvo's drastic cost-cutting seems to have actually worked out in its favor and Volkswagen is getting ready for a lot of production uncertainty as its semiconductor chip supply dries up. 1st Gear: Elon Musk really wants $1 trillion Pool/Getty Images With a net worth of over $487 billion, Elon Musk is already the richest guy in the world, but that immense wealth didn't stop him from panhandling during Tesla's third-quarter earnings meeting for the approval of his proposed $1 trillion pay package. He also took the time to blast the shareholders and advisory firms that have come out against the proposal. Proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have recommended that investors reject the massive payout to Musk. The value of the package is dependent on the automaker reaching a litany of market value goals and operational thresholds — most of which aren't really achievable. From Bloomberg: "There needs to be enough voting control to give a strong influence, but not not so much that I can't be fired if I go insane," Musk said, interrupting his chief financial officer as the more than hour-long call wrapped up. It was classic Musk: a fiery end to what had otherwise been a ho-hum earnings call largely devoted to Tesla's artificial intelligence, humanoid robot and self-driving initiatives. Shareholders will vote on the pay package at Tesla's Nov. 6 annual meeting in Austin. [...] Musk emphasized, as he has in the past, that sufficient voting control matters more to him than monetary compensation from Tesla. "I just don't feel comfortable building a robot army here, and then being ousted because of some asinine recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, who have no freaking clue," he said. After Musk's little rant concluded, CFO Vaibhav Taneja resumed his closing remarks by praising the "amazing job" the special board committee did in constructing the pay package. He made it clear that nothing would get approved until shareholders "made substantial returns," but he did kowtow to Musk by urging said shareholders two more times to vote in favor of the plan. Tesla had a very weird third quarter. Its net income fell 37% in the three months leading up to September 30 to $1.39 billion. However, revenue rose sharply as buyers in the U.S. flocked to dealers, looking to take advantage of the expiring $7,500 EV tax credit that Musk's old friend, President Donald Trump, personally killed. The Austin, Texas-based automaker delivered a record 497,099 vehicles in Q3, raising Tesla's revenue 12% to $28.1 billion. Automotive revenue rose 6% to $21.2 billion, and energy revenue rose 44% to $3.42 billion. Services and other revenues also rose $25% to $3.48 billion, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows for Tesla. From Automotive News: Tesla said its total gross margin fell to 18 percent from 19.8 percent in the same quarter last year. [...] "While we face near-term uncertainty from shifting trade, tariff and fiscal policy, we are focused on long-term growth and value creation," Tesla said in its third-quarter earnings report. Analysts had expected Tesla to report revenue of $26.2 billion in the July-September quarter, according to data compiled by LSEG cited by Reuters. Musk didn't just use the forum to beg for money. He also talked about the lofty (and fairly unattainable) autonomy goals he has set for the company. CEO Elon Musk on the Oct. 22 earnings call said that vehicle production will expand once Tesla can offer customers a fully autonomous option that no longer requires the driver to pay attention to the road. That will happen shortly with its still-incomplete Full Self-Driving software, he said. "Really what it comes down to is: can you text while in the car? And if you tell someone yes, that the car is now so good you can be on your phone and text the entire time while you're in the car, anyone who can buy the car, will buy the car," Musk said. [...] Musk said on the call that demand next year will also be bolstered by the launch of its dedicated CyberCab robotaxi, which won't have human controls. The CyberCab will be used in Tesla's ride-hailing fleet and go on sale to customers, Musk has said. [...] "We are expecting to have no safety drivers in at least large parts of Austin by the end of this year," Musk said on the call. "And then we do expect to be operating robotaxis in I think about eight to 10 metro areas by the end of the year." Musk said in July that he expected fully autonomous Tesla robotaxis to serve half the U.S. population by the end of this year. Musk says the robotaxi rollout is going to be dependent on regulatory approval. Yeah, bud. I'd certainly hope so. He also talked about the Optimus robot, but it's such a pie-in-the-sky idea, I'm not going to waste your time going over it. Tesla's deliveries for 2025 are expected to slip to about 1.6 million vehicles — down about 200,000 from 2024. 3rd Gear: Volvo's cost-cutting worked Jetcityimage/Getty Images Volvo's cost-cutting measures seemed to have worked and then some. The automaker just smashed third-quarter profit forecasts despite tariff concerns and tough competition. Its new management — led by CEO Hakan Samuelsson, who returned earlier this year — has spent the past six months slashing costs at the company to counteract stumbling profits. From Reuters: The company cut 3,000 jobs, pulled guidance and slowed investments to offset pressure from U.S. tariffs, fierce competition and an EV market slowdown. "What we're now seeing is really, wow okay, this is delivering faster than we thought and faster than we planned," Samuelsson said of the cost reductions. Volvo Cars, based in Sweden but majority-owned by China's Geely Holding, said it made an operating profit before one-off costs of 5.9 billion Swedish crowns ($627 million) in July-September, soaring above analysts' consensus forecast of 1.6 billion crowns, according to Bernstein. This was despite a 7% drop in sales, with fully electric cars still accounting for less than a quarter of the total. All in all, Volvo's gross margin rose 24.4% from the second quarter's 17.7% Samulsson said a facelift of the XC60 (which will soon be built in the U.S.) was a big reason for that, along with savings from cooperation with Geely's supply chain as well as the cost-cutting measures they put in place. 4th Gear: VW faces massive microchip uncertainty Just dance/Shutterstock Not everybody is having as good a day as Volvo, though. Production at Volkswagen's main plant in Germany will proceed as planned next week, but after that, who the hell knows what'll happen? The issue stems from the risk of a microchip shortage due to a standoff between China and the Netherlands, having to do with chip supplier Nexperia. From Reuters: The company has no current plans to launch a state-backed reduced working hours scheme at its main Wolfsburg plant near its headquarters due to the risk of microchip shortages, the person also said. The company is, however, in precautionary discussions with the German labour agency over drawing on the option later, the source added. As we reported yesterday, other automakers around the globe have urged the two sides to come to a quick resolution on the matter. I'm sure you remember what happened the last time there was an industry-wide microchip shortage. There were thousands of cars that were either not shipped from factories or shipped without key functions. It wasn't a good situation, and I'm sure everybody would like to avoid that scenario again Reverse: That's no way to go out, Brutus. History.com When we were kids, my brother got a fish tank for his 10th birthday. He got something like eight fish, and I got one as well for being a good boy. Well, my one fish ate all of his fish, so we named him Brutus, and he lived for years — far more than a fish is supposed to. None of this is relevant to the actual Brutus, but I figured I'd tell you about it anyway. If you want to learn more about the actual Brutus, head over to History.com. On the radio: Geese - Au Pays du Cocaine As a quirked up individual living in New York, it's my duty to be into Geese right now. Even if you're not either of those things, you should check them out, too. Comment(s)