Elon Musk materialy lied to Tesla (TSLA) shareholders – transcript and proof
Elon Musk just made public and material lies aimed at Tesla shareholders. Here’s the proof with the relevant transcript.
Now, let’s see if the SEC still has teeth or if the US has fully entered its scam era under the Trump administration.
Today, Musk made false statements aimed at Tesla shareholders and directly addressed the stock price.
Here’s the video, transcript, and relevant information that proves Musk was lying:
Tesla sales are strong everywhere but Europe
The CEO started the segment by claiming this:
Europe is our weakest market. We are strong everywhere else. Our sales are doing very well at this point. We don’t expect any meaningful sales shortfall.
Tesla’s weakest market is Europe, but sales are not “strong everywhere else.”
We have up-to-date data from China up to last week, and Tesla is having its worst performance in years in the critical EV market:
This is Tesla’s worst quarter start in the last two years based on the insurance registration data. It’s already confirmed that Q1 2025 sales were terrible everywhere, but up-to-date data in Europe and China confirm that Tesla is still struggling in China and Europe.
That’s also despite Tesla offering more incentives and discounts in China than ever. Model 3 and Model Y, representing over 95% of Tesla’s sales in China, are currently offered with 0% financing at Tesla’s cost.
When pressed about Tesla’s sales still being down in Europe, Musk answered:
Yes, that’s true of all manufacturers. There’s no exception. The European market is quite weak.
It’s a bummer that the host didn’t push back on this because it’s a blatant lie.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) released the data a few weeks ago.
In the EU, EFTA, and the UK, Tesla’s sales were down 37% in Q1 2025. It’s true that other automakers were also down, but not “all manufacturers” and certainly plenty of “exceptions”:
As you can see, the Volkswagen Group was up 5% as a whole and the VW brand itself was more than 12% in the first quarter.
Renault and BMW were also up, as was SAIC.
The lie is even more blatant when you only look at the EV market, where Tesla operates. Battery electric car sales surged almost 24% in Europe in the first quarter, while Tesla’s sales dropped 37%.
Now, this was the last quarter. Maybe Musk could get away by claiming the turnaround is happening now or other automakers are now struggling in Q2.
However, this is also not true based on the latest up-to-date data.
Several European markets report daily vehicle registrations and based on this data, Tesla (left) is tracking way behind the same period last year and about the same as its terrible Q1 2025, while VW (right) is currently significantly outperforming right now compared to the last quarter or the same period in 2024:
This is also true of BMW, Ford, Hyundai-Kia, and several other automakers. So Musk’s claim of no exception is not even remotely true.
The stock market confirms Tesla is doing great
Musk used Tesla’s stock price as some sort of proof of what he is claiming:
Obviously, the stock market recognizes that since we are back now at over $1 trillion market cap. Clearly the market is aware of the situation. It’s already turned around.
This is a misleading statement. The stock price is in no way representative of Tesla’s sales. Musk has admitted that in the past. He said that “Tesla was worth nothing” if it didn’t solve self-driving.
The stock is completely disconnected from Tesla’s vehicle business.
More specifically, Musk is also wrong to claim that the market is “aware of the situation.”
Last quarter, Wall Street analysts were trying to track Tesla’s sales, but they missed badly.
For most of the quarter, Wall Street believed Tesla would deliver more than 400,000 vehicles and only started to update their estimates way down toward the second half of the quarter.
Even then, they still ended up overestimating Tesla’s deliveries by 40,000 units.
Therefore, it’s clear that the market is not well “aware” of Tesla’s current sales levels. The same thing is happening in Q2 2025. The current Wall Street consensus is that Tesla will deliver about 420,000 vehicles in Q2 2025 when the best data available show that Tesla is tracking below Q1 2025, when the automaker delivered 336,000 vehicles.
There’s still a month to go in the quarter, but it’s unlikely that Tesla will be able to accelerate deliveries enough to reach over 400,000 units.
Later on in the segment of the interview embedded above, Musk again referenced the stock price:
Again, you can just look at the stock price. If you want the best inside information, the stock market analysts have that and our stock wouldn’t be trading near all-time highs if things weren’t in good shape. They are fine. Don’t worry about it.
Again, we have clear data that show that “stock market analysts” are terrible at tracking Tesla’s sales, and the stock price is in no way representative of a company’s current performance.
It is simply representative of the demand for Tesla’s stock, which Musk himself admits is linked to Tesla’s autonomous driving effort.
Sales numbers are strong, no problem with demand
When pushed back on the demand front, Musk added:
The sales numbers are strong. And we see no problem with demand.
This is another lie. On top of the previously discussed declining sales, it’s worth mentioning that those declines are compared to 2024, a year when Tesla saw its first full-year decline in sales since starting volume vehicle production a decade ago.
In 2024 and now into 2025, Tesla has throttled down its production capacity to about 60% of its overall capacity due to low demand.
Even with fewer vehicles available, Tesla is now offering record discounts and subsidized financing rates at a great cost to the company – clear indicators of demand problems.
Where is the SEC?
These are clear, verifiable, and material lies aimed at Tesla shareholders. It’s a security violation that the SEC should be going after.
This will be a great test of how corrupt federal agencies are under the Trump administration.
The lies are verifiable right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they wait until Tesla reports its official deliveries for Q2 2025.
If they are significantly down versus Q2 2024, as expected, it would be easy to prove that Musk was misleading shareholders with these claims today.
What are the odds on the SEC actually going after this or letting it slide?
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Toyota USA has refreshed its RAV4 for 2026, and, in a significant step forward for efficiency, Toyota has axed the non-hybrid version of the vehicle. The RAV4 will now only be available in HEV and PHEV versions starting in the 2026 model year.
However, in an act of greenwashing reminiscent of many things Toyota has done before, it’s confusingly calling its vehicles “100% electrified” – despite that every single RAV4 includes a gas engine.
The improvements include new looks and trim lines, including an outdoorsy Woodland model (like the bZ just got) and a higher-performance “GR SPORT” model (though, we must remind everyone, that SUVs are not sportscars and will never be sportscars), and higher power from both PHEV and HEV models.
The PHEV model also boasts improved range, bumped from 42 miles to 50 miles – still lower than we’d typically consider worthy of coverage on Electrek, but the number is at least usable to keep the average driver on electric power for most of their daily driving (if they bother to plug it in).
Some trims will have DC fast charging, and you’ll be able to charge from 10-80% in 30 minutes.
Notably, the RAV4 no longer includes any option for a non-hybrid powertrain. All trims are either hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Previously, it had been anticipated that an EV model might join the lineup, but it looks like Toyota is just sticking with the newly-renamed bZ model for that purpose.
Toyota calls its new RAV4 options “highly efficient electrified powertrains,” but did not specify anticipated EPA mileage numbers for the HEV model, or for the PHEV when operating on gas power. The current RAV4 hybrid gets 39mpg (that’s about 10mpg better than the non-hybrid), and we would imagine something in that ballpark for the updated model.
The 2026 RAV4 will be available in Toyota dealerships across the US “later this year.” Pricing has not yet been announced.
Electrek’s Take
But the real issue here is the use of the word “electrified,” and specifically, “100% electrified.”
Toyota has a long history of deceptive advertising when it comes to its electrification efforts. Its lies have gotten it in trouble before, both in Norway and in the US.
Toyota is also the largest auto industry funder of climate denial, and has consistently ranked as the worst auto industry lobbyist on climate policy worldwide.
So its use of the word “electrified” should be looked at with some skepticism, since the company has used it before to confuse consumers into thinking that its vehicles are more efficient than they really are. For some previous coverage on that, see the FTC complaint filed against Toyota over its false electrification claims.
In this case, Toyota has upped the ante, not just claiming that its vehicles are electrified, but “100% electrified.”
There are a lot of terms that get used confusingly in the EV industry, oftentimes purposefully, in order to greenwash companies’ efforts. EV, PHEV, EREV, FCEV, HEV, BEV, electrified, all-electric, and so on.
But one thing that has heretofore been reserved for models that do not include a gasoline engine is any variation on “all-electric,” “100% electric,” “fully electric” or the like.
So, moving from “electrified” to “100% electrified” certainly seems like intentional phrasing by Toyota here. “Electrified” was already questionable, but “100% electrified” is well over the line.
So despite that we should be happy about a step-change improvement in powertrain availability on the RAV4, and the elimination of the non-hybrid model, Toyota just had to play one of its tricks and remind us why they’re the greatest enemy of electrification in the auto industry (well… save one).
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Elon Musk interviews on CNBC from the Tesla Headquarters in Texas.
CNBC
Elon Musk said Tuesday that artificial intelligence development could run into power generation problems by the middle of next year, as the technology industry builds increasingly large data centers.
Musk told CNBC in an interview that his artificial intelligence startup xAI is planning a gigawatt-size facility outside Memphis, Tenn. He said the facility would be complete in six to nine months. A gigawatt is equivalent to the power capacity of the average nuclear plant in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy.
Musk said AI faces three major limitations as it scales up: chips, transformers and power generation. Transformers are used to ramp down the voltage of electricity produced by power plants so it can used by computers.
“As we solve the transformer shortage, there will be the fundamental electricity generation shortage,” Musk told CNBC’s David Faber. “My guess is people are going to start hitting challenges with power generation maybe by the middle of next year, end of next year.”
Alphabet’s Google unit warned in February that the U.S. is facing a power capacity crisis as the U.S. races against China to achieve dominance in AI. Google started looking into nuclear energy after realizing renewables were potentially causing instability on the grid, said Caroline Golin, Google’s global head of energy market development. The output of wind and solar is dependent on weather conditions.
Google ran into a “very stark reality that we didn’t have enough capacity on the system to power our data centers in the short term and then potentially in the long term,” Golin said at a February conference hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in New York City.
Musk said Tuesday that China is building significantly more power generation than U.S. “China power generation looks like a rocket going to orbit and U.S. power generation is flat,” the Tesla CEO said.
Musk’s xAI is using natural gas turbines to help power its Colossus data center in Memphis. Environmental advocates have accused xAI of violating the Clean Air Act and permitting requirements for “major sources of air pollution” by using gas turbines without mitigation technologies or permits in place.
Utilities such as Dominion Energy told investors on recent earnings calls that they are not seeing evidence of slowing data center demand, despite anxiety in the market that the tech sector might cut back on concerns about of a possible recession. Dominion serves the largest data center market in the world located in northern Virginia.
But Constellation Energy cautioned that although demand is strong, some of the forecasts by utilities are overstated as developers shop their data centers in multiple jurisdictions. Constellation is the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S.
“I just have to tell you, folks, I think the load is being overstated,” CEO Joe Dominguez said on the power company’s first quarter earnings call. “We need to pump the brakes here.”
Hyundai is shutting down a production line at its Ulsan plant in Korea, where the IONIQ 5 and Kona EV are built. Although it’s only for a few days, the move comes as the automaker faces slower exports.
Why is Hyundai pausing EV production in Korea?
For the third time this year, Hyundai is planning to pause production of some of its most popular EV models in Korea.
Industry sources said on May 20 (via Newsis) that Hyundai will shut down Line 2 at its Ulsan plant in Korea, where it builds the IONIQ 5 and Kona Electric. The pause will start on May 27 and end on May 30.
Despite launching a new discount campaign in Korea earlier this month, offering over $4,300 (6 million won) in savings on the IONIQ 5, sales are still lagging. In particular, Hyundai has exported significantly fewer IONIQ 5 models this year.
Through April, Hyundai exported just 9,663 IONIQ 5s, down from 27,476 sold overseas in the same period last year.
Kona EV exports have also fallen sharply. Through April 2025, Hyundai shipped just 3,428 Kona EV models, down 42% from nearly 6,000 last year.
According to the report, Hyundai said in an internal note, “The sluggish sales in the global electric vehicle market have not improved,” adding, “We have made every effort to secure additional orders, but we are currently unable to secure the quantity.”
Following a temporary halt in February and April, this will be Hyundai’s third time pausing EV production in Korea this year.
In a turn of events, Hyundai’s joint venture in China, Beijing Hyundai, announced losses improved by over 100 million won ($72 million) in Q1. With its first custom-tailored electric SUV launching in China later this year, Beijing Hyundai could turn a profit by the end of 2025.
The Korean automaker reported its seventh consecutive record sales month in the US. The IONIQ 5 remains a top seller with over 12,000 units sold through April, up 14% from last year.
IONIQ 6 sales, on the other hand, are down 10% this year, with 4,424 sold through April, and Hyundai doesn’t give a breakdown for Kona EV sales.
Hyundai is also offering generous discounts in the US right now with up to $12,500 in upfront savings on the new three-row IONIQ 9. The 2025 IONIQ 5 is a steal with leases starting at just $209 per month.
Ready to try out Hyundai’s electric vehicles for yourself? We’ve got you covered. You can use our links below to find popular Hyundai EV models in your area.
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