It’s Friday and I’m in love…with the news that is! it’s August 1, 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 edition, Big Oil does way better than expected in Q2, America’s closest trading partners still on the hook for tariffs but find some slight breathing room when it comes to cars, Hyundai grows in the U.S. but faces strong headwinds, and Mercedes paused EV orders in the U.S.
1st Gear: Slick customers
Big oil is producing a lot of the stuff, but that doesn’t mean it’s making a ton of money. Energy markets are weird and complex. Exxon Mobil and Chevron saw shares rise Friday morning on the news that increased production took some of the sting out of lower energy prices. Exxon produced more dino go juice in Q2 of 2025 than it has since it was acquired by Mobil in 2000–around 4.6 million barrels a day–while Chevron saw an almost four million barrels a day high mark, according to Bloomberg. Producing all this oil didn’t help much with profits, but at least these numbers are better than what Wall Street expected to happen.
Exxon, for instance, made $9.24 billion in the second quarter of 2024, while this year it only hit $7.08 billion. Oh won’t someone please think of the children of these oil company execs! How are they suppose to put food on the table with oil trading at or below $70 a barrel? Specifically, they can probably blame OPEC, which increased its production, and President Trump, who has turned the free market world upside down with his wildly unpredictable tariff swings. While making more money than Wall Street predicted is a good thing for shareholder, the companies are holding on to those good times by the skin of their teeth. From Bloomberg:
Despite the upbeat earnings, Chevron sees the potential for lower oil prices later this year as supply increases from OPEC and its allies saturate global crude markets.
“With those dynamics, we probably see some price pressure in the second half of the year,” Chief Financial Officer Eimear Bonner said in an interview. “We’re positioned for all price environments so if we see the softening, if it does in fact play out, we’re in a good spot.”
Exxon has now cut $13.5 billion of annual costs over the past six years, which it says is more than all its Big Oil rivals combined. The company has sold assets, cut jobs and centralized internal functions like engineering. It expects to reduce annual expenses by a further $4.5 billion by 2030.
While the second half of 2025 might provide an even squishier environment for profits, Big Oil still has the long, slow, sad decline of EVs in the U.S. to look forward to. Of course, other factors could boost the cost of oil as well. We saw the potential for a brief spike when Trump threatened and then bombed Iran. There’s always room for hope, I guess.
2nd Gear: Canadian car parts escape tariffs, Mexico gets 90-day reprieve
You’d assume America would want to work closely with its largest trading partners to the north and south of us, but you know what assuming does! Canada got slammed with a 35% tariff starting August 1. However, goods included in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which Trump himself put into place during his first term, won’t be hit with the tax, leaving auto parts assembled in Canada relatively untouched. But a 25% global levy on all cars coming into the U.S. is still causing turmoil in Canada’s auto sector.
Trump’s White House says the high tariff on Canada is due to the country’s unwillingness to stem a flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the U.S. Of course, Canada only makes up 0.2% of all fentanyl border seizures coming in the U.S., but that number is totally worth destroying trade relations with our largest trading partner, neighbor, and historic friend to the U.S. From Automotive News:
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the move was disappointing, but that Ottawa remains committed to the USMCA, as well as diversifying the country’s trading partners.
“The U.S. application of CUSMA means that the U.S. average tariff rate on Canadian goods remains one of the lowest for all of its trading partners. Other sectors of our economy — including lumber, steel, aluminum, and automobiles — are, however, heavily impacted,” he said in a statement.
Carney said the Canadian government continues to strengthen its border with the United States, but that fentanyl seizures account for only one per cent of illicit U.S. imports.
Mexico is faring a little better. Our friends on the southern border are getting a 90-day reprieve on a tariff hike, sticking with the 25% levied on Mexican goods instead of raising the rate to 30%, according to Bloomberg. Goods coved by the USCMA are also protected, but Mexico is also suffering under the global 25% car tariff and huge tariffs on raw materials. This pause naturally comes one day after Trump declared there would be no pause on tariffs.
All of this makes the most sense, of course. Free trade made the U.S. the richest and most powerful country on the planet, so it is definitely time for an abrupt about-face.
Hyundia, Kia and Genesis grow in the U.S., but for how long?
We love a good Korean car, don’t we folks? Americans certainly do, as Hyundai saw sales in the U.S. jump an astonishing 15% and Kia saw a 12% rise in sales. Genesis saw a more modest, but still extremely firm 8% in sales growth. Automotive News theorizes this rise in sales is due to customers trying to get their car purchases made before tariffs hit the automaker, which makes most of its cars in its mega plant in Ulsan, South Korea. That trend won’t hold, Cox Automotive Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough told Automotive News:
“We are seeing more tariffed products replacing existing inventory, and costs are trending higher,” Chesbrough said. “As those higher costs trickle through to retail, sales will likely soften in the coming months unless the economic direction improves.”
David Hult, CEO of Asbury Automotive Group Inc., said sales were slow for most of the first two weeks of July, “but then it’s progressively picked up the second half of the month.”
South Korea got a last-minute tariff deal of 15% on goods coming into the U.S. plus a $350 billion investment from Korea which will be parted out by President Trump himself, according to a Truth Social post made by the president. At least $150 billion will go to shipbuilding cooperation and the rest will go towards semiconductors, secondary batteries, and a few other investments, CNN reports. Hyundai is considering a price hike on all of its products in the U.S. by at least 1%, more for parts coming from the country.
Are the good times over for the Korean automaker? I hope not. Some of the most interesting cars in the world come from the peninsula, it would be a shame to see cars like the Genesis G90 or the much-loved Hyundai Ioniq line disappear.
Mercedes is backing away from EVs in the U.S.
Were you thinking of ordering yourself a new Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle? Maybe the EQS sedan and EQE SUV? Sorry sucker, you waited a little too long, as Mercedes paused orders for the EVs in the U.S. this week. The company did tell Automotive News it would reopen orders by August 1 (that’s today, for you eagle-eyed calendar heads) but it gets worse; by September 1, Mercedes is pausing production of the EVs at its Vance, Alabama plant after dropping output 55% in the second half of last year. Mercedes builds 60 EVs a day at the plant with 50 of those vehicles slated for overseas markets. These cars avoid tariffs thanks to a trade deal between the EU and the US, but it’s still not enough to keep the plant pumping out cars, from Automotive News:
Mercedes has struggled to find traction with EVs in the U.S. The brand’s EQ models have been derided for their bulbous designs and premium sticker prices.
According to Automotive News Research & Data Center estimates, wholesale shipments of the EQS SUV declined 32 percent in the first half of this year to 2,318. Deliveries of the EQE crossover tumbled 35 percent to 4,676.
Mercedes has resorted to steep discounts to move its electric models.
Selling an SUV in the U.S. should be easier than shooting fish in a barrel, but the EQ models are not anyone’s favorite. Now, with the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit, these pricy EVs are even less attractive. Luckily for folks in Vance, the plant produces more than just EVs, with the better-selling GLE, GLS, and GLE Coupe making up its roster.
Reverse: Fun fact; Columbus in the Bad Place
If I could turn back time… if I could find a way…
On The Radio: Chappell Roan – ‘The Subway’
A new Chappell Roan single? We’re eating well today folks!
