Good morning! It’s Monday, May 4, 2026, 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, Lucid suffers heavy losses, everyone is excited about the Rivian R2 EV, including Rivian, SpaceX is flashing some serious cash to build a chip factory in Texas, and Tesla is recalling almost 220,000 cars for bad backup cameras.
1st Gear: It isn’t easy being green…
Lucid had to toss out its whole production guidance for 2026 on bad news about first quarter sales. The eye-watering $1 billion net loss in Q1 sent the EV automaker’s stock tumbling another 5%, adding to the startling 75% drop over the last 12 months. Production guidance won’t be updated until the end of Q2, CFO Taoufiq Boussaid told investors on a call last week. The company is sticking to its goal of raising yearly production to 25,000-27,000 vehicles by 2027; from Automotive News:
Lucid said it produced 5,500 vehicles in the first quarter but delivered just 3,093 vehicles of its Air sedan and Gravity crossover, roughly flat from a year earlier.
Gravity deliveries were significantly affected in February by a rear-seat defect that triggered a recall. Lucid said deliveries rebounded in March but did not provide a figure.
“Lucid is taking further steps to align production with anticipated deliveries and customer demand,” Lucid said in its earnings report.
Lucid’s $1 billion net loss widened from $366 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 20 percent to $282 million.
Wall Street analysts had expected about $440 million in revenue, making the shortfall the largest in more than four years, according to Reuters.
This might seem dire, but Lucid is sitting on a pile of money courtesy of its majority owner, the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. I will never get over some of the coolest EVs in the world being built by oil money. It’s poetic. The company is looking forward to ramping up production and sales in 2027, with a new factory in the Saudi kingdom focused on building the mid-size Cosmos crossover.
2nd Gear: … unless you’re Rivian
Even before traditional automakers canceled all their upcoming EVs, the Rivian R2 was the most exciting future EV out there. Rivian recognizes that what the world needs now is love, and an affordable EV SUV. The R2 will be hitting driveways next month, but the automaker is already planning several spin-offs of the cute little hatchy-back SUV. From Reuters:
“There are other variants of R2, which we haven’t shown,” CEO RJ Scaringe said in an interview with Reuters, when asked about a pickup variant of R2.
“What we’re building in Georgia allows for different variations,” he said, referring to a new plant where Rivian will eventually expand production of R2 vehicles. Scaringe did not disclose details on what the other variants would look like.
Demand for EVs has taken a hit with the removal of key tax credits in the United States, although high gasoline prices have raised some interest in battery-powered vehicles. Affordable EVs are seen as a bright spot in the electric vehicle industry since borrowing costs remain high.
Not only are we getting a sick-looking EV, but we’re getting more sick-looking EVs! As a reminder, the R2 MSRPs for around $48,490, gets a range of 345 miles and boost at 350 horsepower engine, rear-wheel drive and can get to 60 mph from a dead stop in about three seconds. We’re absolutely giddy over it and can’t wait to see the R2, and any future brothers and sisters, on the road.
Rivian, like most automakers right now, reported an operating loss in the first quarter of 2026, but not as big as predicted, which is nice. Stock price dropped on the news of this stronger-than-expected showing because the stock market is made up and you can’t tell me otherwise. Anyway, if anyone can give Tesla a run for its money, it’s Rivian.
3rd Gear: SpaceX, Tesla wants to spend $55 billion on a Terafab chip facility in Texas
Elon Musk is tired of global supply chains messing with his companies’ access to computer chips and, in true Musk fashion, has proposed a gigantic manufacturing center to make all he needs for his two most technologically material intensive operations; SpaceX and Tesla. The initial investment sits at $55 billion, with potentially as much as $119 billion. Experts say it’ll take a lot more than that to get the factory off the ground, if it ever does, Reuters reports:
The facility, a joint project with Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, comes as Musk seeks to secure in-house access to advanced chips, though analysts say the scale of capacity he has outlined would likely require far greater investment.
[…]
The filing also highlighted risks around supply, noting the company lacks long-term contracts with many direct chip suppliers and will continue to rely significantly on third parties. SpaceX added there is no assurance it will meet its Terafab objectives within expected timelines, or at all.
The plan aligns with a broader U.S. push to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions and supply chain risks.
The chips would go not just in SpaceX products, but in self-driving Teslas, robots, and AI centers, if they ever get made at all. Right now, Musk sources chips through Intel’s 14A process. It’s very likely this manufacturing center will end up as an other “cool story, bro” Musk moment, but some solution is badly required to keep the U.S. humming when global trade systems break down as we’ve seen multiple times in the last few years.
4th Gear: Tesla recalls 218,868 cars for bad back-up camera images
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Making cars is hard. They’re complex machines that need to rumble around a rough and tumble world, so of course, some things are going to go awry. Today it’s Tesla’s turn, as the Texas-based automaker is recalling 218,868 Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X vehicles because the backup camera image might be delayed in displaying to the driver, Reuters reports.
This is a reduced visibility issue which, yeah, not showing up on the screen will certain reduce visibility. The fix is an over-the-air software update, so owners don’t need to do much to get their cars fixed. Tesla recently dodged a two-million-car recall, so I’m sure this tiny OTA fix isn’t causing any stress at Tesla’s Texas home offices.
Reverse: Is he related to Cary Grant?
Age ain’t nothing but a number when it comes to left-hand turns.
The Fuel Up
Another day where the markets are promising cheaper gas, another day of average cost of a gallon of unleaded regular costing more than the day before. We had quite a jump over night, from $4.48 per gallon on average to $4.53. WTI Crude Oil Futures are down, at least, from $103.28 yesterday to $93.58 today. Brent Crude dropped as well, from $112.17 to $103.76.
AAA
This drop in futures (but not gas prices) is thanks to China stepping in to the U.S.-Israel war against Iran and saying “hold your horses, please.” It makes sense, as Asia is already starting to feel the pinch of a shortage of fuel on its shores.
China met with Iran’s foreign minister Wednesday to start putting pressure on both parties to knock it off already, according to The New York Times. In response, U.S. markets rallied and oil prices fell. Hopefully, China can continue making inroads that will allow us all to go back to our regularly scheduled dystopia.
On The Radio: Sunset Rubdown – ‘Us Ones In Between’
All the younger millennials/Gen Z writers at Jalopnik are on trips. Quick! Post eerie, strange early 2000s Canadian indie tunes.
