Most of the Western electric vehicle (EV) industry has been struggling amidst a series of setbacks since late 2023.
First, the start of the ‘EV winter’ in late 2023 drove demand – and stock prices – lower. Subsequently, Donald Trump’s re-election only exacerbated the issue as he was expected to quickly end the electric vehicle mandate – a move he executed on his first day in office.
Despite the situation – and despite struggling in the first half of 2024 – the most-discussed EV maker in the U.S., Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA), has been doing well on the stock market side.
Picks for you
Tesla stock gains ground despite EV sector headwinds
Specifically, Elon Musk’s company is 98.32% up in the last 12 months, with TSLA shares standing at $412.13 at press time.
Still, such a rally is not guaranteed to last, and it is, based on the fact Tesla recently posted its first year-over-year (YoY) deliveries decline, mostly based on the combination of promises and the hopes arising from the Trump-Musk political alliance.
By press time on January 23, this optimism for the future appears to be holding as TSLA stock is also 2.05% in the green year-to-date (YTD).
Smaller EV maker stocks continue the downturn
The same can’t be said for other major Western EV makers. At press time, both Lucid (NASDAQ: LCID) and Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) appear to have continued their 2024 declines in 2025 as they are 12.42% and 5.41% down since January 2 – the first session of the year.
Both companies have been hit relatively hard by the ‘EV winter’ last year and are expected to face severe headwinds in the coming month due to the return to a ‘drill, baby, drill’ and the fact they are, unlike Tesla, ill-equipped to weather the storm.
Still, some of their issues might be more linked to a case of misinterpreting the conditions, overpromising, and suffering from internal failures.
Lucid, for example, has been widely discussed for underperforming its own forecasts for the first half of 2024 by about 90% despite having massive backing from one of the richest entities in the world, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
World’s biggest EV maker matches Tesla stock performance in 2025
The notion that external factors aren’t entirely to blame can be seen from the example of Chinese EV makers. BYD – a company that overtook Tesla before the end of 2023 to become the biggest in the world within its industry – is up 47.52% in the last 12 months and 2.22% in 2025.
It is also worth pointing out that the Chinese giant achieved its success despite protectionist restrictions that have effectively bereft it of one of the most lucrative markets in the world – the U.S. – and that were, judging by the words of Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedez-Bentz (ETR: MBG), implemented to protect inferior Western models from competition to the detriment of customers.
Featured image via Shutterstock
