Stellantis Poised To End 2025 With Its First Annual Loss

Happy Monday! It's February 23, 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, we're looking at the financial impacts of Stellantis' EV reversal, and the lobbying groups in the EU that still care about that whole "environment" thing. We'll also look at the tariffs President Trump imposed out of spite for not being able to impose tariffs, and Lucid's layoffs. 

Since Stellantis' founding as a corporate entity, out of the wreckage of FCA, the company has never recorded an annual loss. Now, on the back of its EV reversal, the company's likely to change that trend. From Automotive News: 

Stellantis is likely to record its first annual operating and net loss since its creation in 2021, following unexpectedly large write-downs of €22 billion linked to an overly ambitious electrification strategy under former CEO Carlos Tavares.

Stellantis will announce detailed full-year 2025 results on Feb. 26.

In the first half of 2025, Stellantis had an adjusted operating income of €500 million. In a preview Feb. 6 of full-year results, Stellantis said it expected a second-half adjusted operating loss of €1.2 to €1.5 billion, which would put it in the red for a full year for the first time.

Turns out, spending a bunch of money to develop a car that only gets released as a Christmas tree ornament is a bad investment! Who knew? 

The world at large is generally pulling back from the whole "habitable planet" thing, eschewing emissions and pollution regulations in favor of those sweet sweet quarterly returns. Some folks, though, aren't having it — and they're lobbying the EU. From Reuters: 

The European Union should make companies include more environmentally friendly vehicles in their corporate fleets, and exclude low-emission vehicles and plug-in hybrids from quotas, environmental group Transport & Environment said on Monday.

The European Commission proposed in December that EU states introduce new zero- and low-emission quotas for corporate cars and vans from 2030, after long negotiations with the industry resulted in a plan to backtrack on its effective ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035.

T&E asked in a position paper that the targets aim for zero-emission vehicles – which include fully electric and hydrogen-powered models – to make up a 69% share of corporate fleets by 2030, up from 45% in current estimates, and that they exclude low-emission vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

I for one am excited to die in a water raid in post-collapse America, where potable water will be worth its weight in gold. 

The Supreme Court just struck down the Trump administration's ability to set tariffs, saying that power lay only in the hands of Congress. The Trump administration responded by setting even more tariffs, though it's now saying cars are exempt from the latest round. From Automotive News:

Vehicles and parts already subject to auto tariffs are exempt from a new 15 percent global duty President Donald Trump issued Feb. 21. Just a day prior, Trump announced a 10 percent global tariff hours after the Supreme Court ruled many of his previous import taxes illegal.

"I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been 'ripping' the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level," Trump said in a social media post.

The initial 10 percent tariffs Trump announced Feb. 20 were scheduled to go into effect on Feb. 24, according to a White House fact sheet. He is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address to Congress that evening in Washington. Trump's post on Feb. 21 didn't go into details on timing on the increased tariffs.

This has got to be the most asinine constitutional crisis the United States has yet had, right? I'm sure the founders got up to some equally comical things in their day, but the Constitution was newer then. Now, going so blatantly against it is just so ridiculous. 

Lucid has seen less demand for its cars, and the company would still like to make money at some point in its life. To that end, it's cutting costs — starting with its workers. From Reuters:

Lucid has laid off 12% of its U.S. workforce, the company said on Friday, as it seeks to boost profitability amid softening demand for higher-priced electric vehicles.

"We are streamlining our organization so we can operate with greater efficiency and deliver on our commitments to gross margin improvement and long-term growth," CEO Marc Winterhoff said in a memo seen by Reuters.

The cuts will not impact hourly production employees at its manufacturing facility in Arizona, a company spokesperson said in a statement. It did not provide details about the number of people impacted.

Lucid had about 6,800 full-time employees globally as of 2024, according to its regulatory filing.

As the economy goes increasingly K-shaped — most of America gets poorer, the top few guys make even more money — it seems demand for lower-end luxury products simply isn't there. Maybe the people winning out are all buying Bentleys or something.  

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. Five capital letters. Incredibly important man, but abbreviating the first three names into one initialism was really a necessary move. 

I bought a bass recently, which has meant a lot of time playing "Longview."