Overview
- Newsom, in an Axios interview Wednesday, called Elon Musk “one of the great disappointments” and accused him of giving up ground to China in electric cars.
- He said China controls about 70% of the global EV market and warned that losing share also means losing supply chains and leverage over the auto industry.
- He argued Tesla has slowed its EV push by shifting focus to robotics, while noting California’s rules and R&D tax credits helped the company grow and still support it.
- He linked the trend to policy, pointing to the Trump administration’s end of the $7,500 federal EV credit last October, after which a Cox Automotive report found new EV sales fell 26.8% year over year.
- Industry tallies reported BYD delivered about 2.26 million EVs in 2025 versus Tesla’s 1.64 million, a backdrop Newsom cited in warning that U.S. automakers could fall further behind.