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Last week, President Donald Trumps super PAC revealed that it has an unsettling amount of cash on hand for a president who is, his occasional musings to the contrary notwithstanding, constitutionally ineligible to run for a third term in office. According to a midyear report filed with the Federal Election Commission, MAGA Inc. is sitting on nearly $200 million, a sum that includes a shade over $175 million collected just in the past six months. Unless collections fall off a cliff in the second half of the year, Trump should enter 2026 with well over a quarter-billion dollars to spend on the midterm electionsa war chest that would make him not only the Republican Partys unquestioned standard-bearer but also perhaps its deepest-pocketed financier for the foreseeable future. Many of the donors to MAGA Inc. would likely donate to any Republican president: real estate developers, oil and gas companies, firearms manufacturers, Wall Street banks, allegedly crooked mortgage brokers, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and so on. Others made what proved to be prudent investments in their relationships with Trump, who has long viewed the presidency as a tool for rewarding loyal friends and punishing perceived enemies. A Florida personal injury attorney nominated by Trump as the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, for example, gave $500,000; an investor who now serves on the Presidents Intelligence Advisory Board gave $250,000. Longtime Trump donors Jeffrey Sprecher, whose company owns the New York Stock Exchange, and his wife, former Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, gave a cool $2.5 million apiece in June. In a wild coincidence, Trump announced that he would appoint Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration six months earlier. But the most notable collection of namesand some of the biggest numbersare associated with the cryptocurrency industry, which has, in another wild coincidence, netted Trump and his family hundreds of millions of dollars since he took office in January. Foris Dax, which does business as Crypto.com, gave MAGA Inc. $10 million. Tools for Humanity, better known as World Network or Worldcoin (and cofounded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman), chipped in $5 million, as did Blockchain.com. Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, whose eponymous Silicon Valley firm has invested heavily in crypto projects (including Tools for Humanity), combined to donate $6 million. The Winklevoss twins and their crypto exchange, Gemini Trust Company, donated a total of nearly $4 million. (Tyler donated about $15,000 more in his name than his brother, Cameron, which is how you can tell them apart.) All told, crypto and crypto-adjacent interests have contributed at least $40 million to MAGA Inc. so far this year. This figure does not include $5 million from Elon Musk, whose companies hold crypto assets worth billions of dollars. Despite his extremely funny public falling-out with Trump, Musk evidently still knows whats best for business: On June 27, he ponied up $5 million to the man who more or less just gave him the boot. The steady flow of cash to Trumps political machine is a peek at the struggle for control of the movement Trump creatednot necessarily now, when he is both president of the United States and the leader of the Republican Party, but over the next 24 months or so, as his term winds down and he prepares to return to Mar-a-Lago for good. Everyone involved here understands that it is not only the current White House that is for sale, but also the future of a party that has really not had an identity apart from Trump, a 79-year-old man who is decompensating before our eyes, for a decade now. Many of the people who are giving to MAGA Inc. are roughly analogous to investors racing to get in on the ground floor of a promising startup: For anyone who can foot the bill, the chance to own even a sliver of one of this countrys two major political parties is too valuable to pass up. And because the first six months of Trumps second administration have been so good for the crypto industry, its wealthier-than-ever luminaries have been among the most aggressive early buyers of (even more) political influence. They envision the country as a nascent Silicon Valley plutocracy, and themselves as its leadersequal parts fabulously wealthy oligarchs, industry-friendly regulators, and currency revolutionaries on the verge of making fiat money obsolete. Wealthy people have always been able to buy power in Washington, D.C., but rarely have they been this comfortable being this obvious about it. Part of the challenge with gauging the value of these investments is that there is basically no precedent for them. Super PACs have only been around since 2010, after the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission opened the floodgates to unlimited political spending by megacorporations and the billionaires who run them. As a result, President Barack Obama is the only other term-limited president who has ever raised money under the same circumstances, and at the time his supporters plainly did not perceive the same value in continuing to write checks: Again, over the past six months, MAGA Inc. has raked in around $175 million. As The New York Times notes, during the same period in 2013, the primary super PAC affiliated with Obama raised a grand total of $356,000. Generally, candidates from the same party as a sitting president face a tougher road to victory in the midterm elections that followa dynamic that is especially salient when a president whose approval rating was already dropping is also trying to fend off persistent questions about the nature of his friendship with the nations most famous child sex abuser. But the fact that Trump will be the GOPs de facto kingmaker in 2026 will make it very challenging for Republican candidates to break with himon the campaign trail, to the extent that any Republican candidates would have interest in doing so in the first place. If you want to win a primary, you cannot afford to pass up Trumps moneyor, worse yet, to do something to make him angry, such that he starts giving to your more enthusiastically MAGA opponent instead. What I am saying here is that the Republican candidates trying to win in purple districts next falland, in all likelihood, the serious contenders vying for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028are not going to be traditional conservatives trying to appeal to swing voters with promises of limited government and lower taxes. They are going to be Trump acolytes steeped in X clips and manosphere content who promise to do his and his donors bidding. Trumps dominance of the modern GOP has also come at the expense of what remains of the Republican establishment, whose leaders on Capitol Hill are now dealing with the consequences of having long ago ceded control of the party to a made-for-TV businessman who has never cared about its long-term success outside the context of his own political and financial fortunes. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the House, had around $33 million in cash on hand as of June 30, and the GOP-affiliated Senate analogue came in just behind it, at $29.7 million. If youre doing the math at home, this means that the combined spending power of the Republican lawmakers trying to preserve their majorities in the House and Senate is about one-third the spending power of the partys outgoing president. The only group with anywhere close to as much money as MAGA Inc., The Times reports, is Fairshake, a super PAC backed byyou guessed itthe crypto industry. In other words, Republican candidates can take crypto industry cash funneled through MAGA Inc., or directly from its super PAC. But they are taking that money either way, and dealing with whatever strings come attached to it. For several years now, there has been an open question about what will happen to the Republican Party once Trump, for one reason or another, is no longer in control of it: whether it will revert to the establishment conservatives Trump has rendered all but irrelevant, or whether it will continue as a cult of personality propped up by a coalition of bigots, billionaires, and billionaires who are also bigots. MAGA Inc.s massive fundraising haul yields a grim answer: As venal as Trump is, the next generation of party leaders will be even more transparently for sale to the highest bidder. Those who can afford it are already spending accordingly.
Category:
E-Commerce
In an industrial pocket of North Portland, Oregon just a few minutes off I-5, there’s an old McDonald’s that was given a surprising second life. The familiar architecture is now home to Face Plant, a vegan burger joint that opened earlier this year and aims to “become the best fast food worldwide,” according to founder Matt Plitch. It’s a lofty goalbut it’s driven by an even bigger one. “Fast food is [a huge source] of meat consumption outside the home,” he says. “And so the aim is to change the trajectory of global warming for 8 billion people.” Face Plant was nearly four years in the makingfrom developing a business plan and bringing in investors, to finding the right location, to developing an alt-meat blend that “tastes better than a Big Mac.” On that last front, Plitch had some serious help: The food influencer and cookbook author Molly Baz did all of the restaurant’s recipe development. And this labor seems to be paying off: In the first few months, Plitch says they’ve served “tens and tens of thousands of customers,” far exceeding expectations, with the average ticket running 50% higher than they anticipated and more than double that of McDonald’s. [Photo: Face Plant] Plant-based products are part of a growing industry, one that was valued at $8.1 billion in 2024, more than double that of 2017. Still, there have been strong headwindsboth Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have seen sales decline as they struggle to identify a broader customer base beyond just vegans and vegetarians. But Plitch says his target customer actually isn’t vegan at all. ”We built this to serve people who love fast food and eat a ton of meat,” he says. “And while we’ll be so grateful for vegans and vegetarians who are interested and want to support us, the entire model is around stealing the McDonald’s customer.” [Image: Face Plant] For starters, that means not broadcasting Face Plant’s sustainability bona fides. The color scheme is a bright red (no greens or browns in sight); the logo is an outline of two hands holding a burger; the font is chunky and casualit all feels inviting and familiar, not like it’s trying to coerce people into changing their eating habits to save the planet. Which, Plitch says, is exactly the point. This is a particularly resonant goal, especially given where Face Plant is located. At the base of a peninsula called Swan Island, the area is home to a number of warehouses, port workers, UPS and FedEx facilities, a Coast Guard station, and the Daimler Truck North America headquarters. “It’s a little bit of a different flavor than your typical Portland neighborhood,” he says. (It’s also part of the Portland Harbor Superfund site, which brings an added poignance to Plitch’s environmental hopes for his restaurant.) What’s on tap Face Plant’s menu is intentionally small and includes a burger (with four different variations, depending on how loaded you want it), nuggets, french fries, and milkshakes. “We want to do a few things exceptionally well,” Plitch says, adding that they are adding a plant-based chicken sandwich to the menu this fall. The buns are from the same bakery as In-N-Out Burger, while the base of the burger is Impossible meat. Still, it took three years to get the taste where he wanted it to be. And that’s where Baz came in. When Plitch was growing up, Baz’s now-husband, Ben Willett, was one of his closest friends, so after he came up with the idea for Face Plant, she was his firstand onlyculinary call. He says in addition to Baz being “one of the best recipe developers in the world,” it was also significant that she was an omnivore. “It was so important to us that Molly came into the test kitchen every day and asked herself, ‘Is this as good as the Double-Double Animal Style I had at In-N-Out yesterday?'” “Molly’s superpower is craveability. She makes things that stay with you after you’ve had them,” he says. On this front, he had some serious help: Food influencer and cookbook author Baz did all the recipe development for Face Plant, turning Impossible’s standard mix into “something entirely unique through new food science,” he says. Her team also developed the vegan milkshakes, which are made using pea protein. Plitch says while coffee, chocolate, and strawberry took “a matter of days,” vanilla took a year to develop. “You can’t mask the coconut, oat, or soy.” Plitch says Baz continues to be involved in Face Plant, not just with developing new items like the forthcoming plant-based chicken sandwich but in strategic planning as they look at expanding the business. Baz, who’s also a shareholder in the company, isn’t the only high-profile partner. Face Plant raised about $4 million in venture funding, including from former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario’s ReGen Ventures. (AgFunder, Bread & Butter Ventures, and Ceas are also backers.) [Images: Face Plat] Why fast food? Vegan restaurants have been gaining popularityand cloutin recent years, perhaps most notably when Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park transitioned to a plant-based menu in 2021. Still, fast-food forays into meat alternatives haven’t been a resounding success. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King all introduced plant-based burgers over the last five years, but only Burger King’s Impossible Whopper is still around in any meaningful wayand even then, customers online have complained that they’re not widely available. But Plitch isn’t turned off by these trends. “I really, truly feel like food service and fast food is the greatest platform for hospitality in the world.” Before Face Plant, he launched a carbon-neutral food brand, but he couldn’t shake the distance between what he was creating and the consumer. “You don’t own the relationship with the customer; you don’t get to control your price. You’re sort of effectively in the voice of Whole Foods or Fred Meyer,” he says. “One of the things I really yearned for was being front and center in terms of the relationship with the customer.” That relationship is a priority for Face Plant. With more than 45 employees, Plitch says they spend about eight times more hours training them than the competition does. At $17 an hour, the pay is also higher than many fast food joints (Portland’s minimum wage is $16.30). A key part of orientation is watching the Mr. Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor together. “It’s the greatest two-hour summary of everything we have to do as a company,” he says. “The burgers, the shake, the fries, these are our little Trojan horses covered in special sauce to do our real job, which is what I think he was setting out to do, of showing people they deserve love.” And, in a marked difference to the vast majority of his fast food competitors, Plitch is pushing back against automated technology instead of embracing it. “[Their] belief, as far as I can tell, is that if we minimize that connection, we can reduce labor to increase profit. Our whole job is to do the exact opposite of that,” he says. “We are not a tech company. We are a human company. And that’s the entire bet we’re making.” A hungry audience In the months that Face Plant has been opened, Plitch says their expectations have been “blown away.” In the first month alone, sales were five times what he expected; they’re planning to continue expanding their nighttime hours, eventually staying open until 2 a.m., and to add delivery and catering soon. And customers seem impressed so far: The vegan joint has over 600 reviews on Google, the vast majority of them five stars. “You’ve got truckers ordering next to University of Portland kids and everything in between,” Plitch says. On this front, the location is a big help: It’s a major funnel for people heading to or from the interstate highway and is in a bit of a restaurant wasteland, which likely makes it an even more attractive option for people who work nearby. The price is a factor as well, which was Plitch’s aim from the start. He says their goal was just to be around a dollar more than a comparable McDonald’s menu item. “We spent three years to make sure the cost could be competitive with the big nationals,” he says. “Our most expensive meal is $13.49.” He also stresses the importance of taste and freshness compared to their competitors. The fries are made with a bit of white vinegar; the cold brew shakes have instant coffee crystals. Face Plant employees slice the onions, lettuce, and tomatoes every day in house; they also make between 1,000 and 1,500 patties every dayhand-mixing the Impossible meat with their own proprietary blend of spices. And as a meat eater myself (who’d love to be eating less meat), I was right there with them when I tried Face Plant’s burger (I went with the “fancy”). The bun was fluffy, the patty had a smashburger quality to it, and the sauce had just enough tang. But interestingly, what struck me the most were the veggies: The iceberg was perfectly crisp, the onions were thinly sliced, and the pickles immediately sent me back to the 39-cent McDonald’s cheeseburger of my childhood. I was eating a fast food burger, and it was good. While Plitch doesn’t plan to dramatically grow the menu, he has big plans to expand Face Plant’s presence. He hopes to open a second location in the next year and a half (likely also in Portland or elsewhere in Oregon or Washington), but he has global ambitions far beyond that. “Our aim is to become the most loved fast food worldwide and take down McDonald’s,” he says. “It’s going to be insanely hard but that’s the hope.”
Category:
E-Commerce
The clock has just struck midnight, and about 60 people are bustling around an empty taxiway at Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport (DFW). Architects, contractors, engineers, ground creweveryone has gathered for an unprecedented event. After years of planning and months of meticulous scheduling, six massive buildings are about to be wheeled into place near Terminal C. Yes, wheeled.DFW is the fourth-busiest airport in the world, and it’s currently undergoing a $9 billion project that includes an expansion of Terminals A and C, as well as a new Terminal F. To build out the airport without closing any gates or disrupting the flight schedule, HOK, the lead architecture firm behind the project, turned to an increasingly popular method of building: modular construction.Modular construction has long been a solution for schools and apartment complexes, but airports in cities such as Dallas; Los Angeles; Portland, Oregon; and Atlanta are now embracing it as a solution to quickly expand their square footage as a tourism boom pushes airports to their limit.Airports have high operational cost, and that is what modular construction offsets, says Richard Saunders, engineering practice leader for HOKs Atlanta studio. He estimates that the operational impacts are roughly cut in half.[Rendering: Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport]Designing for the future of tourismWhen the HOK-designed Dallas-Fort Worth airport opened in 1974, it was hailed as a modern marvel of airport architecture. HOKs director of engineering, Matt Breidenthal, says it even graced the cover of Life magazine that year. The original design, however, wasnt built for modern air travel, he says.Over the past 50 years, global tourism has surged drastically, jumping from 680 million tourists in 2000 to 1.4 billion in 2024. After a yearslong, pandemic-induced slump, the travel industry is expected to reach a new record high in 2025.DFW is responding to this demand by adding 115,000 square feet and four gates to Terminal C, plus 140,000 square feet and five gates to Terminal A. An all-new Terminal F, designed by HarrisonKornberg Architects and Luis Vidal + Architects (slated to open in 2027), will have 31 new gates. The Terminal C and A expansions are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.[Photo: Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport]A decade ago, a major airport expansion project would have required closing runways, as traditional stick-built construction required erecting buildings directly on-site and turning operational gates into construction zones. But HOK suggested fabricating the structures at a nearby greenfield location, then transporting them into place overnight, during low-traffic hours. DFW was one of the first major airports to pioneer modular construction for terminal expansions back in 2022, when six prefabricated modules formed part of a new 80,000-square-foot concourse at Terminal C. The largest module then weighed 550 tons. This May, the airport set a new record, wheeling in modules twice as heavy.[Photo: Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport]For HOK, modular construction fits large-scale airports perfectly because it can offset steep operational costs. The architects also see potential in stadium renovationsespecially American football arenas, which have a limited amount of time to complete renovations in the off-season. Whatever the building type, says Saunders, it has to be the right size to make it worthwhile. If the building is 10,000 square feet, it doesnt make sense to build here then move it over there, because theres a cost to moving it. [Video: DFW/HOK]Moving a 1,200-ton buildingAt DFW, each move took place over six nights, spaced two nights apart to allow for contingencies. Each operation began around 9 p.m. and wrapped up by 3 or 4 a.m., just as runways reopened to daytime flights. HOK built the new modules just outside the airports security perimeter, which helped accelerate construction and inspection processes.Moving a 1,200-ton building across a taxiway was made possible by Mammoet, a specialist in heavy transport. In 1985, Mammoet invented the self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT), a platform on wheels that can carry enormous loads by driving underneath heavy modules, then lifting them using hydraulics.[Image: HOK]A spokesperson from Mammoet explained that while SPMTs arent new, the combination with its Mega Jack system is a recent innovation. The technology, which was first introduced in Atlanta, allows heavy modules to be lifted to nearly any height and directly onto foundationsrather than just a few feet off the ground. The DFW operation required an army of SPMTs, all coordinated by a single operator using a sophisticated remote control system that Brendeinthal jokingly called a glorified Game Boy.[Photo: courtesy Los Angeles World Airports]Once wheeled into position, the modules were parked adjacent to the terminal, where a precise operation aligned them perfectly before lowering them onto pre-built foundations. After all modules were in place, the team completed the structure by stitching them together with concrete.Mammoets self-propelled modular transporter moves a prefabricated section of a new terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport [Photo: Mammoet]The airport now faces the final tasks: installing baggage handling systems, mechanical units, and interior furnishings.[Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images]Future-proofing airportsAt DWF, speed and operational efficiency were key, but modular construction can also prove more sustainable. When architecture firm Woods Bagot started working on the new American Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, the goal was to prove that major public infrastructure could be delivered faster, and smarter. This meant designing a fully demountable terminal.The construction industry is responsible for approximately 39% of the worlds global greenhouse gas emissions, and more than a fourth of those come from embodied carbon emissions associated with the production of building materials and construction. If LAX ever needs to reconfigure its layout, it wouldnt need to demolish this terminal and build a new one from scratch. Instead, it could be relocated and repurposed as office space or community facilities.[Image: courtesy Woods Bagot]The LAX expansion involves the MSC South Concoursean eight-gate, two-story building. Woods Bagot used a system called off-site construction and relocation (OCR), which is akin to modular construction but with greater scope. Unlike at DFW, where windows and finishes were added post-installation, the LAX team built nearly the entire terminal off-site, including windows and mechanical systems. Only final finishes like terrazzo floors and wayfinding signs were installed on-site.This made some of the modules heavier than they would have been, but Matt Ducharme, Woods Bagot’s West Coast design leader, says the up-front investment helped avoid the kind of disruption that installing a gigantic windowpane would have caused. LAX is a 24/7 airport and none of the takeoffs or arrivals were disrupted at all, he says. The architects calculations showed that OCR helped cut construction time by six months and saved approximately $30 million compared to a traditional stick build.This technique also called for a rigorous design discipline, where every element had to be justified. One of the more joyful aspects of the project is the brise-soleil, Ducharme says. The shading feature blocks heat from the glass facade, actively cooling the building, but if it had been an architectural flourish, it wouldn’t have made the cut. As Ducharme puts it: Every piece of the building needs to be very hardworking.”
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), recently signed into law, ushers in a number of new tax write-offs and credits. Some of those include the No Tax on Tips provision (which allows eligible tipped workers to deduct a portion of their income from tips on their federal income taxes), car loan and charitable donation deductions, and a child credit. However, other deductions that Trump’s tax bill did not renew will expire at the end of this year, including those related to student loan forgiveness. As a result, borrowers with certain federal student loans may have to pay more taxes. “There are two things that student loan borrowers need to know: There are changes in the way student debt is taxed, and the other is Congress didn’t extend tax-free student loan forgiveness,” Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), told Fast Company. Some student loans may once again be taxed in 2026 “Forgiven student loan debt is generally considered taxable income in the year it’s discharged, Miryam Wisnicki, tax principal at CliftonLarsonAllen, told Fast Company. However, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 temporarily excluded certain types of student loan forgiveness from taxable income through December 31, 2025. This provision was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and aimed to provide relief to borrowers.” But while student loan forgiveness remains tax-free through the end of 2025, it will be subject to income tax on the amount discharged starting at the beginning of 2026. Which student loan provisions will remain tax-free? The OBBBA did separately make some student-loan-related tax provisions permanent, according to Wisnicki: Loan discharge due to death or total disability will continue to be excluded from taxable income. Employer-provided student loan repayment assistanceup to $5,250 annuallywill remain tax-free under qualified educational assistance programs. This benefit, previously set to expire at the end of 2025, is now permanent and will be adjusted annually for inflation. New loan limits While undergraduate loan limits won’t change, they will for graduate students and parent borrowers, NPR reported. The new law puts a cap on unsubsidized student loans for graduate students at $20,500 per year and $100,000 for a lifetime (down from $138,500). It caps borrowing for professional degrees, for example in law or medicine, at $50,000 per year and $200,000 for a lifetime (up from $138,500). It limits federal student loan borrowing to a total of $257,500 for a lifetime (for both undergraduate and graduate studies). It also caps borrowing for parents through the federal Parent PLUS loan program at $20,000 per year per student and $65,000 for a lifetime, which, according to the SBPC, could force millions into a risky private market. The law eliminates the Graduate PLUS loan program for all new students on July 1, 2026, gutting a critical financial aid program that had previously allowed eligible graduate and professional students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance for their advanced degree. How will the new law affect repayment options? After July 1, 2026, borrowers with new loans will have only two repayment options: a new standard option and a new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) option based on income. Current borrowers with loans taken out before July 1, 2026, will continue to have access to an Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan and can continue to enroll in or remain on an Income-Driven Repayment plan, but will need to switch to IBR or RAP by July 1, 2028. Current borrowers who take on any new loan after July 1, 2026, including a consolidation loan, will be eligible only for RAP or the new standard plan, per the SBPC. According to NPR, experts have said monthly RAP payments for many middle-income borrowers will be lower compared with earlier RAP plans, but not as low as they were on the previous Saving on a Valuable Education option. Meanwhile, the lowest-income borrowers will make a minimum monthly payment of $10, or $120 per year, instead of $0. “Congress eliminated the most generous repayment terms and replaced it with a new plan that will cost more money,” Pierce explained. “It is making sure that the lowest-income borrowers have to pay something.” There are still many ways to get your student debt canceled, Pierce said, but the canceled debt will be treated as taxable income: “For example, an average borrower who earns $50,000 a year would end up paying $2,200 more in taxes a year for every $10,000 that is canceled.”
Category:
E-Commerce
On August 5, new automotive industry data revealed how EV brands are faring in the U.K. and Germany, and the update marks yet another chapter in the saga of Teslas terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. According to the reports, Teslas European sales slumped in July, as sales of its top competitor, the Chinese company BYD, shot up. This isnt exactly a new story: Since the beginning of the year, Teslas European sales have been trending on a sharp downward decline, while BYD has made major headway in expanding through global markets. As this pattern continues to play out, the data points to the possibility that BYD is on a fast track to overtake Tesla at the top of the EV market. Tesla continues to stumble in the U.K. and Germany According to data from the U.K.s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Teslas new car sales in the U.K. dropped by nearly 60% to 987 units in July, down from 2,462 year-over-year. The story was much the same in Germany, where the brands new car sales fell by around 55%, based on data from the road traffic agency KBA. Teslas slump cant be attributed to an overall decline in the EV market, either: Total EV sales were up by 9.1% for the month in the U.K., and up 58% in Germany. BYD, on the other hand, saw massive gains in Europe this past month. In the U.K., the brand quadrupled its year-over-year sales for the month to a total of 3,184. In Germany, sales went up almost fivefold to 1,126 cars sold. At this point, Tesla is falling solidly behind BYD in the European market. By late March of this year, Tesla had already sold nearly 43% fewer cars in the region compared to the same period in 2024. In May, its sales in the U.K. and Germany plummeted to multi-year lows, allowing BYD to surpass it on European sales for the first time ever. Now, it seems like BYDs upward trajectory is only getting started. BYD may be on a path to EV market domination Tesla and BYDs battle for market dominance in Europe might be a harbinger of whats to come for the two brands on a global scale. In 2024, BYD topped Tesla in terms of total revenue, but it still lagged behind on overall profitability. In 2025, that narrative may be shifting. Per its second quarter earnings report, published at the end of July, Tesla notched its steepest decline in quarterly revenue in more than a decade, with a 12% fall. The news has caused investors to question whether Tesla CEO Elon Musks involvement in American politics has permanently damaged the brand. Meanwhile, BYD saw its revenue rise by 37.4% year-over-year in its most recent first quarter report. As pressure continues to mount against Tesla, the brand is beginning to bet more of its resources on breaking into the nascent robotaxi industry. On August 1, though, a Florida court verdict called the safety of Teslas Autopilot function into question, a development that may stifle Teslas robotaxi plans before they even get off the ground. Teslas compounding struggles, combined with BYDs meteoric success, may result in a very different global EV landscape by the end of this year. BYDs second quarter results, which are likely to publish at the end of August, will shed more light onto how the company is currently faringand how soon it might be poised to dethrone Tesla on profit.
Category:
E-Commerce
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