Daily 5 report for Sept. 16: Why is the EV market shifting away from Tesla in Silicon Valley?

Happy Monday, and welcome to today's edition of the Daily 5.

An interesting piece by Laurence Iliff says that car buyers in Silicon Valley — the very place where Tesla was born — are turning away from the brand. How could that be? According to industry analysts and the most recent vehicle registration data, Tesla's models are growing stale, EV competition is heating up, and the liberal majority there rebuffs CEO Elon Musk's rightward political shift. EV buyers are shifting toward Rivian, Hyundai and other brands with fresher products and aren't associated with Musk's conservative political and social commentary, amplified daily on his social media platform X.

"More and more people have just had it with him," said Loren McDonald, head of Silicon Valley consultancy EVAdoption.

On the other side of the country, the UAW looks ready to leverage 2023 labor contracts with the Detroit 3 as a blueprint for bargaining with Volkswagen at its Chattanooga plant. Talks are set to begin Sept. 19, and union brass held a bargaining kickoff rally Sept. 15 in Chattanooga. UAW President Shawn Fain addressed the crowd and a livestream, as did veteran negotiator Chuck Browning, vice president of the UAW-Ford department, and Tim Smith, director of UAW Region 8.

The Biden administration locked in steep tariff hikes on Chinese imports, including a 100 percent duty on EVs, to boost protections for strategic industries from China's state-driven industrial practices. The U.S. Trade Representative's office said many of the tariffs, including the 100 percent duty on Chinese EVs and 25 percent on steel, aluminum, EV batteries and key minerals, would take effect Sept. 27.

Be sure to also check out our stories on BMW's new designer and companies that are enabling drivers to pay for charging from inside the vehicle.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at Jeep's future product plans.

That's it for today. Have a great rest of your day.