For the first time in years, Tesla isn’t sitting on top of the electric-vehicle world. The company that once made EV dominance look inevitable has officially ceded its global sales crown, as a mix of customer backlash, policy headwinds, and increasingly competent rivals took their toll.
Tesla says it delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, a 9 percent decline from the year before and the second straight annual drop. That slide was enough to push the brand out of first place, overtaken by China’s BYD, which moved 2.26 million electric vehicles over the same period. The numbers, first reported by the Associated Press, mark a symbolic turning point: Tesla is no longer the default leader in a market it helped create.
The slowdown was especially visible at the end of the year. Fourth-quarter deliveries came in at 418,227 vehicles—well short of the roughly 440,000 analysts had been expecting, according to FactSet. That shortfall underscores how thin the company’s margin for error has become, particularly as price cuts lose their shock value and competition tightens across every major market.
Policy didn’t help. The expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit at the end of September—phased out under President Donald Trump’s administration—likely chilled demand in the U.S., where Tesla has long relied on incentives to keep monthly payments attractive. Pull that lever away, and suddenly a Model Y looks a lot more expensive next to a rapidly improving field of alternatives.
There’s also the Musk factor. Tesla’s polarizing CEO remains one of the brand’s greatest assets and biggest liabilities, with some customers openly rebelling against his politics and public persona. In a market that’s maturing—and one where buyers increasingly have choices—that kind of reputational drag matters more than it once did.
And yet, Wall Street remains oddly optimistic. Despite missed expectations and shrinking sales, Tesla stock finished 2025 up about 11 percent. Investors, it seems, are still buying the future rather than the present. Musk’s long-promised pivot toward robotaxi services and humanoid robots capable of basic household and office tasks continues to fuel hopes that Tesla is less a car company than a technology company waiting to cash in.
That may be true—but for now, the scoreboard is clear. Tesla is no longer the world’s best-selling EV manufacturer. Whether this moment marks a temporary stumble or a more permanent reshuffling of the electric order will depend on how quickly Tesla can turn ambition into reality—and how much patience buyers, and investors, are willing to keep.
Winter has a funny way of turning parked cars into rolling art installations. Some look like minimalist snow domes, others like something a kid built during recess. Either way, once you turn the key and head into traffic, that frozen aesthetic stops being charming and starts being a liability—legally and physically.
New Jersey officials are once again reminding drivers of something that really shouldn’t need repeating: before you drive, you need to remove snow and ice from the entire vehicle. Not just the windshield. Not just the headlights. The whole thing. Roof, hood, trunk, windows—everything that might later decide to detach itself at 65 mph and visit the car behind you.
Yes, that means more than carving out a tiny letterbox in the windshield like you’re piloting a tank through a blizzard.
Why the Law Exists (and Why It’s Enforced)
At a basic level, the rule is common sense. Snow left on windows limits your vision. Snow left on the roof doesn’t stay there. At highway speeds, it slides, lifts, and launches. When it’s frozen into a solid slab, it becomes a low-budget ballistic missile with surprisingly good aim.
New Jersey’s law is designed to stop that chain reaction before it starts. Fines for failing to clear your vehicle begin at $25—essentially the price of a decent snow brush. But if snow or ice flies off your car and causes damage, an accident, or injury, the penalty can jump to $1,000. Commercial drivers face even steeper consequences, with fines that can reach $1,500.
Suddenly, that extra two minutes in the driveway doesn’t seem optional.
The Tragedy Behind the Rulebook
Like many safety laws, this one wasn’t born out of theory or bureaucracy. It came from a real, devastating incident.
In February 1996, Michael Eastman was driving home when a large sheet of ice broke free from a truck trailer ahead of him and smashed through his windshield. He suffered catastrophic head injuries and died days later. The incident, reported by NJ101.5, left his wife, Cathy, to carry the burden of a loss that should never have happened.
Rather than letting it fade into statistics, she spent years pushing lawmakers to take the issue seriously. Her argument was simple: clearing snow and ice shouldn’t be a suggestion or a line item everyone ignores on a winter checklist. It should be mandatory, just like wearing a seatbelt.
Eventually, lawmakers listened. What had once been “recommended” became the law.
Not Just About the Other Guy
It’s easy to frame this rule as protecting everyone else on the road—and it absolutely does—but it also protects you. Snow sliding down your windshield under braking can instantly blind you. Ice shifting on the roof can throw off your balance or distract you at the worst possible moment.
Modern cars are packed with safety tech, but none of it works if you can’t see or if you’re dodging debris you accidentally created.
Winter Driving Isn’t Optional—Preparation Is
In snow-prone states, winter driving is a fact of life. That means adapting your habits, not just your tires. Clearing your car completely isn’t about being overly cautious or following rules for the sake of it. It’s about acknowledging that physics doesn’t care if you’re late for work.
Snow will move. Ice will fly. The only variable is whether you deal with it while parked or at speed.
New Jersey has decided that the driveway is the correct place to handle it—and the law backs that up.
So next time the forecast calls for flakes, grab the brush, clear the roof, and do it properly. Your fellow drivers will thank you, your windshield will stay intact, and your wallet will be spared a fine that could’ve bought you a very nice snow shovel.
And if you think this is obvious? Good. Sometimes the most obvious rules are the ones worth enforcing.
Extinction events are usually permanent. Usually. Sixty-five million years after dinosaurs checked out, Ram is resurrecting the T-Rex—and it’s returning with a bigger appetite and a shorter temper. Meet the 2027 Ram 1500 SRT TRX, the loud, wide, supercharged declaration that the muscle-truck arms race is very much alive.
This truck matters for more than shock value. It marks the official return of the SRT badge, back on a pickup for the first time since the Viper-powered Ram SRT-10 disappeared into history in 2006. But nostalgia isn’t the point here. Ram wants the new TRX to be remembered as the most powerful street-legal gas-powered half-ton pickup ever built—and on paper, it has the teeth to back that up.
A New Heart, Not a Reheated One
Yes, it’s still a supercharged Hemi V-8. No, Ram didn’t just dust off the old one.
Instead of recycling the outgoing TRX’s 6.2-liter, Ram developed a heavily revised version that now belts out 777 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque. That’s a 75-horsepower bump over the 2024 TRX Final Edition and comfortably ahead of Ford’s F-150 Raptor R, whose 5.2-liter supercharged V-8 tops out at 720 horses.
Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis says the delay in bringing the TRX back was intentional. They could’ve relaunched sooner with the old engine, but this wasn’t about maintaining parity—it was about escalation. This isn’t a tune, he insists, but a serious mechanical upgrade.
The headline hardware includes a 2.4-liter twin-screw supercharger and a dual-path induction system that pulls cool outside air from both the grille and a center-mounted hood scoop. The air streams merge at a radial filter designed to maximize flow and durability. Translation: more oxygen, more boom, fewer excuses.
Brutally Fast, Shockingly Controlled
All that power flows through an uprated eight-speed automatic with full manual control and a full-time active transfer case offering Auto, High, and Low settings. Six drive modes—Auto, Sport, Snow, Tow, Mud, and Baja—round out the toolkit.
Put your foot down, and the TRX lunges to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. That’s supercar-quick in something tall enough to cast a shadow over traffic. Keep pushing, and it’ll hit a best-in-class 118 mph, which is both impressive and mildly terrifying in a 6,000-plus-pound pickup.
Wide, Mean, and Unapologetic
You don’t need a spec sheet to know this thing means business. The TRX wears a unique SRT grille with a Flame Red RAM logo and a flow-through design, flanked by LED headlights with Satin Black bezels. The performance hood gets LED marker lights, because subtlety died somewhere around the third horsepower digit.
Down low, there’s a steel front bumper with an integrated skid plate, Flame Red tow hooks, and sweptback fog lights. The truck is 6.8 inches wider than a standard Ram 1500 thanks to swollen fenders and composite flares, giving it the stance of something that probably shouldn’t be tailgated.
Optional hood and bedside graphics add extra menace, while Mopar rock rails and aluminum running boards let you climb aboard without embarrassing yourself in public.
Out back, the design is cleaner but still purposeful, with a steel bumper, darkened LED taillights, more red tow hooks, a T-Rex tailgate badge, and a sport-tuned dual exhaust capped with black five-inch tips.
Suspension That Can Actually Use the Power
Unlike some high-horsepower pickups, the TRX doesn’t rely on brute force alone. Underneath, it gets forged aluminum control arms, unique spring rates, and Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive performance shocks. Electronic locking front and rear differentials are standard and can be engaged at the push of a button.
Eighteen-inch wheels wrapped in 35-inch tires deliver 11.8 inches of ground clearance, while suspension travel measures a legit 13 inches up front and 14 inches in the rear. Approach, departure, and breakover angles—31.0, 25.2, and 16.8 degrees—confirm this isn’t just a mall crawler with a loud exhaust.
A Cabin That Knows What It Is
Inside, the TRX blends luxury with performance theater. Black Natura Plus leather seats with perforated suede inserts dominate the space, accented by red bolsters, red TRX embroidery, and Ruby Red seatbelts. The front buckets offer 12-way power adjustment, heating, ventilation, and massage—because apparently even apex predators get sore backs.
Carbon fiber trim, a suede headliner, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel with red stitching reinforce the performance vibe. Tech is equally serious, with a 12.3-inch digital cluster, a massive 14.5-inch Uconnect 5 touchscreen, and a 10-inch head-up display. A 19-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, dual wireless phone charging, and heated and ventilated rear seats round out the spec sheet.
High Tech, Even Off-Road
The TRX comes standard with Ram’s Hands-Free Active Drive Assist, a Level 2+ system that allows hands-free driving on compatible highways. Ram is quick to point out that no other automaker offers this tech on a high-performance, gas-powered off-road pickup.
The rest of the driver-assist roster is exhaustive, including adaptive cruise control, lane management, traffic sign recognition, evasive steer assist, intersection collision warning, parking assist, and blind-spot monitoring with trailer coverage.
The Price of Dominance
The 2027 Ram 1500 SRT TRX arrives in the second half of 2026 with a starting price of $99,995, plus a $2,595 destination fee. That undercuts the Ford F-150 Raptor R by nearly $11,000—and does so while delivering more power, faster acceleration, and a broader tech package.
In this corner of the truck world, extinction comes quickly. And with the T-Rex back on the hunt, the Raptor R suddenly looks a lot less like the apex predator.
