EV Stocks Today (December 9, 2025): Tesla Rebounds as ‘EV Winter’ Downgrade Pressures Lucid, Rivian and China EV Names

Published: December 9, 2025 – U.S. market close & early after-hours overview

Electric-vehicle stocks delivered a choppy session on Tuesday as Wall Street continued to digest Morgan Stanley’s stark “EV winter” call and investors positioned ahead of tomorrow’s Federal Reserve rate decision. Tesla led the U.S. EV group higher into the close, while Lucid, XPeng, Li Auto, NIO and BYD all finished in the red. Rivian managed only a modest gain despite buzz around its upcoming Autonomy & AI Day. ^[1]

Early after-hours trading showed mostly small, directionless moves: Tesla trimmed a sliver of its regular-session gain, Rivian ticked slightly higher, and Lucid and NIO were roughly flat in thin extended-hours action. ^[2]

Snapshot: Major EV Stock Moves at the Close (December 9, 2025)

Based primarily on StockAnalysis closing data for U.S.-listed EV names and BYD’s U.S. OTC line: ^[3]

Tesla (TSLA) closed around $447.64, up about 1.8% on the day (roughly +$8 vs. Monday’s $439.58).
Rivian (RIVN) finished near $17.66, up about 0.3%.
Lucid Group (LCID) slid to roughly $12.52, down about 1.9% and extending a multi-session slide.
XPeng (XPEV) fell to about $19.73, down roughly 3.9%. ^[4]
Li Auto (LI) dropped to $17.39, a decline of about 3.1%. ^[5]
NIO (NIO) eased to roughly $5.03, off about 1.4%. ^[6]
BYD (BYDDF), the U.S.-traded H‑share, ended around $12.54, down about 1.8%. ^[7]

The moves came against a broader market that was subdued and choppy as the Fed kicked off its two‑day December policy meeting and global stocks largely marked time ahead of tomorrow’s rate decision. ^[8]

Tesla: Rebound Day After a High-Profile Downgrade

Tesla stock snapped back after Monday’s pressure from Morgan Stanley’s downgrade.

Price action: Tesla shares climbed roughly 1.8% to about $447.64, recovering part of Monday’s 3.4% slide from $455 to $439.58. ^[9]
A TradingView commentary noted that Tesla’s year‑to‑date gain has now pushed close to 20% in 2025, keeping it one of the market’s standout megacap performers despite sharp volatility. ^[10]

Morgan Stanley’s “full but not broken” view

The rebound came a day after Morgan Stanley’s new autos analyst, Andrew Percoco, cut Tesla from Overweight to Equal Weight, even as he raised the price target to $425 from $410. ^[11]

The bank’s argument: Tesla is still a leader in EVs, energy and “real-world AI,” but the stock is now trading close to what Morgan Stanley views as fair value, especially given the hype around robotaxis and the Optimus humanoid robot. ^[12]
Percoco’s broader sector note lays out an “EV winter” thesis: slowing EV demand into 2026, shrinking federal support and intense price competition, especially in China. ^[13]

That tone has weighed on sentiment this week, but Tesla bulls can still point to:

Long-term AI narrative: Morgan Stanley’s bull case imagines much higher valuations if Tesla can scale robotaxis and robotics. ^[14]
Relative resilience: Tesla is still up solidly for 2025 and trades at a premium multiple versus legacy automakers, a sign that the market still sees it as more than “just another car company.” ^[15]

China remains a nagging question mark

Tesla’s China sales have been soft, with November deliveries in the country slipping slightly year-on-year and leaving the company at risk of its first annual decline in China unless December is unusually strong. ^[16]

That weakness is part of what makes Wall Street uneasy: the growth engine that once justified Tesla’s sky‑high valuation is now sputtering, even as the company leans harder into software, autonomy and energy products.

After-hours: Tesla gives back a sliver

Retail brokerage data showed Tesla trading modestly lower in after-hours, with Public.com quoting the stock down roughly a tenth of a percent versus the regular-session close at one point in the evening. ^[17]

In other words: Tuesday’s bounce held, but there was no follow‑through rally once the closing bell rang.

Rivian & Lucid: In the Crosshairs of “EV Winter”

If Tesla is the sector’s fortified castle, Rivian and Lucid are the exposed outposts in Morgan Stanley’s EV winter storyline.

Rivian (RIVN): Small gain, big debate

Close: Around $17.66, up about 0.3% on the day, with StockAnalysis showing an after‑hours quote near $17.76, adding a few extra cents. ^[18]
That muted advance follows a big rally since late November—Rivian shares have surged more than 25% over the past couple of weeks, thanks in part to optimism around its upcoming Autonomy & AI Day scheduled for December 11. ^[19]

On the fundamental side, Rivian is pitching itself as a software‑defined, AI‑heavy EV platform, highlighting work on autonomy and next‑generation R2 vehicles. ^[20]

But Morgan Stanley is unconvinced in the near term:

The bank cut Rivian to Underweight and stuck with a $12 price target, arguing that the EV slump, loss of U.S. tax credits and fierce competition could pressure margins and volumes. ^[21]

So Tuesday’s small gain looks more like consolidation after heavy news flow than a decisive verdict.

Lucid (LCID): Downgraded and drifting

Lucid’s day looked more like a textbook downgrade hangover:

Close: Roughly $12.52, down about 1.9% and extending a sharp multi-day slide. ^[22]
Morgan Stanley has taken the most bearish stance here, cutting Lucid to Underweight/Sell and slashing its price target from $30 to $10, citing deep ongoing losses and a long runway before profitability. ^[23]

A fresh Barchart analysis noted that Lucid shares have lost more than 80% over the last three years and are down over 50% year‑to‑date in 2025, underscoring how brutal the market has been to high‑end, low‑volume EV start‑ups. ^[24]

In after-hours, StockAnalysis showed LCID trading very close to its closing quote, suggesting that the day’s selling pressure had largely run its course — at least for now. ^[25]

China EVs Under Pressure: NIO, XPeng, Li Auto and BYD

Chinese EV makers, once the hyper‑growth darlings of the sector, remain stuck in risk‑off mode.

XPeng (XPEV): Guidance hangover

XPeng’s American‑listed shares fell to about $19.73, a drop of nearly 3.9% compared with Monday’s $20.52 close. ^[26]

Recent earnings showed strong year‑over‑year revenue and delivery growth, but guidance for Q4 2025 underwhelmed investors, fueling a pullback over the last couple of weeks. ^[27]
Analysts still frame XPeng as a high‑beta play on China’s premium EV market and on the company’s increasingly ambitious robotics and AI roadmap. ^[28]

Li Auto (LI): Quiet but drifting lower

Li Auto ended the session around $17.39, down just over 3% on the day and continuing a modest downtrend from late November’s high-$18 area. ^[29]

The company retains a “Hold” consensus rating with an average Wall Street price target near $20–21, implying upside from current levels but not enough conviction to spark aggressive buying in the current macro climate. ^[30]

NIO (NIO): Another red day, tiny bounce after-hours

NIO shares slipped to about $5.03, down around 1.4%, after gaining 1.2% on Monday. ^[31]

MarketWatch data show NIO still trading more than 35% below its 52‑week high, reflecting persistent worries about pricing, competition and capital needs. ^[32]
In early after-hours, NIO ticked up by about 0.3% to roughly $5.04, according to StockAnalysis quotes — a tiny move that doesn’t change the broader picture. ^[33]

BYD (BYDDF/BYDDY): Global leader, local headwinds

U.S.-traded BYD H‑shares (BYDDF) closed near $12.54, down about 1.8% from Monday’s $12.77. ^[34]

Earlier this year, BYD reported its first quarterly profit decline in more than three years, hammered by China’s ongoing EV price war. ^[35]
Even so, long‑term charts show BYD shares still up around 10% over the last 12 months, suggesting investors view it more like a dominant incumbent than a fragile start‑up. ^[36]

Macro Backdrop: Fed Jitters and Policy Shocks Shape the “EV Winter”

Tuesday’s EV trading didn’t happen in a vacuum. It sits inside a bigger story:

1. Fed meeting and rate path uncertainty

Global markets were subdued ahead of Wednesday’s Fed decision, with investors expecting another rate cut but debating how aggressive the central bank will be in 2026. ^[37]

Higher‑for‑longer rates tend to hurt expensive growth stocks — which EV names very much are — by raising discount rates and making future profits less valuable.

2. The policy whiplash: tax credits and fuel rules

In the U.S., policy winds have shifted sharply:

President Trump has moved to roll back fuel‑economy standards and rescinded federal EV tax credits, including the widely cited $7,500 credit for new EVs, making electric cars relatively less competitive on sticker price. ^[38]
Morgan Stanley explicitly cites the removal of these credits as a key reason the bank expects U.S. EV volumes to fall about 20% next year, with battery‑electric share dropping to around 6.5% of light‑vehicle sales. ^[39]

That combination feeds directly into the “EV winter” language now dominating analyst notes.

3. Slower growth, not collapse, in global EV adoption

Zooming out, the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook 2025 is less dramatic than Wall Street’s metaphors:

Electric car sales exceeded 17 million globally in 2024, more than 20% of all car sales worldwide, with China accounting for roughly half of that. ^[40]
Growth slowed, though: global EV sales were up about 10% in 2024, down from 40% growth in 2023. ^[41]

So the data say “slower uptrend,” while the market narrative says “winter.” Both can be true: the slope of the curve matters as much as its direction when valuations are stretched.

4. ICE cars regain some ground

A fresh EY report highlighted how combustion engine cars have regained popularity, with 50% of global buyers now planning to buy gasoline or diesel vehicles in the next two years — up sharply from 2024. ^[42]

Reasons include:

Concerns about charging infrastructure and battery costs.
Trade tensions and tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Policy reversals in the U.S. and EU that soften previous pro‑EV mandates. ^[43]

That’s the chilly background against which Tuesday’s EV stock moves played out.

What Today’s EV Moves Are Telling Investors

Put together, December 9’s tape sends a few fairly clear signals:

Quality and scale still matter.
Tesla and BYD — the two EV makers that already generate substantial profits and cash flow — look more resilient than smaller, loss‑making peers. Tesla’s bounce today, despite a headline downgrade, fits that pattern. ^[44]
Profitless growth is on probation.
Lucid and Rivian are being priced not as “future Teslas” but as high‑risk experiments that must prove they can scale profitably in an environment of slower demand and weaker subsidies. Morgan Stanley’s slashed targets and “Sell” ratings crystallize that skepticism. ^[45]
China EV exposure is a double-edged sword.
NIO, XPeng and Li Auto all operate in the world’s largest EV market, but that market is now hyper‑competitive, with price wars, policy tweaks and macro uncertainty compressing margins and multiples. ^[46]
Rates still matter more than robots.
Fancy AI narratives around robotaxis and humanoid robots help, but Fed policy and real‑world EV demand curves still dominate the valuation math — as Tuesday’s cautious broader tape reminds us. ^[47]

For long‑term investors, the message isn’t that EVs are “dead” — far from it. Global sales are still growing, and governments from China to Europe continue to push electrification. ^[48]

The message is that the easy phase of the trade is over. From here:

Fundamentals (unit economics, cash burn, product mix) matter more than grand narratives.
Policy risk (credits, tariffs, fuel rules) is now front and center.
Stock selection inside the EV theme may matter more than simply owning “anything electric.”

Key EV Catalysts to Watch Next

A few near‑term events now loom large for EV stocks:

Fed decision – December 10, 2025: Any surprise on the rate‑cut path for 2026 could move high‑growth names, including EVs, sharply in either direction. ^[49]
Rivian Autonomy & AI Day – December 11, 2025: Investors will scrutinize Rivian’s autonomy roadmap, data strategy and capital spending plans to judge whether its AI story can justify a premium to traditional automakers. ^[50]
China and U.S. policy updates: Any fresh tariff moves on Chinese EVs or further tweaks to U.S. tax rules could quickly reshuffle winners and losers across the EV universe. ^[51]

In short, EV stocks today are trading less on dreams and more on data — and Tuesday’s mixed close, with Tesla up but many peers under pressure, captured that tension in real time.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities.