Donald Trump Is Lying About Gas Costing $1.99 In Some States – Jalopnik

Good morning! It’s Thursday, December 18, 2025, and that is The Morning Shift, your each day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from world wide, in a single place. This is the place you will discover an important tales which are shaping the best way Americans drive and get round.

In this morning’s version, Trump went on TV and lied about fuel costs (amid 1,000,000 different way more necessary issues), California regulators put a Tesla gross sales suspension order on maintain, Polestar will get a $600 million lifeline from Geely and Volkswagen goes forward with its cost-cutting plans in Germany.

President Donald Trump is a weird man recognized for giving weird speeches, and final night time’s televised look was one for the ages. He used his time to debate so-called financial beneficial properties throughout his time within the White House, at the same time as common Americans wrestle to make ends meet — speaking at size about how he himself introduced down the excessive costs of the Biden Administration. He additionally made some outrageous claims about fuel costs, saying, “Gasoline is now under $2.50 a gallon into much of the country. In some states, it, by the way, just hit $1.99 a gallon,” based on the New York Times. The man has such a means with phrases.

As you will have guessed, this can be a hell of an exaggeration at greatest, and a blatant lie at worst. A fast take a look at AAA’s nationwide fuel worth tracker will let you know that the typical worth for a gallon of standard now sits at $2.90. Hell, there are solely three states the place the typical gallon of fuel is beneath $2.50 a gallon: Iowa ($2.47), Arkansas ($2.46) and Oklahoma ($2.34).

Even in the event you delve into every of these states’ least expensive counties relating to fuel costs, the bottom numbers you are going to discover are Canadian Country, Oklahoma ($2.26), Faulkner County, Arkansas ($2.31) and Mahaska County, Iowa ($2.19). You’re all good individuals, so I haven’t got to let you know that none of those costs are literally decrease than the $1.99 Trump is claiming.

I suppose, in an effort to be honest, I can say that there’s a chance that there are particular person fuel stations all through the nation which are providing fuel under $2 per gallon, however I’ve gotta assume these are extraordinarily few and much between.

Even the Energy Information Administration, a authorities statical company, has fuel costs pegged at $2.90 per gallon on Average. Admittedly, that’s about 12 cents cheaper than it was the identical time final 12 months, and it is the lowest it has been since Trump took workplace in January (when the typical gallon of fuel value $3.10), but it surely’s nonetheless a far cry from $1.99… and even $2.50.

A California regulator is giving Tesla extra time to deal with accusations that it created deceptive advertising and marketing and overstated the capabilities of its self-driving software program by deferring an order for the automaker to droop all gross sales in its state. The Department of Motor Vehicles ordered the suspension of Tesla’s manufacturing and gross sales licenses for 30 days, which was adopted from a choose’s proposal. However, the gross sales license was placed on maintain for 90 days, and the manufacturing license maintain is paused indefinitely.

In 2022, the DMV accused the Austin, Texas-based automaker of deceptive customers by utilizing the names “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” for its automobiles’ driver help options. The regulator informed Judge Juliet Cox of the Office of Administrative Hearings that the names falsely implied the automobiles can drive autonomously, and so they’re not unsuitable. That’s type of the purpose… to mislead. From Reuters:

A lawyer for Tesla informed the listening to that the automaker had “clearly and consistently” defined that automobiles with Autopilot and FSD software program require supervision and should not autonomous.

Judge Cox proposed the suspension, which the DMV adopted however placed on maintain Tuesday. Gordon mentioned the company wished to offer Tesla “one more chance to be able to remedy the situation,” saying he hoped it would “find a way to get these misleading statements corrected.”

[..]

To keep away from the suspension, the DMV mentioned Tesla can submit a press release confirming it has both stopped utilizing the title Autopilot for its driver help software program or confirming its automobiles can function with out energetic monitoring by a human.

The DMV mentioned Tesla can attraction the suspension or search a courtroom evaluation by February 14.

Tesla in a press release mentioned, “This was a ‘consumer protection’ order about the use of the term ‘Autopilot’ in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem. Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”

Tesla did not elaborate on how the corporate knew no clients had complained, and it declined to touch upon whether or not or not the Autopilot title could be dropped. 

It could be stunning to me if Tesla drops the names “Autopilot” or “Full Self-Driving,” but it surely’s additionally stunning that it put out a media assertion, so I assume loopy issues can occur.

Polestar is getting some much-needed assist from its majority proprietor, Geely, to the tune of a $600 million mortgage. The Swedish-Chinese automaker has been — to say the least — struggling amid a slowdown in EV demand. From Reuters:

The shareholder mortgage, to be given by way of Geely’s Swedish unit, is “subordinated,” which signifies that it doesn’t rely in the direction of Polestar’s debt covenants, that are set at $5.5 billion, a spokesperson for the corporate mentioned, including that the corporate is working to safe extra fairness.

The last tranche of $300 million of the mortgage would require the lender’s consent, based mostly on Polestar’s future liquidity wants, the corporate mentioned in a press release.

Like many different EV startups, Polestar has burned by way of important quantities of money in its push to attain scale and constantly confronted challenges managing its liquidity and debt ranges.

[…]

The firm in June secured a $200 million fairness funding from main shareholder PSD Investment, an organization managed by Geely Holding founder Li Shufu.

Polestar has had an actual downside with almost breaching sure debt agreements it is come to with lenders. So far, it has been capable of negotiate amendments with lenders and agreed with collectors to revise a few of these covenants to stay in good standing all through 2026.

It’s exhausting to argue that Polestar would not make good merchandise; it is simply having bother discovering an viewers for them.

Volkswagen says its cost-cutting measures are heading in the right direction because of layoffs and different financial savings on the automaker’s vegetation all through Germany. CEO Thomas Schaefer says the corporate has diminished prices at its factories in Wolfsburg, Emden and Zwickau by about 30% on common. From Reuters:

“We still have a way to go, but together we want to prove that it is possible to develop and build competitive cars in Germany,” Schaefer mentioned.

Schaefer dominated out providing combustion engines within the core manufacturers’ new small-car household, whose first mannequin – the ID.Polo – is to be launched subsequent 12 months at a beginning worth of round 25,000 euros ($29,307.50).

This would not make sense resulting from emissions laws and could be too costly for customers, based on the chief.

“The future in this segment is electric,” he mentioned.

Back in December of 2024, VW struck a take care of unions to drastically restructure its operations in Germany. That contains some heartbreaking measures, like chopping 35,000 jobs by 2030. But, it argued that issues like which are essential to face off towards Chinese rivals and navigate a slower-than-anticipated shift towards electrification.

All soccer must be performed exterior throughout a snowstorm. Playing inside is an abomination and un-American, and it is why, when I’m in cost, all domed stadiums can be banned. If you’d wish to be taught extra about this travesty, head over to History.com.

This may very well be some of the upbeat Christmas songs on the market, and it is becoming for at this time. After all, the large day is now only a week away. I, for one, am locked TF in.