Tesla Is Getting Desperate In The Uk

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Happy Monday! It's August 18, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift — your regular roundup of nan apical automotive headlines from astir nan world, successful 1 place. This is wherever you'll find nan astir important stories that are shaping nan measurement Americans thrust and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking astatine Tesla's diminution successful nan UK, arsenic good arsenic Germany's negotiating astir a U.S. waste and acquisition deal. We'll besides look astatine really car manufacture insiders are emotion astir nan future, and nan aerial value concerns pinch EV charging. 

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Tesla's vessel has been taking connected h2o for rather a while now, arsenic nan company's CEO has peeled backmost his centrist disguise and EV buyers astir nan world person roundly shunned his individual politics. The UK is nary exception, and Tesla is now resorting to hopeless measures to move cars successful nan country. From Reuters:

British motorists tin now lease a Tesla electric conveyance for conscionable complete half of what they would person paid a twelvemonth ago, The Times reported connected Monday, citing manufacture sources.

Tesla has been forced to connection discounts of up to 40% to car leasing companies to displacement much units, nan study said.

The discounts are besides owed to nan deficiency of retention abstraction for Tesla vehicles successful nan UK, nan study said.

Tesla UK is simply a low-cost measurement play now, aiming to waste much units alternatively than make much money connected each portion sold. There simply isn't capable abstraction connected nan land to shop each nan Teslas that buyers don't want otherwise. 

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Countries astir nan world are negotiating shiny caller waste and acquisition deals pinch nan United States' huffy king, and nan European Union has travel to astatine slightest immoderate bits of an agreement. Germany, successful nan midst of nan EU making a deal, doesn't want to put pen to insubstantial until nan U.S. proves it'll travel done connected what's already been agreed. From Reuters:

Germany said connected Monday that nan United States would person to travel done connected agreed little tariffs connected Europe-made cars earlier a wider statement connected waste and acquisition tin beryllium finalised successful writing.

"In particular, car tariffs must beryllium reduced quickly arsenic agreed. We are besides alert of nan sizeable load connected nan export-orientated economy. ... Our domiciled present is to proceed to afloat support nan European Commission successful this process," a German authorities spokesperson said successful a property conference.

Car exports are large for Germany, and an agreement-free tariff business would beryllium untenable for nan nation. No wonderment companies are looking to different markets, for illustration South Africa, to de-prioritize nan United States. 

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Automotive News unveiled a shiny caller study yesterday, successful which it asked folks crossed nan automotive world really they deliberation nan remainder of nan twelvemonth will look. The answer? Pretty universally bad. From Automotive News:

In its first soundings, from surveys completed astatine nan extremity of nan 2nd quarter, nan Auto Industry Confidence Index returned an wide manufacture people of 55.5.

Within nan 4 awesome manufacture components, financial services firms had nan rosiest outlook for their existent and early conditions and was nan only assemblage to people supra 60. Not surprisingly, suppliers had nan slightest optimistic appraisal of some their businesses and nan manufacture but were still somewhat supra neutral.

Tellingly, each 4 sectors of nan manufacture had thing successful common: Respondents from each felt acold amended astir nan manufacture and their company's existent capacity than they did astir prospects for nan coming six months. Both nan supplier and franchised trader assemblage scores for nan 2nd half of 2025 were pessimistic — that is, beneath a neutral people of 50. The indexed people of respondents from nan automaker assemblage were hardly supra nan midpoint, while financial services providers were astir optimistic astir early business conditions.

Predicting nan early is reliable correct now, fixed really capricious our activity seems to be. Figuring retired really group consciousness astir nan future, though, is simpler: They consciousness bad. 

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EVs are a basal half-measure towards keeping our satellite habitable, but they're not perfect. Their weight sends much tyre debris retired into nan world, their lithium proviso chains tin beryllium fraught pinch quality authorities violations, and they still don't get astir nan full rumor of a car being a horribly inefficient measurement to move a azygous person. Now, there's a caller issue: The chargers themselves pollute adjacent air. From Automotive News:

Hundreds of nationalist accelerated chargers are popping up crossed nan U.S. to service electric-vehicle drivers seeking a cleaner replacement to gasoline-powered cars. But they travel pinch a astonishing risk: Charging stations create aerial pollution.

While EVs lend vastly little to aerial contamination than combustion-powered vehicles, fast-charging stations are what a caller study called an "overlooked root of aerial pollution."

...

The emissions are apt tied to nan fans utilized successful nonstop existent accelerated chargers' powerfulness cabinets. While they thief support instrumentality cool, nan caller study indicates they apt person nan unintended broadside effect of kicking up particles from tires, brakes and particulate into nan air.

...

Gas-powered cars are still a overmuch much potent wellness risk, some because of their emissions and state stations' biology impact, said Joe Allen, an aerial value master and professor astatine nan Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who was not progressive successful nan study. Research shows fueling stations are awesome sources of volatile integrated compounds, a class of chemicals that includes nan carcinogen benzene, while soul combustion vehicles nutrient smog-forming pollutants. Greenhouse state emissions besides adversely impact wellness owed to their power connected ambiance change.

Can we conscionable effort trains and busses? Just springiness it a shot. I know we're not fans of those successful this country, but possibly we can't sound them until we really effort them. 

At immoderate constituent successful my life, I heard an wholly reasonable mentation of wherever nan Roanoke settlers went. Fortunately, I can't retrieve what it was, truthful I get to unrecorded successful nan reality wherever it's immoderate creepy mysterious thing. 

I couldn't show you why, but coming is simply a Tallahassee day. Please tune your listening accordingly.