Tesla becomes desperate in the UK – Jalopnik

Have a nice Monday! It is August 18, 2025, and this is the morning shift – your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from all over the world, in one place. Here you will find the most important stories that make Americans drive and make ends meet.

In the edition of this morning we look at the decline of Tesla in the UK, as well as the negotiation of Germany about an American trade agreement. We will also see how insiders of the car industry feel about the future and the worries about the air quality at EV -chargers.

The Tesla ship has been taking water for a while, because the CEO of the company has withdrawn its central mask and buyers around the world have avoided his personal politics all over the world. The UK is no exception and Tesla is now resorting to desperate measures to move cars in the country. By Reuters:

British motorists can now lease a Tesla -Electric vehicle for just over half of what they would have paid a year ago, the Times reported on Monday, with reference to sources in the industry.

Tesla is forced to offer discounts of a maximum of 40% to car leases companies to move more units, according to the report.

The discounts are also due to the lack of storage space for Tesla vehicles in the UK, according to the report.

Tesla UK is now a cheap volume game, with the aim of selling more units instead of earning more money from every unit sold. There is just not enough space on the island to save all the Teslas that buyers do not want anything else.

Countries around the world negotiate glossy new trade agreements with the crazy king of the United States, and the European Union has reached at least a few pieces of an agreement. Germany, in the midst of the EU that makes a deal, does not want to put a pen on paper until the US proves that it will go through what has already been agreed. By Reuters:

Germany said on Monday that the United States should continue at agreed lower rates for cars made by Europe before a broader agreement on the trade can be completed in writing.

“In particular, car rates must be reduced quickly as agreed. We are also aware of the considerable burden for the export -oriented economy. … Our role here is to fully support the European Commission in this process,” said a German government spokesperson in a press conference.

The export of cars is great for Germany and an agreement -free rate situation would be untenable for the nation. No wonder that companies look at other markets, such as South Africa, to prioritize the United States.

Automotive News yesterday unveiled a shiny new survey, in which people in the car world asked what they think the rest of the year will look like. The answer? Quite universally bad. By Automotive news:

In its first polls, from surveys that were completed at the end of the second quarter, the Auto Industry Confidence Index has returned a general industrial score of 55.5.

Within the four large industrial components, financial service providers had the schedulest prospects for their current and future circumstances and were the only sector that scored above 60. Not surprisingly, suppliers had the least optimistic assessment of both their companies and the industry, but were still slightly above neutral.

All four of the industry sectors had a little in common: respondents of each felt much better about the industry and the current performance of their company than about prospects for the next six months. Both the suppliers and scores for the franchised dealers sector for the second half of 2025 were pessimistic – that is, under a neutral score of 50. The indexed score of respondents from the Automaker sector was hardly above the center, while financial service providers were most optimistic about future business conditions.

Predicting the future is currently difficult, given how fickle our leadership seems to be. However, finding out how people find themselves about the future is easier: they feel bad.

EVs are a necessary half size to keep our planet habitable, but they are not perfect. Their weight sends more tire waste in the world, their lithium supply chains can be loaded with human rights violations, and they are still not coming because of the whole issue of a car that is a terribly inefficient way to move a single person. Now there is a new problem: the chargers themselves pollute the air nearby. By Automotive news:

Hundreds of public fast chargers appear in the US to serve drivers for electric vehicles that are looking for a cleaner alternative to cars with gasoline. But they come up with a surprising risk: charging stations create air pollution.

Although EVs make a huge contribution to air pollution than vehicles with burning, fast -charging stations are what a recent study is called “overlooked source of air pollution”.

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The emissions are probably connected to the fans used in the power boxes of direct current fast chargers. Although they help keep equipment cool, the recent study indicates that they probably have the unintended side effect of linking particles of tires, brakes and dust in the air.

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Cars on gas are still a much more powerful health risk, both because of their emission and environmental impact of gas stations, said Joe Allen, expert in the field of air quality and professor at the Harvard Th Chan School of Public Health who was not involved in the study. Research shows that fuel stations are important sources of volatile organic compounds, a category of chemicals that comprises carcinogenic beans, while internal combustion vehicles produce smog -forming pollutants. Greenhouse gas emissions also influence a negative influence on health because of their influence on climate change.

Can we just try trains and buses? Just give it a chance. I know we are not fans of those in this country, but maybe we can’t beat them until we really try them.

At a certain point in my life I heard a completely reasonable explanation about where the Roanoke colonists went. Fortunately I can’t remember what it was, so I can live in reality where it is a creepy mysticism.

I couldn’t tell you why, but today is a Tallahassee day. Coordinate your listening accordingly.