Tesla's UK sales rise 12% in June from a year ago, New AutoMotive data shows
Overall, Britain's new car registrations in June grew 12.8% from the prior year to 187,655 units, led by a 45.5% growth in battery electric vehicle sales, the data showed.
Tesla sold 7,891 units in June compared to 7,019 units in the prior year, according to New AutoMotive.
Despite the rise in sales for June, Tesla's UK sales are still down nearly 2% so far this year, while Chinese rival BYD's (002595.SZ), opens new tab sales have increased nearly four-fold.
BYD's June sales in the UK also rose nearly four-fold to 2,498 units.
US automaker Ford's (F.N), opens new tab EV sales grew the fastest among its rivals in Britain during the first half of 2025, rising more than four-fold from the same period last year, according to the data.
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Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
McLaren expect Ferrari to be in the fight at Silverstone
SILVERSTONE, England, July 4 (Reuters) - Runaway leaders McLaren expect old rivals Ferrari to be fighting them for victory at the British Grand Prix after a strong showing by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in Friday practice. Lando Norris was top of the timesheets overall but Hamilton, record nine-times winner at Silverstone, was quickest in the first session and both Ferraris beat McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri in the second. It is still early in the weekend, and weather conditions can change, but McLaren duly took notice. "They looked good, both in the qualifying runs and the longer runs as well," said Piastri, who leads Norris by 15 points after 11 of 24 races. "I think they're in the fight this weekend which is interesting to see." Ferrari, second overall, are the only top-four team yet to win this season, or take pole position for a regular grand prix rather than a sprint. They were McLaren's closest rivals in Austria last weekend, however, with Leclerc third and Hamilton fourth in a race won by Norris with Piastri second. Silverstone should play to Ferrari's strengths with its high-speed corners and long straights and the team also successfully debuted a new floor in Austria. "In general the Ferraris have been very, very quick today and they shall be tomorrow," Norris told F1 television. "So I think we have a bit of work to do." McLaren boss Zak Brown also highlighted the red cars' speed. "The Ferraris look very strong over one lap and race pace. A little early but Ferrari look very tough," the American told Sky Sports television.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Story of banknotes is full of funny money
If you hold strong views about the design of Britain's banknotes, your moment has come at last. The Bank of England intends to relaunch the £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, and in a predictable nod to our populist age, it has appealed to the public for suggestions. Very little, it seems, will be off limits, since the Bank's statement suggests that great historical characters could give way to images of 'food, film, television or sport'. So out will go Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and JMW Turner, and in might come, say, Luke Littler, chicken tikka masala and Adolescence. And to think people doubt the idea of progress in history. • Churchill may be dropped from banknotes for diverse designs As Bank officials are surely aware, though, no conceivable combination will please everybody. Indeed, no less a figure than Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has already condemned the 'Bank of Wokeness' for its 'supine kowtowing to the gods of political correctness'.(this, remember, before a single image has been chosen). Yet even though this story seems like a gift to the permanently outraged community, no venerable tradition is in danger of being sullied, since pictures on banknotes are a modish innovation. Until the late Queen Elizabeth made her debut on March 17, 1960, no British shopper had ever seen a face on a pound note, unless you count the image of Britannia. Indeed, if Sir Jacob wants to take a properly conservative position, he might argue that banknotes themselves are a dangerous innovation. There are suggestions that the ancient Carthaginians issued promissory notes on scraps of leather or parchment, but most historians agree that the first proper paper money originated, inevitably, in China. This was a note called a jiaozi, issued by private merchants in the city of Chengdu some time around the year 1000. Printed in black ink on an early version of paper, jiaozi often showed images of merchants. Each had a different value, depending on the buyer's needs. Over time they became standardised, and eventually the imperial government took over production, stamping notes with seals to prevent counterfeiting. But the problem with paper money, as the Chinese emperors soon discovered, is that it is very tempting to keep printing it. Inflation inevitably followed; then came the first of innumerable currency reforms. Paper money, however, never went away. 'All these pieces of paper,' marvelled the Venetian traveller Marco Polo at the end of the 13th century, 'are issued with as much solemnity and authority as if they were of pure gold or silver … [and] wherever a person may go throughout the Great Khan's dominions he shall find these pieces of paper in use, and shall be able to transact all sales and purchases of goods by means of them just as well as if they were coins of pure gold.' By contrast, most European countries were slow to embrace the paper revolution. Although late medieval bankers in Florence and Flanders, such as the Medici, issued promissory notes, it wasn't until 1661 that a central bank, Sweden's entertainingly named Stockholms Banco, issued notes known as kreditivsedlar. Alas, when ordinary Swedes tried to cash in their notes, the bank ran out of money, and after just ten years the whole thing collapsed. There was a lesson there in overpromising and overprinting, though we can all think of finance ministers who never learnt it. What, though, of Britain? The new central banks of England and Scotland issued their first notes in the mid-1690s as part of William III's financial mobilisation to fight the French. Neither had a monopoly, though. English private banks had the right to print their own notes well into the Victorian period, and the very last private banknotes were issued as late as 1921 by the little Somerset bank of Fox, Fowler and Company. As for Scottish banknotes, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank still print their own notes to this day. (But are they legal tender in England? The short answer is no. I look forward to Scottish readers' letters.) Back, though, to the wider story of paper money. Given the Swedish debacle, many people were deeply suspicious of this flimsy substitute for the real thing. And during the early 1790s they gazed in horror at the economic chaos in France, where revolutionary printers were churning out colossal quantities of notes known as assignats. Within just two years of the fall of the Bastille, almost 2.5 billion assignats were in circulation, and all the time the value was plummeting. As food prices rocketed, Jacobin radicals blamed the royal family, aristocratic exiles and British politicians — all implicated, they claimed, in a nefarious conspiracy to debauch France's currency. The chief printer was arrested and executed, while the finance minister, Étienne Clavière, took his own life before he could be dragged to the guillotine. Yet although the assignats were economically disastrous, they did at least look good, with illustrations interweaving eagles, Roman iconography and revolutionary bonnets. By contrast, British banknotes were remarkably plain until the 20th century. Clearly the Bank of England felt no need to show off, preferring to project an image of sobriety, simplicity and solidity. As a result, it was not until 1960 that Bank of England notes displayed the monarch's face, while the first commoner, William Shakespeare, didn't appear until 1970. He was followed by the Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Christopher Wren … and so the faces have changed over the years, leaving us with Churchill, Turner, Austen and Alan Turing today. But who comes next? Most readers will surely agree that the sane choices would be Harold Godwinson, Horatio Nelson, General Gordon and Agatha Christie. Alas, we live in strange times, so who knows whom the Bank will choose? Even the prospect of a John Lennon banknote, which would mark the lowest moment in our history, can't be ruled out. But if the Bank does make such a terrible choice, there is one consolation. Since cash payments now account for barely a tenth of all transactions, most of us will only rarely have to gaze upon the consequences. And if the alternative is to hand over a little portrait of the man who wrote Imagine, the ding of a contactless payment will sound sweeter than ever.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
France joins European push for satellite internet on trains
July 4 (Reuters) - France's state-owned rail company SNCF will launch a tender soon to add satellite internet to its trains, becoming the latest European rail operator to explore space-based systems for onboard connectivity. In a statement to Reuters, SNCF said on Friday it was pursuing an "innovative approach to strengthen connectivity and resilience" by combining terrestrial networks with low Earth-orbit satellite solutions. The company said the strategy aims to ensure service continuity across its entire network, including isolated sites, and guarantee better internet access for train passengers. "The satellite plus 4G/5G combination would eliminate dead zones and offer stable, fast service adapted to new uses such as streaming or video conferencing," SNCF said. Elon Musk's Starlink and France's Eutelsat ( opens new tab are among the companies being considered, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. SNCF would not discuss with Reuters whether it was in talks with specific providers. A Eutelsat spokesperson confirmed the company's interest in the deal as it is already in talks with SNCF about setting up a pilot project as they have already done in Britain and Kazakhstan. "As one of only two LEO (low Earth orbit) operators currently in service, and the only French player, we intend to bid for the contract with our French partners such as Orange ( opens new tab business services," the spokesperson said. Starlink, which initially focused on consumer services, has expanded into enterprise markets, particularly in transportation and maritime sectors. Eutelsat, propped up by the French government in its push for LEO services, provides internet access through its OneWeb network of more than 600 LEO satellites. The move follows similar initiatives across Europe. Italy's state railway Ferrovie dello Stato ran a two-week trial in June with two providers, including Starlink, Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said in May. Scotland's ScotRail also launched a six-week Starlink trial in May. Most European trains rely on cellular networks for internet access. However, connection quality varies with mobile network coverage, often dropping in rural areas or tunnels. The high speeds of trains also create technical challenges as systems must constantly switch between mobile towers, causing intermittent service. Satellites, on the other hand, offer consistent coverage everywhere, including remote areas where cellular towers are sparse or nonexistent.
