Tesla’s UK sales fall almost 60% in July as BYD surges; Neil Woodford fined and banned over fund collapse – business live

Tesla’s UK sales more than halve in July

Just in: Sales of Teslas in the UK more than halved, year-on-year, in the UK last month as the electric carmaker’s struggles continue.

Industry body data just released shows that just 987 new Teslas were registered in the UK in July, almost 60% less than the 2,462 registered in July 2024. This means Tesla’s UK market share shrank to 0.7% in July, from 1.67% a year ago.

For 2025 to date, Tesla sales in the UK are 7% lower, during a year in which CEO Elon Musk has faced heavy criticism for his – now-soured – relationship with Donald Trump.

The wider UK electric car sector grew in July, though. Sales of battery-powered vehicles (BEVs) rose by 9.1% to 29,825, giving BEVs a 21.3% share of the market.

China’s BYD more than quadrupled its sales last month, to 3,184 in July from 768 a year ago. The company recently launched a relatively cheap electric car, the Dolphin Surf, in the UK.

BYD’s sales are up 514% during 2025 to 22,574, up from 3,672 in January-July 2024. That’s only slightly fewer than Tesla which has shifted 23,708 cars so far this year.

Last month Tesla reported a large drop in quarterly deliveries, as demand faltered due to the backlash over CEO Elon Musk’s political stance.

Tesla’s sales have also been hurt by its aging model line-up – the company has been rolling out an updated Model Y this year, dubbed the “Juniper” refresh.

Yesterday, Tesla announced it was handing Musk stock options worth almost $30bn, in an attempt to keep him committed to the company for the next few years.

Overall, the UK’s new car market shrank by 5% in July with 140,154 units registered, which is the weakest July since 2022.

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, says:

July’s dip shows yet again the new car market’s sensitivity to external factors, and the pressing need for consumer certainty. Confirming which models qualify for the new EV grant, alongside compelling manufacturer discounts on a huge choice of exciting new vehicles, should send a strong signal to buyers that now is the time to switch.

That would mean increased demand for the rest of this year and into next, which is good news for the industry, car buyers and our environmental ambitions.

Key events

There’s been disruption at London’s Heathrow Airport today, after a key road tunnel was closed.

Passengers hoping to get away on their summer break faced delays after the Central Terminal Area tunnel to Terminals 2 and 3 is was closed.

Heathrow blamed a technical issue, and urged passengers to use public transport to Terminal 5, where train services were available to all other terminals.

The closure lead to heavy queues on the roads leading to Heathrow…..

…and chaotic scenes inside the airport.

Utter chaos again at Heathrow… the tunnel is closed, the carpark buses dropping everyone at T4/5, the underground packed with no air it feels like… awful 😭 pic.twitter.com/6Il6bBQlPm

— Kaylie Kay 📚✈️ (@kayliekaywrites) August 5, 2025

Heathrow says that the road tunnel to Terminals 2 and 3 has now reopened, but warned that there is still congestion at the airport, and so they recommend allowing extra time for your journey.

US trade gap narrows

The US trade deficit with the rest of the world has narrowed, as the rush to import goods into America ahead of Donald Trump’s tariffs ended.

The US’s goods and services deficit dipped to $60.2bn in June, down $11.5bn from $71.7bn in May.

This decline was due to a narrowing in the US goods deficit, while its services surplus grew a little.

Imports into the US fell by $12.8bn to $337.5bn in June, while exports dipped by $1.3bn to $277.3bn.

Harry Chambers, assistant economist at Capital Economics, explains:

The narrowing of the trade deficit was mainly due to a normalisation in pharmaceutical imports and while exports appeared weak, this was primarily due to a fall in gold exports. The big picture is that, despite June’s fall, imports aren’t collapsing and are roughly in line with their levels last year. That said, with export orders weak, it seems likely that exports will struggle over the coming months.

Trump says new semiconductor tariff plan coming as soon as next week

Showing his inate ability to commit news, Donald Trump revealed during today’s CNBC interview that he will unveil new tariffs on semiconductors and chips as soon as next week.

He told the “Squawk Box” show that an announcement will come “within the next week or so,” saying:

“We’re going to be announcing on semiconductors and chips, which is a separate category, because we want them made in the United States.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has also said recent falls in energy prices could pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war in Ukraine.

In his inerview with CNBC, Trump said:

“If energy goes down enough, Putin is going to stop killing people.

If you get energy down, another $10 a barrel, he’s going to have no choice because his economy stinks.”

Brent crude is curently trading at $67.82 per barrel, down 1.35% today, down from over $76 per barrel a year ago.

Trump: Looking at four candidates for Fed chair

Donald Trump has revealed he is considering four candidates — including former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett — to become the next head of America’s central bank.

In an interview with CNBC, Trump said:

“I think I say Kevin and Kevin, both Kevins are very good, and there are other people that are very good too.”

Current Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s term expires next May.

Trump also revealed that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told him he did not want to be nominated to replace Powell at the Fed, as he wants to stay in his current role.

Neil Woodford is also facing calls for his CBE to be revoked.

The Woodford Campaign Group and Transparency Task Force have repeated their request for Mr Woodford’s CBE to be forfeited now that the Financial Conduct Authority’s investigation has been completed.

More than 500 people have so far signed a petition drawn up by the Woodford Campaign Group calling for the forfeiture.

In an open letter to Sir Chris Wormald, chairman of the Honours Forfeiture Committee at the Cabinet Office, Andy Agathangelou, who founded both campaign groups, said:

“This scandal is obviously a matter of great public interest – hundreds of thousands of people have been directly impacted by it, many having lost life-changing amounts of money.

Swiss president to fly to Washington to talk tariffs

Trade war news: Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter and business minister Guy Parmelin will fly to Washington on Tuesday, the government said, to try to avoid the 39% tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on exports to the United States.

The pair will “facilitate meetings with the US authorities at short notice and hold talks with a view to improving the tariff situation for Switzerland,” the government said.

The trip comes after Keller-Sutter was accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House, leading Trump to hit Switzerland with a shock 39% export tariff.

Over on Wall Street, construction and mining equipment company Caterpillar has missed second-quarter profit expectations.

Caterpillar’s adjusted profit per share in the second quarter of 2025 fell to $4.72, down from $5.99 in Q2 2024.

The drop in earnings was due to a fall in profit margins. Sales and revenues for the second quarter of 2025 dipped by 1% to $16.6bn,

UK minimum wage may need to rise by over 4% in 2026

Britain’s main minimum wage rate will probably need to rise by around 4.1% next year to £12.71 an hour to keep up with the government’s goal for it to match two thirds of median earnings, according to the body which sets the rate.

The Low Pay Commission said today the final figure for the National Living Wage could range between £12.55 and £12.86 an hour.

The commission is due to provide a firm recommendation to the government by the end of October. The national living wage is currently set at £12.21 for those aged 21 and over.

Britain’s service sector companies were hit by a drop in orders last month, as demand at home and abroad remained sluggish.

Service sector growth slowed last month amid a decline in new work, according to the latest survey of purchasing managers from data firm S&P Global.

It’s UK Services PMI Business Activity Index has dropped to 51.8, from 52.8 in June, showing a slowdown in growth.

The survey found that total new work decreased in July, at the fastest rate since November 2022. Export sales also fell in July, blamed on fragile global economic conditions and elevated geopolitical tensions.

Worryingly, services firms cut staff again.

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, says:

“UK service providers recorded a third consecutive monthly rise in business activity, but they were unable to maintain the growth rate achieved in June.

Moreover, new business intakes swung back into contraction during July, with the downturn in order books the fastest for just over two-and-a-half years. Risk aversion and low confidence among clients were the main reasons provided for sluggish sales pipelines, alongside an unfavourable global economic backdrop.

Hiring trends were especially subdued, with total workforce numbers decreasing to the greatest extent since February. Worries about rising payroll costs were cited as the main factor holding back recruitment.

FCA fines and bans Neil Woodford

Neil Woodford Of Woodford Investment Management. Photograph: Jenny Goodall/ANL/REX/Shutterstock

Newsflash: The UK’s financial regulator has decided to fine former star fund manager Neil Woodford and his investment management company nearly £46m, over the collapse of his popular equity fund.

The Financial Conduct Authority says it has decided to fine Woodford £5,888,800 and ban him from holding senior manager roles and managing funds for retail investors.

The FCA has also decided to fine Woodford Investment Management (WIM) £40,000,000.

The penalties result from failures in their management of the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF), the FCA says, which collapsed in October 2019 after investors rushed to withdraw money in response to a raft of poorly performing company investments, including some hard-to-sell, illiquid assets.

The fund was frozen and later closed and wound up. About 300,000 people had invested in the fund, including 130,000 through Hargreaves Lansdown, which is being sued by thousands of investors.

In today’s ruling, the FCA explains that between July 2018 and June 2019 WIM and Woodford made “unreasonable and inappropriate investment decisions”, including selling sold more liquid investments (where it’s easier to find a buyer) and buying less liquid ones (which are harder to shift quickly at a good price).

They also failed to react appropriately as the fund’s value declined, its liquidity worsened and more investors withdrew their money, the regulator says.

However, these findings are only “provisional”, as Neil Woodford and Woodford Investment Management have referred the Decision Notices to the UK’s Upper Tribunal.

The FCA is also critical of Woodford – a former star investment manager – today, saying he held “a defective and unreasonably narrow understanding of his responsibilities.”

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said:

‘Being a leader in financial services comes with responsibilities as well as profile. Mr Woodford simply doesn’t accept he had any role in managing the liquidity of the fund.

The very minimum investors should expect is those managing their money make sensible decisions and take their senior role seriously. Neither Neil Woodford nor Woodford Investment Management did so, putting at risk the money people had entrusted them with.’

UK electric car grant may have delayed purchases

It appears that the UK government’s offer to subsidise new electric car purchases may have actually dampened the car market last month.

The grants, which offer up to 10% off the price of many electric cars costing less than £37,000, were announced in mid-July. But the government only revealed the first eligible cars today – four Citroën models.

The discount scheme won’t apply to Teslas (as they’re too expensive), or models from China as they don’t pass the government’s rules on environmentally sustainable manufacturing practices.

The SMMT explain:

The newly announced Electric Car Grant (ECG) provides a welcome and much-needed fiscal incentive for BEV uptake, but full model eligibility has yet to be confirmed, causing some buyers to hold off pending confirmation of which vehicles will qualify for a discount of up to £3,750.

Its sales figures show that registrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) rose 33.0% in July while battery electric vehicles (BEVs) rose 9.1%, but there was a 10% drop in hybrids (HEVs). Petrol sales fell 14.7% and diesel were down 7.9%.

Bucking the wider market performance, registrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) rose 33.0% and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) 9.1%, although the latter is modest in comparison with the 34.6% increase recorded for the first half of 2025.

July was the second… pic.twitter.com/U60Q7Rp2Wy

— SMMT (@SMMT) August 5, 2025

BYD wasn’t the only Chinese EV maker growing its UK market share last month.

Jaecoo, a brand from Chinese vehicle manufacturer Chery, sold 1,915 cars in the UK in July – a year ago, it didn’t sell any, as it only launched in the UK early in 2025.

Omoda, another Chery brand, also made its debut this year – with 1,874 of its cars registered in the UK in July.