Category: News

Motorists who bought a Tesla in recent weeks expressed their anger after the car maker slashed prices by thousands of pounds on Friday.

The starting price for a Model Y has been cut by £7,000 to £44,990 while the price for an entry level Model 3 has been reduced by £8,100 to £42,990.

They were the top two best-selling cars in the UK last month, with a total of 16,368 registered at the previous, higher prices.

Consumer website Electrifying.com calculated that drivers who bought a Tesla last month could have saved a total of £130 million if they had waited for the discounts, which are being implemented around the world.

Tesla, led by billionaire Elon Musk, slashed its prices after its deliveries for the last three months of 2022 were below market expectations.

Several members of a Facebook group for UK Tesla owners expressed their frustration at the policy.

One wrote: “I just picked up the car yesterday. What should I do? Go to Tesla and give back the car? I can’t believe after a few hours from picking up the car I lost £5k.”

The reductions were described as “shocking” by one person, who wrote that they “paid £5,000 more last week”.

Another described a period in late November and early December as the “worst three weeks to get a new Tesla in history” due to the subsequent price cut combined with other issues.

He added: “(It) would be nice if they made a gesture to us.”

Electrifying.com chief executive Ginny Buckley said: “Carmakers will usually carefully manage prices and incentives to avoid crashing used values and upsetting customers.

“This controversial move from Tesla is bound to send shockwaves through the industry, with the premium brand now sending signals that it’s becoming much more mainstream.”

James Baggott, editor in chief of Car Dealer Magazine, said: “While these price cuts are great news for new Tesla buyers, there will be 16,000 owners who took delivery in December who will be furious they paid the higher price.

“This will also have a big impact on used Tesla prices. Our research has found Tesla prices fell by more than a fifth last year and these new price cuts will have a severe negative impact on the used car market.

“Tesla buyers who have not yet taken delivery of their cars and ordered via the old price will be able to cancel their orders under distance selling regulations and order at the new price – but for those who have already take delivery there’s little they can do.”

Tesla said in a statement: “Our focus on continuous product improvement through original engineering and manufacturing processes have further optimised our ability to make the best product for an industry-leading cost.

“As we exit what has been a turbulent year of supply chain disruptions, we have observed a normalisation of some of the cost inflation, giving us the confidence to pass these through to our customers.

“As local vehicle production continues to increase and we gain further economies of scale globally, we are making Model 3 and Model Y even more accessible across EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).”

Price cuts in China introduced last week led to protests by owners demanding compensation.

Tesla has made major price cuts to its Model 3 and Model Y electric cars as the firm looks to make its EVs ‘more accessible’.

Overnight, it dropped the prices of all its Model 3 and Model Ys, with some being lowered by as much as £8,000.

Previously, the Model Y – the third most popular new car in the UK in 2022 – started from £51,990, but this has now been reduced to £44,990. The range-topping Performance model, however, has seen its price drop by £8,000 from £67,990 to £59,990.

The Model 3 has seen similar cuts in price, with this electric saloon’s starting price being dropped from £51,090 to £42,990 – representing a 16 per cent fall.

In a statement, Tesla said it was able to make the cuts because of ‘normalisation in production costs’.

The statement said: “Despite significant challenges last year ranging from the semiconductor shortage, energy crisis, logistics constraints and further Covid-related disruptions, we continued to lay the foundations for our future growth by regionalising production and supply chains. We also began the transition to a more evenly spread distribution strategy to diminish logistical and delivery peaks.

“Our focus on continuous product improvement through original engineering and manufacturing processes have further optimised our ability to make the best product for an industry-leading cost. As we exit what has been a turbulent year of supply chain disruptions, we have observed a normalisation of some of the cost of inflation, giving us the confidence to pass this through to our customers.

“As local vehicle production continues to increase and we gain further economies of scale globally, we are making Model 3 and Model Y even more accessible across Europe.”

People who have already placed their Tesla order at the old price will be forced to stick with that unless the American firm offers refunds or a price match.

It follows news earlier this week that used Tesla prices are dropping drastically, with three of the five overall most heavily depreciating electric cars being models from the firm, according to car valuations expert Cap HPI. The Tesla Model 3 was the worst, with like-for-like models dropping by 23 per cent in price in a 12-month period.

A Conservative MP has encouraged the Government to consider withholding funding from Transport for London (TfL) unless plans to expand the city’s ultra-low emission zone are dropped.

Gareth Bacon, MP for Orpington, hit out at Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, calling the plan “appalling” and a “cash grab” during a question in the House of Commons.

He asked if ministers could be encouraged to withhold funds from TfL until the Labour mayor “decides to withdraw this insane plan”.

Speaking during a session of questions related to the business of the House, Mr Bacon said: “It’s something that would do nothing to improve air quality and will be economically disastrous for poorer people, both in outer London constituencies like my own of Orpington, but also in terms of people living outside Greater London.

“It’s simply a cash grab. The mayor has no mandate to do it and it’s overwhelmingly opposed by people in outer London.

“So could my right honourable friend encourage colleagues across Government to consider withholding funds from Transport for London until he decides to withdraw this insane plan?”

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt replied: “Whatever the merits or otherwise of setting up such a scheme, to do it at a time when businesses are recovering from a pandemic, and it’s not obviously just businesses in London, it’s also in surrounding areas, tradesmen and others that would be coming in for materials or to do jobs.

“I know it… has had a hugely detrimental impact on many firms and I will certainly… raise this with the Secretary of State.”

Mr Khan announced plans last year to extend London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to cover the whole of the capital from August 29 2023 in an effort to boost air quality.

TfL estimates that on an average day about 160,000 cars and 42,000 vans that use London’s roads would be liable for the £12.50 Ulez fee.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “Toxic air is a matter of life and death. Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to the toxic air in our city and the mayor makes no apology for making the tough decision to expand the ultra-low emission zone, which will bring cleaner air to five million more Londoners.

“85% of vehicles in outer London are already Ulez compliant and, for those that aren’t, the mayor has announced the biggest scrappage scheme yet – £110 million – to help the Londoners who need it most amid the cost-of-living crisis, including low-income and disabled Londoners.

“The aim of the Ulez is, and has always been, to reduce emissions from road transport in order to reduce the health impacts of air pollution and the related cost to the NHS and businesses.

“All of the net revenue is spent on improving public transport and active travel options in London. The Ulez is proven to be effective – reducing toxic air pollution by nearly half in central London.”

UK councils issued an average of nearly 20,000 parking fines each day last year, according to new analysis.

Figures obtained by Churchill Motor Insurance suggest fines were handed out by local authorities at a daily rate of 19,631 in 2022.

That is a 12% rise from the previous year.

This increased revenues for councils to an estimated £777,287 per day last year, up £35,113 from 2021.

The analysis is based on data provided by the 230 UK councils that responded to Freedom of Information requests.

Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), also known as parking fines, are issued when motorists break parking regulations, such as by parking on double yellow lines or on a single yellow line at a prohibited time.

Fines can be up to £130 in London or up to £70 outside the capital.

The penalty is usually halved if a driver pays within 14 days.

Islington Council in north London issued more fines than any other local authority, with a daily average of 1,012.

Birmingham City Council (373), Southampton City Council (313) and Cardiff Council (279) issued the most parking fines outside London.

Nicholas Mantel, head of Churchill Motor Insurance, said: “Motorists across Britain are regularly being caught out by increased and sometimes complicated parking restrictions.

“We would encourage drivers to always check parking signs carefully to ensure they avoid any expensive fines.

“If motorists do receive a parking fine, they have 28 days to pay it or appeal to an independent tribunal.”

Recent analysis by the PA news agency found that the number of parking tickets issued by private companies in Britain reached an average of nearly 30,000 per day between April and June last year, up 50% from the same period in 2021.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Whichever way they turn and wherever they decide to stop, on-street and off-street, drivers are faced with the threat of parking sanctions.

“Between the 20,000 tickets issued by councils daily and the 30,000 dished out by private parking companies, motorists are seemingly facing a positive flurry of fines and charges – around one every two seconds.

“Parking rules are there for a reason and should be respected but at a time when household budgets are under such pressure these numbers beg the obvious question of whether millions of drivers are really risking a big bill for poor parking, or whether over-enthusiastic parking enforcement is putting other objectives, like revitalising our post-pandemic high streets, at risk.”

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association, who represent councils in England and Wales, said: “Income raised through on-street parking charges and parking fines is spent on running parking services. Any surplus is spent on essential transport projects, including fixing the £11 billion road repairs backlog, reducing congestion, tackling poor air quality and supporting local bus services.”

Unmarked mobile speed camera vans are now being used in the UK as police acknowledge a ‘worrying escalation’ in falling driving standards.

Northamptonshire Police has started rolling out what it calls ‘unmarked mobile enforcement vehicles’ across the county. The force says it is being done in a bid to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads. There were 44 deaths there in 2022.

It says that since the first Covid-19 lockdown there has been a ‘worrying escalation’ in collisions caused by poor driving, and that its Safer Roads Team have taken the ‘unusual step’ of deploying unmarked speed camera vans.

The police force says its unmarked vans will be used at various locations across Northamptonshire, and that it will prioritise routes that have regular collisions or where there is ‘intelligence’ of poor driving.

Safer Roads operations manager Matt O’Connell said: “We know that people change their driving behaviour when they see a marked police vehicle and using unmarked vehicles is nothing new. However, this is the first time we’ve adopted this approach when it comes to mobile enforcement.

“It’s easy to criticise this approach as being motivated by ticket numbers or revenue. However, we see all too often the devastating consequences the loss of a loved one has on those left behind.

“We’re not going to apologise for how we police our roads if we take the most dangerous drivers off them, especially if it means that we stop just one person from being killed or having to come to terms with a life-changing injury.

“However, with the level of offending across the county, we need to do something different, and the use of unmarked mobile enforcement vehicles might make people think twice before taking unnecessary risks in Northamptonshire.”

BMW has put the brakes on the supply of its cars to police forces in the UK.

BMW’s International & Specialist Sales Division, situated in Park Lane, Mayfair, closed this week, having previously been in charge of the sale of specialist vehicles, such as those used by police forces in the UK.

BMW told Car Dealer Magazine that it would ‘prioritising sales to retail and corporate customers’ and move away from sales to the police and other authorities.

The halt in sales to the police comes in the wake of many UK forces restricting the use of BMW police cars which use the N57 diesel engine.

Some forces stopped them from being used for high-speed duties, instead operating them for ‘less stressful’ operations. The N57 diesel engine features in a number of BMW police vehicles, including the 330d, 530d and X5.

BMW said the problem with the N57 engine was down to the ‘particular way’ police use the vehicles and that there was ‘no need for action on any civilian vehicles’.

In a statement, BMW told Car Dealer: “With high demand for our cars continuing to outstrip supply, we will be prioritising sales to our retail and corporate customers in the future and moving away from some areas of our authorities and specialist business.

“BMW Park Lane has historically been responsible for specialist vehicle sales and so now is being restructured.

“It is proposed that some responsibilities will move into the BMW UK National Sales Company (NSC) in Farnborough. BMW Park Lane is now entering into a consultation period with a small number of impacted staff.”

The average price of petrol has fallen below 150p per litre for the first time in more than 10 months.

Figures from data company Experian show the average price of a litre of the fuel at UK forecourts on Monday was 149.7p.

The reduction of nearly 42p from the record high of 191.5p in July last year, is “a huge relief for drivers”, according to the AA.

The last time the average price of petrol was below 150p per litre was on February 24, last year, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Diesel’s average price on Monday was 172.2p per litre, down nearly 27p compared with the record 199.1p last July.

A 12-month cut in fuel duty of 5p per litre – worth a saving of 6p when VAT is taken into account – was introduced on March 23, 2022.

AA fuel price spokesman Luke Bosdet said: “A 41.8p a litre crash in the average pump price of petrol is a huge relief for drivers, cutting £22.99 from the cost of filling the typical car tank.

“Fuel at 150p a litre is still historically way above the April 2012 record of 142.48p, the previous yardstick of dire pump prices.

“Worse still, road fuel is set for a 6p jump in March when the fuel duty cut comes to an end.

“Indicative of the chaos of UK pump pricing and the rampant exploitation of drivers by many fuel retailers, the AA spotted supermarket and non-supermarket retailers yesterday charging less than 140p a litre in South Wales and Northern Ireland.

“How fuel stations in areas of big populations and high volume sales can charge well over 10p more for fuel than in largely rural parts of the UK is a question that the Competition and Markets Authority will have to address.

“The AA hopes that 2023 will be a year of transformation for fuel prices, where greater pump price transparency, mirroring Northern Ireland’s fuel price checker, will direct motorists to retailers charging fair prices and re-invigorate the level of competition seen before the Covid pandemic.”

London’s roads remain the most congested in the world as life is “returning to normal” as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic recedes, new figures show.

Drivers in the capital spent an average of 156 hours sitting in traffic in 2022, according to a report by traffic information supplier Inrix.

It is the second year in a row that London has topped the global congestion ranking, which covers more than 1,000 cities across 50 countries.

The length of time lost to jams in the city is 5% above pre-coronavirus levels.

London was ranked the world’s eighth most congested city in 2019.

Bob Pishue, transportation analyst and author of the report, said: “It is great to see civic and commercial life returning to normal, but unfortunately we’re seeing congestion inching closer to, if not exceeding, pre-pandemic levels.

“We must manage congestion while improving mobility and accessibility in cities to avoid it hurting economic recovery and impacting the quality of life of commuters and residents.”

Chicago in the US was found to be the world’s second most congested city last year, with drivers spending an average of 155 hours stuck in traffic.

That was followed by the French capital Paris (138 hours) and the US city of Boston (134 hours).

Bristol has the UK’s second worst road congestion (91 hours), followed by Manchester (84 hours), Birmingham (73 hours) and Belfast (72 hours).

The UK’s five most congested road corridors were all found in London.

The most severe was the A219 southbound from Fulham to Morden – a major route out of the capital – on which drivers lost an average of 47 hours last year.

This was partly due to delays caused by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge to motorised vehicles.

Electric vehicle drivers are being charged more to top up their batteries on long journeys than people behind the wheel of petrol cars pay for fuel, according to new analysis.

The RAC said the average price of using rapid chargers on a pay as you go basis has increased by nearly 26p per kilowatt hour (kWh) since May, reaching 70.3p per kWh this month.

This rise – caused by the soaring wholesale costs of gas and electricity – means drivers pay around 20p per mile for their electricity when using the chargers.

The per mile cost for a petrol car achieving an economy of 40 miles to the gallon is just 17p.

The equivalent cost for drivers of diesel cars is 20p per mile.

Most electric car owners predominantly use slower chargers at home, which cost less than half the price of public rapid devices.

But those taking longer trips beyond the range of their car’s battery depend on rapid and ultra rapid public chargers to complete their journeys.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “For drivers to switch to electric cars en masse, it’s vital that the numbers stack up.

“In time, the list price of new electric models will come down but charging quickly has also got to be as affordable as possible.

“It continues to be the case that those who can charge at home or at work and who don’t use the public charging network very often get fantastic value – even given the relatively high domestic energy prices right now.

“Sadly, the same can’t be said for people who either can’t charge at home or at work, or who regularly make longer journeys beyond the range of their cars.

“There’s no question they have to pay far more, and in some cases more than petrol or diesel drivers do to fill up on a mile-for-mile basis.”

Figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show battery electric new cars took a market share of 16.6% in 2022, surpassing diesel for the first time to become the second most popular powertrain after petrol.

Some 22.9% of all new cars registered were plug-in vehicles, which includes pure electrics and plug-in hybrids.

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK will be banned from 2030.

The price of used Teslas has dropped significantly in recent months, with experts blaming the brand’s over-saturation of the market.

Data from car valuation experts Cap HPI showed that of the five worst-depreciating electric cars, three of them are Teslas.

The worst performing was the brand’s popular Model 3 saloon, which lost 23 per cent of its value, or £9,900, in the last 12 months.

The larger Tesla Model S saloon had dropped by 22 per cent over the period to make it the second worst EV for depreciation, while the Model X SUV had decreased in value by 13 per cent in the last year to take fifth position.

Slotting between were the Audi e-tron and Jaguar I-Pace, with these electric SUVs losing 15 and 14 per cent respectively over the period. Cap HPI’s pricing relates to 12-month-old examples with 10,000 miles on the clock.

Speaking to Car Dealer Magazine, which revealed the data, Chris Plumb, Cap HPI valuations expert said: “It has been well documented of late that new car sales of electric vehicles are going from strength to strength, but this is not replicated in the used car market. Battery electric vehicles remained the most challenging area of the used car market throughout the last month of 2022, as values reduced for the fourth consecutive month.”

Experts are blaming the drop in used EV prices on the sharp increase in energy costs, while Teslas specifically have suffered from an oversaturated market because of the huge numbers of new models being registered.

Tom Barnard, editor of EV website Electrifying.com told Car Dealer: “We saw at the end of 2022 that the market for new Teslas was saturated, and the company had to heavily discount and pre-register to try to move stock. That will naturally push down the value of older examples.

“Many of the older Model 3s will have been bought on leases and are now being returned after three years, with a large proportion being sold on the open market where they will find a natural price level rather than through the managed Tesla-owned channels.”

Tesla’s Model Y was the UK’s third most popular new car overall in 2022, while in total the American EV firm registered 54,622 cars in the year, putting it ahead of established brands like Peugeot, Land Rover and Skoda.