Motoring Podcast - News Show (Motoring Podcast)

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT STAFF NOT PAID FOR MONTHS

Recharge Industries, the company that has bought Britishvolt, although not finalised payment yet, has not paid UK staff for the last four months. Once again, the poor staff let down by management. If you would like to read more, including how much belief employees have in the assurances given, click this BBC News article link here.

FOLLOW UP: JLR PARTS ISSUE TO LAST INTO 2024

JLR have confirmed that they are improving the repair parts backlog, they’re experiencing. With the steps being made, they anticipate getting back on track in 2024. The issue has been acknowledged by CEO Adrian Mardell. To read more, click this Jalopnik article link here.

FOLLOW UP: TESLA NOT FOUND LIABLE FOR MODEL 3 CRASH

A jury has decided that Tesla and their Autopilot software are not responsible for the accident that led to the driver’s death and passenger injuries, back in 2019. The claim was the software was faulty, there are arguments that how lawyers are pursing such cases is flawed and will ensure they never win such cases. If you want to read more about the case, click this article link from The Register. To find out more about why Michael DeKort thinks the legal cases are destined to fail, click this LinkedIn post link.

OCTOBER 2023 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

The SMMT published the figures of the new car registrations for October 2023. A big jump in registrations over all, but BEVs only managed to capture 15% market share, which is less than in previous months. Another concern, for the industry, is how reliant they now are on Fleet registrations as Private remained the same as last year. Click here to read more, from the SMMT.

SMMT CONNECTED AND AUTOMATED MOBILITY REPORT

Sticking with the SMMT, they published a report based on KPMG research in to the potential connected and automated mobility aspects of the industry. Whilst a lot of it is incredibly optimistic in terms of potential earnings, impact and job creation, one chart caught Alan’s eye regarding which could be the sectors fastest and most likely to become automated and take advantage of connectivity. To learn more, click this link from the SMMT.

DRIVERLESS FIFE BUS NOW DRIVEN BY A HUMAN DRIVER

The bus that runs between Ferrytoll Park and Ride near Inverkeithing and Edinburgh Park, which is testing an autonomous driving system now is being fully driven by a human driver. You can read more, by clicking this link to a The Courier article.

jLR POSTS RECORD REVENUES

In the last quarter, JLR posted record revenue figures as demand for the Range Rover Sport and Defender was strong. Nice to be able to say something positive about JLR. Click here to read...

Andrew tried out the KIA EV6 GT Line, for a week when the weather was much nicer than now. You can listen to his thoughts on the car, KIA’s approach to electric cars in this instance and if the praise is deserved, in his opinion, that the car has received.

FOLLOW UP: ULEZ SCRAPPAGE SCHEME EXPANDED

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that the scrappage scheme for the London ULEZ expansion has been altered to now cover all residents of London, unlike previously where only a small number of eligible groups were allowed to apply. Click this BBC News article link to read more.

FOLLOW UP: UBER AV FATALITY LEGAL CASE ENDS

The legal case brought against the test operator, Rafaela Vasquez, who was working for Uber in their autonomous vehicle program who was monitoring the system when it hit and killed Elaine Herzberg five years ago, has ended after she pleaded guilty to endangerment. This has resulted in three years probation but avoids any jail time.

Of note is that no charges have ever been brought against Uber or anyone else from the company. Rafaela disputes claims she was watching The Voice on her phone, instead stating she was checking the in-company channel on the app Slack, as the Uber had instructed all operatives to do. Click this article link from WIRED to read more on these developments.

We also strongly recommend you check out a piece from Ed Niedermeyer, discussing the case and what it means for the industry and us drivers. You can read that by clicking this link here.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR JULY 2023

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), have released the registration figures of new cars, for July 2023. Growth continues once again, which is positive news, but it is still over a decade (apart from the previous two years) to find a worse month. EV registration continue to hover around 16%, with diesel continuing to fall. To read more, click this link to the SMMT article.

RESEARCHERS JAILBREAK A TESLA

With physical access to a Tesla researchers have managed to access parts of the system that allow them to enable some options and activate them, without handing over their money to the company. As more companies fit all options and then hide them behind extra payments we will likely see a rise in such activities. You can find out more by clicking this TechCrunch article link here.

CALIFORNIA DATA PRIVACY AGENCY INVESTIGATES CAR DATA

Californian’s privacy regulator has announced it is investigating the collection and sharing of data by connected cars. This follows some moves in Europe. Click here to learn more, from a MSM news link.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Toyota Land Cruiser

Alan clarifies the different model sizes of the range, which many in the US could’ve done with understanding when reporting on the reveal of the new Land Cruiser. The looks have been inspired by their historical models but they have managed not to create a pastiche. In the UK we will get the same 2.8 litre diesel until late...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT BOUGHT BY RECHARGE INDUSTRIES

The troubled British battery startup has been bought by Australian firm Recharge Industries, but that means a pivot to battery storage and away from automotive - at least for the moment.

Click here to read the main BBC story and click here for the thread by Peter Campbell of the Financial Times.

STELLANTIS POSTS RECORD PROFITS

Stellantis has posted record profits while also recording a 41% rise global EV sales. Is this because of supply chain constraints forcing them to focus on building their most profitable models?

Click here to read the Autocar story.

CITROEN BOSS STEPS DOWN

In a surprise move, Citroen boss Vincent Cobée has left the company.

Click here to read the Motor1 story.

SONO STYMIES SOLAR SION

German solar panel startup Sono has ended its project to produce the Sion solar-augmented EV, instead it’s going to focus on producing solar cells suitable for vehicles through its existing partnerships.

Click here to read the Move Electric story.

MOBILITY APP SHOWS CO2 COST OF BUSINESS TRAVEL

A new app can help calculate the total CO2 cost of employee business travel across all modes and can help benchmarking against similar organizations.

Click here for the full Autocar story.

ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS TO HELP EV MOTORWAY CHARGING

National Highways is planning an £8million investment in containerized battery EV chargers for some high demand English service stations with limited electricity supply.

Click here for the full Motoring Research story.

More funding for Councils to expand ev charging

Some English councils have won a share of £56million to expand their local EV charging networks.

Click here for the move Electric Story.

Firms greenwashing their products face steep fines

New rules will prevent companies from selling their products and services on claims that may be false or impossible to prove.

Click here for the Guardian article.

Bentley W12 reaches the end of the line in the Batur

Bentley’s W12 engine will bow out in 2024 in the limited-production Batur.

Click here for the Autocar article.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that

FOLLOW UP: PARIS VOTES TO CHARGE EXTRA FOR HEAVY CARS

Just under six percent of eligible Parisians voted on charging extra for non resident parking permitted heavier vehicles, with 54.6% voting for this. Therefore, internal combustion engined cars (ICE) weighing over 1.6 tonnes and electric vehicles weighing over 2 tonnes, will be charged extra. Click here to read a misleadingly headlined article from The Guardian that is an example of some of the pathetic reporting on this matter.

FOLLOW UP: LITHIA TAKEOVER PENDRAGON

Lithia, the US based firm, has finally taken over the motor retail group, Pendragon. This makes Lithia the second biggest retailer in the UK, ahead of Arnold Clark but behind Sytner. You can read more by clicking this AMOnline article link here.

JANUARY 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

SMMT has released the January 2024 new car registration figures. They are up on 2023, but still down on the Before Times. Fleet is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, with Private down once again. Worryingly, in the first month of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, the battery electric vehicle (BEV) share is only 14.7%, well below the 22% required from each manufacturer. Click here to read an interesting article from Tristan Young in Broker News, which hints that the figures could have been even worse. For the SMMT article and detail, click this link here.

RENAULT CANCELS IPO FOR EV DIVISION AMPERE

Renault has confirmed that they will not separate their electric vehicle division, Ampere, and list it on the stock exchange. The reasoning is that the market is “sluggish”, which has also been compounded with a slow down in EV uptake across Europe at the end of the year. The company is adamant that they are cash rich and their ambitions are not dependent on an IPO. If you wish to learn more, click this article link from Reuters here.

VW PAUSES IPO OF BATTERY DIVISION

Volkswagen has paused proceeding with listing their battery division, PowerCo, with the EV market slowing in Europe. On top of that, they have not yet decided where their fourth battery factory will be located in Europe. Click this electrive article link to read more on the IPO situation. For the battery factory story, click this InsideEVs article link here.

For the Autocar article on the subject of the stock market and EV companies, click this link here.

VOLVO TO STOP FUNDING POLESTAR

Amongst the detail of Volvo’s 2023 financial results, they announced that they will be ceasing to continue to fund Polestar and be focusing solely on their own projects. This could lead to Volvo selling their shares or Geely just buying more. They will continue to partner up over...

NEW CTO FOR RENAULT GROUP

Philippe Krief will become the chief technical officer for the Renault Group on 1 September 2024, taking over the role from Gilles Le Borgne. Krief will continue his role at Alpine. To learn more, click this YahooFinance link here.

NEW EU TYRE RULES COME INTO FORCE

New rules for tyres, from the EU, mean that they will need to have the same wet braking standards new as when they have 1.6mm tread left. This will increase safety and also it is hoped will mean drivers do not swap to newer tyres before they need to. The idea might mean that production CO2 emissions will be cut by up to 35 million tons. There is no confirmation the rules will be adopted in the UK. Click this EVO article link to read more.

LIDL TO ENABLE EV CHARGING PAYMENTS VIA LOYALTY APP

Lidl is the first UK supermarket to allow for EV charging payments to be made via their loyalty app. They have approximately 370 charging points across the country. If you want to learn more, click this link from EV Powered.

ARRIVAL BUYS 51 VOLVO ELECTRIC BUSES FOR LONDON

Servicing just two routes Arrival will add 51 new electric Volvo double decker buses for Transport for London. To be fitted with the biggest battery capacity these will help improve air quality along the routes. You can read more by clicking this electrive article link here.

TVR FACTORY NO SHOW TO COST WELSH TAXPAYERS MILLIONS

Due to TVR Automotive not using a site earmarked for their factory, in South Wales, the Government of the principality could be out of pocket to the tune of nearly five million pounds. TVR are now looking to located somewhere in Hampshire. Click this AMOnline article link to read about this story.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Audi A5

Audi have revealed their new replacement for the A4 saloon and Avants. Now named the A5, due to a change in their policy, this will be longer and wider than the previous model. Additionally the interior is heavily revamped with liberal use of screens. Powertrains will be petrol, diesel, mild hybrid and a PHEV. A S5 is also coming. Click this EVO link to read more.

Renault Traffic E-Tech

Renault has revealed details of their mid sized van, the Traffic, in EV guise. A maximum range of 186 miles, with an ability to fully charge in about an hour on a 50kW DC charger. The vehicle can carry a...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT BUYER FOUND

The Administrator for Britishvolt, EY, has narrowed down the options to the Australian firm Recharge. They are a start up and have not constructed a major project during their time. At the same time that they target getting a battery factory built in the UK they will be trying to do that same in Australia. Click here to learn more, by reading The Guardian article.

FOLLOW UP: NEW DEAL DETAILS FOR THE REBEL ALLIANCE

Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi announced the details for the restructuring of the alliance this week. We knew about the changes to share ownership but they also confirmed investment in Ampere by Nissan and that Mitsubishi is considering joining. To read more about the story, click this link to a Yahoo Finance article.

JANUARY 2023 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

SMMT has released the New Car Registration figures for January 2023 and they are up on last year. Whilst it is an improvement you have to go back to 2012 for a worse year. Petrol and BEVs are up, with PHEVs also slightly increasing their numbers and diesel is down. Click here to read Tristan Young’s always excellent thread.

The SMMT is calling on the Government to help with the charging network and also with VED. Click here to find out more via their article.

FORD EXECS GET SMALLER BONUS

Due to the poorer than expected results, Ford executives are receiving a smaller than anticipated bonus, whilst non decision making staff are not affected by this change. Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, stated that it was unfair on staff who could not fix the issues that have impacted on the company’s earnings. Click here to learn more from the Detroit Free Press.

Talks are apparently underway between BYD and Ford, over the Saalouis factory that is slated for closure. This would give the Chinese company a foothold in Europe quite quickly. However, not everyone agrees, with some thinking it is quicker for BYD to build their pown facility. Click here for the link to the The Driven article to read more.

Even more reports suggest that Ford is looking at large job loses in Europe, with one figure being as high as 3,200. To learn more, click this link to an Autocar Business article link.

ARRIVAL CUTS MORE staff

Arrival, the beleaguered commercial EV start up has announced the cutting of a further 800 jobs. This is on the back of a senior management reshuffle where the two top jobs just swapped nameplates. Click this Guardian article link for more.

MERCEDES UNVEILS BEVISIONEERS CHARITY

Eyebrows were raised when Mercedes sold one of two

FOLLOW UP: BIDIRECTIONAL CAMERAS CATCH 3200 DRIVERS

In the first 15 days of operation, the four bidirectional cameras, installed by Devon and Cornwall councils, has been triggered 3200 times. One camera was activated 120 times a day. Thanks to listener Mark Snow for bringing this to our attention! Click here to read more from the BBC News article.

UK CAR INDUSTRY CALLS ON NEXT GOVERNMENT FOR HELP

The SMMT has moved on to calling to the next Government, whoever that is, to help secure the future of the car industry in the UK. They have laid out five pledges it hopes any of our politicians will pick up and run with. Click here, on this link, to learn more of this desperate move in the face of political apathy from all corners.

SUPERMARKETS RIP MOTORISTS OFF

Supermarkets have been found to have ripped the British motorists off, due to weak competition allowing them to charge 6p per litre more than they should have. One of the recommendations, from the Competitions and Markets Authority, is to force supermarkets to publish live prices in order that we consumers can compare and find the cheapest. There is no guarantee this will be implemented. Click this BBC News article here, to learn more.

AUDI SACK CEO MARKUS DUESMANN

The CEO of Audi, Markus Duesmann, has been sacked following very public criticism from VW Group CEO Oliver Blume. Duesmann was brought in by Diess, from BMW. He will be replaced by Gernot Doellner, the current VW Group strategy boss. Whilst Audi’s performance has not got close to the hopes from VW, there is context that shows it is not all his fault. Click this Twitter thread from Matthias Schmidt for context of what he inherited. To read more about the overall story, click this Forbes article link written by Michael Taylor.

HYUNDAI AND TOYOTA EV ADS BANNED

After a brief spell of being in agreement with the Advertising Standards Authority over dealer price claims, we return to normal service. Toyota and Hyundai adverts for their EVs have been banned because they do not warn people there is only a small number of the very fastest charge points available. On top of that, the complaints stated to achieve the fastest charge there were a number of variables that could thwart the process. You can read more by clicking this article link from The Times.

SURVEY SUGGESTS DEMAND FOR EVS BELOW REQUIREMENTS

A survey by Auto Retail Bulletin has revealed that current demand for EVs falls below next year’s imposed requirement by the Government of 22%. 60% of respondents state demand is below 15% and a third say it is below 10%. That would mean the car industry paying the UK Government a lot of money. However, most likely there will be a throttling of non compliant model availability, as we have seen previously. For more on this story, click this Auto Retail Network link.

HMRC SAYS EV NUMBERS ARE CLIMBING AS DIESEL FALLS

In this week’s...

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR AUGUST 2023

For the first time, in a long time, the new car registration overall figure for August is close to those of the before times, being just under seven thousand less than 2019 numbers. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) jumped to a 20.1% market share for the month, unfortunately the year to date is still stuck in the 16s. The SMMT make it very clear they desperately need the Government to reveal what the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate will actually be as, astonishingly, they have not revealed what it will actually entail. Click here to read more about August from this SMMT article link.

NEW EV MINIS WILL BE BUILT IN THE UK

BMW is investing £600 million in their Oxford and Swindon plants to enable it to build the new Mini Cooper Electric and the Mini Aceman. This secures around 4,000 jobs and does include some financial support from the UK Government. To find out more, you can click this Autocar article link here.

CAMBRIDGE CONGESTION CHARGE CANCELLED

The plans for charging vehicles to drive in and around Cambridge, during peak times, has been shelved. The Lib Dems expressed “concerns” which removed much of the previous support for the scheme. Labour confirmed they too had concerns over certain aspects of the proposals. However, it was acknowledged that something will have to be done. If you wish to find out more, click this BBC News article link here.

EV NETWORK AND BP PULSE OPEN UK’S LARGEST CHARGING HUB

The NEC Campus is the location for EV Network and BP Pulse’s new charging hub, which is the largest in the UK. There are 16 rapid 300kW chargers and 150 7kW charging points, with provision for some accessible bays in both rapid and fast areas. Click this ZapMap article link to read more.

RICHMOND BOROUGH TO INSTALL 525 MORE CHARGE POINTS

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames has announced it will be installing a further 525 on-street charge points across its area to bring the total up to 945. You can read more from the electrive.com article via this link here.

LIVERPOOL HYDROGEN BUS PROJECT SCRAMBLES FOR FUEL

A flagship hydrogen bus project, based in Liverpool, has not been running as the operator struggles to find a fuel supplier. The hope is for the situation to be solved soon, with the source also being sustainably produced. To learn more, click this link here from Hydrogeninsight.

Montpellier is cancelling their hydrogen bus experiment due to the high running costs, when compared to electric buses. Hydrogen has been calculated as six times more expensive that the equivalent electric. Click this Recharge article link to read more.

MOZILLA CLAIMS CAR DATA PRIVACY IS APPALLING

The Mozilla Foundation has investigated car brands over...

RAC RECOMMENDS DITCHING FUEL DUTY CUT

The RAC, who have long been highlighting how fuel retailers are not passing on the fuel duty cut to consumers, have recommended to the Government that they remove this in the upcoming Budget. Their argument is that drivers are not seeing the benefit and companies are only lining their pockets. To read more on this, click the link here to a BBC News article.

HACKNEY PROPOSAL FOR MOTORCYCLE PARKING CHALLENGED

A legal challenge has been filled against Hackney Council after their proposal to impose a parking fee at the same rate as a car, for residents. The council expects the move to reduce motorcycle commuting by 70%, in the face of evidence that it is better to shift from a car to a motorcycle. To help this challenge succeed a crowdfunding campaign is in operation. Click this link to a Motorcycle Action Group page for more.

HYUNDAI UPDATES MODEL PLANS

Hyundai is the latest company to announce a revision to their model and powertrain plans, in the face of market conditions. They will expand their hybrid offerings, including adding a range-extender. These moves, it hopes, will counter the fears that markets have about making the switch to fully electric vehicles. If you want to read more, click this AMOnline article link here.

LOTUS SLASHES SALES FORECAST

Lotus, blaming tariffs on Chinese built EVs, has slashed its sales forecast from 55,000 vehicles to just 12,000. With next year being down from 76,000 to 30,000. In the first half of 2024 Lotus sold 4873 cars globally. Whilst this is a record, it is no where near where it needed to be if 55,000 were to be sold. Click this Autocar article link here, to read more.

NEW CEO FOR POLESTAR

Thomas Ingenlath has resigned as CEO of Polestar, he will be replaced by ex-Opel-Vauxhall boss Michael Lohscheller. Lohscheller, recently, was the CEO of Vinfast and president of Nikola Motors. You can read more about this, by clicking this Autocar article link here.

HMRC CUTS EV MILEAGE RATES

HMRC has announced that they are cutting the Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs) for EVs, reducing it to 7ppm, from 8ppm. There are, as a result, calls to change how this is done because it does not actually cover the costs of business users, especially if they do not have a home charger. Click this FleetNews article link for more.

LEX AUTOLEASE PROFITS PLUNGE £400M

Lex Autolease, the business leasing company, has announced a drop in pre-tax profits of £400 million, in the face of increased revenues. A large portion of this is attributed to the fall in EV residuals at rates far more than anticipated. As we have said on the show, there are consequences which will impact both new and second hand markets. Click...

NISSAN TO INVEST FURTHER IN SUNDERLAND PLANT

Nissan is investing a further £2 billion in their Sunderland facilities, with the confirmation that the next generation Qashqai and Juke, both to be electric only, will be built alongside the Leaf. If you wish to learn more, click this Autocar link here.

HYUNDAI BRINGS GENESIS OPERATION IN HOUSE

Hyundai UK is brining the administrative operations of the Genesis brand, in-house from early 2024. On top of this, there will be a move away from an online only presence with some showrooms being utilised. More can be read on this by clicking through on this Autocar link here.

JLR UPGRADES SECURITY ON OLDER MODELS

Older models from the Range Rover brand are being retrofitted with improved security, after a flaw has been exploited by thieves for several years. JLR has spent £10 million in fixing the issue and updating customer cars. Click here to find out more, from Autocar.

TOYOTA HILUX ADVERT BANNED

A Toyota Hilux advert that showed off the capabilities of the four-wheel drive pick up has been banned for being socially irresponsible, in the eyes of the Advertising Standards Agency. Watch out car makers, do not show your vehicles doing what they were designed for. Click this link to the AMOnline article, to find out more and also see a video showing you what is now deemed socially irresponsible.

PARIS TO VOTE ON WEIGHT BASED PARKING CHARGES

The Mayor of Paris has announced that Paris citizens will be given the opportunity to vote on basing parking charges on the weight of cars. Any internal combustion engined car over 1.6 tons or EVs over 2 tons, will be charged extra if the plans are approved. To find out more, click this electrive article link here.

INDUCTION CHARGING POSITIONING STANDARD AGREED

SAE International, the global standards organisation equivalent to BSi, has agreed upon an induction charge aliment standard, based on the Mahle solution. The German based company calls their system DIPS, Differential Inductive Positioning System. More can be read on this, by clicking this electrive link here.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Peugeot e-3008

Peugeot has revealed their next generation 3008, whilst being an EV which is to be expected they have, unfortunately for fans of the current generation, decided to make it a coupe SUV. Brave move cutting off a huge chunk of your existing customer base by making it less practical and attractive to families. Click this Autocar link to find out more.

Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Electric

If you do need a practical electric vehicle, then Vauxhall may have the car for you in the form of the...

JAPAN MOBILITY SHOW 2023

Alan and Andrew are rounding up the motoring element of the Japan Mobility Show 2023, which is the replacement for the Tokyo Motor Show. The organisers have expanded the remit and potential audience. There are stands about everything from wheelchairs to private jets and all things between.

TINY CARS

As this is Japan you can imagine just how many tiny and kei cars there were. We have picked only a small fraction to discuss.

Honda CI-MEV

Daihatsu ME:Mo

Daihatsu UNIFORM Truck and UNIFORM Cargo

Daihatsu Copen

SPORTS CARS

In selecting all the cars that are in here, some stretching of the definition of “sports” has occurred. Do bear with us as we try to explain why the choices that have been made, have been made.

Honda Prelude

Mazda Iconic SP

Honda Sustania-C

Toyota FT-3e

Toyota FT-Se

Nissan Hyper Force

ELECTRIC SUVS

As you would expect, there was a lot of electric SUVs on display. Here we have picked some of the more interesting ones, to our eyes.

Nissan Hyper Punk

Nissan Hyper Adventure

Toyota Land Cruiser Se

Toyota EPU

FEEDBACK

As this is only the second time we have tried to do this multimedia style approach, where we are showing what we discuss (if your player can display the photos), we would like your feedback. We know there are things to improve, but if you could let us know if the efforts we have gone to are okay or not, that would be great.

TATA BATTERY FACTORY TO BE BUILT IN THE UK

Tata, Jaguar Land Rover owners, have finally confirmed thanks to Government help their battery factory will be built in the UK and not Spain. Production is planned to start from 2026, with the aim being to produce 40GWh of batteries when fully operational. These will be sold to the mobility and energy industries. Click this Autocar article link for more.

JLR CONFIRM ADRIAN MARDELL AS PERMANENT CEO

Adrian Mardell stepped in to fill the void following the departure of Thierry Bolloré several months ago. This was only a temporary appointment, however, Tata has announced that he will take over the role on a permanent basis. You can find out more by clicking this Autocar Business link here.

SUPERMARKET FUEL PROFITS MORE THAN DOUBLE

The RAC continues to hound the supermarkets over their fuel pricing. They have established that since the start of the Ukrainian war, supermarket’s profit per litre of fuel has doubled as they have not passed savings onto us consumers. More can be read on this, by clicking the link to the Autocar article here.

LOTUS TO CUTS JOBS

Lotus announced an already planned cull of approximately 200 jobs when releasing their financial results. The company is at pains to stress these were not the result of the increased losses of £145.1 million. A consultation is underway regarding the proposal. Click here to find out more, via an Autocar Business link.

ALPINE GET A NEW CEO

Laurent Rossi is being moved to a Renault Group position as Philippe Krief, ex-Ferrari engineering boss, takes over as CEO. No real explanation has been given for the change. More can be read on this by clicking this article link from Automotive News Europe.

CHROME PLATING TO BE BANNED

Chrome plating is set to be banned in Europe and the US, for new cars due to the dangers of the process and chemicals involved. This won’t actually make too much difference as very little actual chrome is used in today’s cars. Click this Autocar article link to read more.

ANTI FRAUD SERVICE FOR USED CAR ADVERTS AVAILABLE

Brego, a vehicle valuation company, has launched the Brego Advert Check to help second hand car buyers establish if an ad is potentially fraudulent. The price, compared to the market expectations, along with searching for the pictures used online and wording, are all utilised to evaluate the legitimacy of the advert. There is a case study in the article linked to from Autocar which you can read by clicking this link.

CLEVER SPEED REGULATION IDEAS FROM FRANCE

In France they are trialling some clever ideas to get motorists to slow down that is not all about enforcement but changing behaviour. One idea is a speed detector synched to traffic lights, which is the vehicle is at or below the speed limit...

FOLLOW UP: CHINA SAYS EU TARIFFS ON EVS BREAK WTO RULES

China has said the tariffs imposed by the EU on Chinese made electric cars break the World Trade Organisation’s rules. On top of which the claim is the findings from the initial report and ruling are factually incorrect too. There is no confirmation that they have lodged legal proceedings with the WTO yet, but they state they reserve the right to do so. Click this Reuters article link to read more.

JLR INCREASES SPENDING DUE TO EV TRANSITION ISSUES

JLR has stated that it is increasing its five year investment plan spending by another £3 billion, as the transition to an EV market is not happening as quickly as many would like. They feel they are having to develop ICE and hybrid platforms alongside the electric only, as a result. If you wish to learn more, click this Autocar article link here.

On top of that news, Jaguar announced it will reveal its EV concept in December with no cars being delivered before 2026. To read more on that, click this Autocar link here.

LAMBORGHINI POSTS BEST HALF-YEAR RESULTS

Lamborghini delivered 5558 vehicles, resulting in a 14.1% increase in profits of £387 million. This is helped by an increase of 28.2% of car prices. At this current rate they will deliver more cars than they did in their record breaking year, 2023. You can read more about this, by clicking here for an Autocar link.

VW TO CONCENTRATE ON COST CUTTING

Volkswagen Group has announced that it will be pushing their cost cutting program in the second half of the year as it looks to increase margins. CARIAD is one focus, according to CEO Blume. Constraining production would also be further enacted. Click this Reuters article link to read more.

PROPOSED EU BATTERY REGULATION CHANGES CAUSE ANGER

The German car industry is up in arms about proposed changes to the EV battery regulations, for 2027. The idea is to grade a battery on a country’s energy production mix, which will impact Germany that are more carbon intensive after shutting all their nuclear plants. France, is in favour of the rule change, unsurprisingly when one looks at their energy production mix. To find out more, click this electrive article link here.

CHINESE EV MAKER HIPHI FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

To manage to go bankrupt, as a Chinese EV maker with plans to export across the globe, considering the amount of assistance the Government will give its home grown companies, takes quite the effort, but HiPhi have managed it. If you wish to learn more, click this Autocar article link here.

FORD WORKERS TO GO ON STRIKE OVER CHANGES...

WARNING ISSUED FOR UK NEW CAR MARKET

Cox Automotive, the automotive consultancy that helps those selling cars, has warned that the last quarter of 2024 will be very difficult for brands and dealers in the UK. They have gone so far as to liken the struggles they foresee as similar to those faced in the economic turmoil of the 2008 financial crash. To read more and get a better understanding of what is facing OEMs, click this Autocar article link here.

CATERHAM SEPARATES EV BUSINESS

Caterham has created a separate business that is focused on the EV side of things. Named Caterham Evo, it has been funded by investors as profits from the main business are not enough for the development. For more on this, click here to read the Autocar article.

FORD REVISING EV PLANS

Ford has announced it is canning a planned three-row large electric SUV, which will now be a hybrid, will pursue a mid-sized pick-up (that’s mid sized for the US, so think Ranger) and will refuse to launch an EV unless it can be profitable in the first 12 months, according to InsideEVs. This will add costs and delay product launches. Click here to read more.

COUNCILS TO DECIDE ON SPEED LIMITS AND LTNS

Louise Haigh, the new Transport Secretary, has stated that councils will decide if roads should be 20mph and if areas should be covered by Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTNs) schemes. However, she did say that the implementation or not, needs to involve the local communities. If you want to read more on this, click this Autocar article link here.

TOYOTA US DATA STOLEN

Toyota US has had data stolen and leaked. This data included customer, staff, financial, contracts and credentials. There is speculation that the information has come from a back up server as one date found, on the files, was December 2022. To find out more, click this Bleeping Computer link here.

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As discussed in the show, there is a new way to play podcasts on non-Apple devices as they have brought the Podcast app to web browsers. Click this Podnews link to find out how to install and use it on your device. Thank you to James Cridland, the editor at Podnews, for making it easy to help more people listen to podcasts (and hopefully ours) with that guide.

NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Mazda EZ-6

Mazda unveiled the EZ-6 at a Chinese motor show, originally for that market, but is now coming to Europe with a chance it will be brought to the UK too. The design is the antidote to all the swooshes, slashes and dents that seem to be so very en vogue. Click this Autocar

FOLLOW UP: CAZOO TO CLOSE SOME UK SITES

Following on the heals of their retreat from Europe Cazoo has confirmed that it will be closing some UK sites, in a bid to help their finances. The plan is to focus on selling fewer cars than last year but prioritising higher margin models. There will also be changes to senior management as the CEO and Chairman roles are to be split, with current CEO Alex Chesterman retaining the Chairman seat but Paul Whitehead becoming Chief Executive Officer. Click here to read more, from AMOnline.

FOLLOW UP: MOT CHANGES PROPOSED AGAIN

The UK Government has returned to proposals for changing the timing of MOTs, despite the outcry last time. The excuse of saving money was aired once more but now the claim that advanced technology such as LKAS will ensure safety is maintained. Motoring groups are united in condemning this idea. Again. Click this Autocar link to read more.

FOLLOW UP: PARIS RESIDENTS TO DECIDE ESCOOTER FATE

The Mayor of Paris has decided that she wants the residents of the city to decide if they should have e-scooters or not. The three companies involved have implemented and proposed a number of measures to ease the concerns around their use. The referendum will be held on 2 April 2023. For more on this story, click the Move Electric article link here.

TESLA SELF-DRIVING VIDEO STAGED

The head of Autopilot software for Tesla confirmed, under oath, that the 2016 video claiming to demonstrate Autopilot driving the car without a human driver involved was staged. The video explicitly claims the person sat in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. This is testimony from a lawsuit connected to a 2018 fatal crash. Click here to read more, from Reuters.

For more context on the issue of safety and Tesla software, click this Twitter thread from Mahmood Hikmet running through some of the shocking information that has come out.

2022 FAVOURITE COLOURS

With virtually no surprise, grey once again is the UK’s favourite colour to daub on our brand new shiny cars. Whilst monochrome was the predominant hue last year it was nice to see that brown, sorry bronze, orange, yellow and green all increased in their visibility. Click here for the SMMT article running through all the details.

Interestingly, sports cars do not conform to the mainstream trends quite as tightly. Click here for a Tweet from SportsandGT that links to a video running through those colour preferences.

BAC NAMES EX-MCLAREN CEO AS CHAIRMAN

Mike Flewitt, the ex CEO of McLaren has been named as the Chairman of Briggs Automotive Company. This appointment has occurred just as they enter the next stage of their scaling up.

FOLLOW UP: ARRIVAL ‘PAUSES’ JV WITH MERCEDES

Recently Arrival announced a joint-venture with Mercedes-Benz, to make electric vans in Europe. However, they have just stated there will be a ‘pause’ in the deal as they focus on the US market and becoming cash flow positive. You can learn more by clicking this Reuters link here.

REGULATOR STATES FUEL PRICES NOT DROPPING FAST ENOUGH

Competition and Markets Authority has concluded their investigation into retailer fuel prices, with the conclusion that they do not fall quick enough, especially compared to the increases. This is not surprising to anyone, as we have all seen the price gouging by those making huge profits. Click this Autocar link to learn more.

BMW FINED BY UK REGULATOR OVER LACK OF DATA

According to the BMW Group the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has no jurisdiction to demand information from it, only BMW UK, over the investigation into anti-competitive practices that is running concurrently with the European one. The CMA disagrees and is now fining the company. More can be read on this by clicking this MSM news article link.

TOYOTA RESHAPING EV STRATEGY

Toyota is reshaping their three staged EV strategy to move certain aspects further up the timescale. They will be holding a large call with relevant supplies in February 2023. To learn what this means, click this Market Screener link here.

VW BOARD TO BE GIVEN SOFTWARE ‘REALITY CHECK’

Oliver Blum, the VW Group CEO, will present what is being described as a ‘reality check’ of their software program, to the Group board. The much heralded V2.0 release will likely be put back from 2026 to at least 2028. Don’t forget one VW CEO has lost their job thanks to their software woes. Click this Reuters link to learn more.

M&S TEAMS UP WITH BP PULSE FOR EV CHARGERS

Furthering their partnership, where M&S stores can be found at BP forecourts, BP Pulse is going to be the provider for rapid EV chargers installed at shops across the country. The plan is for 900 to be installed, being a mix of 50kW and 150kW capable chargers. To read more, click this Move Electric article here.

WHEELCHAIR FRIENDLY EV DESIGN COMPETITION LAUNCHED

Motability and Callum Design have teamed up to launch a design competition for students to come up with a future-proof and affordable design for wheelchair friendly EVs. 60 submissions have already been received with the winner being announced in January 2023. Click here to learn more, from the Move Electric article.

UK ESCOOTER LAWS DELAYED

Surprising no one, the Government has confirmed there will be a delay in producing laws designed to take account of escooters and their use...

FOLLOW UP: US LAWMAKERS ATTEMPT AM LOSS U-TURN

Senators in the US are banding together to try and create a bill that will force car makers to install the option of AM Radio in all new cars. The claim is that removing it weakens the Government’s ability to issue emergency broadcasts. Click here to read the Autoevolution article.

GEELY INCREASES STAKE IN ASTON MARTIN

After several attempts to increase their investment in Aston Martin, that Lance Stroll had rebuffed, Geely announced that it now owns 17% of the brand. This makes them the third largest shareholder. To read more, click this EVO article link here.

CALL FOR OVER-70S TO GET MANDATORY EYE CHECKS

Older Drivers Forum, as road safety organisation, has called for all drivers to take a mandatory eye-test as they hit 70 and every three years recurring. This sounds like an eminently sensible idea that we hope will become law. You can find out more, by clicking this Autocar link here.

CAR INDUSTRY WARNS OF RULES OF ORIGIN IMPACT

Vauxhall, quickly followed by Ford, brought up the issue of Rules of Origin, where parts and vehicles imported into the UK from Europe, and vice versa, face a 10% surcharge bringing into question the viability of UK car factories. The car industry has urged the Government to renegotiate a deal with Europe to prevent the cost implications. To read more, click this BBC News article discussing Vauxhall’s position.

This is an issue that has been known and discussed by a few for some time. Click this Autocar article link, from Jim Holder explaining the issues and consequences.

You can read more about the lack of industry strategy, at a Governmental level, how that is hurting the industry and may mean it dies altogether, by clicking this The Guardian link.

CALLS FOR GLOUCESTERSHIRE ROADS TO BE DECLARED AN EMERGENCY

Paul Hodgkinson, a Gloucestershire County Councillor, has called for the poor state of roads in the county to be declared an emergency. The Highways Department had “30 teams” working to address road repairs. They also stated they met Government targets to fix high safety priorities within one day and other safety issues within 28 days. Click this BBC News article for more information.

MERCEDES PINK NOISE DEPLOYED TO SAVE HEARING

This is not a new thing, as Mercedes-Benz has been adding this to their cars since 2015, however it is amazing. If the car detects it is about to have an incident, pink noise is played through the speakers which causes occupant’s ear drums to close over and prevent loud noises from hurting and disorientating them. Click this Uncrate link here and watch the video for more.

NIO UNVEILS GEN 3 BATTERY SWAP STATION

NIO, the Chinese EV...

FOLLOW UP: ARAMCO FINALLY AGREE TO HORSE STAKE

The joint-venture between Geely and Renault, for engine technology, called Horse, has finally managed to get Aramco on board as the third partner. They are expected to take a 10% share in the company. To read more, click this link to a Reuters article here.

VW THROWS $1B LIFELINE TO RIVIAN

Volkswagen and Rivian announced a partnership, with VW investing $1 billion initially into the US EV start up. The German company has stated it wants access to the battery technology and full software stack Rivian has developed. A further $4 billion could come from Volkswagen if certain criteria are met. This helps Rivian survive a little longer, but raises big questions about CARIAD. Click this Tech Crunch article link for more.

Click this Christiaan Hetzner Twitter thread for more about CARIAD and why the deal brings it’s existence into question.

If you would like to read more about Rivian’s ambitions, click this autoevolution article link here.

STELLANTIS THREATEN TO CLOSE UK MANUFACTURING

Stellantis’s UK managing director has stated that they will make a decision in “less than a year”. They want help from the UK Government, including incentives for private buyers to encourage more EVs to be bought. On top of that, more is demanded for businesses to encourage them to buy more EV vans. To read more, click this article link from The Guardian.

RENAULT UK GET A NEW MD

Renault UK has announced that Guillame Sicard will take up a new post in Renault France, with Adam Wood becoming the managing director on 1 October 2024, as well as the country manager for Renault Group. Click this AMOnline article link to read more.

PEUGEOT UK GET A NEW BOSS

As Adam Wood has resigned from his position as managing director of Peugeot UK and moved to Renault UK, Eurig Druce who was vice president of Stellantis Sales. To read more, click this AMOnline article link here.

NEW CAR PARK INDUSTRY CODE OF PRACTICE

The car parking industry, in an attempt to avoid direct intervention by the UK Government, has announced a number of new standards they will work to from the autumn. However, the whole industry does not need to be compliant until December 2026. Motoring groups have stated how little this does to change the situation. You can read more by clicking this BBC News article link here.

SUGGESTION ON DEALING WITH CAR WEIGHT INCREASE

A group of academics have...

Follow Up: CRUISE FIRE NINE EXECS IN ACCIDENT AFTERMATH

Following the internal investigation by GM, into the incident where a pedestrian was dragged by a Cruise driverless vehicle, nine executives from the company have been sacked. Departments affected include Legal, Government Affairs, Commercial Operations and Safety and Systems. On top of that General Motors has stated that it is cutting 900 staff from the offshoot. Click here to read more, from The Register.

Follow-Up: FRANCE EV SUBSIDY ELIGIBILITY LIST PUBLISHED

France has published a list of electric vehicles that will be eligible for governmental subsidy, following the inclusion of production environmental calculations. Surprising no one, but Chinese made vehicles will not get financial help. This will come into force from 1 January 2024. You can read more, by clicking this link here to an electrive article.

FOLLOW UP: CLEVEDON WIGGLY LINES ROAD CHANGES AGAIN

An independent investigation into the controversial changes to Clevedon’s sea front has recommended reinstating some diagonal parking spaces. Many are still unhappy with this, wanting a return to the original layout before any changes were made. Additionally the council is investigating if they need to return the funding, if they make these changes, and how to pay for it. This link here, will explain more thanks to the BBC News article.

EU VOTES FOR CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS SECURITY LAW

With the push to electric vehicles the risk that the region could be held to ransom by other countries has pushed the EU Parliament to vote on bringing a law regarding critical raw materials. This will require up to 45% of recycling, as well as increasing the amount extracted in Europe. Click here to read more in an electrive article.

TESLA RECALL DUE TO AUTOPILOT FLAWS

Tesla has been forced to announce a recall for their Autopilot system in the US, which is the name for their driver assistance technology such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist and the likes. They are delivering it by an over-the-air update. The results are more frequent reminders for the driver to pay attention. To find out why this has happened, click this link to an electrive article.

For a bit of background to all of this, click this link to a Rolling Stone article written by Ed Niedermeyer.

CARIAD TO CUT COSTS INSTEAD OF JOBS

CARIAD, the software division of the Volkswagen Group, has agreed with unions to cut costs to prevent job losses. By 2028 there must be a reduction of costs of 20%. You can learn more by clicking this link to an Investing article.

GENERAL SAFETY REGULATIONS MANDATE MORE TECH

The new General Safety Regulations (GSR2) have been published. These tie together a few different regulations, into the one but also add more technology that must be fitted as standard on vehicles. This will obviously lead to a rise in costs. To find out more and exactly what...

FOLLOW UP: VW AND AUDI AGREE DIESELGATE DEAL WITH TEXAS

Volkswagen and Audi have agreed, in principle, a settlement deal with the State of Texas over breaking environmental laws because of dieselgate. A sum of $85 million will be paid. Click this US News article link for more.

FOLLOW UP: EV GRITTER NAMES

After mentioning looking forward to seeing the EV gritter names on last week’s show, we have had some suggestions. Jouletide Grittings, Salt Watter and DeICEr. Thank you to Nir Kahn for those, they’re wonderful. Feel free to send the chaps your suggestions.

MAY 2023 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

May 2023 New Car Registration figures are up 16.7% on last year, but don’t forget that was quite poor due to supply constraints. The main driver, sorry not sorry, of May’s rise is an increase in Fleet registrations, up nearly 37% on last year. There is also a change at the top of the ‘Most Registered Cars’ chart too. To find out more, click this article link from the SMMT.

JAGUAR I-PACE RECALLED IN US OVER FIRE RISK

Jaguar is recalling over 6,000 I-Pace cars due to the risk of fire, attributed to an issue with the battery pack but the exact reason is still not known. You can read more by clicking this Reuters article link here.

JAGUAR LAND ROVER REBRANDING

Jaguar Land Rover, as a Group, are rebranding. JLR now has a logo, they have developed a ‘Look Book’, which dictates all aspects of the various brand’s aesthetics from stationary through to what the dealership staff are to wear. There is much optimism for the future but also acknowledgement that aspects need improving.

To find out more about the JLR logo and Group, click this Autocar link.

For the expected benefits for us customers, with the move to the agency model, click here to read more from Autocar.

To read about how the staff “uniform” has gone down with dealerships, click this Auto Retail article link here.

If you would like to learn more about how the Discovery brand is seen as an exciting one, from within JLR, click this Autocar link here.

REMOTELY OPERATED TAXI SERVICE IN MILTON KEYNES

This week’s Ledge of Fury™ item is brought to you by Fetch, Milton Keynes and regulators that have approved a taxi service that utilised remote operators to drive the car, whilst a safety driver sits in the front seat. Following a whole 1,000 miles of testing this has been approved to run on public roads. Click this BBC News article link here for more.

There are a huge number of reasons why this is a bad idea, dangerous and should not be allowed, which are backed up by plenty of research that...

FOLLOW UP: BYD HELPED BY CHINESE GOVERNMENT

A report is claiming that BYD has received $3.7 billion, in funding from the Chinese Government, to help it to reach its dominating position. This is all part of the EU’s investigation into whether companies from the country have an unfair advantage thanks to state aid. Click this Yahoo Finance article link for more information.

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT SITE TO BE SOLD BY COUNCIL

The site of the ill-fated Britishvolt battery factory is to be sold by the local council, to a company that wishes to create a data centre, after the new ‘owners’ Recharge Industries, have still failed to pay the monies owning. If you wish to learn more, click this BBC News article link here.

WLTP DOES NOT REFLECT REAL WORLD USE REPORT FINDS

Two reports from the European Court of Auditors have shown that the testing regime, WLTP, results, do not come close to real-world usage on the public roads. Other conclusions have also been inferred by the investigation, however we would urge caution as not enough detail has been provided in how the data was calculated and if that was correct or even valid. But, there are now calls for the system to change, once again, at a time when the car industry is under enormous pressure from multiple vectors. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar article link here.

2023 LOSSES FOR LOTUS

Lotus announced losses for 2023, of £594 million. Whilst this does sound a lot and quite scary, we must all remember the transformation that is undergoing the company right now. They are fundamentally changing how they do things and the cars they produce in an incredibly short period of time. For more detail, click this Autocar article link here.

BIT OF A WEEK FOR STELLANTIS

Stellantis, and in particular their CEO Carlos Taveres, had quite the last seven or so days. First off there was the public spat about the Italian Government trying to cosy up to foreign car companies, to encourage more manufacturing jobs in the country, which Taveres warned over such moves. You can read more, by clicking this link to a Reuters article.

That’s not all though, Taveres then had to fend off questions over which brand or brands the Stellantis Group were going to ditch. He refuted these claims as “fake news”. Click this Autocar article link for more.

You’ll have to wait till New New Car News for the third piece of Stellantis news.

VW INVESTING MORE IN CHINA

Volkswagen has announced that it will be investing $2.7 billion in a Chinese manufacturing site. This is quite odd, as only recently the “roof is on fire” speech from their CEO and huge cost-cutting efforts across the group. On top of which, there is ever...

JAGUAR LAND ROVER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Jaguarl Landrover announced that henceforth it would be “brand house” JLR. Many words and an abstract teaser image were used to describe Jaguar’s future. You can learn more form Autocar here.

FORMER FORD BOSS JOINS ASTON MARTIN

Former Ford of Europe chairman, Steven Armstrong has joined Aston Martin as part of its latest recovery strategy. Autocar has more here.

INEOS TO BUILD SMALL ELECTRIC OFF-ROADER

Ineos is going to expand its model line beyond the Grenadier with a small, electric off-roader being engineered by Magna and expected in 2026. There’s more information here.

ASTON MARTIN AND MCLAREN MUST SELL EVS

Changes in US Emission rules from 2032 mean that small volume manufacturers will be subject to the same fleet CO2 targets as other manufacturers. Find out more here.

EU MOTORIST GIVEN £11,000 ULEZ FINE

Foreign-registered cars, even if compliant, will be fined on entry to the London ULEZ. Postal delays in sending out penalty notices abroad and then processing by hire and lease firms mean that appeal periods have passed. Find out more about more from The Guardian.

DEVON AND CORNWALL POLICE DRONE

Devon and Cornwall Police has unveiled it's using a drone to monitor for unsafe driving. More here from the BBC.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNCIL TO INSTALL 1,000 CHARGING POINTS

Gloucestershire Council is getting serious about on-street charging with plans to install 1,000 on-street points across the county. Find out more here.

FOLLOW UP: XIAOMI’S EV PLANS

Last week when discussing the approval of Xiaomi’s plan to build EV, Andrew should have clarified that this was the fourth to be given permission since 2017, not the fifth.

FUEL PRICE RISE HITS HARD IN AUGUST

Unsurprising to anyone who’s watched fuel prices over the last few years, petrol and diesel went up in August. That month when the UK takes to roads due to the school holiday. Prices increased by nearly seven pence per litre. To read more, including some of the justification of this, click here for the Autocar article.

ALMOST HALF HOMEOWNERS WOULD PAVE GARDEN TO CHARGE

Research by EO Charging found that 49 percent of homeowners would pave over their front garden, to make it easier to charge their electric car. This is despite 53 percent expressing concern in people paving over their front gardens. For further insight, click this link to read more at Motoring Research.

JLR TO USE SUSTAINABLY FUELLED LORRY FLEET

JLR (y’know, the lot that used to be called Jaguar Land Rover), will be running their lorry fleet on sustainable biofuel, from 2024. They estimate this will cut their road freight carbon emission by up to 84 percent. To learn more, click this link to the Autocar article referred to on the show.

TOYOTA, VW AND KIA PRODUCTION HIT BY DISRUPTION

Factories across the globe came to standstill in the last week for a variety of reasons. All of Toyota’s output in Japan ceased after an issue with a systems update. Kia’s factory in Hwaseong, South Korea, was shut following a fire. Volkswagen’s Slovakia plant stopped making the T-Roc following severe flooding in the region causing damage to a supplier’s operations. Click this AMOnline article link to read more.

GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES MAAS TRAVEL APPS STANDARDS

The Government has announced the guidelines for Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) apps.The aim is to make them more user friendly, safer and reduce costs for travellers. These apps are thought to be developed to contain public transport, road and micro-mobility information and costings. For you to learn more, click this link to an Intelligent Transport article. Maybe Alan’s dream app will finally happen?

FRENCH ROAD SIGN CAUSES CONFUSION

French authorities are testing a new symbol, to be displayed on digital road signs that indicate a lane is for car-sharing only. One tiny problem is, it looks a lot like the Renault logo, but following the company’s lawyers investigating no further action was taken. You can read more, by clicking this link here to a Connexion article.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Mini Cooper Electric

Mini has revealed their new Cooper Electric, which is the new name for the...

FOLLOW UP: EMERGENCY EXPERTS CONCERNED WITH LOSS OF AM

In the US, emergency experts have called on car manufacturers to ensure that the AM frequency is available on the infotainment systems of electric cars as this is the only way some people can get vital information, particularly emergency info. The US, Canada and Australia have vast amounts of sparsely populated environments that do not get internet access and phone coverage, hence the vital nature of AM. Click the link here to read more from a Popular Science article.

FOLLOW UP: BAC BACKS OFF HYDROGEN powered DEVELOPMENT

Recently BAC, the makers of the single seater sports car the Mono, announced that they were developing a hydrogen combustion powered vehicle. However, the short term reduction in hydrogen filling stations, the Government’s stance on alternative fuels and the 2035 ICE ban caveats has allowed BAC to step back from this and concentrate on existing technology. To read more, click this Autocar link here.

UK SPRING BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENT

The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave the Spring Budget statement to Parliament, last week. Amongst the document there were some motoring related issues. The now 13-year long “freeze” in fuel duty was continued, the 5p-litre cut from last year has been carried over and more money being provided for repairing potholes. The first article we point you in order to learn more, is from AM Online, which you can read by clicking this link here. The second is from Influence emobility on LinkedIn, which can be read by clicking here.

VW HAS RUSSIAN ASSETS FROZEN

A court in Russia has frozen the assets of Volkswagen, in the country. They had shuttered their plant, at Kaluga, last year but were trying to find a buyer for it. At the same time a license partner, GAZ, is suing them for cancelling their contract last year. Click the Automotive News article link here to read more.

RECORD BENTLEY PROFITS

A third consecutive record profit year from Bentley, in 2022, helping to boost the Audi Group figures. Revenues jumped 19% with an operating profit of £280 million. By clicking this link to the AM Online article you can read more.

JAGUAR ANNOUNCE NEW MD AND RELAUNCH

Jaguar, after being so quiet for so long, has announced that they have appointed a new Managing Director, Rawdon Glover, replacing the interim boss Philip Koehn. Glover is an internal appointment, having been the MD of JLR since 2018. Additionally, we are told Jaguar will relaunch in 2025, but no details as to what that means for the brand or the direction they will go in. Click this Autocar Business article link, if you would like to learn more.

VOLTA TRUCKS GAINS EUROPEAN WHOLE VEHICLE TYPE APPROVAL

The Volta Zero has received the important European Whole Vehicle Type...

FOLLOW UP: ULEZ EXPANSION GIVEN GO AHEAD

The High Court has ruled that the expansion to the ULEZ, as announced by the Mayor of London, is legal and allowed to take place. Five councils had brought the action against the increase in the area covered by the rules on vehicle emissions. You can find out more by clicking this BBC News article link here.

ASTON MARTIN GETS NEW BOARD MEMBER

Following their increased stake in Aston Martin, Geely are now entitled to a seat on the board of the sports car company. Daniel Li, the Geely CEO, has been appointed. Geely are the third largest shareholders, with 17% stake. Click this Automotive News Europe article link, to find out more.

CLAIMS OVER TESLA RANGE MANIPULATION

An article surfaced from Reuters claiming that Tesla has a secrete team who squash any complaints on the range of their cars, from customers. The claims centre around range exaggeration by the company creating an expectation in customer’s minds and them having to deal with the differences owners found. You can read that piece by clicking the Reuters link here. A well known YouTube EV specialists, Bjørn Nyland, has published a video discussing the article and pointing out areas he does not believe are correct, you can watch that by clicking this link here.

BT TO CONVERT CABINETS TO EV CHARGERS

BT, the telecoms giant, has announced it will convert on street cabinets to EV chargers once they are decommissioned as areas are serviced by full fibre systems. Starting in Northern Ireland in the autumn, a few cabinets will be converted to enable car charging before the project is rolled out across the UK. The expectation is up to 60,000 cabinets could be eligible for conversion. To find out more, click this edie article link here.

SCAREMONGERING OVER MINERAL REQUIREMENTS

Much is said, online, about the need for precious metals and how much of them will be required as we move to electric cars. We are linking you to an article from the Financial Times that discusses this, explaining how we have the supplies but also the reality that some communities will be affected by the increase in mines and manufacturing. Click here to read more.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Lexus LM

Lexus has revealed their new range topping model, a luxury MPV. LM is the acronym for Luxury Mover, aimed at those who are to be transported in comfort that don’t want an SUV or saloon. The car will come with a 2.5 litre petrol hybrid powertrain and an optional extra electric motor. Length is just over five metres and a width slightly under 1.9m. Configuration will be either four or seven seats. Prices start at £89,995, running all the way up to £112,995 for the top of the range Takumi trim. Click here to read more, via an Autocar article....

FOLLOW UP: CHINESE BUILT EV TARIFFS COME INTO EFFECT

The interim tariffs, from the EU on Chinese built EVs, has come into effect. Some of these have been tweaked, with Geely’s penalty dropping a fraction. The EU also published a document to explain who was hit by what and why. To find out more, click this Reuters link here.

SAIC have asked for a special hearing with the EU as it states some of its evidence has been ignored. SAIC are the hardest hit of all companies, with a 37.6% additional cost added to all their vehicles. To read more, click this Reuters article link here.

China has imposed stricter control on some rare earth material, which might impact those importing from China. Click this electrive article link here, to read further on this.

There are signs that the tariffs are having one intended consequence, with Smart considering building a production plant in Europe. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. BYD are ahead of all others though, as they announce an agreement to open a factory in Turkey, a deal worth $1 billion. Click this BBC News article link to read more.

EUROPEAN GSR2 COME INTO FORCE

The European General Safety Rules 2 (GSR2) have come into force now, with systems such as intelligent speed limiters being fitted to all cars in the EU, including Northern Ireland. This will mean that UK cars will also have them fitted but they are not legally required. If you wish to read more, click this EVO article link here.

JUNE 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS

June saw another month of flatline registrations, with a 1.1% increase on 2023. However, BEVs did take a market share of 19% for June, raising it to 17.9% for the year to date. However, Private registrations are dropping, worryingly so, yet again as the market share decreases 15.3% for the month, with it now down 12% for the year to date. A reminder, salary sacrifice is not a private registration, no matter how hard you really wish it was. Click this link from the SMMT to read more.

To read the article from Matt Prior explaining who will end up paying for the mandate policy, click this Autocar link here.

Autocar also have an Editor’s letter for the new UK Government, with recommendations on how they can help the car industry. Click this link to read that.

EVS TO PAY LONDON CONGESTION CHARGE IN 2025

Since 2020 Transport for London (TfL) have confirmed that EVs will pay the congestion charge from the end of 2025. Apparently, many have discovered this widely known news and are shocked. If you wish to learn more,

FOLLOW UP: RENAULT FINALLY CREATES AMPERE

Renault has finally announced the creation of Ampere, the new division responsible for developing their EVs, circular economy and software for the Group. At the time of recording there was no mention of the IPO that was discussed when first announcing the entity. Click this electrive article to read more.

FOLLOW UP: RIVIAN ENDS EXCLUSIVITY DEAL WITH AMAZON

Rivian and Amazon have announced that the exclusive deal to supply the retail giant with electric vans is no more. Amazon were pulling down far fewer vehicles than expected, therefore Rivian needs to open its books up to more companies to ensure the business is viable. To read more, click this link here to an electrive article.

AUTOMATED VEHICLE BILL ANNOUNCED IN KING’S SPEECH

During the opening of Parliament, King Charles III’s speech announced the plan to introduce the automated vehicle bill. This has taken several years and multiple public consultations. Key elements will be who is held responsible and in which situations, along with companies being held responsible for exaggerating their system’s capabilities. The devil will be in the detail, however. If you would like to learn more or possibly just read some utter tripe quoted, click firstly this link to an Autocar article and then try this link from Top Gear.

BMW TO LAUNCH UK ‘HANDS FREE EYES ON’ SYSTEM IN 2024

BMW is bringing a system that humans cannot handle, with their Level 2+ ‘Motorway Assist’. This is, similar to Ford’s BlueCruise, that requires the driver to continue to watch the road even though they are not holding the steering wheel. To repeat ourselves, there are many studies that show humans cannot manage this task, but that is not stopping the deployment and that the driver will still be help responsible for something they are being set up to fail. To read more on this, click on this Autocar link here.

UK TESLA OWNER REIMBURSED FOR FAILED FSD PROMISES

Using the Consumer Rights Act 2015, Ed Butler claimed that Tesla had breached their contract with him in not producing the promised Full Self Driving enhancements after he paid extra for the package. Tesla settled out of court, paying the original sum plus interest and legal costs. Click here to read more, from InsideEVs.

ASTON MARTIN INVESTOR INCREASES STAKE IN COMPANY

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has returned to being the number two investor in Aston Martin, just ahead of Shufu Li, Geely Chairman. This continues the incremental increases from the three major shareholders, who all appear locked in some sort of bizarre game. You can learn more by clicking this link to an Automotive News Europe article.

EDINBURGH BANS PAVEMENT PARKING

Edinburgh Council are bringing in a new rule to ban pavement parking, even though there is a law that makes it illegal to obstruct a pavement already. We are unsure how adding a new rule to something that isn’t...

Alan’s on his own this week and Andrew’s claiming to be dead. He talks about Carlos Ghon facing the press, diesel particulate filters, PSA delaying the second Astra plan until after Brexit, JLR and the Chinese copy, more ULEX and traffic shake-ups, the DVLA not recognising 2020 on paper, Toyota making new parts for old Supras, FormulaE in Santiago, Hyundai’s 4-car WRC team, a £2k Alfasud restoration, The Toyota Yaris turns 21 and the Laing photo archive.

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As ever, we really hope you enjoy the show and feel free to get in touch with news items and feedback!

Alan joined Hyundai UK on their pilgrimage to the 2019 Nurburgring 24 hour race. In this first part, Alan talks about the race and the whole weekend including interviews with Thomas Schmeera and Albert Biermann, two of the key figures behind the latest generations of Hyundai road and race cars.

Part 2 will follow shortly and have more of the on-site recording and atmosphere.

Huge thank, of course, to Hyundai UK, Herr Schmeera and Herr Biermann for all their time and hospitality.

REAR VIEW PODCAST

Don't forget the new show from the team at Motoring Podcast, Rear View, where we talk to fascinating people from the motoring universe. To go listen to the episodes already released on Apple Podcasts click here.

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In this second Special Edition from Alan’s trip to the Nurburgring 24 Hours with Hyundai, he’s spliced together some of the more coherent parts of the many hours of on-site recordings he made.

Huge thanks, of course, to Hyundai UK for their hospitality.

Andrew had a Jeep Compass Limited for a week to find out what it brings to an increasingly crowded market. Does the American have what it takes to compete? What will be the trifling niggle with the interior? Are there curry hooks? Press play to find out the answer to these urgent questions and more!

Alan spent a high-mileage week with the Volkswagen e-Golf trying to get an insight into where VW’s electric strategy is heading and looks for clues about the forthcoming, electric-only ID-3.

FOLLOW UP: VW OFFER GERMANY CUSTOMERS $901M

Following the breakdown of talks between Volkswagen and the German Consumer Association, VZBV, they have offered customers compensation of $901 million. VZBV wants to include €50 million in lawyer fees, which VW has turned down. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FOLLOW UP: NISSAN CLAIMS FROM GHOSN

Following the case for unfair dismissal, last week, Nissan has hit back in Japan, with a claim for £70 million in damages. The details of the claim are not known and the amount stated is much less than has been mentioned previously. The game of tit for tat continues. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

GM SHUTS HOLDEN DOWN

General Motors has announced that it is shutting down the Holden brand, and all its assets in Australia and New Zealand. This was the last right-hand drive brand in the ever-shrinking stable of makes within GM. There is no real surprise as Australia is a small market, added to the extra effort of making right-hand drive cars and that PSA owns Opel/Vauxhall. To read more, click the BBC News article here. To view the slideshow Andrew mentioned, click the Autocar link here.

FORD CUTTING FIESTA PRODUCTION

In the wake of falling sales and registrations of Fiestas, across Southern Europe and the UK, Ford is reducing production of the supermini. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

TESLA FORREST CLEARANCE ON HOLD

Tesla has been ordered, by a German court, to temporarily halt the clearance of the proposed new gigafactory site, that is ancient woodland. To learn more about the issues, click the BBC News article here.

‘PEANUT-SHAPED’ ROUNDABOUT DELIGHTS THE FRENCH

In the French town of Nozay, a new ‘peanut-shaped’ roundabout has been created on the site of a former junction which the locals claimed was dangerous. Vehicles are now approaching the roundabout much slower and the visibility is much improved. If the number of accidents falls then this could be adopted elsewhere. To read more, click The Connexion article here.

EDF BUYS POD POINT

EDF, the energy supplier, has bought the EV charging company Pod Point, for an undisclosed amount. Pod Point is the third-largest charging company, in the UK, click here for an article by ZapMap showing the major UK players. To read more about this acquisition, click the Autocar article here.

COMPETITION TIME!

We are offering you the chance to win a copy of James Ruppert, he of Bangernomics fame, latest book Demotorized: The 200 Year War on the Motorist. Listen to the show to hear what the question is, then click through this link to send us your answer. Don’t forget to put COMPETITION in the subject line.

The...

Andrew had a Hyundai Tucson N-Line diesel hybrid on test for a week. Listen in to see what this mild-hybrid is like, where the hybrid-ness helps the car out and how much of an improvement the latest Tucson is.

To play with the configurator that Andrew mentioned in the show, click this link here.

FOLLOW UP: VW RESUMES COMPENSATION TALKS IN GERMANY

Volkswagen and VZBV, the German consumer protection organisation, have both been ordered to resume talks over compensation, by a Brunswick court, following the breakdown in communication last week. To read more, click the Automotive News article here.

FOLLOW UP: TESLA ALLOWED TO CLEAR FORREST

Court rulings have allowed Tesla to resume clearing the area where their factory is planned. The Court also ruled that this decision cannot be appealed. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION OVER ICE BAN OPEN

As had been hardly reported, the suggestion of an earlier ICE ban was announced to coincide with a public consultation. The Government has now opened this, which can be found by clicking through on the Autocar article here. We have until Friday 29 May to make our voices heard.

FORD CUTTING 180 DEALERSHIPS

Ford is pairing back their dealer network from 400, by approximately 180. Following on the heels of the cut in Fiesta production, which was discussed last week, is this another sign that the current trading conditions are very tough indeed? To read more, click the Auto Retail Agenda article here.

CORONAVIRUS POTENTIAL IMPACT

One impact of the Coronavirus that has been discussed is the delay in parts and vehicles as supply chains and factories are affected. This could well lead to an issue for company car drivers who are waiting on delivery pre 6 April 2020. After 6 April BIK will be charged via WLTP rates which, depending on the car, can cost a lot more. To read more, click the Business Car article here on page 9 of their digital magazine.

IKEA VAN FLEET GOING ZERO-EMISSION

Ikea is planning to have an entire zero-emission van fleet by 2025, as a result of the varied clean-air policies being implemented across the UK. The company cited a lack of central Government led policies allowing for the fragmented announcements from various areas of the UK. To read more, click the WhatVan article here.

TESLA SPEED SIGN READING TECH TRICKED

Researchers have tricked a Model X and S into thining a 35mph road sign was actually saying 85mph, by the use of a single piece of electrical tape. This bug only affects older cars which use the MobilEye EyeQ3 system. After being told of the issue, both Tesla and MobilEye did not indicate they would fix the issue. To read more, click The Register article here.

50 MILE JIM CLARK DRIVING TRAIL LAUNCHED

A new driving tour has been launched, in the Scottish Borders, taking in the area that Jim Clark grew up in. The start and finish spot is the Jim Clark Motor Museum in Duns. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

COMPETITION TIME!

We are offering you the chance to win a copy of James Ruppert, he of Bangernomics fame, latest book Demotorized: The 200 Year War on the...

Alan went to Milton Keynes for the UK launch of the all-new Nissan Juke. After a wet day lapping MK and southern Bedfordshire to find out how much B-SUV pioneer has moved on, what does he think?

FOLLOW UP: MORE PORSCHE RAIDS

Stuttgart public prosecutors have raided Porsche once more, connected with diesel emission manipulation, according to reports from Greg Kable. After four more members of staff were accused of being involved, this takes the total up to seven for Porsche.

FOLLOW UP: VW AND VZBZ AGREE TO SETTLEMENT

After being told to return to the negotiating table, by the courts, Volkswagen and the consumer group VZBZ has agreed on a payout of £698 million to German consumers. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

GENEVA MOTORSHOW CANCELLED

Following the Swiss Government’s announcement to ban major events, GIMS had no choice but to cancel the motor show. There has been quite a bit of hoo-ha over how this was handled and it does not appear exhibitors will be able to recoup their outlay. Alan reminds us all that motor shows are not just for the journalists. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FRENCH CAR SHOWS RESCHEDULED

Due to Covid-19, major gatherings are being banned in France, which means some car shows are having to be rescheduled. To read more, click The Connecxion article here.

DEUTSCHE POST SCRAPS EV DELIVERY VAN

Deutsche Post will cease production of the electric delivery vehicle they were building in partnership with Ford, the reason given is the huge losses the project has cost the company. To read more, click the Bloomberg article here.

MOVE MOBILITY CONFERENCE

Alan wished he was able to attend events such as the MOVE Conference, that took place a couple of weeks ago, however, as he can’t we have to refer to other’s write-ups, this time Daniel Puddicombe is the lucky one who was at the mobility event. To read more, click the Company Car Today link here and go to page 9.

COVENTRY NOT INTRODUCING CLEAN AIR ZONE

Thanks to plans put to the Government, Coventry will not be implementing a Clean Air Zone (CAZ), as part of their efforts to tackle air quality issues. The council argued that introducing a CAZ would have worsened the air quality for many residential areas. There will be a ban, in certain areas, of polluting vehicles and HGVs but these are part of a wider set of initiatives which it is hoped will reduce pollution. To read more, click the Fleet News article here.

One of the more interesting trials is offering drivers of older and more polluting vehicles mobility credits, in exchange for scrapping their car. These credits will be usable in car share schemes, pay for public transport, taxis, bike share schemes and the likes. The idea is to encourage people to get around but not think the car is the first answer. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

SUPERMARKET EV CHARGE POINTS DOUBLE IN TWO YEARS

Thanks to partnership initiatives, between charge point companies and supermarkets, the number of charging points we can take advantage of whilst...

Andrew had a Honda CR-V Hybrid on loan, for just over a week, to test out the company’s latest foray into the world of hybrid drivetrains. Listen in to hear his thoughts on CVT gearboxes, the interior quality and what the only competition is for this car.

FOLLOW UP: U.S. JURY AWARDS PUNITIVE DAMAGES TO VW CUSTOMERS

A test case, of U.S. customers who opted out of Volkswagen’s agreed compensation settlement, has established compensatory and punitive damages. Five claimants will get $5747 for compensatory damages and four will receive $25,000 in punitive damages. This is a much smaller amount than was sought. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FOLLOW UP: LEVANDOWSKI SEEKS BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION

Anthony Levandowski, who left Google to set up his own company breaching legal obligations in doing so, according to an arbitration panel, before being bought out by Uber. He is required to pay $179 million to Google as a consequence. After his appeal failed he applied for Chapter 11 to reduce his liabilities by negotiation. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FEBRUARY 2020 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

Another month, another dip, this time a drop by 2.9% in new registration figures. Diesel engines take another drop, being only 21.9% of market share, with alternative fuel vehicles, as expected, the major increase but not enough to deflect the overall drop. To read more, click the SMMT link here.

PSA REDUCES ELLESMERE PORT TO FOUR-DAY WEEK

Due to a drop in demand for the Astra estate the shift patterns will change to extended hours on four days instead of the existing five day week. Future job losses cannot be ruled out, according to PSA. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

NISSAN CONTINUES TO INVEST IN SUNDERLAND

Nissan has taken the next step in the £1 billion investment program for the new Qashqai to be built in Sunderland. £52 million has been released for a press, that will stamp the panels. This takes the total invested, to date, to £400 million. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

SOME OEM KEYS CAN BE CLONED

A new weakness in keyless entry systems has been confirmed by researchers from KU Leuven in Belgium and the University of Birmingham. Before we all panic, this one is harder to pull off than the more common keyless manner and affects, generally, older vehicles. However, to see exactly which vehicles are covered click on the WIRED link here.

COMPETITION WINNER!

Congratulations to our winner, on bagging the copy of James Ruppert’s latest book Demotorized: The 200 Year War on the Motorist.

Thanks to all who entered and keep your ears peeled as we will be doing more competitions in the future!

FORMULA E: ROME POSTPONED

Before Italy went into lockdown the Rome E-Prix had been postponed from April 4. This, combined with the already cancelled Sanya E-Prix means there is now a seven-week gap in the season. Paris is the next race due on April 18, which along with Soul looks doubtful. Formula E is looking for other race options. To read more,

With this year’s Geneva Motor Show being cancelled, Alan had to find another way to get his annual many-cars-in-a-large-building-near-the-Franco-Swiss-border fix, so he went to Mulhouse in Alsace to visit one of the world’s largest motor museums, the Cité de L’Automobile and Schlumpf Collection, with its amazing collection of Bugatti.

FOLLOW UP: SMART MOTORWAYS REVIEW

The review, ordered by the Transport Secretary, has been completed. The findings recommend removing hard shoulders being used as live lanes, increasing the number of refuge points, increase the number of Highways England traffic officer patrols, increase the roll-out of stopped vehicle detection cameras. To read more, click the Autocar article here. To read the Government’s action plan click the link here.

CORONAVIRUS PRODUCTION UPDATE

To see how manufacturing has been impacted in the UK and Europe, click the Automotive News Europe section here.

BUDGET 2020

Last week, which feels so very long ago, the Chancellor of the Exchequer unveiled a spending spree on motoring related matters. But it is not all good news. To learn more, click the Autocar article here and for further analysis, click the Parkers article here. On the back of some of the Government’s sneakiness, three car companies are topping up the Plug-In Car Grant back to previous levels, but for a short time only, to see more, click the Motoring Research article here.

LEEDS’S CLEAN AIR ZONE LAUNCHES SEPTEMBER

From 28 September 2020, the Leeds Clean Air Zone (CAZ) will be in force. The zone was meant to go live in January, but due to delays from a government system, this has been put back. Buses, HGVs, coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles are covered. To read more and see where the CAZ will be, click the Motoring Research article here.

LAWRENCE STROLL TAKES BIGGER STAKE IN ASTON MARTIN

The consortium, led by Lawrence Stroll, has agreed to increase its investment in Aston Martin but will take a larger portion of the company, as a result. The new deal, if approved by shareholders, will mean that 25% of the company will be acquired. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

ARRIVAL TO OPEN NEW FACTORY

The UK based electric vehicle company Arrival has announced that it will be opening a new factory in Oxfordshire, due to be up and running by 2021. This is more good news following the recent investment in Arrival. To read more, click the MTDMFG article here.

MOTORWAY LIFTED TO FIX BRIDGE

In order to repair the now rusting steel centres of the bridge on the M60, near Didsbury, the road is being lifted 5mm on a temporary basis. This is part of the efforts to fix all the supports to the 200-metre long structure. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

FOLLOW UP: LEVANDOWSKI PLEADS GUILTY TO THEFT

Anthony Levandowski has pleaded guilty to charges of trade secrets, in the federal case brought against him. The expectation is that he will be sentenced to between 24 and 30 months, although this is not a certainty. To read more, click the Jalopnik article here.

MORRISONS FUEL PRICE DROP

If you’re a key worker and need to fuel your vehicle up, then there is some good news from Morrisons as they have cut their prices. Remember, we are only to travel if absolutely necessary. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

MOT ADVICE DURING LOCKDOWN

A question that has been popping up, as we have come under a national lockdown, is do we still need an MOT? Yes, yes you do. Testing centre staff are, at the time of recording, considered key workers but this is being monitored by the Department for Transport. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

TOYOTA UK CAR CLEANING ADVICE

Toyota UK has released a video showing how and where to clean your car, to minimise the spread of the coronavirus. To see this video, click the link to their Tweet here.

LONDON CONGESTION CHARGE AND ULEZ SUSPENDED

In an effort to help move key workers around the capital, Transport for London has suspended the Congestion Charge and ULEZ. This came into operation on Monday 23 March. As a reminder, the advice is to only travel if you’re a key worker and/or allowed under the rules outlined by the Government. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

GEELY DELIVERS NEW CAR KEYS BY DRONE

To ensure there is no risk of physical contact or being closer than two metres when handing over a new car, Geely is delivering the keys via a drone as they roll out their contactless home delivery service. To learn more, click the link here.

‘NO TOUCH’ SERVICING OFFERED BY FORD

Ford Europe is providing a service called ‘No Touch Servicing’ where the vehicle is thoroughly sanitised before and after the dealership deals with it. A video check of the work and any issues that have been found is also included. To read more, click the Ford article here.

UK-WIDE PAVEMENT PARKING BAN CONSIDERED BY GOVERNMENT

The Government is considering implementing a UK-wide ban on pavement parking, following recommendations from the Transport Committee. However, some organisations are warning that not all pavements are the same so this needs careful consideration. A consultation will be released at some point for the reality of such a ban to be understood. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

SORT MY SIGN CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

A campaign has been launched to address the issue of obstructed and unclear signage on major roads. Transport Focus, a transport watchdog, are pushing Highways England to improve the usefulness and effectiveness of...

Andrew had a Toyota Land Cruiser, their luxury 4x4 offering, for over a week to see if they still have something to offer in a world dominated by SUVs. Listen in as we hear about how they improve the behaviour of other road users, fantasises of adding light blue “U” and “N” to the sides and how relaxing they are to drive.

FOLLOW UP: DUTCH CLASS-ACTION FOR VW

A Dutch foundation has been formed to take on Volkswagen in a class-action, which the group hopes will include people from across Europe, in connection with #Dieselgate. Apparently, thanks to a law change in Holland, “justice for millions of EU customers” is the aim, however, the chaps are still unsure what is the loss these people have suffered. To read more, click here for The Irish Times article.

FOLLOW UP: EMERGENCY MOT EXTENSION GRANTED

Before last week’s show had been published, the Government announced that MOT’s will be extended an automatic six months, during the coronavirus emergency. However, note that the DVLA website was yet to catch up with this and could cause some issues when renewing insurance. Also, it should be noted, your car still needs to be in a safe and roadworthy condition. To read more, click here for the BBC article.

HOW VIRUS IS EFFECTING EUROPEAN PRODUCTION

If you would like to know more about the effect the virus is having on European car production, please click here for the Automotive News Europe article, that lists what is going on.

UK TRAVEL LEVELS DROP

In this week’s ‘Bleedin’ Obvious’ information, due to the travel advice, there has been a big drop in the numbers using the roads, rail and tube. Whilst this is no surprise to anyone, the figures are quite dramatic. To read more, click here for the Motoring Research article.

QUIETER ROADS BUT SILLY SPEEDERS

With the roads being significantly quieter, some have taken this to mean they can thrash their cars along the highways and byways. However, those caught have been highlighted on social media with the reminder that we are trying to keep clear of hospitals at the moment, and not drain the resources with incidents that could well have been avoided. To read more, click the example Tweet here.

INDUSTRY CONSORTIUM DESIGNS VENTILATION DEVICES

The VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium has designed and been given a contract to build a variety of ventilation devices. Companies including F1 teams, Ford and non-automotive companies make up this group who have rapidly created space for the production of the devices the country will need. Added to that, Mercedes F1 power-train team has developed a device, in conjunction with University College London to create a breathing aid that will prevent the need for a ventilator in some cases. To read more, about this amazing effort, click here for the Autocar article.

HONDA REMEMBERS BUTTONS

Honda is somewhat bucking the industry trend, by making sure there are buttons and knobs for controls such as the heating, rather than incorporating it within the touchscreen. However, Audi is moving in the opposite direction by putting more within their touchscreens. To read more, click here for the Autocar article.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we...

Back when we could all still travel by aeroplane, Alan spent a couple of days in Portugal driving the third generation Hyundai i10, a mature-feeling small car that’s hoping to appeal to a less mature audience.

FOLLOW UP: VW TO FACE CLASS-ACTION IN UK

Following the ruling, this week, Volkswagen does have a case to answer in the UK class-action case over #Dieselgate. Whilst the judge has ruled, in line with several other countries, that the software and technology in certain engines is a defeat device, there is no confirmation that VW is liable in the compensation claim. To read more, but not the comments, click on the Autocar article here.

WEBSITE HELPS KEY WORKERS FIND LOCAL CAR SERVICES

A new website, called KeyworkerGarages.co.uk, has been set up by a company called Cazana to help key workers who need help with their vehicles find a local garage that is open. To read more, click here on the Motoring Research link.

240 MILES FOR LOAF OF BREAD DRIVER FINED

A driver from Nottingham has been fined under new Coronavirus rules, as well as existing road laws, after being pulled over for doing 110mph in the M1. When asked why he was on the road, he stated that he’d gone to London for bread, as it was £1.00 cheaper there. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

GIVE PEAS A CHANCE BRIDGE HAS A NEW MESSAGE

The famous bridge, which spans over the M25, that used to have ‘Give Peas A Chance’ painted on it, has now been changed to ‘Thank You NHS’. This has been met positively, unlike when ‘Heck’ was put over ‘Peas’. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

MARCH 2020 NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS

Obviously, we are not in normal times, which has been partly reflected in the new car registration figures released by SMMT, for March. Overall figures are down 44.4%, with electrified vehicles bucking the trend and showing an increase on last year, which can be aligned to new BIK rules expected from April. Andrew and Alan run through the ‘Spreadsheet of Doom’ in mercifully quick time as they only talk about the positives. To read more, click the SMMT article here.

DECARBONISING TRANSPORT IN THE UK REPORT

The Transport Secretary released a report into the plan to decarbonise UK transportation recently, which Andrew has looked at. To his, frankly, astonishment, it is well written and very interesting. Within the document, there are graphs that go to show how much passenger cars contribute to the UK’s overall emissions. The news is startling. However, it does help to explain why a large number of initiatives and ideas are focused on cars. To read it and also gain a better understanding of where we currently are and where we need to move to, click the link here.

EXTENT OF TYRE POLLUTION INVESTIGATED

As the focus of vehicle emission has been on power plants, now that they are cleaning up other elements that pollute are becoming known. Tyres have been investigated by Emissions Analytics, who has found great variations depending on the actual tyre, road...

Alan had a chat with Principal Acoustic Systems Engineer at Harman, Wolfgang Zieglmeier about car audio systems and his work on the Harman-Kardon audio system in the Kia Stinger.

SIR STIRLING MOSS PASSES AWAY

The sad news that Sir Stirling Moss had peacefully passed away was announced on Sunday. There are few people, let alone racers, who have achieved the level of fondness amongst the nation. Social media was filled with delightful stories that gave us all a glimpse into his life, his character, his personality and his achievements. We have selected the obituary from Autocar to share with you, to read what Steve Cropley wrote, click the link here. We have also included a celebration of his epic Millie Miglia victory, which you can read by clicking here.

CALLS FOR SCRAPPAGE SCHEME BEGIN

In, what seems like a premature move, some have begun to call for a scrappage scheme to help the automotive sector, once lockdown restrictions begin to lift. Alan has some “views” on this and the chaps discuss the wider issues that will be involved in any attempt to stimulate the economy. To read more, click the Car Dealer Magazine article here.

SECURITY VULNERABILITIES FOUND ARE NOT AS BAD AS MADE OUT

Which? has released an article to much hysteria about security vulnerabilities found in Volkswagen and Ford models. Fortunately, The Register spoke to an expert who put them into perspective, Ian Tabor who runs Car Hacking Village UK. We thoroughly recommend you read the article and check out the six tips at the end of the piece, where Ian lays out ways to make connected cars safer. To read this, click the link here.

FERRARI LAUNCHES ‘BACK ON TRACK’ INITIATIVE

Ferrari is working on a plan to get production up and running again, once the Italian Government relaxes their lockdown rules. The comprehensive scheme which looks at essentials such as testing of employees and suppliers to helping with the psychological effects of the lockdown is very impressive. To read more, click the Complete Car.ie article here.

75 YEARS AGO US LIBERATES WOLFSBERG FACTORY

On 11 April 1945, US soldiers released 7,700 forced labourers from the Wolfsberg Factory.

HOW DO TOYOTAS END UP WITH SUDANESE REBELS

An investigation by the organisation Global Witness has found out how so many Toyota Land Cruisers and Hiluxs end up in the hands of Sudanese rebels. Global Witness make it very clear they are not suggesting Toyota has any hand in this. To read more, click the Jalopnik article from Max Finkel here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more click this link here.

TEMPORARY WRC TESTING BAN INSTIGATED

The news that the FIA has introduced a temporary ban on testing, for WRC teams, came as a bit of a shock as the chaps had presumed it was already the case. However, now it is official. To read more, click the DirtFish article here.

FOLLOW UP: VW SETTLE MOST CLASS-ACTION CLAIMS

Volkswagen has confirmed that it has settled with 200,000 of the 260,000 that are claiming damages due to the #Dieselgate scandal. They have been granted an extension to reach an agreement with the remaining. VW remains adamant that there is no legal basis for consumer’s claims. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

CAR BANNING POWERS HANDED TO COUNCILS

In a bid to allow key workers to safely travel by foot or on a bicycle, councils have been handed powers to ban cars from roads. The idea is that people will be able to travel in a more active manner but still maintain a social distance from other road users. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

FESTIVAL OF THE UNEXCEPTIONAL POSTPONED TILL 2021

Confirmation was given that the Festival of the Unexceptional is now postponed until July 2021. To read more, click the link here.

TOYOTA GB WELLBEING PLEDGE

Last week we discussed how Ferrari was going to help staff, with the aim of beginning production once more. They are not alone in looking out for their staff, Toyota GB has announced a wellbeing program that aims to support staff’s physical, financial and mental health. The scheme was introduced last year following consultation with workers but has kicked into gear during the COVID-19 crisis. To read more, click the Automotive 30% Club article here.

WHY DOES EV CAR-SHARING STRUGGLE IN LONDON

In February, the two largest electric vehicle car-sharing operators left London in near-deafening silence as no one trying to implement Mayor of London’s vision for a healthier capital said anything. This is odd as car-sharing and the use of EVs, if a car must be used, is key to reducing congestion and improving air quality. Or one would think so. To read more, click the link to Company Car Today and flick to page 7 here.

THE FALLACY OF ZERO EMISSIONS

Emission Analytics has been delving further into emissions from vehicles, but ICE and EV, as tailpipes clean up we come to realise there are other factors that need to be considered for the environmental footprint of cars. How the energy or fuel they use is generated, tailpipe emissions, mpg and non-tailpipe emissions all need to be thought about. To read more about the comprehensive approach to this ever-evolving situation click the link here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more click this link here.

FORMULA E: SEASON SUSPENSION EXTENDED

As the scale of the problems caused by the global pandemic is slowly becoming more clear, Formula E has taken the step to extend the suspension of the season until at least the end of June. They will continue to monitor the situation and make further decisions as information becomes known. To read more, click the Formula E statement here.

UPDATE ON EFFECTS OF GLOBAL LOCKDOWN ON INDUSTRY

Autocar has compiled a list of the effects the global pandemic is having on the motoring industry and sport. To get a snapshot of the impact, click through on the link here.

AA MAKE SILLY CLAIM ABOUT FUEL PRICES

The AA has claimed, just days after the oil price went through the floor, that petrol prices hadn’t fallen to reflect this and drivers were being ‘ripped off’. This was a silly claim, one that Andrew has “views” about. To read more, click the BBC News article here. The RAC look at all of the factors that affect the current situation to learn more, click on the Motoring Research article here.

CLASSIC CAR AUCTION HOUSE COYS IN ADMINISTRATION

Coys of Kensington Automobiles has gone into administration with trading debts of £1.65 million. The last 12 months have been quite turbulent for Coys. To read more, click The Telegraph article here. Note, you may need to register to get access to this article.

THREE-MONTH CAR FINANCE FREEZE ANNOUNCED

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced new rules, that allow UK residents who are struggling to pay their PCP or PCH, to apply for a three-month freeze. The FCA also stated that there should be no strings attached to applications of the freeze. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

CLAIMS PEOPLE WILL AVOID PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND BUY CARS

Autotrader revealed their research, that people will avoid public transport and buy a car, once lockdown measures are eased. Andrew and Alan don their white coats and push their glasses up their nose to look a little more into this story. To read more, click the Autotrader article here.

LOWER SPEED LIMIT ON ISLE OF MAN

As more people appear to be using our roads and with plenty of stories of vehicles stopped for speeding, it should be noted that the Isle of Man introduced a lower speed limit, of 40mph, on 27 March. The idea is to reduce the strain on their healthcare system. If enough people continue to flout the laws of the road, it is easy to see the UK following suit. To read more, click the Isle of Man Government statement.

MOST ACCIDENTS OCCUR ON SLOWER ROADS

Department of Transport figures have revealed that more accidents take place on slower roads, but more fatalities occur on higher speed roads. Choose My Car commissioned the research into the detail of accidents in the UK. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more click this link here.

LUNCHTIME READ: CAR DETAILING

Porsche has asked Richard Tipper, the car detailing...

Alan heard from Adam Donfrancesco of R-Reforged about some of the thinking and engineering that goes into limited-production projects such as the Aston Martin Vanquish 25 by CALLUM.

In this, we talk mostly about the engineering and thinking that’s gone un under the skin, for more pictures and information about the aesthetic tweaks that Ian Callum and the team at R-Reforged made then I recommend this Motoring Research article from the concept launch.

To find out more about R-Reforged and their ongoing projects then visit their website.

FOLLOW UP: FERRARI OPENS AGAIN

Thanks to their “Back on Track” initiative, which the chaps discussed on 14 April’s episode, Ferrari opened Maranello once more, to begin a phased ramping up of production. To read more on this and what else is happening around the world, click the Autocar link here.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR APRIL 2020

Surprising no one, UK New Car Registration figures fell by 97.3%, with 4,321 registrations happening in April 2020. The cars in the Top Ten are a very different lot from normal. To read more, click the SMMT article here.

HITACHI PARTNERING WITH GRIDSERVE

Hitachi is investing in the electric service station developer, Gridserve, helping them to open the first of their planned one hundred EV dedicated charging stations. The first of which is due to open this summer. To read more, click the Autocar link here.

PORSCHE ADDS APPLE CARPLAY TO HISTORIC CARS

Porsche is offering the ability to retrofit Apple CarPlay into vintage cars, via their Classic department. These are discreet units that fit into older Porsches but allow owners to utilise their Apple devices. To read more, click the Motoring Research article.

SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL’S ANPR DATA EXPOSED

8.6 million vehicle records were accessible, covering thousands of vehicles, without a password or authentication. Individual vehicles, as well as their journeys, were traceable to anyone who logged into the management dashboard. Time will tell if anything happens or if ANPR was being used outside the scope the public expect it to be used. To read more, click the link to The Register article.

NOTTINGHAM REPORTS BACK ON ULEZ

Nottingham, one of the first locations for an Ultra Low Emission Zone, has reported back on the lessons that have been learnt in the first two years of the project. When reading the document, it can be seen that this was from before the lockdown, as could be expected. Some of the findings will now need to be re-evaluated but the chaps do commend Nottingham for reviewing the status and publishing their findings. To read more, click the ZapMap article here. If you would like to read the report itself, click the link here.

ITV INVITE RECREATIONS OF HONDA’S COG ADVERT

The ITV program, The People’s Ad Break, has asked for members of the public to recreate the famous Honda advert, that featured the parts being triggered to move. Good luck with your version, you have until 8 May to submit so get your skates on. To find out more and the chance to rewatch that superb advert, click the Motoring Research article here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more

FOLLOW UP: ARRESTS IN TURKEY FOR ASSISTING GHOSN

Seven people, including pilots, flight attendants and airline executives have been arrested in Turkey, for their involvement in the remarkable escape from Japan that Carlos Ghosn perpetrated. The airline, MNG Jet, also filed a criminal complaint in relation to this. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

FOLLOW UP: INTERPOL ISSUE RED NOTICE OVER DUNN SUSPECT

Interpol has issued a Red Notice globally, for Ann Sooclas, who is wanted in relation to the death of Harry Dunn. The US has flatly refused to accept an extradition request, from the UK and has also stated that it will not comply with this Red Notice. To read more, click the Axios article here.

CAR SHOWROOMS CONSIDERED ‘NON-ESSENTIAL RETAIL’

As car showrooms have been classed as ‘non-essential retail’ they will be allowed to operate, if following safety guidance, when England reaches Step 2 of the lockdown release. The earliest this will come into force is June 1. There is no news on whether Wales and Scotland will follow suit. To read more, click the AM Online article here.

UPDATE FROM THE CAR WORLD

We are, once again, linking to Autocar’s timeline on what changes are occurring in the automotive world. To read through the latest steps taken, click the link here.

GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGES US TO CONSIDER OUR TRAVEL

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has announced that we all need to consider the mode of transport we are going to take for our travel, be that to work or for leisure. This backs up his department’s report on how transport in the UK will need to evolve in the years to come. Some misinterpreted him and took it that cars were being banned, which is not the case, just that we need to use the most appropriate form of transport for the task. To read more, click the Gov.UK article here.

Connected with this, was the announcement that £250 million was being provided to councils so that alternative or active transport could be encouraged, during the current situation, whilst providing safety to those walking, cycling or similarly. Added to that, is the news e-scooter legislation could be rushed through enabling them to be legally used. To read more, click The Guardian article here.

Wales has also asked councils to register their interest in encouraging alternative transport methods. The Welsh Assembly has given them until 21 May 2020 to confirm they wish to install pop-up cycle lanes, bring in more 20mph zones and the likes. To read more, click on the press release here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more click this link...

Alan and Andrew both had examples of the Jeep Wrangler range, to try out, for a week. Listen in as they compare how many Jeep decals they found, the level of thoughts that has gone into the actual use of the car and how the performance was a little surprising for them and others.

(No groundhogs were harmed in the testing of these JEEP.)

FOLLOW UP: E-SCOOTER CONSULTATION

The Government has released a consultation about e-scooters, seeking opinion on what one is, where they should be used and the like. We have until 23:45 on 2 June 2020 to respond. To read more and answer, click the .Gov.uk page here.

AUTOMOTIVE CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Once again we recommend clicking on the Autocar timeline article, excellently written by James Attwood, which lists what is happening in the automotive world due to the current crisis. To do so, click the link here.

There are a couple of stories that the chaps highlighted though, the first is that McLaren was turned down when they originally asked for a loan of around £150 million. As a consequence, they are investigating mortgaging some of their assets such as historic racing cars. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

LONDON CONGESTION CHARGE RETURNS

Transport for London was very close to collapse, last week, however that has been averted by a bailout by the Government. At first, the news was reported that the return of the congestion charge and the subsequent increase to the fee, days and time covered was claimed to be a condition of the bailout. This has subsequently turned out to be untrue, it was the decision of the Mayor of London. To read more, click the article about how TfL got into this mess here. To read through the thread from the author of that article, click here. To read about the changes to the congestion charge, click the Autocar article here.

CALLS INCREASE FOR A SCRAPPAGE SCHEME

There is an increasing number of calls for a scrappage scheme to be announced, coming from the auto industry, to help the sector in what is expected to be tough financial times. Alan and Andrew discuss this, as there are mixed messages at the moment. We have had the campaign that dealerships be allowed to open again as there was a large pent up demand of people wanting to buy cars. So which is it? The chaps also discuss how the industry has to become sustainable, which is obviously isn’t if every time there is a blip the call goes up for Government help. To read more, click the Car Dealer Magazine article here.

YORK AIMS FOR ZERO-EMISSIONS

York is investigating becoming the first zero-emission city in the UK, taking advantage of the current guidance on travel. Part of the plan would be to ban petrol and diesel cars, buses, vans and lorries from the city centre. The ban would not cover disabled drivers though. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

ARRIVAL OPENING NEW COMPOSITIES FACILITY

Arrival, the until recently secret EV company, has announced it is opening a new composite facility. This is in addition to their other factory, which we discussed recently. To read more,

FOLLOW UP: VW PAYS $10M TO END CEO CASE

Volkswagen has paid nearly $10 million to a German court, to end the case against CEO Herbert Diess, who was accused of manipulating market prices by not revealing the scandal that became #dieselgate sooner. VW reiterate that although they have paid they are adamant that the case was baseless. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FOLLOW UP: VW LOSE LANDMARK CIVIL CASE

In a different court, Volkswagen lost a civil case where the claimant was seeking compensation akin to that given in the US, for those who had bought affected vehicles unknowingly. VW will have to pay an amount of money if the owner wants to keep the vehicle or buy it back at a rate adjusted relative to the mileage of the car. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FOLLOW UP: MORE ARRESTS OVER GHOSN’S ESCAPE

In the US, two security consultants have been arrested in connection with the plot and execution of Ghosn’s escape from Japan. The father and son duo were part of the team that scoped possible escape routes and brought in the large boxes that were supposedly used to smuggle Ghosn from the country. To read more, click the Jalopnik article here.

FOLLOW UP: KHAN AND GOVERNMENT BOTH TO BLAME FOR CONGESTION CHANGES

The mudslinging and accusations over who was directly at fault for the increase in Congestion Charge fee, the time it covers and bringing in changes sooner has slowed sufficiently for us to find out that part of the conditions of the bailout did stipulate changes had to be made, however exactly how much, when and exactly what time they cover was down to TfL and the Mayor of London. To read more, click the link here.

FOLLOW UP: MCLAREN MORTGAGES ASSETS

McLaren has now agreed on a loan, using some of their assets as collateral. However, due to already having secured funding previously, they cannot use all their assets. To read more, click The Guardian article here.

McLaren also announced, on the day of recording, that it was going to make 1,200 staff redundant. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

SHOWROOMS ALLOWED TO OPEN FROM 1 JUNE

The Government has announced that car showrooms and open markets will be allowed to re-open on 1 June, ahead of the other ‘non-essential’ shops date of 15 June. They have done this now to give sites time to put in place the measures required to be allowed to safely operate once more. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

ASTON MARTIN GETS NEW BOSS

Dr Andy Palmer has left Aston Martin, with immediate effect. Three other board members have also left the company. Mercedes-AMG boss, Tobia Moers, will take over from 1 August 2020. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

NEW EURO NCAP TESTS

As part of the way Euro...

Adam Donfrancesco of R-Reforged joins Alan once again to discuss the latest project by R-Reforged, the Aston Martin Vantage V12 Zagato Heritage TWINS, a limited edition of 19 pairs of bespoke, V12 Vantage S - based Coupé and Speedster pairings.

To find out more about R-Reforged, the Heritage TWINS and other projects, visit their website and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

FOLLOW UP: VW NOT SHIELDED FROM MORE US FINES

Volkswagen lost a case, where counties from Utah and Florida were seeking damages in relation to #dieselgate. The court found that the legislation did not exclude state and local governments from fining VW, even though they had reached a settlement with the US Government. Volkswagen was seeking a further review of this ruling. The potential liability this could expose VW Group to is huge. To read more, click the Reuters article here.

FOLLOW UP: HOMEMADE COG ADVERT WINNER ANNOUNCED

The winner of the best homemade advert, inspired by the Honda COG advert has been announced. There were some fantastic submissions, including one from Jonny Smith, who shared the amount of work it took to create his final effort. To read more and watch the videos, click the Honda article here.

CORNAVIRUS AND THE AUTOMOTIVE WORLD

Once again, we refer to James Attwood’s ongoing timeline of what is happening in the automotive world during this virus outbreak. A couple of points are highlighted, that dealerships opened again on 1 June (8 June for Northern Ireland) and motorsport will be starting again soon behind closed doors. To read more, from the Autocar article click here. To read the excellent piece from TV’s Paul Cowland, click Car Dealer Magazine here.

197 CARS MADE IN APRIL

Unsurprisingly, car production was an incredibly small amount, compared to months prior to the virus crisis. Only 197 vehicles were built during April. To read more, click the City AM article here.

FRANCE ANNOUNCES CAR INDUSTRY RESCUE PACKAGE

President Macron has revealed a package to help the French car industry, with €8 billion being made available. Some measures include incentives for people to buy new, cleaner vehicles, however, it is not clear if this is a scrappage scheme. One of the provisos is for the money to be spent in France, as one would expect. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

REBEL ALLIANCE ANNOUNCE CLOSER TIES

Renault Nissan and Mitsubishi announced their plan for closer ties and how to return to profitability. There will be more sharing of developed platforms, technology and design, including the effectively rebadging of cars for each of the brands. They will have one lead company for specific global regions. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

NFU GIVES FREE HOME RECOVERY COVERAGE

Insurer NFU will provide free home start and recovery service, via the RAC, for existing customers until 31 August 2020, following lockdown restrictions. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more click this link...

Alan was joined by Dominic Taylor-Lane from the Association of Heritage Engineers to find out why the Association exists, what it’s all about and how people can get involved.

To find out more about the Association of Heritage Engineers visit their website and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS MAY 2020

As expected, the number of new car registrations, in the UK for May 2020 was very low. However, surprisingly, is the amount that actually was registered. Click through here for the SMMT article detailing more.

JLR’S CASTLE BROMWICH SITE REMAINS CLOSED

Jaguar Land rover’s Castle Bromwich production facility will remain closed until 10 August, when a phased program of production will begin. This will allow the company time to install the equipment needed for the new production line that the yet to be revealed electric XJ will be built on. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

UK MOTOR INDUSTRY JOB LOSSES

Aston Martin, Bentley and Lookers have all announced planned job cuts. Aston Martin’s will be of little surprise as new management teams always make grand gestures when starting out. Bentley’s plans were due to come in March, as part of their Beyond 100 project. Lookers’ announcement is a reflection of both the current situation and their ongoing financial issues that remain both complicated and murky. To read more about Aston Martin, click the Autocar article here. For more information about Bentley, click the Autocar article here. To read about Lookers’ job losses, click The Guardian article here. To find out more about the financial issues Lookers’ has, click The Guardian article here.

7-MONTH PHOTO DRIVING LICENSE EXTENSION GRANTED

The DVLA has announced that it is automatically extending photo driving licenses that have expired, between 1 February and 31 August 2020, for seven months. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

VW BRAND GETS NEW CEO

Ralf Brandstätter has been internally appointed as the new CEO of the Volkswagen Brand, taking over from Herbert Diess who remains as VW Group CEO. There were many rumours flying around earlier this week, with regards to the potential changes. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

CUTTING POLICE FUNDING AFFECTS ABILITY TO POLICE

A study, carried out for the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, has concluded that cutting funding to the police has a negative and direct effect on incident and collision numbers. This is particularly pertinent as all public purses will be squeezed in the coming years, with any government having to tread carefully with where it chooses to spend money. To read the Autocar article, click the link here. To read the full report, click the link here.

HONDA’S GLOBAL PRODUCTION HIT BY CYBER...

FOLLOW UP: SUPPOSED EMAIL TRAIL IMPLIES GHOSN IS RIGHT

A string of emails, which Nissan deny are real, indicates that there was an effort to oust Ghosn from the Rebel Alliance, as he has always maintained. The information that has been revealed is quite damning if it transpires the emails are real. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

AUTOMOTIVE WORLD CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

The chaps refer, once again, to the timeline from James Attwood on Autocar’s website, updating with the latest developments in the automotive world, as a result of the current crisis. Of note, is that the DVSA has not been able to clarify when driving lessons and tests can resume. Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant will not reopen until September. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

EV LICENSE PLATES TO HAVE GREEN PATCHES

The Government has given the go-ahead for a green patch to be added to electric vehicle license plates. The chaps are a bit bemused as to why this has been agreed and permitted. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

TOYOTA BUILDS 4.5 MILLIONTH VEHICLE IN THE UK

Congratulations to Toyota, as they confirm they have built their 4.5 millionth vehicle in the UK. They have managed that number in just under 30 years of production, in the UK. To read more, click the Toyota Media article here.

JLR POSTS LOSS BUT REMAINS UPBEAT

Jaguar Land Rover has posted a £422 million loss but the company is still bullish about things moving forward. With China opening up again, as it is their largest market, and their increase in cost-cutting efforts, along with the cash they can access if needed, management is confident they are on the right track. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

FORD AND VW REVEAL COLLABORATION DETAIL

Ford and Volkswagen first announced they would be working closely together to develop, vehicles and share technology, last year. They have now revealed, in more detail, what that will look like. This is not a rebadging exercise, however, there should be significant cost savings by working together more closely. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

DACIA TO OFFER LPG ACROSS THE RANGE

Dacia has made the surprise announcement, that they will offer LPG variants across their range and these will be available in the UK as well as the rest of Europe. This will lower the brand’s average CO2, but in a more economical manner than fitting hybrid and battery technology. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more

Andrew had a Hyundai IONIQ Electric, for a week, to find out how much had changed since he and Alan drove around Britain in one. Listen in to hear about comfort, the impressiveness of the improved regeneration technology and the key question, does the symbol for the volume control knob stay vertical?

FOLLOW UP: ISLE OF MAN LIFTS COVID-19 SPEED LIMIT

The Isle of Man Government has lifted the 40mph speed limit, as restrictions due to Covid-19 are eased. To read more, click the Tweet here.

RENAULT NISSAN ACCUSED OF PETROL DEFEAT DEVICE

A new legal action, from Harcus Parker, claims that the two companies are fitting engines that emit up to 15 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides. Renault Nissan has denied the charge that their diesel and one particular petrol engine are fitted with defeat devices. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

OVER TWO MILLION MOTS DURING LOCKDOWN

Whilst the UK was on lockdown, over two million MOTs took place. Either, all our key workers went at the same time or some ignored the lockdown. This figure is five million less than for the same period last year, however. MOTs for lorries, buses and trailers is restarting from 4 July 2020. To read more, click the AM Online article here.

SMMT CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has renewed its call for ongoing and planned support, from the Government. Highlighting that one in six jobs could be lost, in the sector, once furloughing stops unless there are incentives to encourage the public to spend money. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

DVLA LAUNCHES ONLINE LOG BOOK ADDRESS CHANGE

The DVLA has launched an online service that allows motorists to update the V5C form, without having to send the paper copy to Swansea. The waiting time will be reduced from six weeks to five days, according to the DVLA. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

ASTON MARTIN APPOINTS NEW CFO

Aston Martin has appointed a new Chief Financial Officer, Kenneth Gregor, who previously was at Jaguar Land Rover. This new appointment is aimed at regaining investor confidence after the share price has plummeted since joining the stock market. To read more, click the Reuters article here.

LAMBORGHINI WITHDRAWS FROM ALL MOTOR SHOWS

Lamborghini announces that they are withdrawing from exhibiting at public motor shows in the future, deciding that their customers deserve more bespoke and personal attention. To read more, click the Twitter thread from Eric Gallina here.

APPLE ANNOUCEMENTS AT WDCC

Apple announced, on the first day of WDCC, that there are updates to CarPlay, with more functionality for EV owners, better maps and the ability to use your iPhone as a key if you own a new BMW. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more click this...

Andrew is joined by Luke Crane, a professional commentator and online racing community founder, to discuss sim racing, the impact of recent controversies, the viability of online racing for broadcasters and sponsors and what community racing can be all about.

To find out more about the Actrollvision leagues and community, click this link for the website.

To join the Actrollvision Discord, click the link here.

To watch Actrollvision league racing streams, click the Twitch link here.

To watch more content from Actrollvision, including interviews, click the YouTube link here.

To follow Actrollvision on Twitter, click the link here.

To follow Actrollvision on Facebook, click the link here.

FOLLOW UP: MCLAREN FINDS FUNDING

McLaren has secured £150 million in funding after it got into difficulties due to the Covid-19 crisis. This does not cause all of the company’s issues to disappear, as they are still trying to raise more funds via a bond against its factory. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

FOLLOW UP: RENTAL E-SCOOTERS TO BE LEGALISED

The Government has announced that e-scooters will be legalised from Saturday, as long as they from a rental company. The idea is to offer another form of persona transport as we are still advised to avoid public transport where possible. Detail is light on exactly what will be allowed but the expectation is they will be banned from pavements, limited to 15.5mph and recommend that riders wear a helmet. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

DRIVING LESSONS ALLOWED AGAIN

From the 4 July, driving lessons will be permitted once again. Once again, the detail was light, on what exact measures would be needed for the safety of both instructors and learners. To read more about this and other major updates click the link here for the Autocar timeline update.

INCREASE IN NUMBER OF SPEEDERS CAUGHT

An article from the BBC News website, linked to below, came with a clickbait headline, which the chaps duly clicked, about an apparent increase in the number of drivers speeding being caught. Once you dig down into the facts, it is not quite that. To learn more, click the link here.

MOT EXEMPTION ENDS 1 AUGUST

From the 1 August, MOT tests will be required once again, bringing to an end the six-month postponement that had been introduced. To read more, click the Car Dealer link here.

2021 GENEVA MOTOR SHOW CANCELLED

The slim chance of the 2021 Geneva Motor Show taking place, has now been confirmed as feared. The Foundation will not accept the loan offer, or cannot accept due to its own rules, and selling the Foundation is their preferred solution. To read more, click the official press release here.

GOVERNMENT ADVICE GROUP CALLS FOR VEHICLE COSTS INCREASE

The Committee on Climate Change, an independent advisory group, has called for a number of steps to be taken by the Government to ensure the climate targets are still met, especially whilst we try to recover from the Covid-19 challenges. Some of these suggestions include increasing taxes on fuel, bringing forward the banning of ICE only vehicles and reducing reliance on car journeys. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

TVR SEARCHING FOR MORE INVESTMENT

TVR is looking for a further £25 million funding to help it produce the long-teased Griffith car. The company claims it is £40 million orders, yet has only director-level employees and owes roughly £5 million. After failing to raise the money via the London bond issue they are now seeking to do so in Dublin. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

ASTON MARTIN SEARCHING...

Alan had a Honda HR-V for 48 hours to find out how this 3rd generation of Honda’s left-field compact SUV coped on the roads of Northamptonshire. It’s divisive in many ways, but was it a Joy Machine?

Alan spent nine weeks with a Kia Stinger decorating his driveway during the lockdown. When restrictions eased and allowed him to go further than the supermarket, how did he get on?

To listen to Alan chat with Wolfgang Zieglmeier, one of the Principal Audio Engineers from Harman on the Stinger project, click here.

FOLLOW UP: NORTH EAST ENGLAND TRIALLING E-SCOOTERS FIRST

The first location for trialling e-scooters will be in the North East of the UK, the Tees Valley Mayor announced. Ben Houchen was delighted to be able to provide a location where 100 scooters can test the viability and practicalities of renting e-scooters to the public. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

JUNE 2020 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

The June New Car Registration figures have been released by SMMT and they’re not as bad as feared, however, they were presented with notes of extreme caution and concern. To find out more, click the SMMT article link here.

ELECTRIC CAR SCRAPPAGE SCHEME REJECTED

The Government has apparently ruled out creating an electric car scrappage scheme. The call by the industry to ask for a scrappage scheme, which has become the defacto stance every time there is a bit of trouble in the market, is predictable yet when ‘low-hanging fruit’ is left untouched seems a bit of a risk. Andrew has “views” after his current experience of the car retail trade. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

MERCEDES TO SELL FRENCH SMART FACTORY

Mercedes-Benz has announced it is selling off the Hambach factory, where Smarts are built, as part of their cost-cutting and streamlining process. This brought the news that Ineos, the Defender-that-is-not-a-Defender company, is in talks to take over the site, instead of the previously proposed Welsh or Portuguese locations. The recent announcements have caused the chaps to question further the viability of the Ineos project. To read about Mercedes’s decision to close the factory, click here for the Autocar article. To read about the supposed Ineos interest, click another Autocar article here.

BMW LOOKING AT SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE FOR OPTIONS

BMW has announced that it is considering offering options via a subscription model. This will be a departure from selecting and paying for selected options upfront. As with any change, there has been a lot of negative comments, however, some have thought this is might be something customers will embrace. To read more, click the RoadShow article here.

If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

FORMULA E: ABT GETS NEW SEAT

NIO 333 has announced that Daniel Abt will fill in for Ma, who is unable to complete the season due to travel restrictions. This is a quick turn around for a driver who was out of a job a few weeks ago. To read more, click the NIO 333 tweet here.

FORMULA E: HANKOOK OFFICIAL TYRE SUPPLIERS

Hankook has outbid Michelin to be the official tyre supplier for Gen 3 of Formula E. This has surprised many, as Michelin has a history with the series and has been a major supporter. To read more,

Alan had a chat with Thomas Cowley about the Rotodama, a forward control cab kit for the Land Rover Discovery chassis dreamt by him and three friends. We talk about how it came about and the challenges of designing and building a vehicle with production in mind.

To find out more about the Rotodama you can visit the website and follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

FOLLOW UP: VW FACES DIESELGATE CLAIMS WHERE CARS ARE BOUGHT

An Austrian court sought confirmation from the EU Court of Justice, if it had jurisdiction to proceed on a class action claim. In essence, these cases can take place where the damage has taken place as opposed to where the defendant is domiciled. This potentially opens the floodgates for claims across the EU. To read more, click the Reuters article here.

FOLLOW UP: JUDGE THROWS OUT GM CLAIM AGAIN FCA

The judge presiding over the claim, by General Motors, that FCA had colluded with labor unions for a higher wage cost to GM, has dismissed the case. He stated that their claims initially looked to have merit but once inspected did not hold up. GM has confirmed they will be pursuing this matter in the courts. To learn more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FOLLOW UP: PSA VULNERABILITY CLARIFICATION

Last week’s List of the Week included a vulnerability found by Ian Tabor, in his DS5. Andrew did not make it clear that any PSA vehicle with the same unit fitted had the same vulnerability. You will learn more by reading his report on the issue and his closing remarks, which can be found by clicking the link here.

VOLKSWAGEN SOFTWARE BOSS TO BE REPLACED

VW is looking at a replacement for Christian Senger, who has been heading up the new software division within the Group. There have been a number of issues with the software for the ID3 and the latest Golf. Senger will be joining Andreas Renschler and Stefan Sommer, in leaving the company. All three were brought in from outside the Group. To read more, click the Carscoops article here.

SKODA BOSS LEAVING

Bernhard Maier is set to leave Skoda at the end of the month, with no news as to his next move. He took over the helm of the Czech firm from Porsche. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

SUZUKI DROPS JIMNY FROM UK

Suzuki has dropped their small 4x4, the Jimny, from their lineup in the UK, however, they will fulfil orders already placed. This is due to the average CO2 emissions across the fleet, as previously discussed. To read more, about this sad news click the CarScoops article here.

BRITISH GAS SWITCHES TO ELECTRIC

British Gas has placed an order for 1,000 all-electric Vivaro-e vans from Vauxhall. This is the first step in fully electrifying its entire 12,000 fleet by 2030. For Vauxhall, this is a massive shot in the arm for the sales of their first full commercial EV. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

CLAIMS GOVERNMENT ROAD BUILDING AT ODDS WITH CO2 LIMITS

A report from Transport for Quality of Life, has claimed that the Government’s plans to invest £27 billion in road building projects would scupper the aim to meet the strict CO2 emission targets. The Government rebuffs these claims, due to out-of-date data being used. However, one aspect that the podcast has mentioned a couple of times, is the mention of brake dust pollution. To read more,

FOLLOW UP: OLIVER SCHMIDT TO FINISH SENTENCE IN GERMANY

Former VW executive, Oliver Schmidt, has been granted permission by a Detroit judge to complete the rest of his sentence in a German prison. To read more, click the Reuters article here.

FOLLOW UP: AUDI TO RUN SOFTWARE ARM OF VW

Dirk Hilgenberg will replace Christain Senger as the head of VW Group’s Car.Software division. This will also coincide with the main office of the division moving to Ingolstadt and Audi. To read more, click the Reuters article here.

FOLLOW UP: E-SCOOTERS STOPPED ON A19

Less than a week after the e-scooter trial opened in the Tees Vally, teenagers were stopped and escorted from the A19 dual carriageway, where they were found travelling at 12mph. Some are questioning if they have broken any laws, although rental and trial rules state they should not be ridden on roads with a limit of more than 40mph. To read more, click the Independent article here.

ELLESMERE PORT REOPENS FOR PRODUCTION

Positive news from Vauxhall, as they announce that Ellesmere Port will be reopening to production from 17 August, in a gradual and controlled manner. To read more, including some of the measures they’re putting in place to be safe, click the Vauxhall press release here.

DVLA WARNS OF DELAYS FOR MOTORISTS

Due to the pandemic, the DVLA is warning motorists of delays to processing their requests. This is particularly concerned with paper application of driving licenses, logbook changes and the likes. We are all being encouraged to use the digital processes, to help speed matters along. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

CAR FINANCE ASSISTANCE EXTENDED

The Financial Conduct Authority has announced that help for those struggling to pay their car finance will have assistance packages extended a further three months. This is in line with the help announced for mortgages. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

CAR-SHARING LIKELY CAUSE IN LOCAL SPIKE

A spike of Covid-19 cases, in Northampton and Kettering, is being put down to car-sharing by local health experts. This does raise the concern, for Richard and Andrew, is how much at risk driving instructors are too, due to the confined nature of their working day? To read more, click the Northamptonshire Telegraph here.

TFL FACES LEGAL CHALLENGE OVER CONGESTION CHARGE

Following the recent ‘temporary’ increase in the Congestion Charge, TfL is being taken to court. From the 22 June, the rate increased to £15, runs for longer during the day and now is in place seven days a week. That there was an increase was conditional to their bailout funding from the Government, however, the extent of it was at the discretion of the Mayor of London and TfL. To read more,

FOLLOW UP: VW ASKS FOR REVIEW OF EMISSIONS UPDATE PENALTIES

Volkswagen has asked the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review the penalties being imposed by two counties after their emission system updates. To find out more visit the Automotive News article here.

THOMAS SCHAFER IS NEW SKODA BOSS

Thomas Schafer succeeds Bernard Maier as the new boss of Skoda. Unsurprisingly, Schafer has been appointed from within Volkswagen. To read more, click through to the Autocar article here.

FORD CEO JIM HACKETT TO RETIRE

Ford CEO and President Jim Hackett has announced he will retire on 1st October, to be replaced by current COO Jim Farley. There’s more in the Autocar article here.

THIERRY BOLLORÉ IS NEW JLR CEO

The former Renault boss will take over from Prof. Sir Ralf Speth on 10th September. Speth will stay on a non-executive vice-chairman. You can find out more in the Car article here.

JLR ANNOUNCE “SIGNIFICANT IMPACT” OF COVID-19

Unsurprisingly, JLR sales are down significantly as a result of global COVID-19 lockdowns, but with sales “only” down 42% seems to have remained more stable than most. There’s more analysis in this Autocar article.

MITSUBISHI PULLS OUT OF EUROPE

A corporate decision at Mitsubishi sees it suspending the introduction of new models to Europe in order to focus on other markets. There’s more information in this Motor Trade News article.

REPORT CALLS FOR AD BAN FOR LARGE POLLUTING CARS

A report from a “green think tank” and a climate change charity says adverts should be banned for vehicles over 4.8 metres long or emitting more than 160g CO2/km. Click through to the BBC article here.

FUEL TAX REVENUE PLUNGES DURING LOCKDOWN

This week’s “story of the obvious” is about how the UK Government lost £2.4 billion of tax revenue during the lockdown as the country used less petrol and diesel. For more information, click through to this Motoring Research article.

HIGHWAY CODE COULD INTRODUCE A HIERARCHY OF ROAD USERS

A new consultation document is looking to improve safety for all road users. One of the proposals is to give greater protections to cyclists, pedestrians, and horse riders through a number of means including introduction of the “Dutch Reach” and clarification of existing rules. There’s more in this Motoring Research article and you can read and contribute to the consultation document here.

PARKING SENSORS DETRIMENTAL TO DRIVER SAFETY

A survey of Fleet managers shows that 70% of fleet managers...

FOLLOW UP: FOUR EX-AUDI EMPLOYEES CHARGED IN GERMANY

In Germany, three ex-Audi executives and a retired engineer have been charged over #dieselgate. Ulrich Hackenberg, Stefan Knirsch, Bernd Martens and Richard Bauder are accused of fraud, false certification and criminal advertising. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.

FOLLOW UP: VW LOSES UK APPEAL AGAINST GROUP ACTION

Volkswagen has lost its appeal against the attempt of a group action lawsuit for compensation to those who bought a VW Group car with diesel engines fitted with, what the court has confirmed is, ‘defeat devices’. The case is not expected to start until 2022. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

FOLLOW UP: LEVANDOWSKI SENTENCED

Bringing to an end the messy chapter of Anthony Levandowski, stolen trade secrets and Uber trying to create autonomous taxis, Levandowski has been sentenced to prison for 12 months which he will serve once Covid-19 has receded. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR JULY 2020

In a rare and probably brief moment, there is good news from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders as July showed a double-digit increase in registrations on 2019. To read more click here for the SMMT article and charts.

JLR LOSE REGISTERED DESIGN CASE

In a lengthy legal process, starting with a case to cancel the registered design for the Defender, brought by INEOS against Jaguar Land Rover, finally culminating in JLR losing in the court of appeal a design patent for the Defender. The original decision was made on 21 November 2018, to read the original ruling, click the link here. To read more about the design patent matters, click the Autocar article here, but note there is confusion in the reporting on this between trademark and design patent. Thanks to Lee Walton for clarification on the case but also to Ed Callow who was mentioning this whilst no one else was over a year ago.

TESLA WIPER CONTROLS LAND DRIVER IN TROUBLE

A German driver was prosecuted under the nation’s same laws as using a phone behind the wheel when altering the speed of the wipers via the touch screen which resulted in a crash. Who knew putting controls on a screen that takes eyes from the road is dumb? To read more, click the BBC News article here.

TESLA IN TROUBLE OVER MISLEADING DESCRIPTIONS FOR AUTOPILOT

Another German court has ruled that Tesla must stop using misleading descriptions for its Autopilot software, such as “full potential for autonomous driving” and “Autopilot inclusive”. They have also been told off for their advert suggesting self-driving cars are allowed on German roads. To read more, click The Register article here.

UK’S FIRST DUTCH-STYLE ROUNDABOUT OPENS

Cambridge, where else, has installed the UK’s first Dutch-style roundabout...

FOLLOW UP: RENAULT NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

During last week’s discussion about the SMMT New Car Registration figures the chaps remarked at how impressive the increase by Renault was. Alan has donned his deerstalker and polished his magnifying glass in an effort to investigate why. They had an increase in their core fleet business but also their best-ever month as part of the Motability scheme.

END OF BAILOUT TALKS BETWEEN JLR AND UK GOVERNMENT

JLR and parent company TATA’s talks with the UK Government over financial help have ended. Reports are that the company did not meet the requirements to receive taxpayers funding. Additional sticking points appear to be suggested requirements for an acceleration of their electrification process. TATA has announced that they are continuing to discuss possible options for financial help with the Government. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

NOKIA WINS PATENT RULING AGAINST DAIMLER

Nokia has won a legal dispute, with Daimler, over the use of their patented technology without a license. Daimler is appealing the ruling. In separate actions, Nokia is being investigated for abusing its position in the market, in the EU. The centre of all of this is the fee Nokia charges to license its mobile communication technology, which Daimler and others want to stop being charged on the basis of each car sold. To read more, click the Bloomberg article here.

KUGA PHEV SALES HALTED AND RECALL ISSUED

The newly launched Ford Kuga PHEV has a temporary ban on sales, issued a recall and informed owners to not charge their high-voltage battery until they have had their car serviced and fixed. The exact issue is still unclear. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

TOYOTA TO USE AMAZON CLOUD STORAGE FOR CONNECTED CARS

As part of Toyota’s move to create and offer its next-gen mobility services, they are utilising more of Amazon’s cloud storage and professional services. Some services could be for fleet managers to monitor their service needs or driver behaviour based insurance to access information. To read more, click The Register article here.

MOTORWAY ROADWORK SPEED TO LIMIT TO BE RAISED

Some sections of motorway roadworks are to have their speed limits reevaluated, with the potential to increase up to 60mph. Simon Wickers explained to Andrew why this may be the case and what factors are considered, which you can read by clicking the link here and also clicking here. To read more about the item, click the BBC News article here.

GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION ON AUTOMATED LANE KEEPING ASSIST SYSTEMS

In the next potential step for introducing automated technology on the road, the UK Government has launched a consultation about Automated Lane Keeping Assist systems. The system will take over driving the vehicle, in motorway conditions, without direct input from the human driver by regulating the speed, distance from vehicles around and keeping in the lane occupied. To read more, click the link to the official release...

Alan chatted to Tim Oldland about his new venture, Raduno Events, a single-point car event listing service. Tim tells us all about how the idea came about, what it aims to provide for both attendees and organisers as well as some of the challenges of launching the service in 2020.

Raduno Events launches on Monday 24th August 2020.

We also talked about some of the other things Tim does, so links to everything discussed are below.

Raduno Website: www.raduno.events

Raduno Instagram: @raduno_events

Raduno Twitter: @raduno_events

Raduno Facebook: @radunoevents

Tim’s “In The Headlights” YouTube channel.

Tim’s classic car part recreation business: Modernclassicparts.com

FOLLOW UP: GERMAN PROSECUTORS AGREE DEAL WITH POETSCH AND MUELLER

Parent company Porsche Automobil Holding SE has paid Stugartt prosecutors €1.5 million for them to drop further investigations into the claim of market manipulation levelled at Hans Dieter Poetsch and Matthias Mueller. They reiterate that the pair have done nothing wrong. To read more, click the Reuters article here.

FOLLOW UP: CLEAN AIR ZONES ON HOLD

Leeds and Bristol have announced that their planned Clean Air Zones are now postponed, due to air quality levels being above the minimum threshold thanks to less traffic. As they do not meet the criteria for Government funding, the local councils are not implementing their plans. They are actively looking at non-charging options and encouraging continuation in the recent work patterns and lifestyle changes. To read more about Bristol’s position, click here for the BristolLive article. To learn more about the situation in Leeds, click the BBC News article here.

ACTIVE TRAVEL SCHEMES BEING CLOSED

Councils are beginning to close some of the active travel schemes they implemented, off the back of the Department of Transport’s £250 million green roads initiative. Complaints have come from local residents and business owners, who cited extra congestion and harm to local businesses. To read more, click here for the Autocar article.

DETAILS OF STRATEGIC ROAD INVESTMENT

The Government first announced it would be spending £27.4 billion with Highways England to improve the road infrastructure, now adding the detail of what the money will be spent on. This has caused an uproar from environmental groups who claim the CO2 impact of these works has been underestimated due to looking at national and local impacts and benefits. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

JUDGE REJECTS ATTEMPT TO BAN OFF-ROADING IN LAKE DISTRICT

A campaign, from the Green Lanes Environmental Action Movement (GLEAM), to ban off-roading on green lane tracks has been rejected by a judge. The High Court has dismissed the legal action on all counts. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

PORSCHE INVESTIGATES ALLEGED PETROL ENGINE MANIPULATION

Porsche is investigating claims that software and hardware changes were allegedly made to some petrol engines after they received type approval. This is on the back of Audi being investigated for possible exhaust manipulation of their 2.0 four-cylinder petrol engine fitted to Q5s, by the Offenberg region. Hopefully, this does not lead to another 5 years plus story for the chaps to cover! To read more, click the Autocar article here.

CO2 LEVELS OF OEM FLEETS ON THE RISE

At the end of this year, manufacturers need to have an average fleet CO2 level of 95g/km, whereas last year saw an average of 121.8g/km. The global pandemic, drop in sales and many countries dipping into technical recession has added further

FOLLOW UP: INEOS SET TO BE SMART ABOUT THEIR FACTORY

Ineos is in advanced talks with Daimler, over purchasing their Smart factory in France. A bid has been tabled, with the expectation that a deal will be reached soon. This means that the Portugal and Bridgend plants will be shelved. To read more, click the CarScoops article here.

FOLLOW UP: CYBERSECURITY FIRM HIRED TO TEST NISSAN IN 2018

Hari Nada, Nissan Senior Vice President, brought in French cybersecurity firm Waveform, to run a pentest on Nissan in 2018. This is being made out as an attempt to hack Ghosn’s emails, which it is not. When running a pentest you keep as few people as possible in the loop. Question marks will be raised if this invalidates Nissan’s submitted information, as this happened at the same time as Nada was helping authorities. To read more, click The Drive article here.

MINI OXFORD REDUCING WORKFORCE

The Mini plant, in Oxford, is shedding nearly 400 agency staff due to a reduction in demand. As the chaps have discussed before, this is a typical move by car plants, to reduce agency workers in times when demand dips. However, in this instance, there will also be a small number of MINI staff who will be offered redundancy and early retirement. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

GREEN NUMBERPLATES GO ON TRIAL

Nissan dealers are trialling the use of the green segment of numberplates of EVs. The Government will be fully introducing the scheme before the end of the year. Other countries which have adopted this claim that it encourages others to buy zero-emission vehicles. To read more, click the Fleetworld article here.

EU GAINS POWERS TO ENFORCE CAR RECALLS ACROSS EUROPE

The EU has taken the step of adding the power to over-ride an individual country’s vehicle authority and demand recalls. To read more, click the Reuters article here.

SCOTTISH LOW EMISSION ZONES TIMETABLE

The Scottish Government has released information on their proposed timetable to introduce low emission zones to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh, in 2022. This had been paused due to the pandemic, however, the clear expectation in this announcement is that life will be more or less back to normal by early 2022. To read more, click the Scottish Government article here.

DVSA SITE CRASHES AFTER SURGE OF TEST APPLICATIONS

Learner drivers attempting to book practical tests have been struggling to do so as the site has crashed by the sheer volume of those visiting. There are only a limited number of slots available, which get released in batches. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

Driving licenses, that are due to expire, up to December 2020, will automatically be extended for 11 months from the date of expiry. To read more, click the...

Alan left his own car for a fortnight’s holiday “Chez Toyota” and took a Corolla Touring Sport on holiday instead. How did Toyota’s handsome, hybrid C-estate challenger cope with long motorway journeys and a minimal amount of urban start/stop?

To hear Alan’s chat with Richard Seymour about how the Toyota hybrid system works and has evolved, listen to the dedicated Special Edition in episode 200.

FOLLOW UP: GREEN NUMBER PLATE TRIAL

Last week we discussed the news that Nissan dealers were trialling, the soon to be introduced, green number plates that indicate the car is an EV. Alan and Andrew were confused by why only Nissan and why a trial, turns out that these are only mock-ups and not actually road legal. The chaps apologise for not doing enough research to have established the full facts. We will do better in the future.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR AUGUST 2020

August is traditionally a quieter month for New Car Registration figures due to holidays and September being a new plate month. However, even taking that into consideration, the market was still down 5.8% year-on-year. Considering the state of, well everything, only 5.8% is not bad! The figure was boosted by a surge (sorry) in the number of electric vehicles registered. To read more, click here for the SMMT article.

ZAP-MAP BRINGS PAYMENT UNIFICATION

Zap-Map, the best EV charging station mapping service for the UK, has unveiled its one-stop payment service, called Zap-Pay. This means that you can just pay via this to be able to charge at any point regardless of the network provider, so long as they have joined with Zap-Map. To read more, click the article here.

FUEL-PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE

Petrol and diesel prices have risen for their third month in a row, yet they still remain on average below January’s prices. Motorway fuel is also significantly cheaper than it was previously. The hope is prices will drop again as there is a reduction in oil price and the holiday season is over. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

KODIAQ VRS SALES TO STOP

Skoda has announced they will be ceasing production of the current Kodiaq vRS, due to the EU emission targets that require a much stricter fleet average than last year. However, for fans of a fast SUV, they will be bringing it back next year with a revised engine and mid-life facelift. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

JIMNY IS BACK SORT OF

Recently Suzuki stopped selling the Jimny due to the EU emission rules that we discussed int he Kodiaq story, however, Suzuki has announced that it will be coming back in limited numbers as a commercial vehicle. Commercial vehicles have different rules over emissions and they can’t have rear seats, but most owners didn’t use the back seats anyway. To find out more about this good news, click here for the Autocar article.

NEXT QASHQAI DELAYED UNTIL 2021

Nissan has dialled back from an expected October production start for the next generation Qashqai, with claims that the main reason is the pandemic and also uncertainty over Brexit, causing the company to pause its investment until more is known. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

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GIVEAWAY COMPETITION TIME

After realising we were about to hit our 350th episode and our 5th year anniversary, almost at the last second, we joked how we are hopeless at...

FOLLOW UP: WINTERKORN AND FOUR OTHERS CHARGED WITH FRAUD

A court in Braunschweig, Germany, has allowed a case to move forward charging Winterkorn and four other former VW managers with fraud. Additionally, the court has allowed an amendment to add additional criminal gang charges. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

FOLLOW UP: MERCEDES AGREE DEFEAT DEVICE SETTLEMENT IN US

Mecedes-Benz owner, Daimler, has agreed to pay £1.17 billion to the U.S. Government and State of California for installing defeat devices on some of their diesel engined vehicles. Mercedes will also have to fix all affected models, as part of the settlement. As part of the settlement Merceds deny the charges levelled at them and any wrong doing. To read more, click the CarDealer article here.

FOLLOW UP: KELLY AND NISSAN TRIAL BEGINS

In the abscence of Carlos Ghosn, Greg Kelly’s trial has started in Japan, where he is accused of hiding the misappropriated funds that Ghosn is supposed to have taken from Nissan. Nissan has admitted liability and paid a fine, Kelly has reiterated that he is not guilty. To read more, click the SuperUnleaded article here.

MCLAREN LOOK TO RAISE FUDNING

McLaren is planning a fund and lease back plan, involving their HQ. Contrary to how others have reported it, they are not selling up and moving away from Woking. The expectation is that the properties will raise over £200 million, which is needed, they say, as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on motor racing and car sales. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

MERCEDES LOSES ANOTHER PATENT CASE

Mercedes Benz has been found to be using some of Sharp’s technology without paying to do so. This is the second case where this has been found to be the case, in the last few weeks. This time, Sharp need 'only post a collateral of €5.5 billion to ban the sale of any vehicle using the disputed technology. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here. To find out how all this mess came around click here for the Automotive News article explaining it all.

SECTIONS OF MOTORWAYS TO BE REDUCED TO 60MPH LIMIT IN TRIAL

Highways England is trialling the reduction of some sections of motorway’s speed limit, to see how that impacts emissions. The M1, M5, M6 and M602 will be affected in very small areas. The trial is expected to begin before October and run for 15 to 18 months, if successful they could become official policy. To read more, click the EVO article here.

SPEEDING NOT RISING OVERALL BUT STILL TROUBLING

The Department for Transport has released information on vehicles speeding, showing that overall there is no increase in speeding but certain speeds have seen an increase. Exceeding 70 and 30mph has climbed but there are drops for cars and motorcycles in 60mph areas. Exceeding speed limits was a contributing factor in 5.1% of road...

FOLLOW UP: SUPERVISING DRIVER OF UBER TEST CAR CHARGED

The supervising driver of the Uber test bed car, that killed Elaine Hertzberg, has been charged with negligent homicide. A reminder that Uber will not be charged with any wrong doing, in connection with the collision, by the local sheriff’s office. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

PRODUCT DESIGN AWARD FOR STUDENT’S TYRE PARTICLE COLLECTOR

Imperial College London and Royal College of Art students have created a device that will collect tyre particles via the use of electrostatics. The claim is that up to 60% of particulates are collected. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

As we have discussed the matter previously, we wish to link to a revisited article from Alex Grant, who has been reporting on this issue, to read the updated article click the link here.

RIMAC IN TALKS TO BUY BUGATTI

The surprise news that the VW Group is in discussions with Rimac to sell Bugatti off, hit us last week. The question is why? Looking into it, all is not what it seems, this is actually a move to get more of a controlling stake in Rimac by the Porsche owners of the VW Group. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

NATIONAL SURVEY ON ROADS POLICING OPEN

Northamptonshire Police has issues a link to a national survey on the state of road policing in England. We think this is an important survey that we should all contribute to. In order to help the Police understand what our thoughts and expectations are for road policing, click the Twitter link here.

PLUG-IN HYBRID REPORT BLOWS OPPORTUNITY TO CONTRIBUTE MEANINGFULLY

A report from Transport & Environment and Greenpeace has been picked up and widely reported on, regarding plug-in hybrids and how awful they are. However, once you dig into it and not take it at face value, as we so recently learned that mistake, they themselves undermine their own argument. For example, they talk about ‘official tests’ when they mean the old and no longer used NEDC test. They through in hear-say of how a car operates, as though it is fact, which it may well be but they do not investigate it. They cry foul over how some owners do not use the technology properly as though that is the tech’s fault. As we have pointed out previously, Transport & Environment are very good at getting headlines, yet their detail requires investigating. To read the BBC News article, where the author has not investigated, click here. To read T&E’s own report, click the link here.

GENEVA MOTOR SHOW 2021 COULD HAPPEN

In a week of unexpected news, we have been told the Geneva Motor Show may happen in 2021. There are a number of packages available to OEMs who wish to show off from one car and an LED TV wall with a maximum of 10 guests, up to 4 cars and 100 guests for the most expensive option. At the time of recording, no one had taken up any of the options. To read more including the eye-watering prices, click...

Alan took a trip to sunny Milton Keynes to try out as many of the trial e-scooter services as he could.

In the course of one afternoon he tried scooters from Ford-owned Spin, established street-mobility contender Lime and UK-based Ginger. Did this two-wheeled cocktail leave his views on urban mobility shaken or stirred?

There will also be a video version of this podcast out very soon.

FOLLOW UP: EX-CEO WINTERKORN FINALLY FACES TRIAL

Proceedings have finally started against Martin Winterkorn over accusations of fraud and market manipulation, connected with #dieselgate. To read more, click the Autblog article here.

FOLLOW UP: FURTHER EIGHT VW EMPLOYEES CHARGED

Eight more employees of the Volkswagen Group have been charged in connection with the #dieselgate scandal, concerning either encouraging, supporting or not preventing the defeat device from being fitted, amongst other charges. To read more, click the Reuters link here.

FOLLOW UP: FCA SETTLES OVER REPORTING SALES CHARGE

FCA has paid $40 million fine, whilst admitting no guilt, to the charge of misreporting their monthly sales figures, in the US. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought the case against the company. To read more, click the RoadShow article here.

FOLLOW UP: UBER GET 18 MONTH LICENSE IN LONDON

Uber has now been allowed to continue working in London, after it was awarded an 18-month license. They have been deemed to have improved enough to allow them to continue their service in the capital. Much to the relief of the police. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

GREATER MANCHESTER CAZ CONSULTATIONS

Greater Manchester will open two public consultations regarding the need to create a Class C Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in the region. This is aimed at commercial vehicles and not private cars nor motorbikes. To read more, click the Air Quality News article here.

HIGHWAYS ENGLAND TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR DISABLED DRIVERS

Highways England, in partnership with AccessAble, will be creating 360 degree images that will enable disabled people to see what the facilities are like at service stations, helping them to plan ahead. To read more about this excellent initiative, click the Motoring Research article here.

GOVERNMENT CLARIFIES PETROL FORECOURT USE

Last week the Government stated that drivers should not use service stations and petrol forecourts unless it is absolutely necessary. This caused a bit of a noise from petrol retailers, which led to a clarification of exactly what was meant. Essentially, be safe, keep your distance, wear gloves when using petrol pumps, wear a mask etc. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

VW TO PAY BRAZILIANS COMPENSATION

Volkswagen has admitted to helping the military ruling governments from 1964- 85, by informing on employees...

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES - SEPTEMBER 2020

As we all know, September is a ‘new-plate’ month which traditionally is a higher registration month. There are some surprises, including who is Number 1 of the Top 10! Another interesting point was how close the number was to last year, even though there is the current global situation. To read more, click the SMMT article here.

UK EU DEAL BLOW TO MANUFACTURERS

Following the latest round of negotiations between the UK and the European Union, manufacturers discovered rules about car parts country of origin means those from Turkey and Japan will not be considered British. This matter will also hit electric cars, which were part of a separate request to be considered British even with most parts coming from outside of Britain and the EU. To read more on this, click the BBC News article here. Following this news, Nissan, Toyota and other manufacturers have announced that they will seek compensation for tariffs imposed following conclusion of negotiations. To read more, click the Twitter thread from Pernille Rudlin here.

REVIEW INTO ROAD SAFETY AROUND NORTHAMPTONSHIRE US BASE

Following the tragic death of Harry Dunn, Grant Shapps has announced a review into road safety around 10 US bases in the UK, including RAF Croughton the scene of the collision. The review will start this month. To read more, click the Northamptonshire Times here.

DVLA LAUNCHES ONLINE V5C LOG BOOK SERVICE

Back in June the DVLA launched an online service to update the V5C logbook, which was such a success that they are introducing a new service that will allow owners to apply for a duplicate logbook online. Again, this should cut waiting times from six weeks to five days. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

E-SCOOTERS SHOULD BE LEGALISED IN UK

Parliament’s Transport Committee has called on the Government to legalise the use of scooters on UK roads, within the next 18 months. This would mean private individuals would be able to use a scooter, in the same way they can a bicycle. To read more, click the Sky News article here.

EURO NCAP INTRODUCES DRIVER ASSISTANCE TECHNOLOGY SAFETY RATING

As more technology is legislated for and introduced by manufacturers, assisting drivers, the need has arisen to review the systems and score them. NCAP has introduced the first such grading in Europe for technology such as lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, braking and driver monitoring. To read more about the ratings, click the Motoring Research article here.

FORD OF BRITAIN BOSS TAKES TEMPORARY LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

Andy Barratt, the MD of Ford of Britain, is taking a temporary leave of absence with Lisa Brankin, sales director, stepping into his shoes. To read more, click the Car Dealer article...

FOLLOW UP: SEPTEMBER REGISTRATION FIGURES ANALYSIS

Jim Holder has looked at the September registration figures of the UK and sales figures of Europe for a deeper analysis of what the industry looks like. He also noted the weak performance of Subaru and several other brands. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

CLEAN AIR ZONES FOR BATH AND BIRMINGHAM

Bath has announced the date for their Clean Air Zone (CAZ), which will be 15 March 2021, also it is not for private cars or motorbikes. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

Birmingham has also confirmed the start of their CAZ as June 2021, but this does cover private cars if they are not Euro-6 diesels or Euro04 petrol engines. To read more, click the Van Fleet World article here.

BP CHARGEMASTER IN £21M POLICE SCOTLAND DEAL

BP Chargemaster and Police Scotland have announced a deal, worth £21 million, to supply charging points for police vehicles. Scotland, unlike England, has a large network of free charging points for EVs so entering this market is quite tricky for charging point businesses. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

DVLA LAUNCHES ONLINE V5C LOG BOOK SERVICE

Back in June the DVLA launched an online service to update the V5C logbook, which was such a success that they are introducing a new service that will allow owners to apply for a duplicate logbook online. Again, this should cut waiting times from six weeks to five days. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

SKODA USES SOUND TO DIAGNOSE ENGINE ISSUES

Skoda is introducing an app to help them diagnose potential problems with a car, by analysing the sound waves recorded. This is a clever bit of technology being trialled which will hopefully lead to quicker solutions as the workshop will have a better idea of what the potential problem is before the car arrives. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

HIGHWAYS ENGLAND TRIALLING INFLATABLE BARRIER

The West Midlands is the location for a the trial of a new safety barrier for road workers. A large, inflatable cylinder will be positioned at the end of coned off sections, replacing the customary lorry with the large “Stop” sign on the back. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

DISCUSSIONS ON HOW WILL SPEED LIMITERS WORK IN CARS ONGOING

EU regulators and car manufacturers are in ongoing talks about how to best comply with the new rules for limiting a car to maximum speeds mandated. On one side it appears a much more forceful and dictatorial approach, whilst the manufacturers prefer to have reminders and warnings. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

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If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that

Andrew spent a week with the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, just before it had a mid-life update. For you, dear listener, he sacrificed a lot to do a thorough review of the car, driving it for many, many miles just to make sure he could conclusively say if it was any good or not. Hear him chat with Alan as he discusses optional extras, steering feel and understatedness.

LOOPHOLE CLOSING CONSULTATION OPENS

A consultation, with suggestions on closing loopholes on the use of mobile phones whilst driving, has been announced. Whilst these are a welcome step, some are asking if the Government is really serious about safety as there are no proposals to ban hands-free mobile phone calls, even though there is a stack of scientific evidence that proves how impaired a driver becomes. To read more about the consultation, click the BBC News article here. To go straight to the consultation, click the link here. To listen to Nick Freeman discuss how the proposals do not go far enough, click the YouTube link here.

COLLABORATIVE POTHOLE MAP CREATED

The Government, collaborating with the likes of Uber, Tesco, Deliveroo and Ocaado, will create a map of the UK’s roads, allowing highway departments to plan their works and take advantage of the fund set aside for mending the epidemic of potholes on our roads. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S ‘MISSING LINK’ ROAD CONSULTATION RESULTS

Following a public consultation, the ‘missing link’ road, that would join the M5 and M4 up, updated plans have been released for further scrutiny. After more than 2000 people contributed last time, Highways England was able to modify their plans to be less disruptive to the environment, repurpose the existing road and benefit local communities. To find out more, click the link to the Motoring Research article that also includes a link to the consultation.

LONDON’S CONGESTION CHARGE MAY INCREASE IN SIZE

Transport for London is once again asking the Government for financial aid, apparently, one of the conditions is to increase the size of the Congestion Charge, as well as remove reductions in cost to some. When we first covered the changes to the Congestion Charge, earlier in the year, we were told it was the Government demanding such change, which turned out to be false. To read more, and make your own mind up until more detail is know, click the MyLondon link here.

TFL DATA PROJECT

Transport for London has begun a data project to map all dockless hire bicycles and e-bikes. This will help TfL understand traffic flows and patterns, as well as hot spots for poor bike storage. To read more, click The Register article here.

NOISE CAMERAS DEPLOYED IN WEST LONDON

In a bid to stamp out the roads of West London being turned into ‘race tracks’, noise cameras have been installed, with a trigger limit of 75dB. Some have already been caught exceeding this level. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

BMW RECALLS ALL 2020 BUILT PHEVS

All plug-in hybrids built between January and October 2020, have been recalled by BMW, due to a fire risk. This affects the 3, 5 and 7 Series, the X1, X2, X3and X5 SUVs, the 2 Series Active Tourer and the Mini Countryman PHEV. Added to that the i8, if built this year, is also...

FOLLOW UP: BRANKIN NEW MD OF FORD BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Ford of Britain and Ireland has announced that Lisa Brankin will be the new Managing Director, from the 1 November 2020. This follows her stepping into the interim position after Andy Barratt who took a leave of absence recently. To read more, click the Ford release here.

THATCHAM CALLS ON A HALT TO AUTOMATED DRIVING PUSH

Thatcham Research is calling on the Government to pause the introduction of ‘hands-free’ driving from Spring 2021, as the technology is not there to do so safely. Listeners may have heard Andrew say this once or twice. To see more, click on the Thatcham tweet here to see how far off technology is from perception.

TAYCAN ADDS APPLE PODCAST AND MUSICLYRICS

The Porsche Taycan is the first car to have full integration with Apple Podcasts, including charts, all the 1.5 million shows and in over 100 languages. Added to this, passengers get the advantage of MusicLyrics, the Apple service that displays time-synched lyrics, in their dedicated screen. To read more, click the Porsche release here.

LOW TRAFFIC NEIGHBOURHOODS POPULARITY RISES

There is, apparently, increasing popularity in ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ (LTNs) where residential streets are closed off to through traffic. The article, from the Guardian, that is linked here, goes into detail about how LTNs can benefit urban areas and what they should be targeting, the one-off local urban journeys. We can hope that the next wave is better implemented than the knee-jerk versions that the pandemic allowed to occur.

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If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

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FORMULA E: CALENDAR CHANGES FOR 2020/21 SEASON

Before the season has even begun, Formula E has had to implement some of their contingency plans due to the pandemic. Mexico City and Sanya are being postponed, so the opening event at Santiago will now be a double-header. To read more, click The Race article here.

FORMULA E: NOW HAS ELITE SPORT QUARANTINE EXEMPTION

Motorsport UK has announced that Formula E is an elite sport, therefore those involved can take advantage of quarantine exemptions. This gives the five British based teams the opportunity to apply for an exception to the rules. Other teams will have to discuss matters with their national organisations. To read more, click The Race article here.

LUNCHTIME READ: E(M)BARRASSING OR I(M)PRESSIVE?

Lee Walton has written about the furore that has erupted on Car Twitter following the unveiling of the BMW M3...

FOLLOW UP: FORD TO REPLACE KUGA PHEV BATTERIES

In August Ford announced they were pulling Kuga PHEVs from sale and that owners should not plug in theirs in due to the risk of a battery fire. The cause of the issue is now known, with battery cells becoming contaminated, meaning that Ford will replace the traction battery packs via a recall. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

TFL FUNDING PACKAGE REQUIRES £15 CONGESTION CHARGE

Part of the agreement for the extra £1.7bn funding, agreed between the Government and Transport for London, requires the £15 temporary Congestion Charge to continue. However, rumours that the area will increase to be essentially inside the North and South Circular Roads have been rejected. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

SHELL DITCHES LPG DUE TO LACK OF DEMAND

Just as Dacia announce they are introducing LPG vehicles, to help with the CO2 rules of the EU, Shell announces it will be removing LPG from their stations as there is a lack of demand. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

WHAT3WORDS INTEGRATED INTO SAT NAVS

The location service, What3Words is being integrated into sat navs by the Here consortium. The claim is the system is more accurate and less confusing than traditional postcode or grid references. The expectation is the system will be quickly in four out of five new cars. Not everyone is in favour of the system, plus this just adds another license for the manufacturers to pay for at some point. To read more click the Motoring Podcast article here.

TAILGATING BEING CAUGHT ON CAMERA

Highways England, in only the first two weeks of an initiative, filmed more than 10,000 vehicles too close to the car in front. Drivers spotted in this manner will be sent a letter advising them of their driving and encourage them to leave the minimum prescribed gap. The idea to get drivers to amend their behaviour. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

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If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

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This weekend, the Motoring Podcast would’ve been at the Race of Remembrance, however and even though that has been cancelled Mission Motorsport and friends will be doing a number of activities to help raise funds for the charity. To find out more, click the link here. If you can please do give as generously as you can to this incredible organisation.

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WRC: YPRES CANCELLATION PUTS FOUR IN WITH A SHOT OF TITLE

Following the cancellation of the WRC event in Ypres, the attention on Monza is even more intense as it is the last shot for four drivers hoping to win the title. Evans is in the prime spot, 14 points in the lead, with

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES OCTOBER 2020

The October New Car Registration figures were down only 1.6% year-on-year, even with the Welsh lockdown. Diesel, unsurprisingly, and petrol both down but battery vehicles up a whopping 143.9%. There is a surprise or two in the model Top 10 list as well. To read more, click here for the SMMT article.

CO2 POOLING

Car manufacturers are beginning to finalise their plans for dealing with the EU Fleet CO2 rules. In an effort to avoid large fines the fine print allows manufacturers to buy CO2 credits from others who have spare. To see further who has signed up with whom, click the CarScoops article here.

M6 TOLL PRICE RISE

From the 4 December 2020, the price will increase to use the M6 Toll Road. Cars will be charged £6.90 to use the full length of the road during the day, with the Junction price being £4.90. Local residents can get a Flxi-Pass, which means that paying £29 will allow for 10 Junction trips. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

MORE DRIVING TRAINING REQUIRED FOR ASSISTANCE TECHNOLOGY

A study run by the University of Nottingham, with support from the RAC Foundation, found that drivers who received behavioural training before using Level 3 equipped vehicles, were more measured in using the technology. The understanding of the technology meant they were paying more attention whilst the vehicle was undertaking manoeuvrers. To read more, click the FleetNews article here.

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If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

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WRC: COLIN CLARK’S INCREASING WORRY OVER 2022

We have discussed the ‘hybrid issue’ that is still plaguing WRC as it pushes to be about the only top flight motorsport that is adamant new technology rules should still come into force. Colin Clark has written an interesting article explaining his growing fears over the future of WRC. To read this, click the DirtFish link here.

BLOODHOUND TV SERIES AND SPONSORSHIP DRIVE

The Bloodhound LSR project will be on Channel 4 at 18:00 GMT on 14 November 2020, taking us through the highs and lows of the journey so far. This coincides with a renewed call for sponsors, in what is a financially tough time. To read more, click the link for information about sponsorship here.

Alan headed to the Sussex to spend a day with the new GR Yaris to find out more about this WRC homologation special. Is the 1.6 litre 3-cylinder up to the job? Most importantly, is it special enough to evict the GRMN from his driveway?

Andrew had an example of Subaru’s first tentative step into the world of adding hybrid technology to their cars. Listen in as he tells Alan about his week with the car, how hybridy the car is and have they done a good job first time out.

FOLLOW UP: GHOSN CLAIMS TO HAVE FLED TO ESCAPE INJUSTICE

Carlos Ghosn has a book coming out soon and in an interview with the Sunday Times he discusses what has happened to him and how he claims he fled Japan to escape injustice. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING ROAD PRICING

Over the weekend, the news was leaked that the UK Government is actively looking into adopting road pricing, due to the expected short fall from a lack of fuel and vehicle excise duty, with more EVs being used on the roads ahead of the expected 2030 cut off date for no more new ICE cars. To read more, click the Autocar article here. This is not a new idea within Government, click here to see what George Freeman had to say on the subject in November last year in Company Car Today. The BVLA has also released a report following their investigation into the idea of road pricing, which you can find by clicking here. Thanks to Tom Callow for tweeting the link out.

Related to this, Zero Carbon World has some 7kW and 22kW charging stations they will donate for free, to UK locations such as B&Bs, tourist attractions, cafes, etc that can pay for the installation. Click the link to their tweet here to find out more.

GOVERNMENT APPROVES STONEHENGE TUNNEL

Against the backdrop of a very vocal campaign, the Government has approved the controversial plan to dig a tunnel and create a dual carriageway. The Planning Inspectorate also state there would “permenant, irreversable harm” as a result of the project. The works are due to start in 2023, to read more click the Autocar article here.

GORDON MURRAY GROUP INVESTS IN NEW HEADQUARTERS

At a cost of £50 million, the Gordon Murray Group are investing in new headquarters and production facilities, in Windlesham. There are to be three phases to the build project, which will be completed by 2024. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

NHTSA UPGRADES TESLA INVESTIGATION

Model Ss built between 2012 and 2018 and Model Xs built between 2016 and 2018, are being investigated for touch screen failures. Reports suggest that NAND memory chips are becoming worn out and failing. More typically, these chips are found in mobile phones and cheap laptops. They are supposedly reaching their program-erase cycle limits meaning they can no longer store data. Some symptoms include rear view camera failure, lack of turn signal sound warning, climate setting controls and more. To read more, click The Register article here.

With characteristically good timing, Alan needed to make a trip to Scotland inter-lockdown to collect more stuff than would ever fit in a Yaris. This seemed like a good opportunity to play at “White Van Man” to remind ourselves just how competent the current generation of mid-sized vans is and to see just how much you can fit into a Mercedes-Benz Vito.

FOLLOW UP: UN SAYS GHOSN TREATMENT ‘UNFAIR’

An independent group of experts, working for the United Nations, has stated that Japanese treatment of Carlos Ghosn was ‘fundamentally unfair’. They have made no comment on the allegations of his crime, only how he was arrested several times and the harsh bail conditions levied on him. To read more, click the Guardian article here.

FOLLOW UP: ICE 2030 BAN FORMALLY ANNOUNCED

Whilst we were recording, last week’s show, the Government announced that they will be bringing in the ban on new internal combustion engined cars from 2030, as we stated we were waiting for. Rather than go through it all again and because there is so much misinformation and misunderstanding with the situation we recommend you read the Motoring Research article that calmly discusses the matter and what it will mean, to do so click the link here.

NISSAN REFUTES SUNDERLAND CLOSURE CLAIMS

Reports, from a respected German automotive magazine, suggested that Nissan had decided to close Sunderland but was yet to officially announce it yet. Nissan has stated that this is untrue. To read more, click the Sunderland Echo article here.

JLR ASKS U.S. TO BAN VW GROUP SUVS

Jaguar Land Rover has filed a complaint to the US International Trade Commission over the use by Volkswagen Group SUVs, of Terrain Response. JLA claim this is patented technology is being used without permission. To read more, click the Autocar article here.

POLICE DATA REVEALS REAL CAUSE OF ROAD INCIDENTS

Official police report data has been collated to show what actually causes road incidents and collisions. Reaffirming the point the podcast has made many times, but “Driver Error” was by far and away the biggest factor that contributed, at 66%. Second, some way back was “Driver Behaviour” and third, even further back was “Injudicious Action” which includes speeding. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.

ENGLAND E-SCOOTER HIRE PRICES COMPARED

Further to the Special Edition, where Alan went to try out some of the options when it comes to e-scooters which you can listen to by clicking here or watching by clicking here, ZAG has collated all the prices for hiring an e-scooter. Their research backs up Alan’s summary that e-scooters may not be the economical choice for many. To read more, click their article here.

PANDEMIC TRAVEL TRENDS REVEALED

Bloomberg CityLab has compiled data from global...