Motoring Podcast - News Show

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR DECEMBER AND ALL 2020 The New Car Registration figures are dissected for December and the whole of 2020. That the overall figure is only down 29% for 2020 is remarkable. The Top 10 registered cars (not sellers!) has a different look to it. As a side note, the Ford Transit Custom had more registered than the third place Golf for 2020. To read more, click the SMMT article here. 56,000 VW GOLF MODELS RECALLEDVolkswagen is issuing a “voluntary service measure”, to fix software issues with the Golf’s infotainment and reversing camera systems. VW has struggled with software issues for both the Golf and ID.3, which were launched last year. To read more, click the Reuters article here. SUPERMARKETS ACCUSED OF FUEL PRICE RIP-OFF Supermarkets have increased their forecourt prices well above the cost of wholesale fuel. This has led to anger from motoring groups and customers. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here. ANPR CAMERAS USED BY DEVON AND CORNWALL Devon and Cornwa

Alan was joined by television’s Paul Cowland to have a chat about the latest series of Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars. We talk about jeopardy, flouncing off in a huff on screen and Jensen Interceptors amongst other things. We mention the show on occasion.You can find out more about Paul’s background in his Rear View chat with Andrew. You can follow him on Twitter here and on Instagram here.Drew Pritchard is on Twitter here, Instagram here and his autobiography is here (affiliate link).You can learn more about Quest here and Discovery+ here.

FOLLOW UP: VW DID BREAK LAW ACCORDING TO ECJThe European Court of Justice has ruled that Volkswagen Group, by fitting the defeat device, did break the law. The claim that it was to protect the engine was rejected by the court. This, combined with a separate ruling allowing consumers to sue VW in the country they bought the car rather than Germany, has potentially opened up more financial pain for the company. To read more, click the Car Dealer article here. FOLLOW UP: MERCEDES UNDER PRESSURE AFTER ECJ VW RULINGYou will have seen or heard the adverts from a legal firm telling you that as an owner of a Mercedes you *may be eligible for compensation because Mercedes-Benz are accused of fitting a defeat device to their engines. The Volkswagen ruling in the European Court of Justice has emboldened those chasing compensation. To read more, click the Car Dealer link here. FOLLOW UP: GHOSN ASKS WHY JAPANESE WON’T VISIT LEBANON French investigators are intending to meet with Carlos Ghosn, in Lebanon, over open cases,

As we were not allowed to record the Pubcast in-person this year we managed to convince those who were there for the last one, to join us again! You can listen to Alan and Andrew chat with Erica Haddon from Toyota, Ian Robertson from Diesel Car and Eco Car magazines, Scott Brownlee from Toyota and Phil Huff from Front Seat Phil and Editor of Pick-Up Truck and Professional 4x4. Simon Branney was unable to join us due to a cursed internet. You can hear what positives came out of the year, the mocking of last year’s prediction quality and what everyone thinks will happen in 2021. Happy New Year to all our listeners and hope you have a safe and prosperous one! To follow our fine guests on Twitter click the relevant links below;For Erica, click the link here.For Scott, click the link here. For Ian, click the link here. For Phil, click the link here.

How often do you think of saying to someone, “If you’re considering selling, can I have the first refusal?” Way back in midst of the first lockdown Alan said just that to Chris Pollitt referring to the Car & Classic Mercedes 230E project car. A few months later Chris sent the “you know you wanted first dibs…” message and, well, it spiralled from there.In this Special Edition Alan talks about the car, what attracted him to it and why it’s now on his driveway.To see more about Arrows, who were mentioned, click the Motoring Research link here. To go directly to Arrows own site, click the link here.

FOLLOW UP: SSANGYONG GB AND MITSUBISHI END TALKSSsangYong GB and Mitsubishi have now ceased, over the possibility of the Korean brand taking over the UK operation from the Colt Car Company. Suggestions were that the price both wanted was too far away from each other to satisfactorily conclude negotiations. To read more, click the CarDealer article here. PORT DELAYS AND COVID AFFECT BRITISH FACTORIESThe ongoing delays at British ports, for both import and export goods, has caused some problems for manufacturing sites in the UK. The most notable examples of this are Honda, which had to halt production last week. JLR’S site Castle Browmich, has been hit by a slow down of parts from suppliers due to the impact of Covid. Whilst Swindon has started up again, the West Midlands site has not. To read more, click the Autocar article here for Honda and click here for the JLR Autocar article. TFL CONSIDERING CHARGING NON LONDON CARS A FEE TO ENTERThe financial hole that TfL is trying to fill could mean that cars, that ar

FOLLOW UP: ASTON MARTIN ANNOUNCE INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONTobias Moers, the CEO of Aston Martin, has announced that there will be an internal investigation into the involvement of the company in the report that has been so thoroughly debunked, in terms of the information supplied, after questions were raised over the connection between the PR company that produced the report and individuals within or close to the company. To read more, click The Guardian article here. NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR NOVEMBER 2020The SMMT has released the November New Car Registration figures, which are predictably down on last year, due to the lockdown that England went into. Of note is that electric cars, in some shape or form, exceeded the amount of diesel cars registered for the first time. To read more, click the SMMT article here. COMPETITION WATCHDOG TURNS EYES ON CHARGING NETWORKThe Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating the electric vehicle charging industry to see that a competitive and fair market de

When Alan last tried the Hyundai i10 it was competent but slow. With a turbocharged 1.0 triple delivering 100PS and set of subtle suspension changes, has Hyundai cured its Achilles heel? Alan tried the i10 N-Line for a week to find out.

FOLLOW UP: GREEN IS GO FOR NUMBER PLATESFrom December 8, the Department of Transport has confirmed that a green flash on a number plate, to denote a zero-emission vehicle, will be allowed. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here. FOLLOW UP: ZERO CARBON WORLD CHARITYThere is a new Autocar article about Alexander Sims and the Zero Carbon World charity, we mentioned a few weeks ago, who are giving away free charging points to businesses that customers can use in their car parks. To find out more about this surprisingly aged charity, click the link to the article here. 50,000 MILES EV CLAIM QUESTIONED On Friday and over the weekend, several media outlets published articles claiming, thanks to research sponsored by some well know auto industry organisations, that an electric car needed to run for nearly 50,000 miles before it offset the carbon debt of production and energy needed to run it during its life. However, following dissection of the figures quoted by a world-renowned academic, who pointed

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 ANNOUNCEDWhilst 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 CLAIMSReports, from a respected German automotive magazine, suggested that Nissan had decided to close Sunderland but was

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 INJUSTICECarlos 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 7k

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?

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES OCTOBER 2020The 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 RISEFrom 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 TR

FOLLOW UP: FORD TO REPLACE KUGA PHEV BATTERIESIn 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 CHARGEPart 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 DEMANDJust 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, cli

FOLLOW UP: BRANKIN NEW MD OF FORD BRITAIN AND IRELANDFord 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 PUSHThatcham 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 MUSICLYRICSThe 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. T

LOOPHOLE CLOSING CONSULTATION OPENSA 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 CREATEDThe 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’ ROA

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.

FOLLOW UP: SEPTEMBER REGISTRATION FIGURES ANALYSISJim 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 BIRMINGHAMBath 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 DEALBP 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 m