Motoring Podcast - News Show

FOLLOW UP: £30B POTENTIAL FALLOUT FROM FINANCE RULINGAfter the surprise Court of Appeal’s ruling, that not only must commission for brokers must be explicitly made clear, including the rate they receive, the potential fall out could be up to £30 billion. Even Martin Lewis, the consumer campaigner, has said the ruling appears to be going much further than expected. Click this AMOnline article link here, to read more. FOLLOW UP: INEOS TO RESTART PRODUCTIONFollowing the collapse of their seat supplier, Ineos has been hit by a halt to production. They now say they will restart in January. This will be a relief as an expansion into China and Mexico was about to take place when they were hit by the issue. If you want to learn more, click here for a link to an Autocar article. JAGUAR REIMAGINING BEGINSUnless you lived under a rock, and had no contact with any person or the internet, then you will know that Jaguar produced their first glimpse at the reimagining of the brand. This has caused the internet to lose its

UK GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATES NEW EMISSIONS CONCERNThe Department for Transport (DfT) is investigating claims that 47 car models emissions are not the same as the official test figures, with the accusation that they are manipulating the emissions. The DfT is attempting to establish if a defeat device is being used. You can learn more, by clicking this FleetWorld article link here. RIVIAN AND VW SIGN PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTAfter announcing they would partner up, Rivian and Volkswagen have signed the partnership agreement. This will include extra investment from VW, taking the full price up to $5.8 billion. Click this EV Powered article link 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 - Caterham Seven CSR TwentyCaterham bring us the most “luxurious” and pricey Seven variant yet, with a price tag of a smidgen under £80,000. Celebrating 20 years of the CSR chasis

Andrew was invited, by Hyundai UK, to try out the new Santa Fe, their large hybrid SUV. What has changed? How have they executed those changes? Will it be successful? Listen to the Alan and Andrew discuss the first impressions of the car, following the amount of driving they crammed in. To find out more from Hyundai, about the Santa Fe, click this link to their website 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

OCTOBER 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATIONSThe Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has revealed the new car registration figures, for October 2024. They are not good. For the month of October the market is 6% down on 2023. Even Fleet dropped, for the first time in a long while. One bright spark, no pun intended, is that EV registrations grew to 20.7% market share for the month. This is to be expected as the end of 2024 approaches and so do the fines for not hitting the mandated levels. Click this link to read more, from the SMMT’s own article. FOLLOW UP: FINANCE INDUSTRY THROWN INTO TURMOILFollowing a court ruling regarding commission on finance agreements, the industry has been thrown into turmoil as there are questions on what they need to do in order to be compliant. Some companies have halted all offerings for car finance until the situation is clarified. You can find out more, by clicking this AMOnline article link here. MANY MANUFACTURERS REVEAL STRUGGLING RESULTSThe number of brands that are repor

Andrew was invited, by Volkswagen UK, to sample a selection of the revised Golf, as part of the 50th Anniversary of the model. We hear what VW has achieved in that time, Alan asks if he’s speaking to the real Andrew and the chaps ask how does one benchmark the benchmark?Listen to the Alan and Andrew discuss the first impressions of the cars, following his short time with each of the models. To find out more from Volkswagen, about the Golf hatch, click this link to their website here. For the estate, click this VW 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

FOLLOW UP: EU CHINA TARIFFS UPDATEOn the 31 October, the EU tariffs for China made EVs went live. Click this electrive article link here to read more. This has caused SAIC to take the European Commission to court over the amount it has been charged. You can read more via this electrive article link here. China, it is claimed, has instructed home grown EV makers to not build plants in the EU to get around the extra charges. Once again, electrive have an article link here for you. Additionally, they now want to know the lifecycle of rare earth minerals in Western supply chains. Check out this link to a China Digital Times link here. FOLLOW UP: FINANCE INDUSTRY THROWN INTO TURMOILFollowing a court ruling regarding commission on finance agreements, the industry has been thrown into turmoil as there are questions on what they need to do in order to be compliant. Some companies have halted all offerings for car finance until the situation is clarified. You can find out more, by clicking this AMOnline article link h

Andrew was invited, by Kia UK, to try out the refreshed Picanto and new Sorento. Book ending the ICE and hybrid model range, the city car Picanto and large SUV Sorento show how the company caters to many different needs. Listen to the Alan and Andrew discuss the first impressions of the cars, following his short time with each of the models. To find out more from Kia on the Picanto, click this link to their website here. If you want to discover more about the Sorento, click this link to the Kia website here.

FOLLOW UP: VW CONSIDERS RADICAL COST SAVING PLANSInformation has come out as to the extent that Volkswagen Group are considering how to save the $4 billion they state they need to. This includes closing up to three German plants, reducing wages, reducing bonuses and more. Unions have reacted angrily whilst VW has not commented on the claims. To find out more, click this Reuters link here. FOLLOW UP: JLR STILL HAVING REPAIR ISSUESA year ago the CEO of JLR, Adrian Mardell, apologised for how long it was taking to repair their customer’s vehicles. This situation is still not resolved. Problems with their supply chain, which not all are their fault, as well as the supply hub they switched to has meant that around 10,000 customer cars are off the road. Click this Autocar article to read more. RADFORD MOTORS FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCYThe car company co-founded by Jenson Button, Ant Antsted and Dan Bednarski, to build a low volume supercar based on a modern interpretation of the Lotus Type 62, has filed for Cha

In this episode, Alan talks about taking a short break from his holiday/vacation, driving around the southeast of the USA to visit Porsche North America in Atlanta, Georgia, touring the impressive facility, and driving a 911 GTS and a Boxster GTS back-to-back on track.

FOLLOW UP: TESLA STILL HIT BY SWEDISH STRIKESIn Sweden, the strikes by various workers from a variety of industries that serve parts of Tesla’s business has expanded to include the union Vision. Those that work on the Tesla Supercharger network will no longer service, repair or run maintenance on the charging stations. To learn more, click this Automotive News Europe article link here. STELLANTIS TO SHAKE UP UK BUSINESSCarlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis and wielder of the big hammer affectionately named “cuts”, has said there will be an announcement in the next few weeks for the “correction” they will be making to the UK business. In recent months the company has threatened the UK Government, as seems to be their Plan A in all countries, with closing production plants. The main bugbear is the ZEV mandate and, in the company’s eyes, a lack of financial support from the Government. Click this Autocar article to read more. STELLANTIS UK GET A NEW MD AFTER SURPRISE EXITMario Gazia Davino has made the shock mov

FOLLOW UP: EU vs Chinese EVsThe European Commission has approved tariffs on Chinese EVs. There are a number of stories behind this:European Commission Approves Tariffs On Chinese EVS - AutocarEU Rejects Chna’s Proposal for €30,000 minimum price - electrive.comWhy EU rejected China's compromise on EV tariffs - Automotive News EuropeJLR encourages further talks in plea to avoid EU-China tariff war - AutocarEU-China EV dispute: Beijing retaliates with levy on French brandy - Automotive News EuropeFOLLOW UP: DIESELGATE - Winterkorn’s Trial Moved AGainThe trial for ex. Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn, has been delayed due to his current ill health. A new timeline is being planned and will be announced in due course. Click this Automotive News Europe article for more. FOLLOW UP: FIAT 500E PRODUCTION PAUSED FOR LONGERFiat has announced that the current pause in production of the 500e will continue for longer, which the company claims is down to the low demand for EVs. Or is it the reduced demand for the 500e?

FOLLOW UP: GHOSN ORDERED TO RETURN YATCH Carlos Ghosn has lost his appeal over the ruling that he must return his luxury yacht and repay approximately $32 million, to Nissan. This could prove tricky as he is in Lebanon and due to geopolitical issues, it may be tricky to send someone to go pick it up. To learn more, click this article link from The Autopian. JLR INVESTS £500M IN HALEWOOD PLANTIn order to build hybrid vehicles and prepare for their electric future, JLR are updating the Halewood plant to the tune of £500 million. They will also be able to build combustion engined vehicles at the same facility. Click this article link to The Guardian. NISSAN BUYS MORE SHARES BACK FROM RENAULTNissan is buying another 5% of shares back from Renault as the Rebel Alliance continues to dissolve. Estimated to be worth around $551 million which will help Renault’s finances. If you wish to learn more, click this article link from Automotive News Europe. UK GOVERNMENT HAS NO PLANS FOR PAY-PER-MILE CHARGE YETIn a surprise

Alan is on his own this week, and there's no Follow-Up.This week, though, the European motor industry warns that it will miss CO2 targets because of falling EV sales, the US proposes to ban Chinese and Russian connected car tech, and MAN and E.ON club together to open their first joint-venture truck charging site, while Shell does something similar in the UK. Gordon Murray Group won £ 11 million in UK government funding for developing a new lightweight platform, and Porsche patented a 6-stroke engine cycle.New New Car News includes the Lotus Theory 1 concept, the Renault Estafette concept, and the Ineos Grenadier, where seats are a concept.Points of Interest includes with a Lunchtime Read by Nir Kahn, and a list of 20 very angry cars. The And Finally this week is the latest from c90adventures on YouTube.

FOLLOW UP: BWM DOWNGRADES OUTLOOKOn the back of the news that the BMW brake recall has expanded, which we covered last week, BMW has announced that they have cut their projected outlook for 2024 due to the costs incurred by the issue of the Continental supplied part. On top of that, reports are now surfacing that they were first informed of the issue in June 2022. To read more, click this link to an AMOnline story. TOYOTA SOLID STATE BATTERY PLANS APPROVED Toyota has announced that it will begin production of solid state batteries in 2026, with mass production to begin in 2030. Have they actually cracked? If you wish to read more, click this InsideEVs article link here. MERCEDES AND SUPPLIER DEVELOPING SOLID STATE BATTERYMercedes-Benz and Factorial have announced plans that they are developing a solid state battery, but with no confirmation on a date when these might come to market or be fitted to cars. Click here to read more, via a Reuters article link. MG TO SELL SOLID STATE BATTERY CAR IN 2025Shanghai Au

FOLLOW UP: WINTERKORN DIESELGATE TRIAL BEGINSFormer Volkswagen CEO, Martin Winterkorn, is in court, charged with fraud, market manipulation and perjury all connected with the dieselgate scandal. Winterkorn denies all charges. To learn more, click this BBC News article link here. AUGUST 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released the August 2024 new car registration figures. They are the first month in two years to not grow year on year. BEVs took a market share of nearly 23% in August, but the year to date is still only at 17.2%. Diesel, petrol and PHEV were down, but HEV rose. Private flatlined, but Business and Fleet registrations were down. Calls were renewed for charging VAT equalisation and incentives from the Government for consumer purchases. Click this link to read more, from the SMMT article. Click this link here to read what Robert Forrester, CEO of Vertu Motors, was quoted as saying with regards to the ZEV mandate and state of the market. VW

RAC RECOMMENDS DITCHING FUEL DUTY CUTThe 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 PLANSHyundai is the latest company to announce a revision to their model and powertrain plans, in the face of market conditions. T

WARNING ISSUED FOR UK NEW CAR MARKETCox 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 PLANSFord 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 1

London ULEZ Scrappage Scheme to End Next MonthThe London Scrappage Scheme will close next month for residents of all the London Boroughs covered by the ULEZ, but certain groups still have until 2027. You can read more in this story from Autocar.GM Lays off 1,000 Software EngineersJust when all other car manufacturers are trying to focus on getting software correct, GM lays off 1,000 across the US. There’s an overview story from The Autopian here and one from CNBC here.UK Motorists Warned of Quishing RiskBad actors are placing QR codes pretending to lead to the relevant payment sites in car parks and on EV charging stations across the UK. Keep an eye out for labels over correct QR codes or, even better, use the appropriate app or type in the URL where physical payment isn’t possible. There’s more detail in this Guardian story. Leasing Model At Risk of BreakdownLeasing companies across Europe claim they’re considering pulling out of the market due to the unpredictability of used EV values as new vehicle prices

FOLLOW UP: CHINA SAYS EU TARIFFS ON EVS BREAK WTO RULESChina 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 ISSUESJLR 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

FOLLOW UP: MORE CERTIFICATION WOES FOR TOYOTAFollowing on-site inspections, by Japan’s transport ministry, more certification violations have been found. A further seven models have been found to have been incorrectly certified, including the RAV4 model, resulting in a call for “drastic reforms” from the government. To learn more, click this link to a Reuters article. JULY 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESThe Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) released the new car registration figures for July 2024. Overall the figures are up 2.4%, year on year. EVs are up 18.8% for the month but still only a 16.8% market share, year to date. Hybrids and Plug-In Hybrids are also up, with petrol down slightly and diesel a lot. Private registrations are down significantly again, with Fleet being 60% of the market. SMMT call, again, on the Government to do more to incentivise consumers and do more for the infrastructure. Click here to read more, from SMMT. AUDI UK GETS NEW MANAGING DIRECTORAndrew Doyle is leaving