Motoring Podcast – News Show

FOLLOW UP: BT ENDS EV CHARGER PILOTAfter converting just a single junction box to enable EV charging, BT has pulled the plug on their project. Originally touted as having a potential to convert up to 90,000 cabinets, the company is focusing on improving wifi provision for EV chargers. To learn more, click this Autocar article link here. FOLLOW UP: FTC SUES JOHN DEERE OVER REPAIR MONOPOLYIn the US, the Federal Trade Commission along with Illinois and Minnesota, have taken John Deere to court over claims of a monopoly on repair to their equipment. The claims explain how due to only John Deere being able to fix farm machinery their is a loss of earnings as the farmers have to wait for a technician. This has potential knock on for the motoring industry. Click this 404 Media article link, to read more. EV POWERTRAIN FACTORY TO BE BUILT IN SUNDERLANDA company owned by Nissan, Jatco, will build a factory in Sunderland that will produce the car company’s next generation EV powertrains. The UK Government is investing £50 million in the project. If you want to read more, click this Autocar article here. STELLANTIS UK MANAGEMENT CHANGESStellantis UK have made changes to their management team, again. This time Nicola Dobson will head up Peugeot. Giuseppe Cava will be the MD for Fiat, Fiat Professional and Abarth. Damien Dally will lead the Leapmotor brand. Nick Richards will be the director of pre-owned vehicles. Tom Ray is in charge of business-to-business for all brands. To learn more, click this AMOnline link here. FTC BANS GM FROM PASSING DRIVER DATA ONFor the next five years, GM is banned from passing driver data onto consumer reporting agencies, in the United States. Additionally, they must make it clear what data they do collect and give people choice over if it is collected and used. Click this article from the Federal Trade Commission for more details. HINO SETTLES US EMISSION BATTLEIn the United States, the Toyota subsidiary Hino, has settled with regulators an emission scandal involving their diesel engines. Fined $1.6 billion, plead guilty and banned from importing their engines to the country for five years. Amazing what happens to non-US companies, compared to their own. Click this BBC News article link for more. CANOO FILES FOR BANKRUPTCYThe EV startup, Canoo, has filed for bankruptcy after it failed to find further funding. To find out more, click this TechCrunch article here. CHARGE CAR HAS BEEN BOUGHTThe collapsed EV restomod company, Charge Car, has been bought and resurrected, by a consortium who plan to follow through on the program of building electric Mustangs. If you wish to read more, <a...

DFT CLAIMS NO FINES FOR ZEV MANDATE IN 2024The Department for Transport has stated it is confident no car maker will be hit with fines, for failing to meet the requirements of the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate of 2024, due to the many different ways a brand can be compliant. If you want to read more, click this AMOnline link here. JLR STATE GEAR SELECTOR SETUP STAYS FOLLOWING TRAGEDYA coroner has urged JLR to change their gear selector system by including an “intermediary step” to engage the drive as required. A tragic accident occurred when the driver of an electric Jaguar relied on feel to pick correctly but ultimately failed, which led to the death of a child. JLR, whilst expressing sympathy over the incident, stated they comply with all legal requirements. You can learn more, by clicking this BBC News link here. ROLLS ROYCE INVESTS £300M IN NEW PRODUCTION CAPACITYRolls Royce will be upgrading their Goodwood production facility, with a £300 million investment, ahead of a second electric model reveal. More important, perhaps, than the second ev model, is that this will allow even more personalisation of cars being sold. To read more on this, click the link here to an Autocar article. TESLA BEATS FORD TO MOST RECALLED BRAND IN 2024In the US, Tesla has taken the dubious crown of the brand with the most recalls, from Ford in 2024. The latest is 700,000 for tyre pressure sensors not working as hoped. That brings the total of 15 recalls. Click this San Antonio Express News article link for more. TESLA DRIVER ASSISTANCE COMPUTERS FAILINGThe computers controlling Tesla’s ‘Self Driving’ ADAS system are failing. This is causing serious issues, including disabling other aspects and technology in cars. Getting replacements is tricky and there is a long lead time due to how the company likes to do business. If you want to read more, click this Jalopnik article link here. WAYMO TAXI GOES IN CIRCLES TRAPPING OCCUPANTA Waymo in Arizona, trapped an occupant whilst circling the airport car park, which he could not stop or get help. The man nearly missed his flight as it took so long to rectify the situation. You can see more, by clicking this BBC News article link here. DRIVERLESS SCOTTISH BUS ROUTE SHUT DOWNThe much heralded driverless bus project, set up with Stagecoach, called CAVForth, has shut down 18 months after beginning. The claim is a lack of passengers. To read about this, <a...

FOLLOW UP: VW AND UNIONS AGREE ON CUTSAs a result of the intense negotiations between Volkswagen and the unions, agreement has been reached on cuts that are hoped will create $4 billion in savings. Voluntary redundancies, selling one plant, reducing production lines and repurposing other plants are all measures being taken. Click this Autocar article link, to find out more. You can also click this link here to an AP article explaining other aspects of the steps being taken. FOLLOW UP: HONDA AND NISSAN OFFICIALLY CONFIRM MERGERWe covered the rumours of this a few weeks ago, yet it has still caught many by surprise. Nissan and Honda has announced that they intend to merge in an attempt to fight for an increased market share. We cannot work out what the companies will gain from this as they seem to be effectively identical in terms of products and markets. To find out more, you can click this Autocar article link here. FOLLOW UP: UK GOV STARTS FRESH ZEV MANDATE CONSULTATIONThe new Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, has opened a fresh consultation with stakeholders regarding the zero emission vehicle mandate, as the reality of the economy and the market hit home. SMMT is pushing for financial help for private buyers and pushing the charging industry to do better. The charging industry is in a flap over the potential to slow down the move to EVs. To learn more, click this Autocar article link here. DECEMBER AND 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES SMMT has released the data for December and the entire year, with regards to new car registrations. Surprising no one, or it really shouldn’t, BEVs had a bumper month as the fear of fines loomed over brands. Fleet buyers completely propped up the market in 2024. The question of the ZEV mandate and economy, going into 2025, will impact the market heavily. Click this SMMT article link to read more. WHISTLEBLOWER ACCUSES JLR AND TATA OF BLACKLISTINGHazar Denli, who was heading up the chassis design element of VinFast’s car for Tata Technologies, raised concerns over parts and quality internally but was ignored. Feeling he had no option he went public, was fired by Tata and subsequently found a new job, via an agency, with JLR. He is claiming that he was blacklisted and unfairly fired by JLR who were told to let him go. To read more, click this BBC News article link here. LOCAL AUTHORITIES GIVEN EXTRA POTHOLE REPAIR FUNDSThe Government has added £500 million to the pothole repair fund and is pushing local councils to get on with sorting the roads. However, to receive the full funding they will need to demonstrate they are tackling the problem to a standard expected. If you would like to read more, click this BBC News article link here. VW CUSTOMER CAR DATA LEAKVolkswagen Group has now fixed a misconfigured cloud storage area that was open to everyone. 800,000 customer’s car’s data...

FOLLOW UP: ANOTHER ROUGH WEEK FOR VWVolkswagen are continuing to endure more challenges. Workers were on strike last week, with the threat of more in the new year as unions and management continue to talk but appear no closer to agreement. You can click this HTAutos article link to learn more. Meanwhile, VW’s CFO Arno Antilitz, stated that factories must get more efficient. Which is code for cut costs. Unless they haven’t bothered to optimise efficiency up to now. Click this MSM article link here, to read further. To round out the Volkswagen news, they are being sued in Brazil for treating farm workers, on a farm they owned, like slaves. This is a historical claim, which it is claimed took place between 1974 and 1986. If you want to find out more, click this MSM article link here. CRUISE AV PROJECT CANCELLED BY GMGeneral Motors has announced that it is ceasing to fund Cruise and will fold elements of the company, including technology, into GM. The news has shocked some, including staff, but that is not surprising considering how poor reporting has been and how the industry has used PR and legal moves to obfuscate reality. You can read more on this, by clicking this link from TechCrunch here. Honda will be saving roughly $100 million per year, as they will no longer need to pay a licensing fee for the Origin vehicles that never made it to service. Click this Nikkei Asia article link here, for more. For some extra context, click these two links to John Berry posts on Bluesky. Link one can be found here. For the second, click here. CYVN HOLDINGS AGREES TO BUY MCLAREN AUTOMOTIVEThe Abu Dhabi based investment group, CYVN Holdings, has agreed with Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, to purchase McLaren Automotive. They already have invested in Gordon Murray Technologies, Forseven and NIO. If you wish to learn more, click this Autocar link here. MUSK TRIES TO INFLUENCE UK GOVERNMENT POLICY The BBC has see attempts by Musk and Tesla to change the UK’s zero emission vehicle mandate by pushing for ICE drivers to be charged more, if they buy a petrol or diesel car. If you wish for your blood pressure to be raised, click this BBC News article link here. AMAZON AUTOS ROLLS OUT TO 48 CITIES IN THE USAmazon Autos is now rolling out to 48 cities, in the US, where you can use their platform to view, order, pay and arrange to collect your Hyundai. More locations are...

FOLLOW UP: RECARO SAVEDSome good news, for a change, as Ricaro, the seat manufacturer, being saved by an Italian parts maker called Proma Group. Unfortunately, many will lose their jobs as production will move to Italy. However, some technical and sales people will remain. You can learn more by clicking this Auotcar link here. FOLLOW UP: ARAMCO BUYS 10% STAKE IN HORSEAramco has finally bought the 10% stake in Horse which Geely and Renault were hoping for, after signing a letter of intent earlier in the year. Click this Yahoo Finance link for more. FOLLOW UP: JUDGE BLOCKS MUSK PAY PACKAGE AGAINThe appeal by Musk, to be awarded a ridiculous $56 billion pay package, has failed. The judge cited that the many arguments Musk’s legal team used to change the ruling were full of flaws, anyone of which could have led to dismissing the appeal, let alone all of them together. Tesla will appeal. Again. To learn more, do click this link to a TechCrunch article here. NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR NOVEMBER 2024The November new car registration figures were released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), and they’re not great. A 1.9% decline in registrations overall, but BEVs increased again, with over 14,000 extra registrations than for the same month in 2023, amounting to a 25.1% market share for the month. Petrol and diesel fell, as did PHEVs. What will be concerning is that Fleet numbers fell, on top of Private continuing to decline. The SMMT called on the Government to help the industry out as the levels of price cutting and incentives was not sustainable. To read the SMMT post and information, click this link here. AMOnline have an article discussing EV depreciation, which we have discussed many times on this show, that you can read by clicking this link here. For context on why registrations are not increasing at a rate many hoped and expected, click this link to a post about research into the financial well being of UK adults in 2023. TESLA PAUSES CYBERTRUCK PRODUCTIONLast week Tesla paused Cybertruck production, which is on top of reducing hours earlier in the year. They are, for now, back to normal. You can read more, by clicking this Yahoo Finance article link here. OX DELIVERS AFRICAN CONTRACT JOYOX Delivers, which is an electric truck mobility service company, has created a new franchise partner that signed a $163 million agreement to expand their services in Rwanda and some neighbouring countries. Customers can either contract an electric truck including the servicing costs or book space on one of the OX trucks to collect and deliver their products, increasing the reach for businesses. If you want to learn more, <a href="https://evpowered.co.uk/news/ox-delivers-signs-163m-electric-truck-contract/"...

FOLLOW UP: PRICES FOR LONDON TUNNEL TOLLS REVEALEDTransport for London (TfL) has announced the prices, including how there will be peak and non peak prices, for using the new Silvertown tunnel and the Blackwall tunnel. £4.00 for peak use of either, dropping to £1.50 in off-peak, which requires signing up to the auto-pay TfL system. if you wish to find out more, click this link here to an article from The Standard. CARLOS TAVARES RESIGNS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECTCarlos Tavares surprised all by resigning as CEO of Stellantis, with immediate effect over the weekend. Reports indicate there was a growing rift between the board, shareholders and the vision Tavares had, following the reduction in expected dividend. The company will appoint a successor in early 2025. Click this Autocar article to read more. STELLANTIS TO CLOSE LUTON VAN FACTORYStellantis announced, that they would be closing the Luton van factory, whilst blaming the UK Government and the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, for this only weeks after saying they were not going to be hurt by the ZEV to investors. 1,100 people will be losing their jobs. We have a link to an Autocar article explaining the situation, click here to read that. For some context, including how the company has operated, click this post from Nick Gibbs. More context is provided by The Guardian, which you can read by clicking this link here. TRANSPORT SECRETARY RESIGNSThe Transport Secretary, Louise Haig, has resigned over an incident with police in 2013. This has caused concern in the industry as she had just been talking to leaders about the ZEV mandate and possible changes to it. Click this Autocar article link here for more. UK GOVERNMENT TO REVISE ZEV MANDATEFollowing extensive lobbying by the car industry, the UK Government is looking at how it can revise the zero emission vehicle mandate, in the light of the current market reality. The language, from the Government, has switched to putting the blame on the previous incumbents, whilst hoping we all forget they pledged to ‘bring back the 2030 ban’ that was never a thing in the first place. If you want to read more, click this Autocar article link here. ASTON MARTIN ISSUES ANOTHER PROFITS WARNINGFor the second time in quick succession, Aston Martin has issued a warning on its profits. China and supply chain issues are being blamed. On top of which, the company is seeking to raise more money. To learn more, click this Autocar article link here. VW LEAVES CONTROVERSIAL CHINESE PLANTVolkswagen has...

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 mind, in various ways. Some through confusion, some because ‘change is bad’, some because their firmly held beliefs are being challenged, some because they just want to dunk on anything. We have compiled some links below that explain what Jaguar have done as well as more thoughtful pieces trying to explain aspects of the information. The Jaguar rebranding article from Autocar, click here. For CarDealer’s explanation of the launch event, click here. Creative Bloq discuss what the logos and visuals are meant to represent, click here to read that. Rory Sutherland has a discussion about the rebrand, from an advertising professional’s perspective, click this Spectator TV YouTube link. Mostly About Driving’s take on the more technical aspects of the branding can be read by clicking this link here. To read comments regarding the hateful reactions to the rebrand, click this link to a Driven article. Seemingly Jaguar have been caught off guard by the reaction, click this BBC News article link where they are asking for people to hold off and wait in judgement. FORD TO LAY OFF 4000 WORKERS IN EUROPE AND UKFord has announced a restructuring of its European business, by making 4000 workers redundant, including 800 in the UK. We have mentioned how bad their figures have been for new car registrations, over the last few months. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar link here. NISSAN APPEALS TO THE UK GOV FOR HELP OVER...

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, which allowed for those of us on the slightly larger side of things to be more comfortable, this bespoke model will come with features, fittings and materials not available elsewhere. Click this EVO article link to read more. Toyota KayoibakoToyota showed off an electric van that truley is a multipurpose vehicle. They have imagined it as an urban centric vehicle providing transport for people, being a mobile retail area, a coffee shop and more. Not content with that, the outdoor activities market get a version too, which added chunky tyres and obligitory stuck on elements. Both look fab, we want both and we want them now. But they have been cleverly thought out too. You can see more, by clicking this Yanko Design article link here. Old Car Dead News: Jaguar F-Pace ends global sales in 2026If you remember, Alan asked why the wording of the end of UK sales of the F-Pace was so specific. We now know that the rest of the globe will no longer be able to buy one from 2026. Click this Autocar article link here, which clears up the issue. LUNCHTIME READ: IT’S ALL A BIT MUCHDo you too feel that modern supercars are all a bit much? Let alone hypercars and even hyper hatches are becoming too extreme for UK roads. Well, you are not alone, check out this link from Mr Jalco’s Mostly About Driving to possibly find an answer to it all. LIST OF THE WEEK: TOP GEAR - TOP 9 VIRAL CAR ADVERTSWe are increasingly struggling to find good List of the Week article to share with you. If you find one, please do send it our way and if its good enough we’ll put it on the show! Top Gear have nine adverts for you to check out, which are bound to bring back memories. Do you agree with Alan, on his choice and/or his comments about Andrew, and what about Andrew’s choice? Let us...

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 reporting challenging results, after Q3, has grown. There is a real problem for the industry, globally, and it might not get better anytime soon. Expect a lot of management word salads, littered with the likes of “efficiencies” and “cost-cutting” etc. BMW’s woes thanks to the ongoing brake recall and huge profit drop, can be read about by clicking this Reuters article link here. To read about Audi’s problems, click this Autocar link. Audi plan to cut jobs to help save money, click this Reuters article link here, to find out what that means. Toyota are also hit by problems, with quality issues, safety recalls, plant stoppages and a Chinese market that is proving tough for all but the home grown brands. Click this Yahoo Finance article link to read more. Honda announced a surprise drop in profits, thanks in large part to the ongoing issues in the Chinese market as their economy struggles. Click here to read more from a Yahoo Finance article link. Nissan are not immune to the industry wide slump. They announced the cutting of around 9,000 jobs and dramatically that they are entering “emergency mode” as profits drop 304%. You can read more, from Autocar, by clicking this link here. JLR profits hall 10%, which is being blamed largely on the aluminium supplier issue discussed a few weeks ago, <a...