Motoring Podcast - News Show

FOLLOW UP: MORE DRAMA FOR RECALLED EX30 OWNERS Volvo is now telling owners not to leave their Extended Range and Twin Motor models unattended when charging indoors or undercover. This is additional to informing them not to charge past 70%. To find out more, click this Autocar article link here . NORTHERN IRELAND BRINGS IN GRADUATED LICENSES Come October 1 if you live in Northern Ireland and are a...

GERMANY REINTRODUCES EV CAR GRANT The German Government has reintroduced their electric car grant that is between €1500 and €6000. Criteria for eligibility include the vehicle’s size, buyer’s earnings and family size. To find out more, click this EV Powered article link here . RENAULT BECOMES EUROPE’S NO.2 CAR COMPANY Renault Group became the No.2 car maker in Europe after a jump in sales. By doin...

UK LOVES A GREY CAR The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released the details about the colours we selected in 2025 for new cars that were registered. Once again, claiming the top spot, grey won out. Black was second and blue rounded out the top three. To find out more, click this SMMT article link here . HONDA LIGHT UP THEIR NEW LOGO Honda has revealed their new ‘H’ logo that...

FOLLOW UP: UK GOVERNMENT MULLS DRIVING SAFETY CHANGES The UK Government first mentioned it was looking at some of the rules relating to road safety, back in the summer of 2025, but now has published its Road Safety Strategy which gives more information on proposals aimed at making our roads safer. Aspects being covered at young and elderly drivers, giving councils more powers to change speed limit...

Earlier in the year, Alan was invited down to the south coast to sample the then-new Hyundai Inster electric B-segment hatchback. Food was eaten, a hotel room was slept in, and an Inster was driven to the end of Portland Bill on a surprisingly long, comprehensive test route. In this Special Edition, Alan shares his thoughts on the Inster.

The 2025 Tokyo Mobility Show took place between 30 October and 9 November 2025. We sat down to run through some of the exhibits that caught our eye. Some of what is discussed is out of this world, whilst others are very much for only one person at a time. To see more about the Honda Super-one Prototype, click this Carscoops link here . For more on the BYD Racco, click this Top Gear link here . To...

Earlier in the year Andrew was invited, by Kia, to attend the Milan Design Week and their Eclipse of Perceptions exhibition. In this they showed off the Concept EV2, the PV5 electric van in passenger form and the PV5 WKNDR concept. You can hear about all three and listen to the designers involved as they tell you more about the vehicles and ideas behind them. Do note, that the interview took place...

FOLLOW UP: JLR SILENCE BRIEFLY BROKEN 10 days after the story first came to light that Gerry McGovern, the design chief of JLR, had unceremoniously left the company, they state that isn’t the case and nothing else. No further details, no explanation, nothing. Instead of clearing things up, this has only caused more confusion. Click this Autoevolution article link here to read more . FOLLOW UP: CRI...

FOLLOW UP: MOTOR FINANCE CLAIMS TO RESTART The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is restarting finance mis-selling claims on 31 May 2026, which is earlier than previously announced. The FCA states this should be enough time for companies to ready their compensation schemes. You can find out more, by clicking this Motor Trade article link here . NOVEMBER 2025 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES The SMMT h...

UK AUTUMN BUDGET ANNOUNCED The UK Government finally announced the autumn Budget, after weeks of leaks and rumours. There was some motoring related aspects, most notable being from 2028 new electric and plug-in hybrid car drivers will have to pay-per-mile which is additional to previously announced measures. How this is to be run has yet to be decided, with a consultation being conducted in early...

One last solo show from Alan before Andrew returns and regular service resumes. This week, we have a follow-up on the Dutch/Chinese Chip Wars and the prices of the new Nissan Leaf. New news includes management changes at Gordon Murray Group, VW’s Chief Strategist making an exit, Hyundai opening a new testing centre in Germany, Bollinger Motors shutting up shop, and Wrightbus covering EV buses into...

It’s another solo show from Alan this week, and it starts with a follow-up on JLR’s financial situation following the recent cyber attack. New news this week involves Stellantis cancelling contracts to EV raw materials, the possibility that TVR will twitch back to life, calls for the government to support used EV values for fleets, while one fleet provider is trying to make them more attractive th...

It’s a solo show from Alan this week, and starts with lots of Follow Up. The FCA has extended the motor finance redress consultation, the UK car industry shows UKGov the high price of ending ECOS, and China has made an exception for some Nexperia chips. New News this week includes New Car Registration Figures for October, profit analysis for Bentley and Lamborghini, a new boss at Caterham, and cyb...

FOLLOW UP: MATT WINDLE OFFICIALLY LEAVES LOTUS Back in August we said that Matt Windle had resigned as Lotus Europe CEO, but actually he was on a ‘leave of absence’. However, he has now officially announced that he has left Lotus after eight and a half years with the company. You can read more, including the challenges facing the sports car maker, by clicking this EVO article link here . VW GROUP...

FOLLOW UP: IMPACT OF JLR SHUTDOWN Professor David Bailey has written up a piece on Blogs from the Blackstuff following a report from the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC), which outlines the cost of the JLR shutdown and it is large. The estimated cost is in the region of £1.9 billion but could be as high as £2.1 billion. Over 5,000 businesses were affected. The CMC hopes businesses, the Government and...

FOLLOW UP: UK DIESELGATE TRIAL BEGINS A trial has begun in the UK High Court to decide if some manufacturers used software to pass emission tests but then acted differently outside of test conditions. The brands all deny the charge. To read more, click this Motor Trader article link here . FOLLOW UP: JLR RESTARTS ALL PRODUCTION LINES JLR has now started the last of their production lines following...

FOLLOW UP: FCA FINANCIAL REDRESS CONSULTATION Following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that some forms of historical car financing was illegal the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened a consultation into how those effected should be compensated. Some from within industry are unhappy at what is being covered and the potential exposure in terms of repayments. To find out more, click this...

FOLLOW UP: JLR WOES STILL CONTINUE BUT MORE PROGRESS JLR continues to battle the effects of the cyber attack that caused them to shut all systems on 1 September, 2025. They are still waiting on signed approval of the Government guarantee for 80% of the loan they are seeking. In the meantime, they are going to inject up to £500 million into their first tier suppliers to help them after no payments...

FOLLOW UP: JLR WOES STILL CONTINUE BUT SOME PROGRESS Whilst JLR is still battling against the hack that caused them to shut all their systems down on the 2 September, there is some positive progress. The company has started a phased process of turning back on some systems and they expect to begin limited car production later this week. On top of that, the Government has guaranteed 80% of a loan th...

FOLLOW UP: JLR WOES STILL CONTINUE JLR have put back their proposed production restart from 24 September to 1 October as they continue to try and deal with the hack on their systems where the effects became apparent on 1 September. What has only started to be appreciated is the knock-on effect the closures have had on suppliers to the company. Staff have been told to apply for Universal Credit, du...

FOLLOW UP: JLR WOES CONTINUE As expected, there is no quick resolution to their IT woes, following the hack reported on 1 September, 2025. Also, again as expected, they have confirmed that data has been accessed including personal data. However, we do not know who’s data that is. Reports suggest the company is losing around £5 million per day, thanks to the global shutdown. As a result there are i...

NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS AUGUST 2025 August registration figures are down on 2024. Typically a quiet month prior to the number plate change in September, it was still a disappointment. We also do not know how much of an effect the mishandling of the ECG approval list had on the overall numbers. BEVs took a 26.5% market share. There are also some returning models to the Top Models list and a newcomer....

FOLLOW UP: ECG TWEAK AND FIRST BAND 1 CARS ANNOUNCED The Government has tightened the loophole where if one vehicle in the range is eligible for the Electric Car Grant (ECG) then all others with the same powertrain configuration are, no matter their price. This has been capped at £42,000. Click this Autocar story link here, to read more . Additionally, the Government has announced the first two ca...

GOVERNMENT CUTS RESTORATION RED TAPE Following a long campaign from the Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance and other similar associations, the Government has simplified the red tape around modifying and restoring vehicles. Notifications can be sent to DVLA for ‘significant structural modifications’ and the vehicle can retain the original license plate number and Vehicle Identification Number (...

FOLLOW UP: GOVERNMENT CONFIRM ECG ELIGIBLE CARS The UK Government has released the list of car models that are eligible for the Electric Car Grant (ECG). There are a few surprises, including how no cars meet the Band 1 £3750 grant requirements. Click this link here, from EV Powered, to read more . To see Nick Gibb’s Bluesky post, adding context to the question of how the Nissan Ayria was eligible,...