Motoring Podcast - News Show

FOLLOW UP: COURTS REFUSE GOVERNMENT REQUEST The UK’s Supreme Court has blocked the Government’s attempt to reduce the compensation due to those sold finance for their car purchase. The fear was it would stop or reduce car loan availability. We now wait until April to find out the final ruling. Click this BBC News article to read more . ASTON MARTIN GIVEN DEADLINE TO BE FIXED Adrian Hallmark, the n...

FOLLOW UP: NISSAN HONDA DEAL OVER ALREADY Before it even really got going, it appears Nissan are to walk away from the deal as Honda are accused of changing the agreement, with a proposal that made Nissan a subsidiary and not equal partner. When you look at the market evaluations of them, you can see why Honda may suggest they are the bigger company. Click this Autocar article link here to read mo...

FOLLOW UP: MERCEDES JOINS EU TARIFF LAWSUIT Before we had even managed to publish last week’s show, Mercedes-Benz had joined the lawsuit against the EU over Chinese made EV tariffs. Click this Bloomberg article link to learn more . US PAUSES TARIFFS ON CANADA, MEXICO AND CHINA GOODS The US has paused imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as a 10% tariff on Chinese made good...

FOLLOW UP: GOVERNMENT INTERVENES OVER FINANCE SCANDAL The Chancellor of the Exchequer has written to the Supreme Court to ask them to not penalise car dealers and finance companies too much, for breaking common law. To read more, click this AMOnline article link here . For more context on how we are at this point, click this link here, from The Conversation . FOLLOW UP: WESTERN AND CHINESE EV MAKE...

FOLLOW UP: BT ENDS EV CHARGER PILOT After 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 MONOPOLY In the...

DFT CLAIMS NO FINES FOR ZEV MANDATE IN 2024 The 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 TRAGEDY A coroner h...

FOLLOW UP: VW AND UNIONS AGREE ON CUTS As 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 th...

FOLLOW UP: ANOTHER ROUGH WEEK FOR VW Volkswagen 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...

FOLLOW UP: RECARO SAVED Some 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 HORSE Aramco has finally bought t...

FOLLOW UP: PRICES FOR LONDON TUNNEL TOLLS REVEALED Transport 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...

FOLLOW UP: £30B POTENTIAL FALLOUT FROM FINANCE RULING After 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...

UK GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATES NEW EMISSIONS CONCERN The 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 SIG...

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 d...

OCTOBER 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS The 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...

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 fi...

FOLLOW UP: EU CHINA TARIFFS UPDATE On 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...

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 lin...

FOLLOW UP: VW CONSIDERS RADICAL COST SAVING PLANS Information 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...

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 STRIKES In 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 . STELLANTI...

FOLLOW UP: EU vs Chinese EVs The European Commission has approved tariffs on Chinese EVs. There are a number of stories behind this: European Commission Approves Tariffs On Chinese EVS - Autocar EU Rejects Chna’s Proposal for €30,000 minimum price - electrive.com Why EU rejected China's compromise on EV tariffs - Automotive News Europe JLR encourages further talks in plea to avoid EU-China tariff...

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 PLANT In...

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...

FOLLOW UP: BWM DOWNGRADES OUTLOOK On 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...

FOLLOW UP: WINTERKORN DIESELGATE TRIAL BEGINS Former 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...