Motoring Podcast - News Show

FOLLOW UP: EU REACHES AGREEMENT ON E-FUELS POST 2035 After the sudden rejection of the ICE 2035 ban idea, after it was agreed to take it to formal vote, the EU has reached an agreement to amend the proposal to include the allowance of carbon neutral e-fuels to power ICE vehicles after 2035. The details of how this can work are to be established but there is much anger this was allowed. We have sev...

FOLLOW UP: EMERGENCY EXPERTS CONCERNED WITH LOSS OF AM In the US, emergency experts have called on car manufacturers to ensure that the AM frequency is available on the infotainment systems of electric cars as this is the only way some people can get vital information, particularly emergency info. The US, Canada and Australia have vast amounts of sparsely populated environments that do not get int...

FOLLOW UP: CAMERA MIRROR VIEW ANGLES Thank you to Jamie Fretwell, Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK PR& Corporate Communications Manager, who did respond to our unfair public request for more information on the viewing angles of lorries with camera wing mirrors. Click this link to see more via a tweet with a video. Also, he has a thread on safety campaigns across the globe, with this particular beaut fr...

FOLLOW UP: SAUDI ARAMCO JOINS RENAULT-GEELY VENTURE Saudi Aramco has agreed to invest in the Renault-Geely engine join-venture by furthering technological progress with synthetic fuels and hydrogen propulsion. They will take a minority stake in the partnership. Click this Automotive News Europe article link to read more. FOLLOW UP: GERMANY AND ITALY GET COLD FEET OVER ICE BAN Germany and Italy are...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT BOUGHT BY RECHARGE INDUSTRIES The troubled British battery startup has been bought by Australian firm Recharge Industries, but that means a pivot to battery storage and away from automotive - at least for the moment. Click here to read the main BBC story and click here for the thread by Peter Campbell of the Financial Times. STELLANTIS POSTS RECORD PROFITS Stellantis has pos...

FOLLOW UP: EU CONFIRMS 2035 BAN ON ICE ENGINES The European Union Parliament has voted to ban the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid powertrain, from 2035. However, there is some breathing space, no pun intended, for small volume manufacturers. They will not be tied into the new CO2 reduction rules that were also approved, until the end of 2035. Interestingly, the EU will also share the methodo...

FOLLOW UP: SOUTH KOREA FINES GERMAN COMPANIES FOR COLLUSION South Korea has fined Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi for colluding over emission technology, to ensure no one produced better technology. The fine is €31.18 million combined, which is 42.3 billion won. The EU, following Mercedes informing them, fined BMW and VW Group in July 2021 for this issue. Click this EuroWeekly article link to find out...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT BUYER FOUND The Administrator for Britishvolt, EY, has narrowed down the options to the Australian firm Recharge. They are a start up and have not constructed a major project during their time. At the same time that they target getting a battery factory built in the UK they will be trying to do that same in Australia. Click here to learn more , by reading The Guardian articl...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT BUYER SEARCH The Administrator for Britishvolt, EY, has narrowed down the choice to five potential new owners. They are trying to select the winner by Tuesday 31 January, the day of recording. Click here for a link to the Financial Times article explaining more. FOLLOW UP: HMRC CHANGES AER CALCULATIONS Following feedback from industry, HMRC has changed how it calculates the...

FOLLOW UP: CAZOO TO CLOSE SOME UK SITES Following on the heals of their retreat from Europe Cazoo has confirmed that it will be closing some UK sites, in a bid to help their finances. The plan is to focus on selling fewer cars than last year but prioritising higher margin models. There will also be changes to senior management as the CEO and Chairman roles are to be split, with current CEO Alex Ch...

FOLLOW UP: DFT WITHDRAWS APPEAL AGAINST FOI REQUEST Dr Greg Marsden has confirmed that the Department for Transport has withdrawn their appeal over the Freedom of Information requirement for the justification of the Government’s plans for decarbonisation of transport. He has even been supplied with the answers to his three questions. Click here to see his Tweet about this . Now we wait on the anal...

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR DECEMBER AND ALL 2022 The SMMT has released the New Car Registration figures for December, which also gives the full picture of 2022 and it wasn’t great. As expected the overall numbers for the year were down, ending up 2% lower than last year. Main cause of this was supply, significantly through a lack of semi conductor chips. One of the big positives, no pun inte...

Andrew was busy, so Alan’s joined by the ever-knowledgeable Alex Grant to catch up on some of the news from the holiday period. FOLLOW-UP: DfT Appeals Freedom of Information Request The Department for Transport is trying to stop a Freedom of Information Request release to see the assumptions on which the UK’s Transport Decarbonisation plan has been built. You can read more in this TransportXtra ar...

On this episode, Alan explains to us all Toyota’s US sub brand, Scion and his new car the Scion TC. Listen to his exasperation at how nothing costs what it is listed at, why he purchased it and how come Janet Street-Porter is relevant.

Andrew tried out the KIA EV6 GT Line, for a week when the weather was much nicer than now. You can listen to his thoughts on the car, KIA’s approach to electric cars in this instance and if the praise is deserved, in his opinion, that the car has received.

FOLLOW UP: ARRIVAL ‘PAUSES’ JV WITH MERCEDES Recently Arrival announced a joint-venture with Mercedes-Benz, to make electric vans in Europe. However, they have just stated there will be a ‘pause’ in the deal as they focus on the US market and becoming cash flow positive. You can learn more by clicking this Reuters link here. REGULATOR STATES FUEL PRICES NOT DROPPING FAST ENOUGH Competition and Mar...

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR NOVEMBER 2022 The SMMT has revealed the new car registration figures for November 2022 and there is reason to be more optimistic as the rise is genuinely impressive, if not up to pre-pandemic standards. Supply has allowed for 142,889 cars to be registered, with BEVs and to a certain degree PHEVs being a major factor in the push. Click here to read more , from SMMT....

FOLLOW UP: GHOSN HELPER NOW OUT OF US JAIL Michael Taylor, the father of the father and son duo who helped Carlos Ghost escape from custody in Japan has been released early from US detention. Authorities stated his months of good behaviour in Japanese jail mean they allowed him back into the community ahead of the expected January 2023 date. To read more, click the Bloomberg UK article here . FOLL...

GOVERNMENT BUDGET STATEMENT The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that electric vehicles will, from 2025, be required to pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the first time. This will be £20 in the first year, if brand new, then rising to £165 per year after that. The extra charge for cars over £40,000 will also come into force at the same time. Fleets will also be impacted, not just via the intr...

FOLLOW UP: MORE BAD NEWS FROM ARRIVAL Arrival announced that it has a cash problem, as in not enough to get it through to the end of next year. They are looking at cutting more costs, which is rumoured to include large layoffs in the UK as it focuses the operation in the US. To read more, click this article here from Yahoo Finance . FOLLOW UP: PORSCHE CLASS ACTION SETTLED IN US In diesel gate news...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT TEMPORARY REPRIEVE Before we had even published last week’s show the news about Britishvolt had changed from receivership to saved. More details are now available, as Glencore have given the company a five week lifeline. Britishvolt has again asked the UK Government for an early release of £30 million in funding. To learn more about what has happened, click this Move Electri...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT IN RISK OF RECEIVERSHIP Things are moving quickly at Britishvolt. A week or so ago we were talking about them seeking funding, as of Monday’s news, they could well have been in receivership by the time you listen to this episode. They had sought to draw some of their funding from the Government early but have been rebuffed as they decide not to risk more public money. Howeve...

FOLLOW UP: US CITIZEN PLEADS GUILTY TO CAUSING DEATH OF HARRY DUNN A US citizen who initially claimed diplomatic immunity, Anne Sacoolas, has pled guilty to causing the death of Northamptonshire teenager, Harry Dunn after 3 years. She’ll be sentenced at the end of next month. More detail in this Guardian story . EU PLANS TO DITCH EURO 7 The EURO 7 emissions standard is rumoured to be in doubt as i...

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT SEEKS EMERGENCY FUNDING [00:00:24] Britishvolt is searching for investors to plug a £200 million cash shortage it needs to survive until the summer of 2023. Nothing is ‘off the table’ as they look for anything from minority investors all the way up to new ownership. They currently have 300 staff, which is costing £3 million a month in wages, but are not expecting any income...

FOLLOW UP: CLARIFICATION OF STROLL’S FORTUNE During the discussion of Geely buying a stake in Aston Martin, last week, we got the info about Stroll’s fortune incorrect. He has made his money through fashion and sportswear brands. Thanks to listener, David Edmondson, for straightening us out. NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES SEPTEMBER 2022 September’s New Car Registration figures are out. There is a ri...