Motoring Podcast - News Show

ALISON JONES NAMED PRESIDENT OF SMMTAlison Jones, Stellantis VP and Country Manager for the UK, has been announced as the first female President of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. She will take up her position on 1 January 2022. Dr George Gillespie OBE, steps down after a three year tenure as President. To find out more, click the SMMT article here. UK CAR PRODUCTION WORST SINCE 1956 The continued pressures on the supply chain constrained the UK’s car production in October to on 64, 729 vehicles, the lowest since 1956. Whilst the chip shortage was a major factor, Honda permanently shutting the Swindon factory in July also impacted the figures. For more information, click here to read the Autocar article. EV CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE OPENSMilton Keynes is the preferred location for Intertek to open their electric vehicle centre of excellence, where they will test and develop EV powertrains. Costing £12 million, the centre will also develop powertrain components. To read more about this, click the Au

Alan went to Oxford for a day to try some of the new sporting and electric offerings from BMW. With the keys to everything fromt he new M3 Competition xDrive to an electric MINI, how did he get on and what new and novel insights did he gain?

FOLLOW UP: VW SHOULD’VE PUBLISHED ENGINE PLANIn a test case brought by investors in Germany, Volkswagen is accused of failing to disclose the problem from back in 2008. The judge has stated that it is on the investors to prove VW or any of their staff withheld information, but it is up to VW to prove the board not telling investors from 2012 was not grossly negligent nor deliberate. To read more, click here for the Reuters article. FOLLOW UP: CONTINENTAL EX-CEO AND EX-CFO INVESTIGATED The ex-CEO, Dagenhart, and just sacked CFO, Wolfgang Schaefer, who held their roles for Continental, are being investigated by German prosecutors over their involvement in dieselgate, specifically regarding the 1.6 litre diesel engines. To read more on this story, click the Yahoo News article here. HAND HELD DEVICES TO BE ILLEGAL BEHIND THE WHEELThe Highway Code will be updated with changes to interacting with your mobile phone, whilst driving. The loopholes that allow playing games, filming or scrolling through playlists whilst

FOLLOW UP: VW LOSES APPEAL IN SUPREME COURTVolkswagen has lost their appeal, in the US Supreme Court, to have claims for damages brought by individual states thrown out. VW felt that the rules only allowed the federal government to make claims for damages under the Clean Air Act. This means the potential for further financial penalties is very real, with Ohio along with counties in Florida and Utah prosecuting Volkswagen and Bosch. To read more, click the Reuters article here. FOLLOW UP: TOWING RULES CHANGE POSTPONED The change in rules, to allow more people to tow larger trailers, has been quietly postponed, with no date yet given as when they will come into force. To see more, click the tweet from @thelorryist who shared the screenshot of the official site amendment, by clicking the link here. FOLLOW UP: “WINNER” OF UK EV CHARGER COMPETITION SHOWNThe Government has revealed the “iconic” charger, for the UK, following work from Royal School of Art and PA Consulting. The design is meant to put ‘ease of use a

Alan had a Honda HR-V for 48 hours to find out how this 3rd generation of Honda’s left-field compact SUV coped on the roads of Northamptonshire. It’s divisive in many ways, but was it a Joy Machine?

FOLLOW UP: ENVISION SCALES BACK OUTPUT PREDICTIONEnvision, the Chinese company partnering with Renault on their battery factory, in Northern France, has lowered the predicted production output due to a change in the site’s layout. The wooded area, previously marked for demolition will now not be destroyed because it is a wildlife habitat and building there would be “complicated”. Output is now predicted to be 30 gigawatts per hour against 43 previously expected. To find out more, click the Today News Post here. OCTOBER 2021 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESAnother month means more grim reading, with figures down 24.6% on last year, and that was hardly spectacular. Chip shortages are the main reason why. Electrified vehicles, though, helped reduce the pain. To find out more, click here for the SMMT article. TESLA RECALLS ON BACK OF SOFTWARE GLITCH A communication error, for nearly 12,000 cars sold in the US since 2017, could result in false forward collision warning and application of the automated emergency brakin

UK GOVERNMENT CONSULTING ON THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORTThe Government has launched a consultation on the future of transport, looking at vehicles parts and equipment and engines of non-road mobile machinery. They are looking to cover everything from road vehicles, to trailers, to farm machinery etc. The aim is to ensure there is applicable regulatory powers and framework for security, environmental and safety performances. Added to this they wish the outcomes to tackle tampering as well as improving compliance. This is a big task but has caused a ripple of fear due to the unintended consequences that could come out of this. To read more, click the official website here. GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED AUTUMN BUDGETThe Chancellor of the Exchequer finally announced his budget in Parliament, with some good news for motorists. The freeze on fuel duty remains in place. He also described the monies being allocated to pothole repair, regional public transport and helping the Outer Hebrides host a round of the Extreme E championsh

Andrew tried out the Suzuki Ignis 1.2 Hybrid SZ5 4WD, for a week. Find out if the chaps need to change their reviews to include small canine quantifiers, can a family of five use a four seat car and does Andrew’s lead footedness hinder the efficiency of the engine.

FOLLOW UP: VOLVO P1800 GASSER IS UK’S HOT WHEELSThe judging of the UK’s Hot Wheels candidate took place last weekend. A Volvo P1800 gasser was chosen to represent the UK in the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. To watch the Car Throttle stream of the event, click the link here. To read more about the result, click the Elan PR article here. FORD INVESTS IN HALEWOOD PLANTFord is investing £200 million in converting their Halewood transmission plant to an EV focused production line. This will safeguard 500 jobs at the plant and is a real boost to UK car manufacturing. The Government is part funding the investment. To find out more, click The Telegraph article here. TOYOTA SUED BY STEEL SUPPLIER In an incredibly rare more a Japanese supplier has sued Toyota and Chinese supplier over their use of steel technology, which Nippon Steel argues is their patent. The claim is for $177 million and for a ban on Toyota selling any cars that use the disputed technology from any other supplier buy Nippon Steel. To read more, click he

Alan spent a little while talking to mindfulness coach Christoph Spiessens about mindfulness at the wheel, how it can help and how you can start to achieve it. They also discussed four tracks that Lexus have released, created using the sounds created by Lexus cars.To listen to the tracks and read more about Lexus’ mindfulness music click this link.To listen and download the tracks from Spotify click this link.To find out more about Christoph and his work click this link.

FOLLOW UP: HYPER-MILING A MIRAI AGAINIn the United States a Toyota Mirai has driven 845 miles, on a single tank, to break the official record. The journey, which took two days, was carried out by Wayne Gerdes and Bob Winger in California at the end of August. TO find out more, click here for the Top Gear article. GENEVA MOTOR SHOW POSTPONED AGAINGeneva Motor Show has again been postponed, this time due to “industry wide issues”. To find out more, click the Autocar article here. FUNDING DROPS FOR ROAD MAINTENANCE The Local Government Association has stated that the Department of Transport (DoT) has reduced the funding for local road maintenance by about £400 million in the last year. The calculations for making the roads truly fit for purpose is an eye-water 10 billion, so to lose this amount is a huge dent in keeping the infrastructure of Britain fit for purpose. To read more, click here for the YesAuto article. BMW M DIVISION GETS A NEW OLD BOSSThe previous head of the M division, Frank van Meel, returns to

FOLLOW UP: ROLLS ROYCE 102EX CONCEPT CARIn response to Alan’s query about the wireless charging for the 2011 102EX concept car, from Rolls Royce, Dave Monks has got in touch. He confirmed that the wireless charging did work and in fact he designed it to deal with a wide range of voltages, grid frequencies and types of charging interface. There was only one model and they drove it around the world to show it working. Thank you Dave, for putting us straight! NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES SEPTEMBER 2021SMMT has released the UK’s September New Car Registration figures and they are the lowest since September 1998. On the upside, it is the best month for battery electric vehicles. Tesla is the most registered, so a boat must have docked, with the Vauxhall Corsa being the top registered car year to date. The Spreadsheet of Doom is predictably doomy. To find out more, click here for the SMMT article. FISKER APPOINTS ASTON MARTIN ENGINEER David King, the former Aston Martin engineer who was head of their Special V

Alan spent a day with Hyundai driving some of the newest additions to their range.This Special Edition includes short drive opinions of:-Tucson PHEVi20 N-Linei20NKona N-LineIONIQ 5To listen to the recent Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Twin Test Review, click this link here. To listen to the recent Hyundai i20 Premium Review, click this link here.To listen to Alan’s conversation with Albert Biermann, click this link here.

FOLLOW UP: VW TEMPERATURE EMISSION LEVELS QUESTIONEDAt the European Court of Justice, the prosecutor’s expert witness has stated that Volkswagen has no justification in using an external temperature and altitude guided emissions device, in Austria. The average temperature and operating altitude is often outside the scope for running at lower NOx emissions. The judges have yet to give their verdict. To find out more, click the Autocar article here. FOLLOW UP: JLR SETTLES LUXURY SUV FIGHT WITH VW GROUPAt the end of November 2020, Jaguar Land Rover started legal proceedings against Volkswagen Group, over their use of Terrain Response in the group's luxury SUVs. JLR claimed the technology is patented by them and could not be used and sold by VW Group brands, in the US. The two sides have settled a week before this was due to go to court, although we do not know the details. A separate case, between JLR and Bentley is still due to go to court. For more information, click here for the CarsUK article. FOLLOW UP: WE

FOLLOW UP: MAN GUILTY OF SELLING SCANIA SECRETSBack in February, of this year, we talked about the Swedish man accused of selling secrets from Scania and Volvo to Russia. His trial is now complete and he is guilty of passing on information from Scania but not from Volvo. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here. OSPREY CHARGING INSTALLING 150 CHARGING HUBSOsprey Charging has announced that they will be installing 150 high-powered charging hubs across the UK, over the next four years. This will be around 1,500 rapid chargers after an investment in the region of £75 million. To find out more, click here for the YesAuto article. RENAULT ANNOUNCES JOB CUTS DUE TO EV MOVERenault has said they will cut around 2,000 jobs in their move to electrification. However, it claimed that it will be creating 2,500 roles, to help meet the needs from building nine new models in France. To learn more, click the Reuters article here. UK AUTO FLEET REDUCES CARBON EMISSIONSSMMT has revealed that the UK auto carbo

Alan spent a week with an outlier in the Lexus range, the electric UX300e. How well does Lexus’ first UK-sold EV fare in daily use and would you want to own one?

GOVERNMENT CHANGES HGV AND TOWING TESTSIn a bid to reduce the backlog of tests and increase the number of HGV drivers, the Government has decided to do away with some of the previously mandatory requirements to show someone was a safe and competent driver. There will only be one single HGV test, for both rigid body and articulated lorries. The hitching and reversing elements are no longer required either. To find out more, click the YesAuto link here. ONE THIRD OF ULEZ FINES UNPAIDTransport for London (TfL) has vowed to recoup the fines of over 330,000 that are unpaid. The ULEZ will expand, in London, to the North and South Circular roads. Some argue that the current system needs amending before any expansion. To read more, click here for the Autocar article. SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT HUB OPENED IN SUNDERLANDSunderland City Council has opened a sustainable Mobility Hub, for staff, giving them access to 10 Nissan Leafs, as part of their move to sustainable transport for the council. 20 e-bikes will be also part of

Alan had a chat to David Spickett of The Car Crowd to find out all about buying a share, or shares, in a classic car and what you can expect as a result.To find out more about The Car Crowd you can follow them on Instagram, on Facebook and on their website.

FOLLOW UP: PARIS SPEED CAMERAS RUNNING INTO PROBLEMSThe unpopular reduction of the speed limit in Paris has meant that some runners are being caught by the City’s speed cameras, exceeding the 30km/h limit. In a promotional and clever stunt the running shop DISTANCE has teamed up with professional athletes to get caught at night triggering the cameras. To read more, click The Connexion article here. NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR AUGUST 2021The August figures for New Car Registrations have been revealed by SMMT and they are predictably poor. Through a combination of supply and Covid issues, SMMT tells us are the reasons behind the worst August since 2013. To find out more, click here for the SMMT article. HYUNDAI LATEST TO ANNOUNCE ALL-ELECTRIC FLEET FROM 2035Hyundai is the latest manufacturer to announce when they will be electric only, in Europe. From 2035 they will only sell EV or hydrogen powered vehicles. They also aim to be carbon neutral from 2045. To find out more, click the YesAuto article here. In

UN SAYS LEADED PETROL IS NO MOREThe UN has announced that the last country to sell leaded petrol to the public has now stopped. Algeria was the last of 80 odd countries that used this petrol well into the 2000s. The announcement was made on the eve of E10 unleaded petrol being mandated in the UK. To read more, click the Hagerty article here. DS AND AUDI MAKE FURTHER ELECTRIC ANNOUNCEMENTSDS Automobiles is the latest manufacturer to announce their shift to fully electric models only, from 2024. To learn more about their move, click the Autocar article here. Audi have also announced an acceleration to e-mobility, with them saying they will have more than the previously mentioned 20 models as EVs, by 2025, as well as working closer with energy suppliers, as we saw with the recent news of more charging companies being accessible via their one pay service. WORLD’S LARGEST CHIP MAKER PUTS THE BOOT INTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is reportedly putting up the prices of automotive chips, at a time when th