Motoring Podcast - News Show

LOOPHOLE CLOSING CONSULTATION OPENSA consultation, with suggestions on closing loopholes on the use of mobile phones whilst driving, has been announced. Whilst these are a welcome step, some are asking if the Government is really serious about safety as there are no proposals to ban hands-free mobile phone calls, even though there is a stack of scientific evidence that proves how impaired a driver becomes. To read more about the consultation, click the BBC News article here. To go straight to the consultation, click the link here. To listen to Nick Freeman discuss how the proposals do not go far enough, click the YouTube link here.COLLABORATIVE POTHOLE MAP CREATEDThe Government, collaborating with the likes of Uber, Tesco, Deliveroo and Ocaado, will create a map of the UK’s roads, allowing highway departments to plan their works and take advantage of the fund set aside for mending the epidemic of potholes on our roads. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S ‘MISSING LINK’ ROA

Andrew spent a week with the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, just before it had a mid-life update. For you, dear listener, he sacrificed a lot to do a thorough review of the car, driving it for many, many miles just to make sure he could conclusively say if it was any good or not. Hear him chat with Alan as he discusses optional extras, steering feel and understatedness.

FOLLOW UP: SEPTEMBER REGISTRATION FIGURES ANALYSISJim Holder has looked at the September registration figures of the UK and sales figures of Europe for a deeper analysis of what the industry looks like. He also noted the weak performance of Subaru and several other brands. To read more, click the Autocar article here.CLEAN AIR ZONES FOR BATH AND BIRMINGHAMBath has announced the date for their Clean Air Zone (CAZ), which will be 15 March 2021, also it is not for private cars or motorbikes. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here.Birmingham has also confirmed the start of their CAZ as June 2021, but this does cover private cars if they are not Euro-6 diesels or Euro04 petrol engines. To read more, click the Van Fleet World article here.BP CHARGEMASTER IN £21M POLICE SCOTLAND DEALBP Chargemaster and Police Scotland have announced a deal, worth £21 million, to supply charging points for police vehicles. Scotland, unlike England, has a large network of free charging points for EVs so entering this m

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES - SEPTEMBER 2020As we all know, September is a ‘new-plate’ month which traditionally is a higher registration month. There are some surprises, including who is Number 1 of the Top 10! Another interesting point was how close the number was to last year, even though there is the current global situation. To read more, click the SMMT article here.UK EU DEAL BLOW TO MANUFACTURERSFollowing the latest round of negotiations between the UK and the European Union, manufacturers discovered rules about car parts country of origin means those from Turkey and Japan will not be considered British. This matter will also hit electric cars, which were part of a separate request to be considered British even with most parts coming from outside of Britain and the EU. To read more on this, click the BBC News article here. Following this news, Nissan, Toyota and other manufacturers have announced that they will seek compensation for tariffs imposed following conclusion of negotiations. To read more, c

FOLLOW UP: EX-CEO WINTERKORN FINALLY FACES TRIALProceedings have finally started against Martin Winterkorn over accusations of fraud and market manipulation, connected with #dieselgate. To read more, click the Autblog article here.FOLLOW UP: FURTHER EIGHT VW EMPLOYEES CHARGEDEight more employees of the Volkswagen Group have been charged in connection with the #dieselgate scandal, concerning either encouraging, supporting or not preventing the defeat device from being fitted, amongst other charges. To read more, click the Reuters link here.FOLLOW UP: FCA SETTLES OVER REPORTING SALES CHARGEFCA has paid $40 million fine, whilst admitting no guilt, to the charge of misreporting their monthly sales figures, in the US. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought the case against the company. To read more, click the RoadShow article here.FOLLOW UP: UBER GET 18 MONTH LICENSE IN LONDONUber has now been allowed to continue working in London, after it was awarded an 18-month license. They have been deemed to have imp

Alan took a trip to sunny Milton Keynes to try out as many of the trial e-scooter services as he could.In the course of one afternoon he tried scooters from Ford-owned Spin, established street-mobility contender Lime and UK-based Ginger. Did this two-wheeled cocktail leave his views on urban mobility shaken or stirred?There will also be a video version of this podcast out very soon.

FOLLOW UP: SUPERVISING DRIVER OF UBER TEST CAR CHARGEDThe supervising driver of the Uber test bed car, that killed Elaine Hertzberg, has been charged with negligent homicide. A reminder that Uber will not be charged with any wrong doing, in connection with the collision, by the local sheriff’s office. To read more, click the BBC News article here.PRODUCT DESIGN AWARD FOR STUDENT’S TYRE PARTICLE COLLECTORImperial College London and Royal College of Art students have created a device that will collect tyre particles via the use of electrostatics. The claim is that up to 60% of particulates are collected. To read more, click the Autocar article here.As we have discussed the matter previously, we wish to link to a revisited article from Alex Grant, who has been reporting on this issue, to read the updated article click the link here.RIMAC IN TALKS TO BUY BUGATTIThe surprise news that the VW Group is in discussions with Rimac to sell Bugatti off, hit us last week. The question is why? Looking into it, all is not w

FOLLOW UP: WINTERKORN AND FOUR OTHERS CHARGED WITH FRAUDA court in Braunschweig, Germany, has allowed a case to move forward charging Winterkorn and four other former VW managers with fraud. Additionally, the court has allowed an amendment to add additional criminal gang charges. To read more, click the Autocar article here.FOLLOW UP: MERCEDES AGREE DEFEAT DEVICE SETTLEMENT IN USMecedes-Benz owner, Daimler, has agreed to pay £1.17 billion to the U.S. Government and State of California for installing defeat devices on some of their diesel engined vehicles. Mercedes will also have to fix all affected models, as part of the settlement. As part of the settlement Merceds deny the charges levelled at them and any wrong doing. To read more, click the CarDealer article here.FOLLOW UP: KELLY AND NISSAN TRIAL BEGINSIn the abscence of Carlos Ghosn, Greg Kelly’s trial has started in Japan, where he is accused of hiding the misappropriated funds that Ghosn is supposed to have taken from Nissan. Nissan has admitted liabili

FOLLOW UP: GREEN NUMBER PLATE TRIALLast week we discussed the news that Nissan dealers were trialling, the soon to be introduced, green number plates that indicate the car is an EV. Alan and Andrew were confused by why only Nissan and why a trial, turns out that these are only mock-ups and not actually road legal. The chaps apologise for not doing enough research to have established the full facts. We will do better in the future.NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR AUGUST 2020August is traditionally a quieter month for New Car Registration figures due to holidays and September being a new plate month. However, even taking that into consideration, the market was still down 5.8% year-on-year. Considering the state of, well everything, only 5.8% is not bad! The figure was boosted by a surge (sorry) in the number of electric vehicles registered. To read more, click here for the SMMT article.ZAP-MAP BRINGS PAYMENT UNIFICATIONZap-Map, the best EV charging station mapping service for the UK, has unveiled its one-stop p

Alan left his own car for a fortnight’s holiday “Chez Toyota” and took a Corolla Touring Sport on holiday instead. How did Toyota’s handsome, hybrid C-estate challenger cope with long motorway journeys and a minimal amount of urban start/stop?To hear Alan’s chat with Richard Seymour about how the Toyota hybrid system works and has evolved, listen to the dedicated Special Edition in episode 200.

FOLLOW UP: INEOS SET TO BE SMART ABOUT THEIR FACTORYIneos is in advanced talks with Daimler, over purchasing their Smart factory in France. A bid has been tabled, with the expectation that a deal will be reached soon. This means that the Portugal and Bridgend plants will be shelved. To read more, click the CarScoops article here.FOLLOW UP: CYBERSECURITY FIRM HIRED TO TEST NISSAN IN 2018Hari Nada, Nissan Senior Vice President, brought in French cybersecurity firm Waveform, to run a pentest on Nissan in 2018. This is being made out as an attempt to hack Ghosn’s emails, which it is not. When running a pentest you keep as few people as possible in the loop. Question marks will be raised if this invalidates Nissan’s submitted information, as this happened at the same time as Nada was helping authorities. To read more, click The Drive article here.MINI OXFORD REDUCING WORKFORCEThe Mini plant, in Oxford, is shedding nearly 400 agency staff due to a reduction in demand. As the chaps have discussed before, this is a t

FOLLOW UP: GERMAN PROSECUTORS AGREE DEAL WITH POETSCH AND MUELLERParent company Porsche Automobil Holding SE has paid Stugartt prosecutors €1.5 million for them to drop further investigations into the claim of market manipulation levelled at Hans Dieter Poetsch and Matthias Mueller. They reiterate that the pair have done nothing wrong. To read more, click the Reuters article here.FOLLOW UP: CLEAN AIR ZONES ON HOLDLeeds and Bristol have announced that their planned Clean Air Zones are now postponed, due to air quality levels being above the minimum threshold thanks to less traffic. As they do not meet the criteria for Government funding, the local councils are not implementing their plans. They are actively looking at non-charging options and encouraging continuation in the recent work patterns and lifestyle changes. To read more about Bristol’s position, click here for the BristolLive article. To learn more about the situation in Leeds, click the BBC News article here.ACTIVE TRAVEL SCHEMES BEING CLOSEDCouncil

Alan chatted to Tim Oldland about his new venture, Raduno Events, a single-point car event listing service. Tim tells us all about how the idea came about, what it aims to provide for both attendees and organisers as well as some of the challenges of launching the service in 2020.Raduno Events launches on Monday 24th August 2020.We also talked about some of the other things Tim does, so links to everything discussed are below.Raduno Website: www.raduno.eventsRaduno Instagram: @raduno_eventsRaduno Twitter: @raduno_eventsRaduno Facebook: @radunoeventsTim’s “In The Headlights” YouTube channel.Tim’s classic car part recreation business: Modernclassicparts.com

FOLLOW UP: RENAULT NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESDuring last week’s discussion about the SMMT New Car Registration figures the chaps remarked at how impressive the increase by Renault was. Alan has donned his deerstalker and polished his magnifying glass in an effort to investigate why. They had an increase in their core fleet business but also their best-ever month as part of the Motability scheme.END OF BAILOUT TALKS BETWEEN JLR AND UK GOVERNMENTJLR and parent company TATA’s talks with the UK Government over financial help have ended. Reports are that the company did not meet the requirements to receive taxpayers funding. Additional sticking points appear to be suggested requirements for an acceleration of their electrification process. TATA has announced that they are continuing to discuss possible options for financial help with the Government. To read more, click the Autocar article here.NOKIA WINS PATENT RULING AGAINST DAIMLERNokia has won a legal dispute, with Daimler, over the use of their patented tech

FOLLOW UP: FOUR EX-AUDI EMPLOYEES CHARGED IN GERMANYIn Germany, three ex-Audi executives and a retired engineer have been charged over #dieselgate. Ulrich Hackenberg, Stefan Knirsch, Bernd Martens and Richard Bauder are accused of fraud, false certification and criminal advertising. To read more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.FOLLOW UP: VW LOSES UK APPEAL AGAINST GROUP ACTIONVolkswagen has lost its appeal against the attempt of a group action lawsuit for compensation to those who bought a VW Group car with diesel engines fitted with, what the court has confirmed is, ‘defeat devices’. The case is not expected to start until 2022. To read more, click the Autocar article here.FOLLOW UP: LEVANDOWSKI SENTENCEDBringing to an end the messy chapter of Anthony Levandowski, stolen trade secrets and Uber trying to create autonomous taxis, Levandowski has been sentenced to prison for 12 months which he will serve once Covid-19 has receded. To read more, click the BBC News article here.NEW CAR REGISTRATION

FOLLOW UP: VW ASKS FOR REVIEW OF EMISSIONS UPDATE PENALTIESVolkswagen has asked the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review the penalties being imposed by two counties after their emission system updates. To find out more visit the Automotive News article here.THOMAS SCHAFER IS NEW SKODA BOSSThomas Schafer succeeds Bernard Maier as the new boss of Skoda. Unsurprisingly, Schafer has been appointed from within Volkswagen. To read more, click through to the Autocar article here.FORD CEO JIM HACKETT TO RETIREFord CEO and President Jim Hackett has announced he will retire on 1st October, to be replaced by current COO Jim Farley. There’s more in the Autocar article here.THIERRY BOLLORÉ IS NEW JLR CEOThe former Renault boss will take over from Prof. Sir Ralf Speth on 10th September. Speth will stay on a non-executive vice-chairman. You can find out more in the Car article here.JLR ANNOUNCE “SIGNIFICANT IMPACT” OF COVID-19Unsurprisingly, JLR sales are down significantly as a result of global COVID-19 lockdowns,

FOLLOW UP: OLIVER SCHMIDT TO FINISH SENTENCE IN GERMANYFormer VW executive, Oliver Schmidt, has been granted permission by a Detroit judge to complete the rest of his sentence in a German prison. To read more, click the Reuters article here.FOLLOW UP: AUDI TO RUN SOFTWARE ARM OF VWDirk Hilgenberg will replace Christain Senger as the head of VW Group’s Car.Software division. This will also coincide with the main office of the division moving to Ingolstadt and Audi. To read more, click the Reuters article here.FOLLOW UP: E-SCOOTERS STOPPED ON A19Less than a week after the e-scooter trial opened in the Tees Vally, teenagers were stopped and escorted from the A19 dual carriageway, where they were found travelling at 12mph. Some are questioning if they have broken any laws, although rental and trial rules state they should not be ridden on roads with a limit of more than 40mph. To read more, click the Independent article here.ELLESMERE PORT REOPENS FOR PRODUCTIONPositive news from Vauxhall, as they announce that E

FOLLOW UP: VW FACES DIESELGATE CLAIMS WHERE CARS ARE BOUGHTAn Austrian court sought confirmation from the EU Court of Justice, if it had jurisdiction to proceed on a class action claim. In essence, these cases can take place where the damage has taken place as opposed to where the defendant is domiciled. This potentially opens the floodgates for claims across the EU. To read more, click the Reuters article here.FOLLOW UP: JUDGE THROWS OUT GM CLAIM AGAIN FCAThe judge presiding over the claim, by General Motors, that FCA had colluded with labor unions for a higher wage cost to GM, has dismissed the case. He stated that their claims initially looked to have merit but once inspected did not hold up. GM has confirmed they will be pursuing this matter in the courts. To learn more, click the Automotive News Europe article here.FOLLOW UP: PSA VULNERABILITY CLARIFICATIONLast week’s List of the Week included a vulnerability found by Ian Tabor, in his DS5. Andrew did not make it clear that any PSA vehicle with the same

Alan had a chat with Thomas Cowley about the Rotodama, a forward control cab kit for the Land Rover Discovery chassis dreamt by him and three friends. We talk about how it came about and the challenges of designing and building a vehicle with production in mind.To find out more about the Rotodama you can visit the website and follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

FOLLOW UP: NORTH EAST ENGLAND TRIALLING E-SCOOTERS FIRSTThe first location for trialling e-scooters will be in the North East of the UK, the Tees Valley Mayor announced. Ben Houchen was delighted to be able to provide a location where 100 scooters can test the viability and practicalities of renting e-scooters to the public. To read more, click the BBC News article here.JUNE 2020 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESThe June New Car Registration figures have been released by SMMT and they’re not as bad as feared, however, they were presented with notes of extreme caution and concern. To find out more, click the SMMT article link here.ELECTRIC CAR SCRAPPAGE SCHEME REJECTEDThe Government has apparently ruled out creating an electric car scrappage scheme. The call by the industry to ask for a scrappage scheme, which has become the defacto stance every time there is a bit of trouble in the market, is predictable yet when ‘low-hanging fruit’ is left untouched seems a bit of a risk. Andrew has “views” after his current expe