Motoring Podcast - News Show podcast | Listen online for free

Available Episodes

5 of 303

Enthusiastic Alan - 10 June 2025
NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS MAY 2025New car registrations rose, year on year, 1.6% thanks to Fleet. BEV registrations rose to 21.8% of the market share, which is growth but still a long way off the mandated amount. The SMMT once again called on Government financial help to encourage more people to buy electric. Click this link here to read more from the SMMT. TFL TO INCREASE LONDON CONGESTION CHARGEFrom 2 January 2026, the rate of the Congestion Charge if being proposed to increase to £18 along with the exemption for zero emission vehicles (ZEV) ending. However, ZEVs will pay a reduced amount that will change over time. If you wish to learn more, click this electrive article link here. For the Autocar article, click here. PIRELLI CAUGHT UP IN ANTI-CHINESE CONNECTIVITY RULESThe US Department of Commerce has finalised their rules on connected vehicle technology and software. They are banning any from Russia and China. This has brought Pirelli’s ‘Cyber Tyre’ technology into the crosshairs as Sinochem, a Chinese company, has 37% of shares in the manufacturer. To read more, click this Carscoops article link here. BRAZIL SUES BYD OVER WORKER'S CONDITIONSBYD, the Chinese EV maker, is building a plant in Brazil, but has been raided by officials who state they released 220 workers from conditions they likened to slavery. Welfare and financial restrictions were found that contravened the local laws. For more on this story, click here to read a BBC News article. NORTH OF SCOTLAND EV CHARGING CONTRACT SIGNEDEasyGo, an EV charging network, has signed a 20 year contract to install and maintain electric charging points across the north of Scotland. On top of that they will take on the upkeep of 425 existing council charge points. Click this electrive article link here to read more. FASTNED TO OPEN NEW CHARGING HUB IN WEST SCOTLANDFastned will open its fifth charging hub in Scotland, this time at Greenock, which will house four ultra-rapid chargers that can add around 100 miles to a car’s range in five minutes. If you wish to read more, click this Electric Drives article link here. MCDONALD’S EV CHARGING PROVISION INCREASESMcDonald’s, in partnership with Instavolt, has EV charge points at 250 sites across the UK and Ireland. They do not plan on slowing down either. Fast charging for fast food. Click this Motoring Research article link here, to read more. TFL STUDY SHOWS ROAD INJURY AND DEATH REDUCTION A study by Transport for London (TfL) into rates of serious injury and death on roads with 20mph speed limits has shown a reduction in the numbers. This backs up what...
--------
40:10
Saved France - 3 June 2025
FOLLOW UP: GERMAN COURT SENTENCES DIESELGATE EXECSOver nine and a half years after dieselgate first hit the news, a court in Germany has sentenced four ex Volkswagen Group executives for their part in the scandal. Two were given prison time, with the others being given suspended sentences. Former Group CEO, Martin Winterkorn, is still awaiting trial after several health issues. Click this article link from DW for more. FOLLOW UP: FRANCE CANS ZFES DUE TO COMPLEXITYFrench politicians voted to end low emission zones, as it was part of a wider proposal to make daily life in France more simple. Alan predicted this would be the case, as he had just bought passes for his cars. Statues are being erected in honour of the man bringing a better life to the ordinary people of France. They will know Alan Bradley’s name and they will honour it! To read more, click this Connexion article link here. FOLLOW UP: STELLANTIS GET A NEW CEOAfter months of searching, Stellantis have named the ex-Jeep boss, Antonio Filosa, as the new chief executive officer. Also announced is that the leadership team for the 14 brands of the group will be confirmed next month. You can find out more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. APRIL UK CAR PRODUCTION THE WORST FOR 73 YEARSApart from 2020, which was hit by Covid lockdowns, April 2025 was the worst for production since 1952. SMMT suggests that the Easter date and reduced export demand is to blame. Obviously, the call went up to demand UK based incentives to encourage more to buy. Click this Autocar article link here, for more. TOYOTA BRINGING GR COROLLA PRODUCTION TO THE UKOn more positive production news, Toyota is bringing GR Corolla production to the UK. Expected production levels are yet to be announced. To read more, click this Autocar article link here. VOLVO CULLING MORE JOBSVolvo has announced big cuts at it’s Swedish bases, with 2200 roles to be made redundant. On top of that, a further 800 jobs will go across the global network. If you wish to find out more, click this Autocar article link here. VAUXHALL GETS A NEW BOSSSteve Catlin will be returning to Vauxhall, where he started his journey in the automotive journey, via Audi, Seat, VW Group and latterly Volvo UK where he headed up the Financial Services division. To read more, click this Car Dealer article link here. UK EV CHARGER PLANNING REQUIREMENTS REMOVEDLillian Greenwood, the Future Roads Minister, has announced that the requirements of planning permission for private and public chargers is to be removed. The hope is that this will help speed up the installation of chargers across the country. For more on this story,
--------
38:58
Cookware solutions - 27 May 2025
SCOTTISH JUDGES ALLOW RENAULT NISSAN CASE TO PROCEEDFollowing an appeal to block the case, by Nissan, the Inner House of the Court of Session has concluded that the ‘dieselgate’ class-action can proceed against the Japanese company and Renault. The claim is that the brands fitted defeat devices in their vehicles and 8,500 people are stating they suffered loss as a result. Click this article link from The Standard to read more. GOVERNMENT PARKING APP TRIAL PROVES SUCCESSFULTrials, by the UK Government, have resulted in three of the largest parking payment firms agreeing to use one single app. RingGo, JustPark and PayByPhone will enable drivers to pay for parking at the sites run by them, via the National Parking Platform. If you wish to read more, click this Autocar link here. FREIGHT HUB EV CHARGERS FOR LORRIESMaritime Transport will have EV lorry chargers at three site by the end of the month. Tilbury, Doncaster and Wakefield are the first to enable the use of electric lorries, with a further nine following before the end of the year. To read more, click this article link here from Current News. DISABLED DRIVERS LEFT BEHIND BY PUBLIC CHARGING NETWORK The Public Accounts Committee, has published a report to Parliament, that highlights and criticises the public charging network roll-out’s failure of installations when it comes to disabled drivers. You can find out more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. ‘CHARGE UP CHANGE’ CAMPAIGN LAUNCHEDEVA England, an organisation that states it is the voice of EV drivers to aid in policy creation. They have created an online tool that allows you to write to your local MP to help highlight issues facing the switch over to EVs. Click this MotorTrader article link here to read more. For the link to the EVA England Charge Up Change page, click this link here. If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST NEW NEW CAR NEWS - Nissan MicraNissan has revealed the next generation Micra and it will be electric. This is a reworked Renault 5. Apparently it is aimed at the European market and is trying to shed the previous generation’s reputation of being for older drivers. To find out the specifications and more details, click this Autocar link here. Toyota RAV4Toyota has tweaked the looks of the new RAV4, making it more boxy but also improved the technology side of things. Additionally, in the UK, we will only be able to buy the PHEV version. If you want to learn more,
--------
33:30
Schrodinger sales - 20 May 2025
FOLLOW UP: COUNCIL FORCED TO REPAY PARKING CHARGESAs the And Finally of our episode Nice Weave - 22 April 2025 we discussed the story of citizen campaigner, Zoë Bread, who uses TikTok to highlight typically fun issues but this time it was about how misleading the parking signs were on Collier Street in Manchester. She was fined and dug into the issue as she mistakenly paid at a private machine, thanks to the confusing signage. As a result of this and the attention it drew, she and others will be refunded. Click this BBC News article link here, for more. NISSAN CUTTING MORE JOBSNissan is cutting up to 20,000 jobs across its global footprint, previously the number was 9,000. On top of this plants will be shut, additional to the announced proposed battery factory. Great effort is being put into making operations more efficient, particularly from engineering and the supply chain. If you wish to read more, click this electrive article link here. Additionally, Nissan said it would be happy to integrate the Chinese state-owned Dongfeng into it’s global production capabilities. To read more, click this BBC News article link here. EXCELLENT FINANCIAL RESULTS FROM JLRJLR has revealed pre tax profits of £2.5 billion for the last financial year. This took place whilst sales in Jaguar cars and the Discovery dropped, showing how important the Defender and Range Rover brands are to the organisation. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar link here. POLESTAR GROWTH IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2025Polestar are suggesting that some of the help that has enabled them to have a 76% increase in sales and 84% in revenue is partly down to abandoning the agency sales model. If you want to find out more, click this Autocar article link, here. HYUNDAI TO BUILD CARS IN SAUDI ARABIA Hyundai has announced it will begin producing cars in Saudi Arabia, from late 2026. They are the second brand to be situated in the King Salman Automotive Cluster, part of the King Abdullah Economic City near Jeddah. The expectation is for them to build 50,000 cars a year. Click this Autocar article link here, for more. CITROËN GETS A NEW BOSSCitroën’s new CEO will be Xavier Chardon, who is currently the head of VW France. He takes over from Thierry Koskas on 2 June 2025. Before working for VW back in 2012 he was at Citroën. To read more on this, click here for the Autocar article link. ASTON MARTIN REVEAL CAR PLAY ULTRA INTEGRATIONAfter announcing their new Car Play back in mid 2022, Apple has partnered with Aston Martin, bringing us the first brand to integrate into their cars. Click this Motoring Research article link here to see more. Drew Smith has an interesting thread on Bluesky,...
--------
45:09
Building statues - 13 May 2025
APRIL 2025 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESAs expected, the new car registration figures for April 2025, were down following the jump in March prior to the tax changes. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) explained how there was a ten percent drop, year-on-year. However, BEV and PHEV registrations rose, but are not near the levels needed to comply with the ZEV mandate. Once again the SMMT called on the Government to assist the industry and buyers. Click this link to read more, from SMMT. GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR SUNDERLAND BATTERY FACTORYThe planned factory, by AESC, in Sunderland, which will make batteries for Nissan is to receive Government funding. £350 million has been allocated, with an expectation of a thousand well paid jobs, according to the chancellor Rachel Reeves. You can find out more, by clicking this Sunderland Echo article link, here. NISSAN CANCELLING JAPANESE BATTERY FACTORYNissan is not going to build the planned battery factory in Kitakyushu, Japan. This will save the company $1.1 billion, it is reported. If you wish to read more, click this Yahoo Finance article link here. UK - INDIA TRADE AGREEMENT ANNOUNCEDDetails are a bit sketchy, but the UK and Indian Governments announced that they had reached a trade agreement. One beneficiary is the car industry or at least those who produce “high end cars”, whatever they are. Until more information is more forthcoming it is difficult to confirm if it is good or not. Click this Autocar article for more. EU TWEAKS CO2 EMISSION RULES The EU has made changes to the rules for car manufacturers about CO2 emissions. They will now allow brands to average their fleet output over three years rather than annually. If you wish to read more click this Yahoo Finance article link here. FOXCONN AND MITSUBISHI AGREE PRODUCTION DEALFoxconn has announced the first deal to develop and produce a car for a brand. Mitsubishi has agreed to allow them to bring a car to the Australian and New Zealand markets in late 2026. To read more, click this electrive article link here. CONFUSION OVER FRENCH ZEVSThe future of French Clean Air Zones is in doubt as the country’s parliament is voting on making daily life more simple. After hearing Alan explain some of the intricacies it is easy to see why people are suggesting it is not the most straightforward thing. Click this Connexion article to read more. VOLTA TRUCKS GOES BANKRUPT AGAINIn late 2023 the Swedish arm of Volta Trucks went into receivership, alas now the UK and Austrian elements have followed suit. This is a sad end to what looked like a promising venture that was let down by relying on technology from a company that themselves went bankrupt. To read more,
--------
37:06