Incompetence rather than evil - 7 January 2025

Motoring Podcast - News Show

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 this link here to an AP article explaining other aspects of the steps being taken.

FOLLOW UP: HONDA AND NISSAN OFFICIALLY CONFIRM MERGER

We covered the rumours of this a few weeks ago, yet it has still caught many by surprise. Nissan and Honda has announced that they intend to merge in an attempt to fight for an increased market share. We cannot work out what the companies will gain from this as they seem to be effectively identical in terms of products and markets. To find out more, you can click this Autocar article link here.

FOLLOW UP: UK GOV STARTS FRESH ZEV MANDATE CONSULTATION

The new Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, has opened a fresh consultation with stakeholders regarding the zero emission vehicle mandate, as the reality of the economy and the market hit home. SMMT is pushing for financial help for private buyers and pushing the charging industry to do better. The charging industry is in a flap over the potential to slow down the move to EVs. To learn more, click this Autocar article link here.

DECEMBER AND 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

SMMT has released the data for December and the entire year, with regards to new car registrations. Surprising no one, or it really shouldn’t, BEVs had a bumper month as the fear of fines loomed over brands. Fleet buyers completely propped up the market in 2024. The question of the ZEV mandate and economy, going into 2025, will impact the market heavily. Click this SMMT article link to read more.

WHISTLEBLOWER ACCUSES JLR AND TATA OF BLACKLISTING

Hazar Denli, who was heading up the chassis design element of VinFast’s car for Tata Technologies, raised concerns over parts and quality internally but was ignored. Feeling he had no option he went public, was fired by Tata and subsequently found a new job, via an agency, with JLR. He is claiming that he was blacklisted and unfairly fired by JLR who were told to let him go. To read more, click this BBC News article link here.

LOCAL AUTHORITIES GIVEN EXTRA POTHOLE REPAIR FUNDS

The Government has added £500 million to the pothole repair fund and is pushing local councils to get on with sorting the roads. However, to receive the full funding they will need to demonstrate they are tackling the problem to a standard expected. If you would like to read more, click this BBC News article link here.

VW CUSTOMER CAR DATA LEAK

Volkswagen Group has now fixed a misconfigured cloud storage area that was open to everyone. 800,000 customer’s car’s data was accessible by anyone, including location history, battery charge level and car status, amongst others. Politicians, security service personnel and high profile owners are thought to be hit in Germany and elsewhere in the world. Trust is a fragile thing, which the car industry keeps destroying. Click this Carscoops article link for more.

US DIGITAL LICENSE PLATES JAILBROKEN

In a couple of states in the US, you can purchase or pay a hefty subscription for a digital license plate. Apparently this has many advantages over normal ones, but we can’t see any unless you can jailbreak them and put someone else’s details on it and have them pay your road tolls and more. Which is exactly what has happened. To learn more about this daft product, click here for a Wired article link.

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NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Nio to launch in the UK in early 2025

Nio, the Chinese EV maker, will be launching early 2025 in the UK market, with the L60 SUV coupe. This is a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y. Expected to be around £40,000 it will undercut the Model Y on price. In order to find out more, click here for the link to an Autocar article.

GWM Ora to rebrand

GWM Ora will now be known as GWM, in the UK, as it expands the brands it will be bringing to this market. Adding to the Ora 03 (formerly the Funky Cat) they will launch the Haval Jolion Pro Hybrid SUV in early 2025. Click this AMOnline article link for more.

Nio bringing budget brand Firefly to Europe

Nio will be bringing it’s budget brand, Firefly, to Europe in 2025 with their small EV hatchback. Visually it is astonishingly similar to the Honda-e. No news on whether it will be brought to the UK yet. To read more, click this Autocar article link here.

Arnold Clark the exclusive Corvette dealer for Glasgow and the North of England

Corvette are coming to the UK, with right hand drive versions of their latest sports cars. Arnold Clark is the dealer for their Glasgow and North of England sites. If you want to find out more, click this AMOnline article link here.

LUNCHTIME READ: HOW AN ARMOURED CAMARO AND A SPECIAL FORCES OFFICER KEPT CIVILIANS ALIVE IN WAR-TORN BOSNIA

This is the remarkable story of the special forces officer who modified a Camaro and went unarmed into conflict areas to bring humanitarian relief for civilians caught in the horrific civil war of Bosnia. To read about his heroism and more, click this Hagerty article link here.

LIST OF THE WEEK: EVO CAR OF THE YEAR - EVERY WINNER

We have managed to source a list for you to select from this week and it is a cracker. All of the winners of the EVO Car of the Year awards. There are some brands who feature more heavily than others, but click this link here to see if you agree with the choices made by the chaps.

AND FINALLY: RICH NEW YORKERS LEARN ABOUT WALKING

New York is the first city in the US to introduce congestion pricing, thus catching up to most of the rest of the world. However, the shock has reverberated around many who live and work there. They’ve been introduced to a new concept called “walking” as a way to avoid paying the charge. Click this Jalopnik article link to see one man’s reaction to this news.