Butt of many jokes - 5 March 2024

Motoring Podcast - News Show

FOLLOW UP: AGENCY MODEL CLARIFICATION

Thank you to all who responded to Andrew’s request for more information on how the agency model works for car retails. We can now confirm, the query about who carries the financial liability, does in fact lie with the manufacturers now. To see who is moving to this model, click this link to an Auto Retail Network article.

FEBRUARY 2024 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

SMMT has released the new car registration figures for February 2024 and they are the best in 20 years! Which caused us to raise an eyebrow or two. Battery electric cars are up, slightly, but still a long way off the 22% required by the Government mandate. Diesel is down slightly, with plug in hybrids also up a touch, but petrol is up again. Fleet is doing all the lifting and this is worrying the industry who renews their calls for help to incentivise the Private side of things. To read more, click this link to the SMMT article and details.

POLESTAR SECURES NEW FUNDING

Polestar are plugging the gap left by Volvo stepping back from funding the EV company, thanks to a loan worth £750 million. According to the company, this will allow them to sell 155,000 vehicles and become cash flow even in 2025. If you wish to read more on this story, click this Autocar link here.

US INVESTIGATING CHINESE EV DATA COLLECTION

The US Government announced that it will be investigating Chinese electric vehicles to ascertain how much, what type of and where they send data. However, as there are so few actual brands allowed into the US this does feel part of the ongoing protectionism being demonstrated in North America. You can find out about this by clicking the link here to an electrive article.

FISKER FINANCES UNSUSTAINABLE BUT NISSAN MAY HELP

Fisker announced how they were not confident they could last to the end of 2024, but a couple of days later it was revealed that they are in talks with Nissan over possible investment. This would give the Japanese company access to an electric pick up platform, which they do not have currently. Click this Reuters article for the original story. For details on the possible Nissan rescue, click this link to an Autocar article.

THE POSSIBLE APPLE CAR PROJECT IS APPARENTLY SHUT DOWN

Reports were all over the internet stating that the secret Apple car project, allegedly called Titan, had been cancelled. But as the company has neither confirmed nor denied this, it is hard to tell if it was real or whether they were looking at specific technologies. For more speculation and the liberal use of the “iCar” click this link to an article from The Register.

ASTON MARTIN CLOSES LAGONDA

Aston Martin confirmed that the Lagonda sub brand is officially no more. This surprised us, as we thought it had been killed off a couple of years ago. To learn more and look at what could have been, click this Autocar link here.

NISSAN CLOSING NISSANCONNECT EV APP

Nissan have given owners of Leaf and e-NV200 vehicles a month’s notice that the app they have been using is to be shut down. The reason given is because 2G is being switched off in the UK. However, this is not planned for another 6-9 years time. We are all for being prepared but this does seem a little overkill. If you want to find out more, click this BBC News article link here.

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NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Renault 5 E-Tech

Renault revealed the production ready version of the 5, which will be all electric and is inspired heavily by the original design. The exterior and interior designs are both lovely and will hopefully encourage both old and young to be interested in this car. For more on this, click the link here to a CAR article.

MG 3 Hybrid

MG also revealed a new model at Geneva, the replacement for the 3 which they haven’t sold in the UK for a few years now. It is a B-segment hatch with a hybrid powertrain, that the company claims will make it the most powerful in the segment. Click this CAR article link for more.

Dacia Sandrider

Dacia has revealed their Rally Raid vehicle, which will take on the Dakar next year. As aggressive and nuts looking as you would expect, it is wonderful. Thought has really gone into the layout and choice of materials and technology being deployed. You can see more, by clicking this Autocar article link here.

Vauxhall Corsa Yes

Vauxhall will be selling the Corsa Yes model a smidgen under the price of the cheapest MG4, making it the cheapest EV car until the Dacia Spring gets here. Looking at the specs we don’t know how they’ve chopped £5000 off the list price or even what makes the top of the range worth a fraction under £40,000. This should sell like hot cakes, click this Autocar link to read more.

Old Car Dead News - Nissan Leaf pulled from production

Nissan is stopping the production of the Leaf as it gears the Sunderland plant up for new models. The car was getting long in the tooth, technology wise, and with the recent changes to GSR2 it wasn’t viable to maintain production of the car. You can read more, by clicking this link here.

European Car of the Year - Renault Scenic

Renault has won the European Car of the Year with it’s Scenic. Alan was quite dismissive of the competition, which failed to excite him almost completely. Click this to a CAR article for more.

UK Car of the Year Category Winners

The UK Car of the Year Category Winners have been announced, with seven cars going through to be judged for the ultimate winner, which is yet to be announced. Andrew is one of the judges whose expertise and opinion was tapped to vote on the options. Click this link to see which cars won which categories.

LUNCHTIME READ: WE PUT A LAMBORGHINI IN A WIND TUNNEL

To find out how much has changed, when it comes to aerodynamics and cars, Road & Track put a Lamborghini Miura in a wind tunnel. Click this link here to read the fascinating detail on what has changed.

LIST OF THE WEEK: CAR NAMES YOU COULDN’T USE TODAY

The Autopian has produced a list of car names, where some are a bit weird and others are just not suitable to be used in today’s society. Click this link to read more and see if you agree with Alan’s choice.

AND FINALLY: THE RALLY STAGE YOU CAN DRIVE ON

Auto Shenanigans visits Somerset to talk about the rally stage you can drive on, plus find the steepest A-road in the UK. We do love his videos and the detail he manages to cram into these short videos. Click here to watch this one.