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Migrating north - 6 May 2025
STELLANTIS WILL NOT PUBLISH PROFIT FORECASTStellantis has decided not to publish their profit forecast, stating that the tariffs cause far too much uncertainty for the financial year ahead. Their financial results for the first quarter of 2025 continued to disappoint, with a 14% drop in revenue and a 9% drop in vehicle shipments. If you wish to learn more, click this Autocar article link here. 40% DROP IN PROFITS FOR VW Volkswagen’s financial results for the first quarter of 2025 are in and are not great. They did make a profit but it is down 40% on last year, being £1.9 billion with a 1.4% rise in sales. They stated that the increased number of EVs being bought had impacted them due to the much reduced profit margin in electric vehicles. Click this Autocar article to learn more. IMPROVED ASTON MARTIN PERFORMANCE DESPITE LOSSAston Martin announced a pre tax loss of £76.9 million, for the first quarter of 2025, which is significantly down from last year’s £138.8 million. Revenue was also down, 13%, to £233.9 million, showing how the cost cutting efforts were working for the company. You can learn more, by clicking this Autocar link here. DROP IN REVENUE FOR VOLVOVolvo too were announcing their financial results for the first quarter of 2025 and they were down. Deliveries, earnings and revue are all down. Interim CEO Håkan Samuelsson announced cost cutting measures across their global network. To read more, click this Autocar article link here. PORSCHE IN-HOUSE BATTERY PRODUCTION PLANS CHANGE Porsche are not going to expand their in-house battery production, as was originally planned. Instead that money will go to software and other products, as they claim the slow uptake in EVs is to blame. This all comes as they announce a further dramatic drop in China sales, down 42% for the first quarter, and an expected drop in revenue and profits for the company overall. You can learn more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. MCLAREN GETS A NEW BOSSFollowing the merger of McLaren and Forseven, Michael Leiters has stepped down with immediate affect. Forseven’s boss Nick Collins, who coincidentally was named CEO of McLaren Group Holdings - the new overarching company that encompass McLaren and Forseven. Click this Autocar article link to read more. SKODA OPENS ONLINE SHOWROOM WITH AMAZONYou will soon be able to research and peruse your next Skoda via Amazon, in the UK. On top of which you can book your test drive before visiting a Skoda showroom and buying, if you so wish, from the car company directly. If you want to learn more, click this Top Gear article link for more. If you like what we do, on this show, and...
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Antique dealers - 29 April 2025
FOLLOW UP: EU IS NOT BANNING CARBON FIBREThanks to listener, Alexander Aucken, we now know that the EU is not banning carbon fibre. Last week the material was removed from the draft proposal after information supplied by the car industry and conflicting research which, in the end, could not show it was a hazardous material. Click this excellent piece from Michael Taylor, to learn more. NISSAN GB GETS a new boss James Taylor has been appointed the managing director of Nissan GB, following his departure from Vauxhall. He replaces Diana Torres, who has been in charge for the last year. You can read more, by clicking this article link from Motor Trader. PLANS TO INCREASE DRIVING LICENSE TEST AVAILABILITYIn some parts of the UK a learner driver may have to wait up to six months to get a driving test appointments. The Government is hoping to add up to 10,000 slots per month with additional testers and reintroduction of overtime payments. There are administrative changes happening as well. To learn more, click this Autocar article link here. CHAIRMAN WANTS TOYOTA TO BUY SUPPLIERAkio Toyoda, the Chairman of Toyota Motor Corp., has proposed buying Toyota Industries Corp., a supplier of the car company. However, the price suggested is much higher than current market value. The deal is at the very early stage and may not come to any fruition. If you wish to learn more, click this Yahoo! Finance article here. ARNOLD CLARK GETS A NEW BOSS Russell Borrie is taking over the role as Chief Executive Officer for Arnold Clark Automobiles, following the departure of Eddie Hawthorne who led the company for 27 years. To read more, click this CarDealer article 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 - Volvo S90Volvo has updated and refreshed the S90, which will not be coming to the UK. External touches include design cues that we have seen on the XC90 and XC60, internally there is the new touchscreen and more refinement. The EV only range of the PHEV has increased to 50 miles. Click this Autocar article to read more. Subaru OutbackSubaru revealed the new Outback at the New York Motor Show and it is a full SUV now. With cues to the Forester from the late 90s and early 2000s, the Outback has got bigger, with a more blunt front end. Internally there are upgrades to the displays, infotainment system and a return of physical controls for climate control. Click this Carscoops article link, to read more. Slate TruckAn EV start...
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Nice weave - 22 April 2025
MORE CHANGES FOR LOTUSGeely has announced a restructuring of Lotus to bring the two companies, Lotus UK and Lotus Technology, into one entity. Lotus Technology will buy Geely’s 51% share in Lotus UK. The hope is to make the brand more sustainable and competitive in the current market. You can find out more, by clicking this Autocar article here. CARBON FIBRE IN ENVIRONMENTAL SPOTLIGHT The EU is looking into carbon fibre, in connection with their ‘end-of-life’ rules, as it currently does not meet the requirements. Due to the energy required to make it and how it is very problematic if recycling is attempted, it is likely to be added to the banned or restricted list. This will be a problem for the car industry. Click this Top Gear article to read more. To listen to the Bcomp Special Edition, where they explain more about what they do, click this link here. UK MILITARY REALISES CARS CAN BE TRACKEDThe latest episode of “oh gosh, new cars are full of sensors” from the UK, finds that specific bases have banned Chinese EVs from being brought onto site or near some buildings. On top of which, officials have been instructed to not discuss sensitive information whilst inside such cars. To learn more, click this article link from The i Paper. NYBOLT RAISES INVESTMENTNybolt, who showed off a reworked Lotus Elise that was charged from 10-80% in under five minutes, last year has raised more money through external investment. Whilst we are all interested in the vehicle application, their core business is energy storage which has seen a jump in interest in. If you want to read more, click this Autocar article here. CHINA CLAMPS DOWN ON DRIVER ASSISTANCE ADVERTS Following the fatal accident involving a Xiamo SU7, which returned control to the driver just before impact, China has revised rules on driver assistance and autonomous driving technologies. Ads are banned from using “smart driving” and “autonomous driving”. OTA updates cannot be sent to existing cars without approval, public beta testing is banned, remote parking and summon features are banned and driver monitoring cannot be switched off. Click this article link from CarNewsChina for more. 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 - Mercedes-Benz G-Class ‘Stronger than the 1980s’Mercedes has revealed a special edition of the G-Class which evokes the original G Wagon of the very late 1970s and 80s. Styled with touches of the first models but with up to date technology and engines this will only cost from £152,815. To see more, including gingercators,
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A little creepy - 15 April 2025
LOTUS CUTS MORE JOBSFollowing the announcement in November last year, Lotus are cutting a further 270 jobs in the UK. The proposal is claimed to be to “enhance competitiveness”. The jobs will be lost from the Hethel production facility and not the other two sites in the UK. If you want to learn more, click this Autocar article link here. ASTON MARTIN RESTRUCTURING FINANCES Lance Stroll is looking to increase his stake in Aston Martin, taking it to 35%. At the same time, the company is selling shares in the F1 team, to help raise further cash. You can read more, by clicking this Yahoo! Finance article here. STELLANTIS ENDS LEAPMOTOR PRODUCTION IN POLANDStellantis has suddenly and without explanation, ended production of the Leapmotor T03 in Poland. The company had already backtracked on opening a second Polish production facility, back in November 2024. If you wish to find out more, click this electrive article link here. AMPERE GETS NEW CEOLuca de Meo has handed over the running of Ampere to Josep Maria Recasens, who was the Chief Operations Officer. Ampere is the electric vehicle and software development spin off from Renault. de Meo was CEO of Ampere whilst being CEO of the Groupe Renault. Click this electrive article link to read more. LUCID WINS NIKOLA FACTORY AUCTION The bankruptcy auction of Nikola’s assets has enabled Lucid Motors to buy the production facility in Arizona. You can find out more, by clicking this TechCrunch article here. 6000 NEW PUBLIC CHARGERS FOR BRIGHTONChar.gy and Brighton and Hove city have penned a deal that means 6,000 new public on-street chargers will be installed. Char.gy takes advantage of utilising the greenest/cheapest grid production, with different costs depending on when you charge. You can read more, by clicking this EV Powered article here. GM AND CRUISE SUED BY INVESTORSInvestors have sued GM and Cruise, claiming that the companies overstated the capability and state of their autonomous project. The lawsuit contends that GM also asserted that the AV division was key to the financial performance of the company, with the company claiming $50 billion profits were expected by 2030. If you wish to find out more, click this GM Authority link here. HCVA LAUNCHES CAREERS HUBThe Historic and Classics Vehicle Alliance (HCVA), has launched a careers hub that will allow for a central point that will highlight job opportunities in the industry. To learn more,
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Wasting your time - 9 April 2025
NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES MARCH 2025The March 2025 new car registration figures have been revealed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). They show an increase that you have to go back to 2019, to find bettered. Electric vehicles, unsurprisingly, increased as buyers tried to avoid the new VED and luxury car tax. Private, on the one hand, had a surprising jump but then not when thinking about the tax changes. This is expected to be a bit of a one off month, with the numbers next month being a lot lower. Click this link to read more, from SMMT’s own article. UK GOVERNMENT TINKERS WITH ZEV The UK Government has announced changes to the requirements of the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate. These add up to tinkering. Finally, we get a decision on hybrid vehicles post 2030, where they will still be sold. Small manufacturers will be exempt from the requirements. All OEMs will be given more flexibility in achieving the required target rates, with the CO2 credit transfer system remaining in place until 2029. In reality though, as we continue to be in a cost of living crisis and vehicles are too expensive, trying to mandate a market will remain difficult. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. CAR BRANDS AND TRADE BODY FINED BY CMATen car companies and the SMMT have been fined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for agreeing to not compete with each other when advertising the amount of recycling that could be achieved with their cars. Additionally, the second charge was for anticompetitive practices when it came to recycling end of life vehicles. Following an admission to this, they are to pay £77 million in fines. In Europe a similar investigation has found 15 brands guilty and they will pay £382.7 million, as a consequence. To find out more, click this Autocar link here. MCLAREN MERGES WITH FORSEVEN TO SECURE FUTUREMcLaren has merged with Forseven, to create McLaren Group Holdings, thereby securing its immediate future. Both entities are owned by CYVN Holdings, which is the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Forseven has a raft of vehicles almost ready for production but needed a badge to stick on them. Click the EVO article link here to read more. RENAULT AND NISSAN RESET PARTNERSHIP Renault and Nissan have renegotiated their partnership, following a few tumultuous years. Nissan will no longer contribute to the Ampere project, will rebadge the Twingo city car vehicle and have sold their joint-venture stake in India to Renault. If you would like to learn more, click this electrive article 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 first images of the new Micra, which is a rebadged Renault 5 EV. Once again the company revealed no details or specifications....
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