Almost Coherent - 11 January 2022

FOLLOW UP: PROPOSED MANCHESTER CAZ TO BE REVIEWEDGreater Manchester’s Mayor has announced that the proposed Clean Air Zone will be reviewed, ahead of the implementation on 30 May. There are concerns that it will impact businesses heavily. Andy Burnham has called on the Government to do more to support those trying to transition to cleaner vehicles. The CAZ will only charge commercial and private hire vehicles, not private cars. For more on this story, click here for the BBC News article. FOLLOW UP: OXFORD ZEZ GOES LIVE FEBRUARY 2022Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council have announced they will be opening the city’s first Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) in February this year. Initially it will be a very small number of streets in the city centre that will charge petrol and diesel vehicles to enter. The second phase will be larger but has yet to be confirmed in size and when it will come into force. To learn more, click the Motoring Research article here. To find out more about clean air zones and if you might be affected, click this link to a Motoring Research explanatory. If you wish to find out if your vehicle will be required to pay to enter a CAZ, click here for the .GOV checker. NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR DECEMBER AND 2022The December 2021 New Car Registration figures have been released by the SMMT, which you can find out more about by clicking their link here. Tristan Young has also taken a dive into the figures and has written a very good thread on Twitter, adding more context to the details. Click here to read through that. Autocar has also written an interesting article on the best selling car of 2021, the Ford Transit. Click here to find out how and why that happened. SSANGYONG BOUGHT FOR $255 MILLION The struggling Korean car maker, SsangYong has been bought for $255 million, by a local consortium which included EV maker Edison Motors. This allows Mahindra to divest itself of the company’s shares after it took up 75% ownership when it bought the collapsed company in 2010. For more information, click here for the Automotive News Europe article. TOYOTA TO REMANUFACTURE PRE-OWNED CARS Toyota is going to remanufacture and heavily refurbish cars up to three times to improve the longevity of their cars and maintain a longer direct contact with customers. To find out more about this story, click the Autocar article here. FERRARI MANAGEMENT RESTRUCTUREBenedetto Vigna, the new CEO of Ferrari, has announced a shake up to the management structure of Ferrari, to enable it to thrive in the new electrified future that the automotive world is approaching. New departments and staff have been created and brought in, for one of the biggest structural changes to the company since it was formed. For more, click here to access the Autocar article. FORD EUROPE APPOINTS MARTIN SANDER Martin Sander, formerly of Audi, has been appointed general manager for passenger vehicles in Europe. He moves from the VW Group where he has 25 years experience to help Ford with their push on the electric and connected vehicle business. To learn more, click here for the Autocar article. FORMER BMW EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH CORRUPTIONA former senior employee of BMW has been charged with receiving kickbacks on awarding consultancy contracts between 2007 and 2015. Five people, in total have been charged by prosecutors. For further information, click the Automotive News Europe article 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——————————————————————————-WRC: MONTE CARLO - NEARLY HEREMonte Carlo and the start of the 2022 season is nearly upon us, in anticipation of this incredibly exciting year, thanks largely due to the unknown quantity that is the hybrid system we have a couple of articles from DirtFish, thank you to Rich Gooding for thrusting them our way!Click here to learn more about the new hybrid boost system.Click here to find out why David Evans thinks the meagre 0.3% electric only distance will be spot on. NEW NEW CAR NEWSBMW Pattern Shifting ConceptUsing the same technology as an e-reader, BMW has released a concept that changes colour and patterns to the exterior design of a car. For more information, click The Verge article here. Stellantis EV Only MPVsThe Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Rifter will be immediately only sold as EV versions, with the Vauxhall Combo following shortly after. Added to this, the prices have been reduced which brings much of the ranges under the £32,000 plug-in grant cut off. For more information, click the Autocar article here. LUNCHTIME WATCH: EVO CAR OF THE YEAR 2021EVO has now released their Car of the Year film, on their YouTube channel. You get to see the options as well as hear how the COtY is put together and decided. Click here for the link to the film. LIST OF THE WEEK: 1972 BIRTHED A NEW ANGLE FOR ITALIAN SPORTS CARSHagerty has compiled an interesting list of pointy and angled Italian sports cars, which we first saw in 1972. Run through the list yourself and see if you agree with Alan’s choice. Don’t forget to tell the chaps what is your favourite. Click here to view the options. AND FINALLY: VISITING CIRCUIT REIMS-GUEUXTim Traveller has gone off to visit the Circuit Reims-Gueux, you can enjoy this trip of his by clicking the YouTube link here.