Bahami - 11 July 2023

FOLLOW UP: NO CHANGE TO EU TARIFF RULES Following weeks of statements that the UK and EU were discussing the changes to the expected import/export tariffs, it appears that there will be no change to the tariffs for ‘rules of origin’ starting in 2024. The European Commission has rejected a call to postpone until 2027. Click this article link, to learn more, from Electrive. JUNE 2023 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESOnce again registrations are up, year on year. However, they are still well below 2019 levels. Battery electric vehicles grew, for the month, to nearly 18% market share, but year-to-date still sits at a smidgen over 16%. Diesel has dropped, unsurprisingly, whilst PHEVs jumped. Petrol was also down for the month and year-on-year. The SMMT has called on the UK Government to cut VAT from public charging to help encourage more to switch. Click here to read the information from the SMMT. UK STELLANTIS BOSS STEPS DOWN Phil Willcox has announced he is stepping down as the UK boss of Stellantis. He will be replaced by Maria Grazia Davino, who will begin her new position on 1 September, moving from Head of Sales and Marketing for the group. Click the link here, to read more from AM Online. JLR ANNOUNCE NEW UK MANAGING DIRECTORJagual Land Rover has revealed the new Managing Director for the UK, Patrick McGillycuddy, who stepped into the role on a temporary basis, in the wake of Rawdon Glover moving to Jaguar, in March. You can find our more, by clicking this Fleet & Leasing article link, here. 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF TESLA SELF DRIVING CLAIMThis is the tenth consecutive time Elon Musk has claimed that Tesla will achieve Level 4 or 5 automated driving this year. Happy anniversary! Again he has made the claims and again it will not happen. For more, click this article link from The Autopian. SAN Francisco RESIDENTS STOP SELF-DRIVING CARS Local residents, in San Francisco, fed up with the disruption of Waymo and Cruze’s self-driving test fleet being very, very poor at actually driving. The activists make it clear cones are to only be placed on empty cars. Traffic cones are put on the bonnet of cars, which causes the vehicle to stop as the system does not know what to do, but it does not actually damage the car. You can learn more, by clicking this link to a Jalopnik story. CLEVEDON SEA FRONT CYCLE LANE UNDER REVIEWLast year Clevedon council installed a new cycle lane to the sea front. Unusually, they used curving lines to delineate the road from the cycle path, which weave into the normal road area. This has proved controversial. The council has appointed independent experts to review the scheme. Click this BBC News article 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 - Dacia SpringDacia has announced their Spring EV model will be coming to the UK, in 2024. The car will be the facelifted version, that is coming out next year. Details on battery packs, range and price are yet to be announced. The expectation is it will be under £20,000 though. Click this Autocar article link to learn more. Peugeot E-208 Peugeot is updating the battery tech on the E-208. Again. This time to stretch the smallest battery’s range from 225 miles to 248 miles, thanks to improved efficiency and a better electric motor. Charging from 0-80% is expected to take only 25 minutes if connected to a 100kW charger. No news on the price yet. Click this article link from The Car Expert for more. We also are sharing this article, from Top Gear, where Peugeot make it clear sporty cars are not their focus right now so don’t expect any. Click here to read more about this distressing news. MG4 XPowerMG are coming out with a sporty model of the MG4. Offering 429bhp, 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and range of 239 miles. There is also a less powerful Trophy version that doesn’t go as fast but means you get a range of 281 miles. The XPower will cost from £36, 495, which does move it away from the ‘affordable’ tag the range has enjoyed. You can learn more by clicking this EVO article link here. Opel Rocks E-XtremeOpel is the latest of the Stellantis brand to rebadge the Citroën Ami. However, they have at least changed it up a bit by offering design students a change to shake up their original design. Lukas Wenzhöfer has gone down the “Let’s off-road!” route, with raised suspension, chunky tyres, external rollcage and a huge rear wing. Click this link to the article from Automotive Design Planet that tells you more, including a video showcasing Lukas’s idea. LUNCHTIME READ: SLEAZY RIDERSMotorPunk brings you the delights of the 1970s custom van craze, explaining how it started and why. Learn about the decline and some who’ve kept the trend going. Click this link to read more. LIST OF THE WEEK: 11 SPORTSCARS POWERED BY THE ROVER V8An older Hagerty list, but still one we recommend you running through to pick which car you would like to run around in. Do you agree with Alan’s choice? Don’t forget to let us know. You can see the options by clicking this link here. AND FINALLY: TOYOTA VIRTUAL FACTORY TOURYou can join us, virtually, as we geek out about car production by visiting Toyota to see how they do things. Always fascinating to see how a company tackles the various issues manufacturing brings. Click this link to find out more and go on the tour.