Ecstatic partying - 24 March 2026

FOLLOW UP: MCGOVERN OFFICIALLY LEAVING JLRFollowing an ‘is he/isn’t he’ saga which started back at the beginning of December 2025, Gerry McGovern is officially leaving JLR at the end of March 2026. He will be starting his own consultancy. Details are almost non-existent outside of that. Click this Autocar article for the story.AUDI MAKES £2.9 BILLION PROFITAs expected, more brands from within the Volkswagen Group have been announcing their financial results for 2025. Audi, despite it being a difficult year, managed to make a £2.9 billion profit, from a revenue of £56.6 billion. This was all done whilst fewer overall vehicles were delivered. To read more, click this Autocar article.BENTLEY TO CUT JOBSBentley had a difficult 2026 and as a result are going to shed 150 jobs. Some are open positions they won't fill but the rest will come from office based roles. Additionally they have had to tweak their product plans partly due to Porsche postponing their platform development. If you want to learn more, click this Autocar article link here.ROLLS ROYCE NOT GOING 100% EV FROM 2030Rolls Royce has announced that it will no longer be producing EVs exclusively, from 2030. They state that customer wishes mean that they will still offer internal combustion engine options. For more on this, click this link here to take you an EV Powered article.THATCHAM SPLITS FROM EURONCAPThatcham, after 22 years in partnership, are splitting from EuroNCAP and developing their own systems for testing car safety systems. They mention real world safety quite a bit and also how they believe the technology should not be intrusive and annoying. Time will tell if they can deliver on this. Click this link here to read more from Autocar.EU RELAXES CO2 RULES FOR LORRIESThe EU has listened to lorry manufacturers and softened the requirements of their fleets, in terms of CO2 emissions. Whilst the fixed jumps, from the interim targets at 2025, 2030 and 2040 still stand, the intervening years will not have moving requirements. This means, if a brand manages to exceed the target they can carry over that extra to the next year, thus companies are rewarded for pushing. If you want to find out more, click this electrive article link here.LYTEN BUYS MORE OF NORTHVOLTLyten, a US based company, has continued to purchase operations from the collapsed Northvolt electric car battery and recycling company, this time they have bought the Swedish battery recycling facility at Skellefteå. For more about this story, click this electrive article link here.FRESH ZEBRA FUNDING MADE AVAILABLEThe Government has announced a new raft of funding for the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) to a total of £73.2 million. There are 10 areas across England that will receive money to help pay for infrastructure and electric buses. To read more, click this electrive article link here.FIRST YEAR ZEV MANADATE REPORTThe UK Government has finally published their report on compliance with the car and van zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate for 2024. No brand has been fined as all reached the required minimums through a combination of registration numbers and purchasing credits from others who had exceeded the requirements. Click this electrive article link here 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 PODCASTNEW NEW CAR NEWS -BMW i3After much teasing BMW has finally taken the wraps off their i3 electric saloon. Boasting an astonishing range of up to 559 miles, with looks, both inside and out, that have divided opinion but cannot be trusted as we have only been given heavily rendered images so far. Further details are to be announced later, including the price. Click this Motoring Research article link here for more.DS No7The latest Stellantis brand to utilise the mid sized SUV platform is DS, being the premium one of the group they will be charging a suitable price, above their sister brands. Click this Autocar article link here to read more.KGM Musso EVKGM are bringing their first electric pickup to the UK from May 2026. With four wheel drive and payload capacity of 690kgs, the vehicle will have a maximum range of 240 miles. This is the fourth four wheel drive pickup for the UK market and it will be competitively priced at £42, 495 (inclusive of VAT and £2,500 Plug0In Van Grant). Click this Autocar article link here to read more.LUNCHTIME READ: INSIDE GM’S DECISION TO HELP RESTORE A RARE EV1 FOR THE FIRST TIME EVERGM have seemed like a company embaressed by their pioneering EV1 which was available to the public on a strict leasing deal for two years in the later 1990s, with many examples having been destroyed and recycled. However, one person has managed to legally get hold of a damaged EV1 and is in the process of restoring it. GM heard and instead of deploying a fleet of lawyers to stop this their President heard and has ordered the company to help. Click this article link here from The Drive to find out more.LIST OF THE WEEK: FORGOTTEN CARS OF THE 1990SAutocar are where we are sending you this week. They have a slideshow dedicated to cars you might well have forgotten, if you are not Alan. Do you agree with chaps choices? Click this link here to see what your options are.AND FINALLY: WALKING AROUND AND POINTING AT THINGSThis week we are recommending you click this HubNut YouTube video link to check out their interesting spots from the NEC Restoration Show. As ever, this is a lovely, relaxed film that will allow all of us who missed out to experience the sights and sounds of last weekend.