Fudge - 7 October 2025

FOLLOW UP: JLR WOES STILL CONTINUE BUT MORE PROGRESSJLR continues to battle the effects of the cyber attack that caused them to shut all systems on 1 September, 2025. They are still waiting on signed approval of the Government guarantee for 80% of the loan they are seeking. In the meantime, they are going to inject up to £500 million into their first tier suppliers to help them after no payments for over a month. Click this Business Matters article link here, to read more. The phased restarting of factory operations is expected to begin on 8 October, 2025 (day of publication of this episode). Click the link here, to find out the latest update from Autocar’s coverage. SEPTEMBER 2025 NEW CAR REGISTRATIONSThe Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released the new car registration figures, for September 2025. This is the best September since 2020, with BEVs taking a market share, for the month of 23.3%, whilst petrol still remains the most popular fuel. Fleet sector did most of the heavy lifting, being 55.7% of registrations. Private dropped to 41.9%, although the actual number did increase on 2024. There are new models in the Top Models list. Suggestions are that the Government’s Electric Car Grant (ECG) is having a positive effect on this. But don’t forget, the way the ECG is set up means it is possible to abuse the system, not that we are saying this has happened. To read more, click this article link from SMMT. RENAULT PLANNING TO ASK FOR VOLUNTARY REDUNDANCIESUnder the name “Arrow”, Renault will be implementing cost saving initiatives such as asking for voluntary redundancies from non production roles, to the tune of 3,000. The final plan is still being worked on and is expected by the end of the year. For more on this story, click this Yahoo!Finance article link here. RENAULT AND DACIA CUSTOMER DATA HACKED IN THE UKRenault and Dacia UK customers have had their data accessed by hackers, who go into a supplier’s system. Customers are being warned to be careful of scams and attempts to defraud them as a result. You can read more on this, by clicking the link here to an article from The Register. EV CHARGING COMPANY HACKEDDigital Charging Solutions (DCS), a German based company, has admitted to being hacked. This does affect some UK drivers, as Kia customers have been warned to be vigilant. Click this article link from The Register, to read more. NEARLY ALL CHARGER OPERATORS FAIL RELIABILITY OBJECTIVESThe Public Charge Point Regulations mandate that charger operators must ensure their chargers are operational 99% of the time. Only 4% meet this requirement. Lots of blame being thrown around as to why. To learn more, click this EV Powered article link here. PUBLIC CHARGING STRUGGLING FOR PROFITABILITYThe public vehicle charging network has released information to try and show how the business is struggling for profitability. For example, standing charges for a ‘typical’ hub have increased from £99 to £8600 per year, according to Osprey. On top of which, the VAT rate is 15% higher than for home charging. If you want to read more, click this Autocar 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 - Dacia Hipster conceptDacia has revealed a concept car, called the Hipster, which explores what a European derived kei-car type vehicle could be. Lots of effort has gone into weight saving, modularity and keeping costs down. Really quite a fascinating study especially around pushing consumers into thinking about what they exactly need. Click this Autocar link here, to see more. Lamborghini Manifesto conceptLamborghini has shown off their latest concept which explores what future vehicles could look like from the brand. There are very obvious queues from their heritage and this is unmistakably a Lambo, but there are also some interesting aspects that could prove exciting if they are utilised in future cars. Click this EVO link here, to see more. WhatCar? reliability survey 2025 WhatCar? has published their annual reliability survey, where they canvass members of the public to fill out a questionnaire on cars up to five years old and then score the results. The Nissan Juke gets the most stick, but Nissan are questioning the results. Brand wise MG is worst with Nissan and Fiat making up the bottom three. At the other end of the scale Honda will be happiest, with Mini and Suzuki rounding out the top three. Click this Autocar article link here, to read more. LUNCHTIME READ: THE ATOMIC AGESteve Cropley and Matt Prior bring us the history of the British success story, Ariel. Profitable from the very first car, they have continued to evolve and grow, with plans for expanding production now financed. To read more on this wonderful story, click this Autocar article link here. LIST OF THE WEEK: 35 TIMES MERCEDES-BENZ GOT IT RIGHTClassic & Sports Car provide another fabulous list for us to recommend to you, this time all about Mercedes-Benz. Run through some of the highlights of their back catalogue, by clicking this article link here. AND FINALLY: BREAKING THE HOT WHEELS LAWPetrolblog are the hosts of this week’s And Finally. Read about the shocking story of a person who buys a Hot Wheels car and doesn’t post it on social media! Tongue firmly in cheek many of you may feel a bit seen, it has to be said. Click this link to read all about this shocking turn of events. This gives us the opportunity to let you know, in case you missed it, that Club Petrolblog has relaunched. You should check out this link here to see what it is all about and how you can obtain your membership by supporting a creator who brings a lot of fun to the car corner of the internet.