Gone French On Them - 9 March 2021

FOLLOW UP: ANDREW GOT LOST IN LIVERPOOL Thank you, to the keen eared listener who corrected Andrew on where Aigburth Road actually is in Liverpool, when he described Edge Lane. FOLLOW UP: DEALERS UNHAPPY WITH VOLVO PLANSThis week’s ‘well knock me down with a feather’ news item is that the dealerships who found out that Volvo wants to ditch a lot of them for sales, are less than happy with this idea. To read more, click The Truth About Cars article here. NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FEBRUARY 2021This will be the last month that does not compare restricted UK, year on year, when looking at registration figures. Considering the country has been in another ‘full’ lockdown, manufacturers and dealers have done well to only be 35% down on last year. To read more, click the SMMT figures here. In our not very regular segment about LGVs, it is interesting to see that vans are still going strong, with registrations being up 22% on last year. To read more about that, click the SMMT article here. FUEL DUTY NOT RAISED IN BUDGETDuring his Budget speech, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that there would be no rise in fuel duty, as was expected. That was pretty much the only item specifically aimed at motorists. To read more, click the Autocar article here. ASTON MARTIN WILL MAKE EVS IN THE UKAston Martin are the latest brand to announce they will be building electric vehicles, ahead of the UK Government’s ICE ban. Additionally, these will be built in the UK. As the cost of purchasing their cars is so high and happens in such small numbers, any rules of origin issues will be minimised for Aston Martin. To read more, click the BBC News article here. PORSCHE INVESTS MORE IN RIMACPorsche has announced that it is increasing their stake in Rimac to 24%, with an new £60 million investment in the Croatian electric super car brand. By doing so, they will be able to access Rimac’s technology, which will help the development of their own EVs. To read more, click the EVO article here. M6 SHOCKED BY NEW RAPID CHARGERSAt Welcome Break services at Corley, in the West Midlands, Instavolt has opened a new rapid charging hub northbound, with one due to go in southbound by the end of March. To read more, click the ZapMap article here. STELLANTIS ASKS FOR GOVERNMENT AID FOR ELLESMERE PORTStellantis has asked the UK Government for financial aid, if it wants to keep the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port factory open in the future. To read more, click the Bloomberg article here. In what was claimed to be an unrelated move, the factory has been paused due to a lack of demand for the vehicle they make there. To read more, click the BBC News article here. SKODA SALES BOSS OFF TO BENTLEYAlain Favey, who is the head of sales and marketing at Skoda, will take over from Chris Craft later in the year. He will head up the vehicle launches for the new Beyond 100 strategy. To read more, click the Autocar 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——————————————————————————-DFT CALLS FOR MORE ACCESS TO E-SCOOTERSThe Department for Transport has called for e-scooters to be made more widely available and affordable to help increase uptake in this option for active travel. They also call for more urban and rural cycle lanes, so that users and potential users will feel safer with these types of transport. To read more, click here for the Zag article. LUNCHTIME LISTEN: THE ECONOMIST ASKS - HERBERT DIESSRichard Porter has written an excellent article popping the perception that the pinnacle of motorsport technology makes for gains in road cars. To read more, click the EVO article here. LIST OF THE WEEK: THE TOP 10 FRONT-WHEEL DRIVE RALLY CARS Following a ruling that will remove the front-wheel drive category from WRC, DirtFish compiled their favourite 10 Super 1600 and Kit Cars from the modern-ish era. To run through this fab list of ace looking rally cars, click the link here. Do not forget to tweet the chaps about which you’d pick, if you had to have one! AND FINALLY: LOVE BUG MOVIE NOT THAT BADJalopnik has published an article making the case for the movie, The Love Bug, saying that it is not as bad as you think or falsely remember. The piece must be convincing, as Alan has parted with his own cash to receive the back catalogue of movies (but not the remake!). To read more, click here for the link.