Inster-gram - 2 July 2024

FOLLOW UP: ARAMCO FINALLY AGREE TO HORSE STAKEThe joint-venture between Geely and Renault, for engine technology, called Horse, has finally managed to get Aramco on board as the third partner. They are expected to take a 10% share in the company. To read more, click this link to a Reuters article here. VW THROWS $1B LIFELINE TO RIVIANVolkswagen and Rivian announced a partnership, with VW investing $1 billion initially into the US EV start up. The German company has stated it wants access to the battery technology and full software stack Rivian has developed. A further $4 billion could come from Volkswagen if certain criteria are met. This helps Rivian survive a little longer, but raises big questions about CARIAD. Click this Tech Crunch article link for more. Click this Christiaan Hetzner Twitter thread for more about CARIAD and why the deal brings it’s existence into question. If you would like to read more about Rivian’s ambitions, click this autoevolution article link here. STELLANTIS THREATEN TO CLOSE UK MANUFACTURINGStellantis’s UK managing director has stated that they will make a decision in “less than a year”. They want help from the UK Government, including incentives for private buyers to encourage more EVs to be bought. On top of that, more is demanded for businesses to encourage them to buy more EV vans. To read more, click this article link from The Guardian. RENAULT UK GET A NEW MDRenault UK has announced that Guillame Sicard will take up a new post in Renault France, with Adam Wood becoming the managing director on 1 October 2024, as well as the country manager for Renault Group. Click this AMOnline article link to read more. PEUGEOT UK GET A NEW BOSSAs Adam Wood has resigned from his position as managing director of Peugeot UK and moved to Renault UK, Eurig Druce who was vice president of Stellantis Sales. To read more, click this AMOnline article link here. NEW CAR PARK INDUSTRY CODE OF PRACTICEThe car parking industry, in an attempt to avoid direct intervention by the UK Government, has announced a number of new standards they will work to from the autumn. However, the whole industry does not need to be compliant until December 2026. Motoring groups have stated how little this does to change the situation. You can read more by clicking this BBC News article link here. SUGGESTION ON DEALING WITH CAR WEIGHT INCREASEA group of academics have highlighted the problems of vehicles, particularly SUVs, becoming heavier. They have also proposed how this can be turned around. Click this link to read what the issues are and their suggestions on remedying it. In a stroke of astonishing coincidence, Autocar has produced an article showing how much weight cars have put on recently, click here to read 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 - Hyundai InsterHyundai are bringing a city car sized EV to the UK. With a maximum range of 211 miles, this will seat four and cost from £22,000. This is good news that we get more options in the sub £30k EV market! Cute looking with design touches of other models, including the Kona and Ioniq 5, this is based on a South Korean car. Click this link to an Autocar article to read more. Bentley Continental GT SpeedNow we can all see what the car will look like that is to house the new V8 plug-in hybrid powertrain we have previously discussed. And what we see is good. The Speed will cost from £236,600 in the UK. To read more about the car and all the new features, click this Motoring Research article link here. BMW M5BMW have unveiled the new M5, which comes with a hybrid powertrain, enabling 50 miles on electric power alone. However, this does come with the penalty of extra weight, which in turn means the car is slower but we doubt one would notice on the roads. Priced from £111,405, it will come with a 4.4 litre V8 that has a plug in hybrid system allowing for 42 miles of electric only driving. If you wish to learn more, click this article link from EVO. Volkswagen Golf RThe new Golf R has been revealed. With the next Golf being an EV, this will be the last ICE version. Tweaks have been made to the interior, in line with the rest of the range, making it more user friendly. Work has also gone on the dynamics of the car. You can find out from by clicking this EVO article link here. Suzuki removing four models from saleAs the UK Government’s ZEV mandate bites, Suzuki has been forced to remove from sale, the Swift Sport, Ignis, Swace and Jimny van. They will bring out their first pure EV, named the eVX, in 2025. Much discussion could be had abut Governments forcing markets, as an earlier item with Stellantis is linked. Click this AMOnline article to read more. Volvo EX30Volvo has refunded some owners of the EX30 after they had reached the end of their patience with the bug ridden software which has affected the car since before launch. To find out how badly this has gone for Volvo, click this Autocar link here. LUNCHTIME WATCH: THE RISE OF HIGH TECH FARMINGWe are recommending a video that goes through the history of John Deere and how it has moved from a plough manufacturer to a high tech company. It is an interesting history lesson and cautionary tale for consumers, especially as car companies are trying to do the same thing. Click here for the YouTube link to the Wendover Productions video. LIST OF THE WEEK: THE BEST SELLING CARS OF 2023 IN THE WORLDAutocar once again are the source for an excellent list, that allows no room for subjectiveness. This time, its the best sellers in the world. Most will be expected but it is always interesting seeing what other markets get and buy. To check out the list, click this link here. AND FINALLY: WHICH CAR HAS THE MOST CUPHOLDERSThe Autopian get down and nerdy about cup and beverage holders when trying to establish which car has the most. Reminds us of the quote that US cars are mobile cupholders. To read this wonderful article, click this link here.