It Will Save Lives! - 23 February 2021

FOLLOW UP: 2000 JOBS TO GO IN JLR ‘REIMAGINATION’There has been further clarification to the information from Jaguar Land Rover, with regards to their ‘Reimagination’ strategy. 2000 salaried, non manufacturing, workers will be lost from the global workforce in the next year, as part of the cost cutting element of the strategy. To read more, click the Autocar article here. FOLLOW UP: MITSUBISHI MAY NOT BE LEAVING EUROPEAccording to reports, Mitsubishi may be about to change their position on Europe, thanks to Renault. Suggestions are that their models will be built in Renault factories that, however there are no new models being designed for Europe and this would not affect the decision to stop selling cars in the UK. To read more, click the Automotive Management article here. FOLLOW UP: BRISTOL CLEAN AIR ZONE STARTS IN OCTOBERBristol has now confirmed the latest idea and map for their Clean Air Zone, following the Government asking the council to rethink the decision to ban all diesels for large portions of the day. CAZ D, as it is knows, is not without controversy, as it snares two main roads that are used by many to, ironically, avoid the city centre. To read an ever so slightly biased article from the Bristol 24/7 site, click the link here, but really just do it to see the map. ROCKINGHAM IS NOW A CAR PARKPictures were released this week, showing the sad demise of the Rockingham race track, as it become a giant car park for mainly ex hire and lease cars. To see more, click the BBC News article here. TRIAL IN OFFERING GIFTS TO OWNERS TO DITCH THEIR CARSCoventry is the first location to offer, in exchange for up to £3000, travel credits, to entice drivers out of their cars and onto alternative forms of transport. These can be used for ebikes, escooters, car share clubs, taxis and public transport. Hampshire is also interested in trialling this idea. To read more, click the RAC article here. RUSSIA ACCUSED OF SPYING ON VOLVO AND SWEDENA technology consultant, based in Sweden, has been accused of passing on information about Scania Trucks and Volvo Cars, to Russia. Swedish prosecutors have said the country has been put at risk with some of the information passed on. To read more, click The Moscow Times article here. EU REPORT ON AI LEAVING AVS OPEN TO CYBER ATTACKSA report from the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) has outlined the potential exposure to risk AI provides in autonomous vehicles. Not all the issues highlighted are solely an AV issue but also cover connected cars. Hopefully this will be taken seriously and dampen down the hype over autonomous vehicle technology. To read more, click the Venture Beat article here. DUNE BUGGY INVENTOR HAS PASSED AWAYBruce Meyers, the inventor of the Meyers Manx, has passed away. He is the pioneer of a sub culture in the motoring world. To find out more about the man and his creation, click the Top Gear 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——————————————————————————-FORMULA E: CONFIRMED ON THE BBCFormula E starts its season this weekend and there is the news that the BBC will continue to air it for free in the UK. To read more, click the official Formula E article here. WRC: ARCTIC RALLY RUNNING ORDERThe WRC Arctic Rally event takes place this weekend. DirtFish has produced an article explaining who will be there, plus the running order, so to get a quick fix of rally info before it starts, click the link here. LUNCHTIME READ: THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER Friend of the show Chris ‘The Pollitt’ Pollitt has written an article that is worth all our time. He is letting us know that he understands people’s frustrations and anxiety at the moment but that things will improve, we will meet up again, we will get to travel. For that alone you should click the Not2Grand article link here. LIST OF THE WEEK: 10 OF THE BEST - THE FRENCH CARS OF CONARKYDespite Andrew making an utter hash of the pronunciation of the capital of Guinea you should click the PetrolBlog link here to view old French cars in an African port city setting. To find out more, click the link here. AND FINALLY: RECREATED PORSCHE 914 As Richard has been so kind as to join Andrew on this week’s show, it was only fair to discuss the re-imagination of the 914, as outlined in this TopGear article. If this has sparked some interest in the original Porsche 914, you would do worse than to check out Richard’s book on the car. You can get a copy straight from Crowwood Press by clicking this link here.