Newsvalanche - 1 April 2025

FOLLOW UP: SUNDERLAND NISSAN FUTURE SECUREFrançois Bailly, who is head of planning for Nissan, in Europe, has stated that the Sunderland plant’s future is “very safe” as they reveal images of the next Leaf and Juke EVs to be built there. However, the Qashqai EV is being delayed for market uncertainty reasons. To read more, click this Autocar article link here. US TO IMPOSE 25% TARIFFS ON IMPORTED CARS AND PARTSPresident Trump has announced tariffs on imported cars and parts, of 25%. This will increase the price of cars, to US consumers. This will also hit US based manufacturers, when the market is already struggling. Click this Autocar article to read more about the implications. Sam Lowe, who writes about EU and UK trade policy, has looked into the announcement and has explained some of the nuance that might be lost in the mainstream coverage. Click here to read his Substack post. Meanwhile, the UK Government is in “intense” negotiations with the US over these moves, hoping to avoid being hit. To read more, click this Autocar article link. UK SPRING STATEMENT REACTIONThe car industry has reacted to the UK Government’s spring statement, and it is not happy. Seemingly, when the leaks made it clear they were going to remove benefits from those most in need, some in automotive land thought that there would be financial incentives for wealthy private buyers to get new shiny cars or for incoming taxes to be postponed. If you wish to read more, click this article link from Motor Trader. UK VEHICLE EXCISE DUTY CHANGES COME INTO FORCEThe UK Government’s changes to Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) came into affect on 1 April 2025. There is an inflationary increase to all levels, but additionally some cars previously exempt from VED as well as the Expensive Car Supplement, will now be covered. This includes electric cars and those first registered back in 2017. On top of all that there are changes to the van excise duty and pick ups. To find out more, click this article link from Ayvens, which explains all the issues well. JIM ROWAN LEAVES VOLVO Jim Rowan, the Volvo CEO for the last three years after moving from Dyson, has left the company with immediate effect. His replacement is the former CEO, Håkan Samuelsson, on a two year interim basis. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar link here. WAYNE GRIFFITHS LEAVES SEAT AND CUPRAMore changes to the heads of brands, this time, the surprise announcement that Wayne Griffiths is leaving the Seat and Cupra brands. He has managed to keep Seat relevant, in the face of the VW Group’s inability to work out what to do with it, and brought Cupra from nothing into a rapidly expanding brand. To find out more, click this Autocar article link here. INSTAVOLT OPENS NEW CHARGING HUBInstavolt has opened a new charging hub, near Winchester, not far from junction 9 of the M3. This is their largest site to date as well as being powered completley by 100% renewable energy. They use a mix of solar, renewable grid energy and battery storage. You can find out more, by clicking this EV Powered 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 - Nissan LeafNissan has revealed the first images of the new Leaf, which has morphed into a SUV. There are no technical details yet, but the company claims it will have 372 miles or real world range. The full launch is later this year. Click this link to read more, from Autocar. Smart #5Smart has shown off their largest car to date, the #5. According to Autocar the dimensions mean it is a similar size to the Peugeot 5008 SUV. Using the same underpinnings of the #1 and #3, it will have a 800V architecture.Range is expected to a maximum of 366 miles and prices are predicted to start around £40,000 when deliveries begin in October. Click this link to read more. Aston Martin Vanquish VolanteAston Martin has revealed the Vanquish Volante, a 214mph V12 soft top. Coming with 824bhp the convertible is 95kgs heavier thanks to stiffening of the chassis and suspension, as well as the folding roof mechanism. Prices have not been announced but it is expected to be a smidgen more than the coupé version, which starts at £334,000. If you wish to read more, click this Autocar article link here. LUNCHTIME READ: AUTOMAKERS ARE BEGINNING TO REALISE YOU’RE FED UP WITH OVERCOMPLICATED CAR TECHThe Autopian bring us all a sliver of hope that car makers are waking up to the fact that most of us do not like in-car tech they are foisting on us. Interestingly, this is thanks to reviewing a RAM heavy duty pick up. Click this link here to read more. LIST OF THE WEEK: THE BEST CARS OF THE 1990SOnce again we invite you, via a list, to wallow in nostalgia and escape the grim reality of life, at the moment. Again we visit the 1990s, with Autocar offering many options from which to pick. Do you agree with Andrew and Alan’s choices? Click here to see what you can find. AND FINALLY: WHERE UTILITARIAN IS COOLAgain, we link to an Autocar article for this recommendation, a visit to the Mercedes Unimog museum. Have a look at the many and varied tasks these cool machines have and continue to help with. Click the link here for the fun!