Rab C Nesbitt - 6 June 2023

FOLLOW UP: VW AND AUDI AGREE DIESELGATE DEAL WITH TEXASVolkswagen and Audi have agreed, in principle, a settlement deal with the State of Texas over breaking environmental laws because of dieselgate. A sum of $85 million will be paid. Click this US News article link for more. FOLLOW UP: EV GRITTER NAMESAfter mentioning looking forward to seeing the EV gritter names on last week’s show, we have had some suggestions. Jouletide Grittings, Salt Watter and DeICEr. Thank you to Nir Kahn for those, they’re wonderful. Feel free to send the chaps your suggestions. MAY 2023 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESMay 2023 New Car Registration figures are up 16.7% on last year, but don’t forget that was quite poor due to supply constraints. The main driver, sorry not sorry, of May’s rise is an increase in Fleet registrations, up nearly 37% on last year. There is also a change at the top of the ‘Most Registered Cars’ chart too. To find out more, click this article link from the SMMT. JAGUAR I-PACE RECALLED IN US OVER FIRE RISKJaguar is recalling over 6,000 I-Pace cars due to the risk of fire, attributed to an issue with the battery pack but the exact reason is still not known. You can read more by clicking this Reuters article link here. JAGUAR LAND ROVER REBRANDINGJaguar Land Rover, as a Group, are rebranding. JLR now has a logo, they have developed a ‘Look Book’, which dictates all aspects of the various brand’s aesthetics from stationary through to what the dealership staff are to wear. There is much optimism for the future but also acknowledgement that aspects need improving. To find out more about the JLR logo and Group, click this Autocar link. For the expected benefits for us customers, with the move to the agency model, click here to read more from Autocar. To read about how the staff “uniform” has gone down with dealerships, click this Auto Retail article link here. If you would like to learn more about how the Discovery brand is seen as an exciting one, from within JLR, click this Autocar link here. REMOTELY OPERATED TAXI SERVICE IN MILTON KEYNESThis week’s Ledge of Fury™ item is brought to you by Fetch, Milton Keynes and regulators that have approved a taxi service that utilised remote operators to drive the car, whilst a safety driver sits in the front seat. Following a whole 1,000 miles of testing this has been approved to run on public roads. Click this BBC News article link here for more. There are a huge number of reasons why this is a bad idea, dangerous and should not be allowed, which are backed up by plenty of research that has been published. Michael DeKort has written a great summary as to why it is a dangerous idea to allow this on the road. Click this Medium link to read more. PORSCHE UNVEILS NEW LOGO AND BADGEIn one of the most Porsche moves ever, the company has revealed an updated logo and badge. Following very close inspection, we can confirm it IS different from the last iteration and is the best looking modern logo redesign in the industry, mainly because they didn’t ‘flatten’ it. Click this The Drive link to read more. REST AND BE THANKFUL SAFETY TUNNEL ANNOUNCEDA section of the A83 in Scotland, otherwise known as the Rest and Be Thankful stretch, is to have a protective tunnel built along roughly 1.4km of it. The plan is for this to prevent the road being closed due to debris from the surrounding hills and thus removing the need for a 53 mile detour. Click this BBC News article link for further details.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 - Electric Vauxhall Astra The all electric Vauxhall Astra has been revealed and it is an actual electric car, not an EV SUV!. Rejoice. Added to which Vauxhall is making good looking cars right now. Coming with up to 258 miles range, ability to charge up to 80% in 26 minutes and go from 0-62 in 9.2 seconds, this sounds like a car that will meet the needs for many. Prices will start at £39,995 which will push it out of reach for many. Click this CAR article link to find out more. Lexus LBX Lexus showed off their smallest car, to date, in the form of the LBX SUV. Whilst it is based on the Yaris Cross platform this is no rebadging exercise. Stretching the platform, the company has said they’ve created a small luxury car, not a cheap Lexus. The powertrain is a three-cylinder petrol engine combined with an electric motor to produce less than 120g/km of CO2, yet still gives 134bhp. We recommend you click this Autocar link to find out how Lexus believe they’ve overcome the constraints that were imposed on the project. Range Rover Sport SVThe Range Rover Sport SV is a V8 engined mild hybrid, producing 626bhp, enabling the 2560kgs to get to 62mph in 3.6 seconds and run all the way up to 180mph. That is, if nothing else, an incredibly impressive engineering feat. The cars will only be sold by invitation, with just 550 models vailable in the UK in the first year of production. Prices start at £169,000 unless you want the carbon optional extras where that price starts at £190,000. Click this Autocar article link to read more. Caterham EV Caterham has revealed a proof of concept electric Seven. Teaming up with Swindon Powertrain, the company has created a track focused car that weighs only 70kgs more than the equivalent ICE version, with that weight cleverly packaged to help the car rather than hinder. There is a special ‘track drive cycle’ that enables 20 minutes of track driving, with 15 minutes charging and then off for another 20 minutes thrashing it around a circuit. You can learn more by clicking this EVO link here. VW ID.Buzz LWBUnveiled for the US and European markets, Volkswagen has shown off their long wheel base version of the ID.Buzz, which can seat seven. Whilst it adds another row of seats, in the 250mm longer wheelbase, the practicality side of things isn’t great as there is minimal space behind the rear seats for any luggage. Not slated for the UK, yet, there are also no details of range or price. For more, click this Autocar link here. MG HS MG has updated the popular HS SUV models with a new nose and the latest software and interior design, bringing it in line with the rest of the range. Click this Autocar link for more information. LUNCHTIME READ: PRITHVI NATH TAGORE’S 1958 MERCEDES-BENZ W120 PONTONWe are recommending a wonderful article telling the story of a 1958 Mercedes W120 which has been in the same family for many years and is now restored. Used regularly by the owner, we learn how it arrived in India and what it took to get it into the amazing condition we see in the lovely photos accompanying the article. Click here to read the deRivas & Ives article. LIST OF THE WEEK: