Swings, Roundabouts, etc. - 2 December 2025

UK AUTUMN BUDGET ANNOUNCED The UK Government finally announced the autumn Budget, after weeks of leaks and rumours. There was some motoring related aspects, most notable being from 2028 new electric and plug-in hybrid car drivers will have to pay-per-mile which is additional to previously announced measures. How this is to be run has yet to be decided, with a consultation being conducted in early 2026.More money is being allocated the Electric Car Grant, increasing the pot by a further £1.3 billion. Additionally, the luxury car tax will increase, only for EVs, to £50,000, following a lot of lobbying by industry. Click this EV Powered article link here, to read more. MOTABILITY FORCED TO REMOVE PREMIUM CARS FROM SCHEMEThanks to a dishonest and disgusting campaign, that attacked those with extra mobility needs, Motability has been forced to removed premium brand vehicles from their scheme before the Government caved to such abhorrent pressure and pushed to remove nice things from a segment of society. There are many reasons, both factual and moral, why this did not need to happen. Click this Autocar article link here, to read more. NCAP TO REVISE ADAS TESTING As this show has stated many times, along with others in the automotive media, the current raft of ADAS safety systems are not fit for use on public roads. NCAP has announced they are revising the testing standards and procedures for them. After admitting they are not good enough, by the way they will now be tested, NCAP is finally doing something. To read more, click this Autocar article link here. SOUTHEND-ON-SEA GETS BIG CHARGER BOOSTEV charging company Zest has been selected to install 3,000 public charging points across the city. This will be a mix of on-street chargers in lamp posts, as well as fast and rapid charging stations. If you want to read more, click this electrive article link here. NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE GETS SOME NEW CHARGERSBeliev has been chosen to install up to 470 fast and rapid chargers across the region, over the coming years. Very limited details have been revealed, such as some of the charging stations will be fitted to some ‘key’ car parks. To learn more, click this electrive article link here. GOVERNMENT DECIDES PHYSICS DOESN’T APPLY TO E-VANSThe UK Government, following hard lobbying by fleet operators who didn’t pay attention to details, is going to reclassify electric vans in a way that removes them from being classified as HGVs, even though they are overweight. One of the key elements of doing this will be not requiring a first year MOT. In the same week as it was shown that a quarter of all vans fail their first MOT. For more on the reclassification of e-vans, click this electrive article link here. To learn about one aspect that makes this a very dumb idea, click this Motoring Research 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 - Dacia JoggerDacia are updating the seven seat, affordable family car for only £25 more than the outgoing version. The revisions include external and internal design features, plus revised technology to match the rest of the range. Click this Top Gear article link here to read more. Renault Traffic E-TechRenault has shown the world their new electric van, the Traffic E-Tech. With ranges from nearly 217 miles all the way up to 278, there is flexibility across trims. There will be a two tonne towing weight and a load capacity of 1.25 tonnes. 15-80% charging is expected to be 20 minutes if the right charger and environmental conditions are met. Click this EV Powered article link here to read more. Genesis Magma GT ConceptGenesis wants to go GT racing, or more specifically set up the ability to enable customer racing, which they announced with the Magma GT Concept. They will need to build 200 road going versions to be eligible to join GT racing series. This is not the final design as that is still being worked on but will largely remain the same when finally revealed. Click this Top Gear article link to read more.LUNCHTIME WATCH: PROJECT BINKY EPISODE 42The ongoing and lengthy project run by Richard Brunning and Nik Blackhurst, turning a rusty old Mini into a monster version of itself continues with the latest video. Episode 42 sees them tackle more jobs on the interior. Click this YouTube link to see more. LIST OF THE WEEK: 31 TIMES HONDA GOT IT RIGHTOnce again Classic & Sports Car provides the list we are recommending you lose some time to by checking out some of the best Honda cars. Do you agree with the chap’s choices? What would you pick, if you could have any from the list? Click this link here to see your options.AND FINALLY: RENAULT AUCTIONS OFF THE VAULTOn December 7 2025, Renault will be selling off a huge number of cars from their vault. These include models, concepts and motor racing vehicles. Think of this as a second List of the Week. There are some stunning and evocative cars to check out. To see more, click this Carscoops article link which has a number of slideshows embedded in it.