There Is The Carrot - 2 February 2021

OLD TYRES BANNED Following a lengthy campaign after a tragically fatal accident involving a coach with old tyres, a new law has come into force that bans tyres over 10 years old from being fitted to lorries, coaches and buses where there is only a single tyre. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here. TOYOTA RECLAIMS WORLD’S LARGEST CAR MANUFACTURER CROWNToyota was the largest car manufacturer in 2020, knocking the Volkswagen Group from the lofty top spot. Whilst all were affected by lockdowns across the globe, the reach of Toyota’s network appears to have softened that blow. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here. JLR POST PRE-TAX PROFIT FOR LAST QUARTERThe impact of the dramatic cost-efficiencies across Jaguar Land Rover are bearing fruit, as they announced a pre-tax profit of £439m, for the last quarter. To read more about this good news, click the Autocar article here. NEW MD NAMED BY LOTUSMatt Windle has been named the new Managing Director of Lotus, taking over from Phil Popham. As he was Executive Director for Engineering he will already be familiar with the recently announced plan to move the company forward. To read more, click the Lotus press release here. JATO NO LONGER SEPARATING HYBRIDS FROM ICE FIGURESThe analysis company JATO Dynamics will no longer reporting hybrid vehicles under “electrified”, as they have deemed they are mainly driven by the internal combustion engine. Only plug-in hybrids and fully electric will fall under this classification. We have been saying this for some time now, when we cover it during the monthly registration figures. To read more, click the Motoring Research article here. GOVERNMENT PLEDGES £93M TO ROAD UPGRADESThe Government has stated that there will be an additional £93m made available for upgrading certain roads that are deemed vital in the economic recovery of this country. The majority will be focused on the North. To read more, click the Autocar article here. GOVERNMENT PLEDGES £20M TO ON-STREET CHARGING SCHEMEThe Government has stated it will be providing £20m to the on-street charging scheme, that local councils can access to improve provisions in their areas. This is a jump from last year and a huge increase compared to 2019. To read more, click the Autocar article here. WHITBREAD INSTALLING THOUSANDS OF GENIE POINT EV CHARGERSAcross the Whitebread portfolio of hotels and pubs, thousands of Genie Point EV chargers will be installed. 600 are expected to be working in the next three years. To read more, click Business Motoring here. NEW HIGHWAYS ENGLAND TRAFFIC INFORMATION SERVICE DEALSopra Steria has won a £42m contract to upgrade the Highways England Traffic Information Service, over the next few years. Many organisations and apps rely on the information provided by this, so there’s no pressure on it seamlessly being upgraded. To read more, click The Register article here. GOOGLE TO PROVIDE FORD WITH A NEW INFOTAINMENT OSFord and Google have struck a deal to replace the in-house Sync system with Android Auto. To read more, click the Autocar article here. VEHICLE AUTOMATION MODE CLASSIFICATION SUGGESTIONSEdge Case Research, who are focused on the safety of autonomy and autonomous systems, has released a classification system aimed at the user, instead of engineers and legislators. As many have mentioned the SAE levels are not really suitable, especially for drivers and passengers. Edge Case Research has simplified when those in the vehicle are responsible and liable for being in control. To see this excellent list, click the 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——————————————————————————-FORMULA E: SECOND SET OF 2020/21 RACES ANNOUNCEDFormula E has released details of the races following the season opening in Saudi Arabia. To read more, click the official post here. WRC: ARCTIC RALLY FINALISEDThe route for the upcoming Arctic Rally has been finalised, which has had competators pouring over the documentation. That won’t be the only thing that will have caught their eye, the note to pack a winter survival kit may also piqued interest. To read more about the event, click the DirtFish article here. LUNCHTIME READ: TOP GEAR’S GUIDE TO COACHBUILDERS - GHIAWhilst Ghia was the way we all knew who had the poshest Ford, the name wasn’t always synonymous with the Blue Oval. Let Top Gear help educate you as to where they started and how they became so closely linked to Ford, by clicking here for the link. LIST OF THE WEEK: FIVE CARS FOR SUBURBAN SATISFACTIONThis is an older list, yet still is valid thanks to no one going anywhere, from the Not2Grand site, putting forward options for older cars that would not cause the net curtains to twitch and gossip to start about how less well off you are compared to the neighbourhood. To run through the classy list, click the link here. AND FINALLY: HUBCAP CREATURESTrawling through the internet, Andrew came across the artist, Ptolemy Elrington, who creates sculptures from old hubcaps. To see more of these stunning works of art, click the link to Ptolemy’s site here.