Virtuous triangle - 4 November 2025

FOLLOW UP: MATT WINDLE OFFICIALLY LEAVES LOTUSBack in August we said that Matt Windle had resigned as Lotus Europe CEO, but actually he was on a ‘leave of absence’. However, he has now officially announced that he has left Lotus after eight and a half years with the company. You can read more, including the challenges facing the sports car maker, by clicking this EVO article link here. VW GROUP PROFITS PLUNGEVolkswagen Group has announced their financial results for the first nine months of 2025 and they are bad. With a 58% drop in profits, described as “unsustainable” by the company, at €5.4 billion and a pre-tax profit margin of 2.3%. The usual reasons were given, Chinese market drop, tariffs and the slowdown in electrified transition with Porsche’s write-down also being mentioned. To fix this they will be ensuring their cost cutting measures really take effect. Click this Autocar article for more. MERCEDES-BENZ PROFITS PLUNGEMercedes-Benz’s third quarter profits fell by 30.8%, surprisingly this was better than analysts expected. The company said the results were in line with their adjusted projection, from earlier in the year. To find out more click this Yahoo!Finance article link here. POLESTAR AT RISK OF STOCK MARKET DE-LISTINGPolestar are running the risk of being de-listed from the Nasdaq stock market due to their share price falling below the accepted minimum requirement. Their share price is below one dollar and they have until 29 April to get it above the threshold or will be removed from the index. Click this Carscoops article link here for more. UK ELECTRIC MOTOR START UP PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENTAdvanced Electric Machines, a UK based start up that is developing electric motors without using rare earths, has announced a partnership with a significant automotive supplier. If you wish to learn more, click this electrive article link here. FRANCE OPENS INDUCTIVE CHARGING ROADLocated near Angervilliers, close to Paris, a stretch of motorway has been adapted to provide inductive charging to vehicles travelling along the road. The section is 1.5 kilometres long. For more on this, click this link here to read an electrive article. NEW FRENCH GOVERNMENT BACKED EV SCHEME POPULARThe French Government has reopened their EV leasing scheme aimed at less well off households. In the space of four weeks it has reached over 41,500 applications and will be closed once it hits 50,000. To read more, click this electrive article link here. EV DRIVER TRACKER YEAR 1The Department for Transport commissioned an investigation into the habits of UK electric vehicle drivers to find out what the reality is. The first of these reports has been published and it is illuminating. Also the tone and direction of the narrative around the ‘discourse’ is made clear due to who is an EV driver and their circumstances. Additionally, some of the claims made by many turn out to not be reflected in the data collated. Everyone involved in discussing EVs needs to read and fully understand the information as it can help the transition to zero emission vehicles but only if all concerned start being honest and open. Click this link here to read the findings. 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 - Honda PreludeIn the last week, the embargoes of driving the new Honda Prelude have lifted. This is a two door coupe based on the Civic, which enters the market at a strange time. We applaud that it is not yet another SUV but are curious who this is for. Irrespective of that we hope it finds an audience and is successful. Click this Autocar review to learn more. Smart #5Smart are bringing their largest vehicle to date, the #5, to the UK starting at a fraction under £40,000. This electric SUV is going up against the likes of the Skoda Enyaq and Hyundai Ioniq 5. There are a host of trims and powertrain options all the way up to a Brabus version that tops the range. Click this EV Powered article to learn more. Seat Ibiza and AronaSeat are facelifting the Ibiza and Arona, now that the VW Group realise the brand adds to the bottom line in a positive way. Once again the Spanish company is doing a lot with so little and these will continue to be popular models. Click this Top Gear article link here to find out more. LUNCHTIME READ: LA DÉESSE - BEYOND THE MYTH - EPISODE TWOFollowing on from last week, your recommended reading this week is, again, from Driven to Write. This is the second part of Patrick le Quément series on the Citroën DS and it’s history. Click the link here to read more. LIST OF THE WEEK: 26 TIMES MAZDA GOT IT RIGHTClassic & Sports Car has compiled a slideshow with 26 wonderful examples from the Japanese company’s back catalogue. Do you agree with the choices? What would you pick instead, if not? Click this link to view the options. AND FINALLY: DON’T SHELVE THAT IDEAStu Bird brings you a video about the Citroën Visa parcelshelf that is actually quite clever. Do click the YouTube link here to learn more and be entertained.