Wasting your time - 9 April 2025

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES MARCH 2025The March 2025 new car registration figures have been revealed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). They show an increase that you have to go back to 2019, to find bettered. Electric vehicles, unsurprisingly, increased as buyers tried to avoid the new VED and luxury car tax. Private, on the one hand, had a surprising jump but then not when thinking about the tax changes. This is expected to be a bit of a one off month, with the numbers next month being a lot lower. Click this link to read more, from SMMT’s own article. UK GOVERNMENT TINKERS WITH ZEV The UK Government has announced changes to the requirements of the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate. These add up to tinkering. Finally, we get a decision on hybrid vehicles post 2030, where they will still be sold. Small manufacturers will be exempt from the requirements. All OEMs will be given more flexibility in achieving the required target rates, with the CO2 credit transfer system remaining in place until 2029. In reality though, as we continue to be in a cost of living crisis and vehicles are too expensive, trying to mandate a market will remain difficult. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. CAR BRANDS AND TRADE BODY FINED BY CMATen car companies and the SMMT have been fined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for agreeing to not compete with each other when advertising the amount of recycling that could be achieved with their cars. Additionally, the second charge was for anticompetitive practices when it came to recycling end of life vehicles. Following an admission to this, they are to pay £77 million in fines. In Europe a similar investigation has found 15 brands guilty and they will pay £382.7 million, as a consequence. To find out more, click this Autocar link here. MCLAREN MERGES WITH FORSEVEN TO SECURE FUTUREMcLaren has merged with Forseven, to create McLaren Group Holdings, thereby securing its immediate future. Both entities are owned by CYVN Holdings, which is the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Forseven has a raft of vehicles almost ready for production but needed a badge to stick on them. Click the EVO article link here to read more. RENAULT AND NISSAN RESET PARTNERSHIP Renault and Nissan have renegotiated their partnership, following a few tumultuous years. Nissan will no longer contribute to the Ampere project, will rebadge the Twingo city car vehicle and have sold their joint-venture stake in India to Renault. If you would like to learn more, click this electrive 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 MicraNissan has revealed the first images of the new Micra, which is a rebadged Renault 5 EV. Once again the company revealed no details or specifications. This caused the chaps to discuss the Leaf and ask why it was coming back. Click this Autocar article link to learn more about the Micra. Longbow Speedster and RoadsterLongbow is a UK EV sports car start up that showed off their images of how they envisage their coupe and roofless lightweight EV sports cars will look. Without the context of technical specifications we are promised rapid 0-62mph times, as well as a range that is surprisingly long considering the aimed weight of the car. Will it ever be made, we doubt it, but if it is, that would be cool. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. New New Van News: Mercedes-Benz eVitoMercedes has almost doubled the range of the eVito, which will boast a maximum of 298 miles, beating all the competition on that metric. Will be very interesting to see what the real world figures are, when used by customers, and what the price will be. Click this Top Gear article link to find out more. LUNCHTIME READ AND WATCH: 50 YEARS AGO GM BUILT THE MOTORHOME OF THE FUTUREGm created the GM Motorhome and it was groundbreaking at the time, whilst still innovative today. You can read more by clicking this article link, from The Autopian, here. To watch the restoration project, as Alan recommended, click this YouTube link here. LIST OF THE WEEK: 30 SHOW STOPPING CLASSIC CARS FROM RÉTROMOBILE 2025We are bringing you a list, that we are confident you will struggle to pick just one car from. We did! Click the Classic & Sports Car link here, to see what options you have. AND FINALLY: ADDING A STICKER TO SAVE A RECALLThink of this as a bonus Lunchtime Read as The Autopian recounts the story of Ford saving themselves the largest recall in history, by sending a sticker to customers. Click this link here, to find out more.