World's Most Expensive Picnic Basket - 1 June 2021

This week Andrew’s away, so Alan is joined instead by Alex Grant.FOLLOW UP: WINTERKORN TO PAY DAMAGES TO VWThe ex-Volkswagen Group CEO, Martin Winterkorn is to pay €10 million in damages to Volkswagen. You can read more from Business Insider here.FOLLOW UP: GHOSN APPEALS AND INVESTORS SUE NISSANAs Andrew predicted last week, Carlos Ghosn is appealing the rejection of his wrongful dismissal case in the Netherlands. Also, overseas investors are suing Nissan for the share price plunge after Ghosn’s arrest. More here from Just Auto.FOLLOW UP: DAIMLER TO PAY NOKIA PATENT FEESDaimler has settled its patent licensing fight with Nokia, joining other manufacturers in paying the fees. More from Auto News Europe here.BIRMINGHAM CLEAN AIR ZONE INTRODUCEDThe Birmingham Clean Air Zone was introduced on 1st June, but with a “soft launch” meaning that nobody will be charged until 14th June because of issues with the payment systems. More from Autocar here.NISSAN GIGAFACTORYThe Financial Times has broken the news that Nissan is in talks to build a huge EV battery factory at its Sunderland site, joining the recently announce Britishvolt facility nearby. The BBC story is here.MPs ASK ABOUT EV BUYING CHOICESIn a very brief survey, linked here, the Transport Committee are looking to find out what would make you buy and electric car. Be very quick though as the survey ends on 2nd June. The full story from Motoring Research is here.UK ELECTRIC CAR CHARGING INDUSTRY AVOIDS PROBEThe results of a study into the UK public charging infrastructure by the Competition and Markets Authority has ended, concluding that while there are issues then they have ways to deal with them. Read more here.NUMBER OF CAR THEFTS FALL IN 2020In a story that will surprise nobody, the number of car thefts fell significantly in 2020. A separate study also showed that keyless car theft accounted for 93% of stolen cars last year. You can read more here.TOYOTA AND LEXUS LAUNCH 10 YEAR WARRANTYToyota and Lexus have launched a 10 year warranty on all of their new and existing vehicles up to 10 years old and 100,000 miles provided they’re serviced at a Toyota dealer. To find out more then click here.INDY 500In a break from out normal motorsport coverage, Alan watched the Indy 500 and surprised himself by enjoying it. You can find out more aboutt he race and the win by now-four-time-winner Hélio Castroneves here.NEW NEW CAR NEWSDS 9The handsome new DS 9 saloon has been launched in the UK with a choice of hybrid or petrol engine and front wheel drive for the moment and the promise of a hot, 4wd hybrid to follow. It’s expected to be a very niche car, but hopefully it will find some buyers keen enough to not follow the traditional path to a German marque. You can find out more from this Car article.Rolls-Royce Boat TailRolls-Royce has coachbuilt an exclusive car designed for taking on a picnic. There are expected to be 3 built, all slightly different, and if you need to ask the brice then you can’t afford one. You can find out much more about the details in Autocar’s interview with the designer here. LUNCHTIME READ: THE FIVE SENSES: SIGHTThe first in, hopefully, a series about the importance of the different senses in the appeal of a car, Design Field Trip explores the importance of it being eyecatching in the right ways. You can read the article here.LIST OF THE WEEK: WORLD’S GREATEST VIP ARMOURED VEHICLESAutocar has 19 of the best ways to transport very important people around dangerous places. We chose a Citroen and a Toyota, but which would you have? Find out here.AND FINALLY: GARAGISTASReverend Adam Gompertz and the Revs Limiter Facebook group have gathered together to bring a new twist to card-based vehicle comparison games with this first set based on vehicles suggested by community members. You can find out more here.