FOLLOW UP: IMPACT OF JLR SHUTDOWN
Professor David Bailey has written up a piece on Blogs from the Blackstuff following a report from the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC), which outlines the cost of the JLR shutdown and it is large. The estimated cost is in the region of £1.9 billion but could be as high as £2.1 billion. Over 5,000 businesses were affected. The CMC hopes businesses, the Government and insurers to learn lessons. To read more, click this article link here.
NEW CHIP CRISIS LOOMING
Another week and another example of how crucial China is to making things. This time there is a spat between Dutch and the Chinese Governments over the chip maker Nexperia after the Chinese CEO was removed and the European country took control of the company. They supply a lot of the car industry, particularly the electric car making segment. China has restricted exports of their chips, which means the company cannot guarantee reliable supply. For more on this story, click this link to an electrive article here.
PORSCHE PROFITS PLUMMET AGAIN
Porsche has released their financial results for the last quarter and they are, once again, poor. They had an operating loss of €966 million, with return on sales for the year dropping to just 0.2% after being 14.1% the year before. Click this Piston Heads article link here, for more.
FORD EUROPE FINDS A NEW BOSS
Ford Europe are to get a new president, Jim Baumbick, who moves from global head of product development and head of advanced product development. He takes the reigns on 1 November 2025. The role has been vacant for some time. If you want to read more, click this electrive article link here.
UK GOVERNMENT HELP TOYOTA BUILD A CAR
Toyota is receiving £15 million investment from the UK Government to explore the feasibility of bringing their FT-Me Concept to market. Think IQ size and it being a quadracycle, with the idea of it being used in high density urban areas. You can find out more, by clicking this Autocar article link here.
WAYMO SELF-DRIVING CARS TO TEST IN LONDON
Waymo is bringing some of their autonomous vehicles to London, to take part in a Government backed trial. They will join Uber, in the spring. For more on this story, click this Autocar link.
For some context, here is a link to a Bluesky thread that demonstrates had bad Waymo is at autonomous driving (and it is the least worst at it!).
LORDS PUSH FOR ACCESSIBILITY AT EV CHARGERS
The House of Lords has backed an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, that would make accessibility standards legally binding for EV chargers if approved in the House of Commons. Click this link from EV Powered to read more.
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 -
Geely EX5
Geely, the parent company of Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, is coming to the UK with it’s own vehicles. They start with the EX5, an electric SUV. They will be offering incredible discounts from the outset to entice buyers. Click this Autocar article link here to read more.
Chery Tiggo 9
Chery is bringing a new PHEV with seven seats and up to 91 miles of electric only range, all for £43,105. There will be a 1.5 litre petrol engine mated to their ‘Super Hybrid’ system, to give 422bhp, which seems excessive for a family car. Click this Autocar article link here to read more.
BYD Atto 2 DM-i Super Hybrid
The first compact PHEV for the UK market will arrive in 2026, from BYD. Whilst information is scant, the claims are about 56 miles of electric only range and a total range up to around 633 miles. The company hopes to temp buyers with the fact it is the only PHEV in this segment. Click this EV Powered link for more.
DESIGNERS MOOD BOARD: ALEXANDRE MALVAL JOINS RENAULT
Alexandre Malval is joining Renault as vice president of design, for the brand. He moves from Mercedes-Benz, where he was the head of the International Design Centre. To find out more, click this Car Design News article link here.
LUNCHTIME READ: LA DÉESSE - BEYOND THE MYTH
Your recommended reading this week is from Driven to Write. Patrick le Quément is bringing part one of a series on the Citroën DS and it’s history. As ever the writing is fantastic and so are the accompanying images that dot the piece. Click here to read this wonderful piece.
LIST OF THE WEEK: SAME CAR DIFFERENT NAME
We return to Autocar and they bring a slideshow about cars that were sold by different manufacturers. Do you agree with the choices? What would you pick? Click here to see what is on offer.
AND FINALLY: THE CANNOLI-BALL RUN 2025
Jim and Siôn from AlsoDriven are o going to undertake a mad caper whilst raising money for MIND charity. Click this YouTube video link to see more, including how to donate if you are able to!
