Show Notes
FOLLOW UP: MCGOVERN OFFICIALLY LEAVING JLR Following an ‘is he/isn’t he’ saga which started back at the beginning of December 2025, Gerry McGovern is officially leaving JLR at the end of March 2026. He will be starting his own consultancy. Details are almost non-existent outside of that. Click this Autocar article for the story. AUDI MAKES £2.9 BILLION PROFIT As expected, more brands from within the Volkswagen Group have been announcing their financial results for 2025. Audi, despite it being a difficult year, managed to make a £2.9 billion profit, from a revenue of £56.6 billion. This was all done whilst fewer overall vehicles were delivered. To read more, click this Autocar article. BENTLEY TO CUT JOBS Bentley had a difficult 2026 and as a result are going to shed 150 jobs. Some are open positions they won't fill but the rest will come from office based roles. Additionally they have had to tweak their product plans partly due to Porsche postponing their platform development. If you want to learn more, click this Autocar article link here. ROLLS ROYCE NOT GOING 100% EV FROM 2030 Rolls Royce has announced that it will no longer be producing EVs exclusively, from 2030. They state that customer wishes mean that they will still offer internal combustion engine options. For more on this, click this link here to take you an EV Powered article. THATCHAM SPLITS FROM EURONCAP Thatcham, after 22 years in partnership, are splitting from EuroNCAP and developing their own systems for testing car safety systems. They mention real world safety quite a bit and also how they believe the technology should not be intrusive and annoying. Time will tell if they can deliver on this. Click this link here to read more from Autocar. EU RELAXES CO2 RULES FOR LORRIES The EU has listened to lorry manufacturers and softened the requirements of their fleets, in terms of CO2 emissions. Whilst the fixed jumps, from the interim targets at 2025, 2030 and 2040 still stand, the intervening years will not have moving requirements. This means, if a brand manages to exceed the target they can carry over that extra to the next year, thus companies are rewarded for pushing. If you want to find out more, click this electrive article link here. LYTEN BUYS MORE OF NORTHVOLT Lyten, a US based company, has continued to purchase operations from the collapsed Northvolt electric car battery and recycling company, this time they have bought the Swedish battery recycling facility at Skellefteå. For more about this story, click this electrive article link here. FRESH ZEBRA FUNDING MADE AVAILABLE The Government has announced a new raft of funding for the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) to a total of £73.2 million. There are 10 areas across England that will receive money to help pay for infrastructure and electric buses. To read more, click this electrive article link here. FIRST YEAR ZEV MANADATE REPORT The UK Government has finally published their report on compliance with the car and van zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate for 2024. No brand has been fined as all reached the required minimums through a combination of registration numbers and purchasing credits from others who had exceeded the requirements. Click this electrive article link here for 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 - BMW i3 After much teasing BMW has finally taken the wraps off their i3 electric saloon. Boasting an astonishing range of up to 559 miles, with looks, both inside and out, that have divided opinion but cannot be trusted as we have only been given heavily rendered images so far. Further details are to be announced later, including the price. Click this Motoring Research article link here for more. DS No7 The latest Stellantis brand to utilise the mid sized SUV platform is DS, being the premium one of the group they will be chargin
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FOLLOW UP: SMART #2 CORRECTION During the last Special Edition, we got a few details incorrect when discussing the Smart #2. One of our listeners, Tony, kindly pointed this out to us. Thank you, as we try to be correct and if we make a mistake we like to correct it. If you want to listen to the Paris Motor Show episode, click either of these links here. To 👂 via streaming click 👉 https://www.motoringpodcast.com/episodes/2026/10/23/se716 To 👂 via other services click 👉 mpnewsshow.captivate.fm/list VOLVO TO CUT WORKFORCE Volvo will be shedding around 2,500 jobs, mainly in Sweden, following a poor third quarter in 2026. They are aiming at mainly temporary consultants and through “natural attrition”. Håkan Samuelsson, CEO, also has a plan to stop the rot in their sales in China. If you wish to read more, click this Autocar article link here. BOSCH RESTRUCTURING HIGHLIGHTS SUPPLIER’S STRUGGLES Bosch is splitting out several of their divisions into independent entities, wholly owned by themselves, as it seeks to try and be more competitive. The Mobility division has announced 900 jobs to go at their Nuremberg site, which is on top of 22,000 redundancies announced last year. For more on this, click the link here to an electrive article. GOVERNMENT TURNS ATTENTION TO PRIVATE PARKING RULES The UK Government is releasing a new Private Parking Code of Practice, which is aimed at making it fairer to users and feel a little bit less of a rip-off. There will be longer grace to times, ability to appeal, not be so heavily penalised for typing your registration in correctly and more. The RAC had called for even more steps, which have not been included. To find out the full details, click this Motoring Research article link here. HONDA TESTING INDUCTION CHARGING WHILST DRIVING Honda, in collaboration with Taisei and Taisei Rotec, is trialling induction charging but for vehicles on the move. This will mean a power transmitter is embedded into the road with a receiver fitted to the car allowing recharging as the car is driven along. The companies state that real world testing will begin in the spring of 2027. If you want to learn more, click this Top Gear article link here. OCTOPUS REDUCES FLEET EV CHARGING COSTS Octopus is reducing the amount it costs fleets to charge their EVs, if signed up to the Octopus Fleet subscription service. This equates up to 30% off. By managing to do this, the company is hoping to gain business. To read more, click this Autocar 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
The Paris Motor Show took place between the 12 and 18 October 2026. Alan and Andrew round up the highlights that caught their eye during the week. For Autocar’s main coverage and report, click this link here. For Average Joes’s coverage, click this link here. For a sweep by Autocar, of the new cars being shown, click this link here. To watch Tim Rodie Drives Stuff tour of the show, click this YouTube link here. For DefinitetlyNotAGuru’s tour, click this YouTube link here. To see what the House of Cars channel found interesting, click this YouTube 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
FOLLOW UP: MOTOR FINANCE REDRESS HEARING IN 2027 The date for the hearing of the two complaints into the motor finance redress scheme has been confirmed to take place between 16 and 26 February 2027. The scheme will remain in its current semi-suspended status until after the rulings. There is a potential for the ruling to not take place until the summer of 2027 with compensation expected to take place from 2028. For more on this matter, click this article link from The Law Gazette here. CHINA REDUCING TAX REBATE FOR EXPORTED NEVS The Chinese Government has announced that it is reducing the VAT rebate on exporting battery electric and plug in hybrid vehicles. This is associated with the reduction in assistance for ‘future-orientated’ industries. This is bad timing for the car industry of the country as there is a slump in sales, which is adding more pressure on companies. If you wish to read more, click this electrive article link here. AIRPORT DROP OFF PRICES TO BE INVESTIGATED The practice of charging drivers to drop off or collect those using an airport has become a source of income for UK sites. However, the prices have increased at a rate that far outstrips what many feel is fair. Now the UK Government has announced it will look into these fees. Fingers crossed the result is they are banned as this does not happen in Europe. If you wish to read more, click this Motoring Research article link here. POLICE NOW ABLE TO SEIZE YOUR CAR FOLLOWING ACT CHANGE Section 59 of the Police Reform Act was amended to enable police to seize a driver’s vehicle with an incredibly broad set of criteria. Criteria such as careless driving, inconsiderate driving or unauthorised driving off-road. On top of that if the officer believe conduct that causes or is likely to cause alarm, distress or annoyance. Passengers too can be fined for their involvement. You can find out more by clicking this Carscoops article link here. EURO NCAP SAYS CLIMATE CONTROL CAN STAY ON SCREENS Euro NCAP has clarified what interactions it believes are safety critical and thus require a physical button and which do not. Climate control and media can be left on touchscreens, as they do not see them as “time-critical tasks” as well as the mind boggling statement “it is also not proven that direct physical input is safer”. Tell that to the UK lawmakers and how drivers are banned from interacting with their phones even in a mount for media etc. If you want to read more, click this EV Powered article link here. VOLKSWAGEN BATTERY RECALL VW is preparing itself for a large battery recall in Europe, on top of those already underway in the UK and US. In Europe ID.3, ID.4, ID.7 and ID.Buzz, as well as Cupra Born are the affected models, when they have been built between 2023 and 2025. However, the actual number to be recalled will be lower than currently stated due to it only be a small batch of batter cells that are the issue. In the UK, the ID.3, ID.4, ID.7, ID.Buzz and ID.Buzz Cargo, built between 2022 and 2025 are potentially affected. To find out 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
In this week’s show, Alan starts with a follow-up on China agreeing to limit the number of hybrid and PHV cars it imports into the EU, and discusses Porsche's forthcoming halo-vehicle and strategy announcements. Google Maps and Waze are now displaying fuel prices, Freelander is confirmed for the UK - eventually, and TfL makes a bid to regulate “robocabs” in London. In New New Car News, Alan talks about he likelihood of success of the much-discussed Jaguar Type-01, the Nissan Pixo, and the Bentley Torcal. Lunchtime Read covers the history of the Peugeot 309; there are 10 unusual homologation specials for List of the Week. And Finally covers the importance of removing vehicle liveries.
Alan was invited to the launch of the Peugeot e208 GTi, an electric hot hatch, conveniently close to home. What does he think? Is it a worthy successor to the still-lauded 205 GTi, or is it a pretender? We discuss it in depth in this Special Edition. Alan’s also done a walk round on YouTube, so you can enjoy him pointing at things while he talks about them. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/GdVyzyeQhs4 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