Car News-Global and Domestic

[mickthemaverick]

If the Vatman is involved it will have to be an Arial Square 4.6

[myglaren]

As long as it isn't Greek money Steve!

Is there any?

[NewcastleFalcon]

There's going to be quite a run on Morgans then.

Steve, apologies the Morgan Motor Company, that often quoted British manufacturer is now owned by an Italian Investment Group

Another old traditional british company Aston Martin or should I say Kuwait/Italian with a tiny bit of German has recently received a large dose of Canadian, in the shape of a 16.7% shareholding from a consortium led by Canadian Billionairre Lawrence Stroll.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3072 ... announced/

They inherit a Formula 1 team to be subsequently known as Aston Martin F1 from 2021 and

They have pulled the plug on EV development until after 2025.

Well, personally it is hardly likely that I will "trouble the scorers" with a purchase of any of their products but those two things to me read like a failure to adapt with the times. Yes I am sure that billionairres like a bit of a play with the tradition and "glamour" of Formula 1, and no doubt the tradition and glamour of Aston Martin but...

...are Formula 1's best days behind it now, and by 2025 when Aston wonder whether to resume EV development or not, will they find that the world has moved on, and they are 5 years behind the curve, have head in the sanded themselves out of business, with the name the only thing likely to survive.

But what do I know about Aston Martin.....they hardly ever turn my head, with the singular exception of this probably the least Aston Martiny of Aston Martins ever made


Aston Martin Lagonda West London
Charles01 [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

and here is the Aston Martin DBX, one of the eggs Aston Martin is placing in its basket,

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/11/artic ... uv-gamble/

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

The Lagonda always looked good, as do some of the more conventional models but that DBX is just another boring, ugly overpriced SUV.

[Hell Razor5543]

That bonnet is so low that when James May crouched down it was still lower than his chest.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I was a little surprised to read that Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust were the headline organisation behind the "deal" with JLR, with the I-Pace joining the NHS fleet in April, and being accessible to staff at 200 NHS Fleet Service member organisations.

For NHS Fleet Service....I take it is NHS Fleet Solutions which I presume is this lot

https://nhsfleetsolutions.co.uk/

Will this be a benefit to allow NHS staff, should they choose to, the chance to lease a car at more favourable rates by salary sacrifice with the benefit in kind value for 100% electric vehicles set to incentivise their uptake.

From April 6th 2020 new lower rates become effective. In the UK all BEVs will pay no company car tax in 2020-21, just 1% in 2021-22 and 2% in 2022-23.

Jaguar's Deal with the NHS, the UK's largest employer , and the greatest pool of staff potentially available to take up leases on their EV's, is a smart business move. Dont think the story is really about the NHS greening their essential business milage, more selling leases to NHS staff, who may or may not do significant milage in the course of their NHS work.

Regards Neil

Autocar have done a piece on the changes to Benefit in Kind Tax rules for EV's from April under the headline..

New tax rules herald EV sales boom
From April, company car tax will be scrapped for electric car buyers; experts predict big surge in demand for EVs


Will there be enough to go round?

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

This is the UK Car Industry in a nutshell, there are others but these are the main players, the main employers.

...Its from Wiki cant guarantee its 100% accurate.

Aston Martin Lagonda Gaydon /South Wales (head officially in the sand until 2025)
Bentley Motors(VW) Crewe
PSA Vauxhall Ellesmere Port Luton
Honda Swindon (disappearing shortly)
Jaguar Land Rover (Tata Motors) Castle Bromwich, Halewood, Solihull, South Wales
LEVC (Geely China) Coventry
MG Motor SAIC Motor Longbridge
Mini (BMW) Plant Oxford
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars(BMW) Goodwood
Nissan UK Sunderland
Toyota Manufacturing UK Burnaston

Have wiki purposely missed out Ford, they have supplied "cars of the people" in the UK for many years but have moved production elsewhere, and the rump left at Dagenham produces the dead end product ICE engines.

So where is the energy going to come from within the companies left, my own conclusion is from none of the above, with the possible exception of SAIC and its foothold with MG. How many of them currently produce electric cars in the UK. Nissan of course, followed by Geely's Taxi Wing, and BMW's electric mini. er thats 3 ish.

JLR have recently announced they are to cut production due to falling sales, and their only electric product is assembled in Austria the Jaguar I-Pace.....never going to be an electric car for the masses.

Jaguar Land Rover to cut production at two plants
British firm will scale back production at Castle Bromwich and Solihull factories as cost-cutting measure due to falling demand

More production of ev's and the type of ev's which will supply a market for the "ordinary worker" need to be established in the UK. So how long will Ford take to return to the UK and build a factory to churn out budget Fiesta/Focus EV's unlikely ever. Are PSA likely to voluntarily produce the e-corsa in the UK? No doubt the batteries will come from their 2 new gigafactories in France and Germany. Are Honda going to change their mind and turn Swindon into a production centre for the Honda-e?

The UK car industry is set for a bit of a rough ride, and with the loyalties of ownership lying elsewhere, it may be left to erode away, left only to produce declining ICE vehicles, with the majority of EV's being manufactured outside the UK and imported. Some major impetus/industrial investment strategy/partnerships are needing to be forged or by 2025 the UK car industry will still only be producing the Nissan Leaf, electric Taxis, and the electric mini, the latter obviously dependant upon BMW not taking their ball back to Germany! .

Hope the challenge is taken on, and the UK surprises both Daniel from Question Time and me, and we come out of it with a strong and diverse automobile manufacturing industry, making the right products making a profit, and taking responsibility for the recycling of products they make and answering up front the "what are you going to do with the used batteries" question left unanswered by the panel on QT!

Regards Neil

[andy5]

And in the event of No Deal, which they are barely doing much to convince us they can avoid, our government has promised import tariffs on cars

[NewcastleFalcon]

and which car company expects to be europe's biggest provider of zero-emission vehicles in 2020

None on the UK's list, not Volkswagen, not PSA.......

Hyundai?

https://pushevs.com/2020/02/01/hyundai- ... to-europe/

The decision to additionally produce the Kona Electric in Europe was made in order to better serve Hyundai’s European customers. Since going on sale in 2018, demand for the Kona Electric has surpassed expectations, and the increased capacity is intended to keep up with rising demand.

For 2020, Hyundai will provide over 80,000 units of zero-emission vehicles to European customers, including Kona Electric, IONIQ Electric and the NEXO fuel cell car. With this development, Hyundai expects to become the biggest provider of zero-emission vehicles in Europe in 2020.

They have a large manufacturing plant in the Czech republic.

Renault?

https://pushevs.com/2020/02/03/renault- ... n-january/
Big boost of Zoe record sales (5331) in France in January, and the twingo coming soon.
but production ambitions are paltry to say the least......
"Anyway, last year Renault sold more than 46.000 units of the ZOE worldwide, but didn’t reach the full production capacity of 60.000 units. However, due to more stricter EU emission standards starting this year, Renault expects to incrementally increase annual production capacity until reaching 120.000 units by 2022."

Regards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

In the USA too, my daughter and her husband both have Hyundai cars, not electric yet but the Kona is available and was car of the year in 2019.

https://www.hmmausa.com/

https://www.hyundaiusa.com/kona-electric/index.aspx

[NewcastleFalcon]

and in more Hyundai news...partnering with an EV Start up from LA.

Hyundai will use Canoo’s EV skateboard for small electric cars

They also have a partnership with a UK start up Arrival as linked to here

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... al#p632318

The "Skateboard" appears to be the emerging blueprint for new dedicated EV's, rather than those adapted from an ICE platform.

Could be the prelude to some more interesting vehicles and the return of the Chassis and Coachbuilder!

REgards Neil

[bobins]

No idea where I posted it on FCF, but many moons ago I remarked that a way forward might be for a manufacturer to mass produce an electric rolling chassis on to which low and high volume cars could be built. Let's hope Canoo can make a success of it.

[NewcastleFalcon]

This is the UK Car Industry in a nutshell, there are others but these are the main players, the main employers.

...Its from Wiki cant guarantee its 100% accurate.

Aston Martin Lagonda Gaydon /South Wales (head officially in the sand until 2025)
Bentley Motors(VW) Crewe
PSA Vauxhall Ellesmere Port Luton
Honda Swindon (disappearing shortly)
Jaguar Land Rover (Tata Motors) Castle Bromwich, Halewood, Solihull, South Wales
LEVC (Geely China) Coventry
MG Motor SAIC Motor Longbridge
Mini (BMW) Plant Oxford
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars(BMW) Goodwood
Nissan UK Sunderland
Toyota Manufacturing UK Burnaston

Have wiki purposely missed out Ford They have supplied "cars of the people" in the UK for many years but have moved production elsewhere, and the rump left at Dagenham produces the dead end product ICE engines.

Ford brand themselves as "The Backbone of Britain" but dont make/assemble a single vehicle in the UK.

Bit of Queen, but a shovel load of.....



As mentioned elsewhere today the Boss of Ford Europe was on Breakfast TV.....not that impressive. Well surprise surprise this week they have a Go-electric event in London from 14th Feb to 21st February 2020 where they will be hosting the European launch of the All-Electric Ford Mustang Mach?E, brand-new SUV with up to 370 mile range.

So if you are in the vicinity of Marble Arch..."It’s a free experience with no booking required so come and join us"

https://www.ford.co.uk/experience-ford/ ... tric-event

REgards Neil

[Hell Razor5543]

Meanwhile, Lego is starting two new projects; Lamborghini and cars from the Fast and Furious films;

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/fas ... spartanntp