Driving Miss Daisy - 22 February 2022

SHIP CARRYING VW GROUP CARS ABLAZE

A ship carrying cars from Volkswagen Group companies, is on fire in the Atlantic Ocean. Conflicting reports state where the fire originated but that this has spread to the rest of the ship, including the cargo. Whilst Porsche has confirmed some of it’s vehicles were on board, it is not clear what other cars are involved. For more information, click the Autocar article here.

RENAULT BACK IN PROFITS

After two tough years and burying the hatchet with Nissan, Renault has returned to profit in 2021. In doing so it has achieved some longer term aims well ahead of schedule. Renault do make it clear that the semiconductor crisis is and will continue to hit business in 2022. To learn more, click here for the Autocar article.

NEW FLOATING LOTUS

Lotus has announced it is going to float the company, which got us all excited that there would be another car/boat model but then quickly dashed on what it actually meant. The plan is to put the EV division on the stock exchange, which they are hoping will be valued at £5-6 billion. If there is enough interest from potential investors, they hope to bring this to the stock exchange in Asian, New York our London within 12 to 24 months. For more on this story, click the Autocar article here.

OLA ELECTRIC OPENS UK BASE

The Indian from, Ola Electric, will open an engineering and design facility in Coventry. Over the next five years the company plans to invest £100 million into the West Midlands site. The site will be called Futurefoundry. To learn about this story, click here for the Autocar article.

ECO FRIENDLY TYRES DEVELOPED

Enso, a new UK company, is bringing their tyre technology to market, in order to break up the traditional models. Their tyre is more efficient for the vehicle, but also harder wearing and thus reduces the amount of pollution. More on this can be found by clicking this link to the Autocar article.

HYDROGEN V8 DEVELOPMENT

Toyota and Yamaha are working to gather to develop a hydrogen-fuelled V8. The project is using a Lexus RC F engine and modifying the injectors, heads, intake manifold and other elements, which ends up with a claimed 449bhp at 6800rpm and 398lb ft at 3600rpm that is almost the same as an unmolested engine. You can learn more about this by clicking here for the Autocar article.

CALLS FOR REGULATED PUBLIC EV CHARGING POINTS

SMMT has called on the Government to implement a seven point plan for regulating public EV charging points or risk failing to...

SHIP CARRYING VW GROUP CARS ABLAZE

A ship carrying cars from Volkswagen Group companies, is on fire in the Atlantic Ocean. Conflicting reports state where the fire originated but that this has spread to the rest of the ship, including the cargo. Whilst Porsche has confirmed some of it’s vehicles were on board, it is not clear what other cars are involved. For more information, click the Autocar article here.

RENAULT BACK IN PROFITS

After two tough years and burying the hatchet with Nissan, Renault has returned to profit in 2021. In doing so it has achieved some longer term aims well ahead of schedule. Renault do make it clear that the semiconductor crisis is and will continue to hit business in 2022. To learn more, click here for the Autocar article.

NEW FLOATING LOTUS

Lotus has announced it is going to float the company, which got us all excited that there would be another car/boat model but then quickly dashed on what it actually meant. The plan is to put the EV division on the stock exchange, which they are hoping will be valued at £5-6 billion. If there is enough interest from potential investors, they hope to bring this to the stock exchange in Asian, New York our London within 12 to 24 months. For more on this story, click the Autocar article here.

OLA ELECTRIC OPENS UK BASE

The Indian from, Ola Electric, will open an engineering and design facility in Coventry. Over the next five years the company plans to invest £100 million into the West Midlands site. The site will be called Futurefoundry. To learn about this story, click here for the Autocar article.

ECO FRIENDLY TYRES DEVELOPED

Enso, a new UK company, is bringing their tyre technology to market, in order to break up the traditional models. Their tyre is more efficient for the vehicle, but also harder wearing and thus reduces the amount of pollution. More on this can be found by clicking this link to the Autocar article.

HYDROGEN V8 DEVELOPMENT

Toyota and Yamaha are working to gather to develop a hydrogen-fuelled V8. The project is using a Lexus RC F engine and modifying the injectors, heads, intake manifold and other elements, which ends up with a claimed 449bhp at 6800rpm and 398lb ft at 3600rpm that is almost the same as an unmolested engine. You can learn more about this by clicking here for the Autocar article.

CALLS FOR REGULATED PUBLIC EV CHARGING POINTS

SMMT has called on the Government to implement a seven point plan for regulating public EV charging points or risk failing to meet the needs of their 2030 zero-emission target. Unsurprisingly they also call for a regulator, to be named Offcharge. To find out more, click the Autocar article here.

NEW EV CHARGING HUB OPENED IN SOUTH WALES

Moto and Gridserve has opened a new charging hub at Moto Swansea, on the M4 in South Wales. Six 350kW chargers have been installed allowing suitable vehicles to get 100 miles in 10 minutes of charging. For more, follow this link to the YesAuto article.

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WRC: FINAL CALENDAR LOCATION DECIDED

WRC has announced the final piece of their calendar puzzle with Ypres Rally Belgium being the location for the event without a home over 18-21 August dates. For more information, click the WRC article here.

NEW NEW CAR NEWS:

Volkswagen ID Buzz

We have covered the Buzz recently, but the embargo lifted, this week, over the ‘first drive’ reviews. There are a lot of them out there.

PARALLEL POMEROY TROPHY 2022

Alan attended this year’s Parallel Pomeroy Trophy, hosted at Silverstone by Toyota. The weather was as expected during the same times as one of three named storms battered the UK. Whilst he had fun, Alan has come away with notes to self along the lines of ‘must do better’ next year.

LUNCHTIME READ: DRIVING CROSS-COUNTRY IN A FERRARI 308GTS

On 15 February, the sad news that P J O’Rourke had died greeted us. A man who was supremely gifted in his ability to write we have selected his story of driving a Ferrari 308GTS across the US as just one example of what we will now miss as this week’s offering. To read this fabulous piece, click the Car and Driver article here.

LIST OF THE WEEK: NINE CLASSIC 4X4 THAT AREN’T LAND ROVERS

A list about 4x4s that does not include a Land Rover? Is that not illegal in the UK, well we are going to see if we end up on the run from the police whilst we pick our favourites from the list linked here, via Hagerty. Have a look and tell the chaps which you prefer.

AND FINALLY: MORGAN DRONES ON

Morgan, flying (almost literally in this case), in the face of the perception that they are a company rooted in the mid 19th century or something takes us on a drone tour of their establishment. Click the YouTube link here to enjoy the brilliant video.