Whispering Bob Harris - 9 May 2023

FOLLOW UP: STADLER TO CONFESS TO ROLE IN DIESELGATE

Former Audio CEO, Rupert Stadler is to confess to his role in dieselgate, after a judge told him to or face a lengthy prison sentence. He will now receive a suspended sentence and pay a fine of €1.1 million. During court case he maintained his innocence and stuck to the claim it was down to engineers that defeat device engines were still sold in Europe after the scandal broke. Click this Automotive News Europe article link to read more.

FOLLOW UP: ARRIVAL DEATH SPIRAL CONTINUES

Arrival released their 6-K Report in the US and it makes for quite the read. They are claiming they do not have enough personnel to sort it out reporting their financials properly so need more time, especially as they are scrambling around trying to raise more funds. They also declare they will report on their financial situation that will cause doubts on them continuing. To read more, click this link to Peter Campell’s Twitter thread on this extraordinary information.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES APRIL 2023

The SMMT has released the New Car Registration Figures for April 2023, which is typically a quiet month coming after the plate change in April. Petrol and BEV market shares increased, with Diesel and PHEV both dropping. You can see more by clicking this link to Tristan Young’s Tweet.

Overall, registrations are well down on pre-pandemic levels and even below 2021’s. Significantly, the SMMT is downgrading its forecast for the overall market share of BEVs, citing high energy costs and fears over the charging infrastructure being blamed. However, we feel the continued high inflation and rise in all costs mean people and businesses have less money. Add on top the starting prices of most EVs and it is easy to see a slowdown. To learn more about April’s figures click this article link from SMMT.

VW FIRES EXEC TEAM OF CARIAD

Oliver Blume, CEO of VW and head of the supervisory board of CARIAD, has fired three of the executive team leading the software division. Peter Bosch, Head of Production at Bentley will take over. Once again VW demonstrate they do not understand software. Even with the new team being assembled they are making demands on silly timescales and saving money. To read more on this situation, click this electrive article link.

ASTON MARTIM BOLSTER MANAGEMENT TEAM

Aston Martin are appointing Paul Thomas, ex-Rimac, to be Chief BEV Engineer and Vincenzo Regazzoni, ex-Ferrari, to be Chief Industrial Officer. They are intended to help Aston move to an electrified future more smoothly. You can learn more by clicking this link to an Automotive News Europe article.

LEVC UNVEILS PLANS FOR NEW MODELS

The London Electric Vehicle Company, maker of the current Black Cab, has revealed plans to expand its offerings. They will be launching a new platform, SOA, which will be the basis of this expansion. They are going large though, the vehicles will be big, think Mercedes Sprinter but much nicer when fitted for passengers but also the commercial van market is being targeted.

FOLLOW UP: STADLER TO CONFESS TO ROLE IN DIESELGATE

Former Audio CEO, Rupert Stadler is to confess to his role in dieselgate, after a judge told him to or face a lengthy prison sentence. He will now receive a suspended sentence and pay a fine of €1.1 million. During court case he maintained his innocence and stuck to the claim it was down to engineers that defeat device engines were still sold in Europe after the scandal broke. Click this Automotive News Europe article link to read more.

FOLLOW UP: ARRIVAL DEATH SPIRAL CONTINUES

Arrival released their 6-K Report in the US and it makes for quite the read. They are claiming they do not have enough personnel to sort it out reporting their financials properly so need more time, especially as they are scrambling around trying to raise more funds. They also declare they will report on their financial situation that will cause doubts on them continuing. To read more, click this link to Peter Campell’s Twitter thread on this extraordinary information.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES APRIL 2023

The SMMT has released the New Car Registration Figures for April 2023, which is typically a quiet month coming after the plate change in April. Petrol and BEV market shares increased, with Diesel and PHEV both dropping. You can see more by clicking this link to Tristan Young’s Tweet.

Overall, registrations are well down on pre-pandemic levels and even below 2021’s. Significantly, the SMMT is downgrading its forecast for the overall market share of BEVs, citing high energy costs and fears over the charging infrastructure being blamed. However, we feel the continued high inflation and rise in all costs mean people and businesses have less money. Add on top the starting prices of most EVs and it is easy to see a slowdown. To learn more about April’s figures click this article link from SMMT.

VW FIRES EXEC TEAM OF CARIAD

Oliver Blume, CEO of VW and head of the supervisory board of CARIAD, has fired three of the executive team leading the software division. Peter Bosch, Head of Production at Bentley will take over. Once again VW demonstrate they do not understand software. Even with the new team being assembled they are making demands on silly timescales and saving money. To read more on this situation, click this electrive article link.

ASTON MARTIM BOLSTER MANAGEMENT TEAM

Aston Martin are appointing Paul Thomas, ex-Rimac, to be Chief BEV Engineer and Vincenzo Regazzoni, ex-Ferrari, to be Chief Industrial Officer. They are intended to help Aston move to an electrified future more smoothly. You can learn more by clicking this link to an Automotive News Europe article.

LEVC UNVEILS PLANS FOR NEW MODELS

The London Electric Vehicle Company, maker of the current Black Cab, has revealed plans to expand its offerings. They will be launching a new platform, SOA, which will be the basis of this expansion. They are going large though, the vehicles will be big, think Mercedes Sprinter but much nicer when fitted for passengers but also the commercial van market is being targeted. Click this link to read more from Autocar.

GLASGOW ULEZ BANNING VEHICLES

Information has been revealed about the Glasgow Low Emission Zone, where they are banning vehicles that do not meet the criteria of Euro 6 for diesel and Euro 4 for petrol. The scheme comes into force on 1 June 2023, but Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee will introduce their own versions with exactly the same criteria. Click this carwow article link to learn the details.

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 - 2023 PEUGEOT e-2008

Peugeot announced the facelift to the e-2008, they electric small SUV. As many, many executives told us, they didn’t feel the need for any flashy stunts on this reveal. The most important upgrades are to the battery and range, now a 54kWh battery and up to 250 miles in range. There is also a petrol variant and a hybrid due next year. Prices for the petrol engined version start at £24, 295 and the EV will be from £35,900 - oh goody, another affordable electric car! Click here for the Autocar article link to tell you all about the car.

Land Rover Defender Islay Edition

JLR are reviving the classic Defender in order to charge 30 owners £230,000 for a rare V8 version. The fully restored cars will also be uprated, especially the brakes and suspension as the engine will propel it along to 62 in 5.6 seconds, which sounds utterly terrifying. The overall ethos of the car harks back to the development that took place with Spencer Wilks behind the wheel in 1965. Click this EVO link to read more as that’s the closest nearly all of us will get to one.

DESIGNERS MOOD BOARD: ANTHONY JANNARELLY JOINS CATERHAM

Anthony Jannarelly, the founder of Jannarelly Automotive, is joining Caterham as Chief Designer. His Design-1 is a stunning piece of work so the ambitions Caterham have could well be backed up with the looks. For more, click this PistonHeads link.

LUNCHTIME TOUR: SIR WILLIAM LYONS EXHIBITION

This week we bring you an interactive exhibition, where you can move around a virtual tour of the life and times of Sir William Lyons’s time at Jaguar. This is wonderful and well worth your time. Click here to begin the tour.

LIST OF THE WEEK: 10 ALTERNATIVE CORONATION PROCESSION CARS

Alex Grant, via TopGear, brings us an alternative list of cars that could’ve been used for the Coronation procession. Some you might expect but not all. Click this link to see what Alex has cooked up for us to enjoy.

AND FINALLY: THE MOTORING FUTURE FROM 1971

We round out the show with a YouTube video from the BBC Archive channel, of a report on what the future of motoring will look like, as predicted from 1971. To be fair, they are not hugely off. Click this link to listen to clipped english accents tell us about driverless cars, road pricing and a channel tunnel.