The American government’s hard reverse on EVs has achieved the same almost the same multi-billion dollar hit for automakers (on writedowns) but in less than a year!

Please don’t do this @bbc (shouting into the void I know). I don’t want headlines in iPlayer choices for the Winter Olympics. Been avoiding those all day! This one is day 1 but still doing it.

Jack Barclay in series 1 Minder! Still in Berkeley Square today, now Bentley only. Salesman tells Arthur the waiting period for a Rolls is ‘rather longer than the gestation period of an elephant’ Arthur: "Yes well, we're all not zoological experts, how long is that?" "About 3 years I’m afraid sir"

Thank you Google News for keeping me up to date with the important car stories from the alternative reality universe

Vauxhall no longer posting on X

UK - no punitive tariffs on Chinese EVs, but excluded from incentives. Germany - punitive tariffs on Chinese EVs (via EU) but included in new EV and PHEV incentives! Should add… France - punitive tariffs and excluded from incentives

Scariest stories on the web are posted on Polestar owner Facebook groups

Got badly waylaid at the Brussels show by the Fiat Tris three wheeler. An electric Ape basically. Built in the same plant as the Citroen Ami and used the same battery for a 90km range. Extras include a water tank with soap dispense to wash hands. A modern barista’s dream ride

Won’t do anything because he - probably correctly - believes doing so would raise the ire of Musk and Trump to the point it threatens Range Rover assembly line workers. What a shitty situation.

Tremendous Mk1 Discovery three-door spotted lurking in the depths of Cornwall, complete with original decals rumoured to hide dodgy initial panel fit (is that true?)

Family London light tour and Dad got distracted by one of the rarest/most obscure cars in the UK: a Dubai registered Rox 01 (aka Polestones) plug in hybrid SUV from China. Pininfarina-designed after a good long hard look at a Defender

DHL’s enquiry system defeats all comers including corporate megaclient John Lewis. ‘Sorry can’t get through, have a refund’

If the UK govnt is going to follow this it should announce VERY SOON to avoid dragging out the debates and a second round of ‘EVs will never work’ debates that the EU’s decision will inevitably spark.

Bloke on Facebook advertising ‘freemined’ coal. Forest of Dean

Bye bye Duo (Twizy mk2) will be a curious automotive footnote and million-point car spot like the Mk2 version of the Ford Th!nk

It’d be a climb down but PHEVs/EREVs are a compromise that everyone will love except for green groups (with reason). Suppliers, car-makers, users, dealers. Lots of content, flexibility, premiumness, things to service. Only problem is that the Chinese also love a PHEV and getting rather good at them!

Saw one of these 70s US wagons randomly on a Hertfordshire walk recently. Estates we Brits call them and it was definitely bigger than many London gardens

There’s an unedifying picture of US automotive. CEOs Farley and Filosa (not Barra though) meekly standing behind Trump while he spouts racist garbage after rolling back climate change regulations to allow them to carry on selling $80k 15mpg petrol pickups

Cropley on form here. “No one inside the business seemed to have the intestinal fortitude to take him on” www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/new-...

This is HUGE news in UK automotive. ‘Prof’ McGovern was a totemic figure at JLR with influence well beyond design, by dint of being rather good at it. But probably more a blocker than facilitator for a new CEO

I tasked AI with mocking up a European-spec Bronco and Gemini did okay (after telling it about 15 times to get the spelling on the grille right. No, not a Bongo)

If you're wondering how relations are between the govt and the OBR after this morning's budget leak, a govt source has just sent this out about the EV tax.

Showing no understanding of the scheme!

PHEVs hit in new electric mileage charge from April 2029. 0.03ppm intially for EVs, 0.015ppm for PHEVs. 8500 miles per year is £255. BUT expensive car tax on EVs increased from £40k to £50k. Suspect that won't mollify the car industry

Probably on 100g/wk week here. I make my own because shop-bought is meh so can’t do my bit to move the needle

Woah. Electric buses took a quarter of all bus sales in Europe to the end of Sept (ACEA figs). Biggest market by far was the UK (28% of sales), followed by Germany. Some countries eg Romania, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark EVs well over half of sales. ACEA has no figs on China share but probably big!

Even a simple factoid like this gets overlooked, but it was not long ago that *everyone* directly knew multiple examples of people taken away by this at something preposterous like age 22

The planned new EV tax as reported is so badly constructed that it’s going to alienate most electric car drivers. www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/elec...

A month into EV ownership, including two long trips and the main feeling is what the hell was I worried about? Decent range on the Scenic helps as does home charging but v hard now to fathom the anti sentiment. Smoother! Cheaper! Geekier!

Michael Leiters, ex of McLaren, to run Porsche. Was a former Porsche engineer but travels to Ferrari and McLaren gives him a broader worldview than the expected Porsche lifer

Jaguar kicking themselves they didn’t do quad headlights, a leaper and a bust of Maggie Thatcher

Some eye-popping stuff in the Dataforce stats. MG 2nd biggest hybrid seller in the UK in Sept after Toyota, MG3 hybrid beat the Yaris. Chinese took a third of the PHEV market for the month. BYD the second largest EV maker. Jaecoo 7 4th best-seller outright for the month.

Ferrari acting like the leader it is here, not backing down in the face of the EV challenge and going all out to make electric appeal to luxury customers. In the process hopefully undoing some of the damage done by the Taycan! www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new...

18 years ago I got the wheels refurbed on my elderly Porsche 944 and it made me so happy I managed a photoshop to brag about it (car long gone sadly)

Here’s how this headline construction jumped the shark, and keeps bloody doing it. If the answer is this bleedin obvious why would anyone click, even if the search algorithm serves it up on a plate?

The Gibbses have gone electric. Hybrid was just too painful (oh the droning). Is charging more painful? Gonna find out!

ANY excuse to post it #TOTP

new Mitsubishi Delica Mini. Awfully fabulous. Fabulously awful. Also, banish the idea (pushed in Europe recently) that a Kei category is the path to low tech, low cost. This thing has 360 cameras, sim connectivity, blind spot, lane-change assist etc etc

Good to see this ancient stock shot of a belching Peugeot 106 still doing the rounds, here in the Week. Remember using it over 10 years ago in Auto Express and gawd knows how old it was then

Very much appreciated the bronze Mitsubishi I-Miev at the launch of the Eclipse Cross yesterday. 2009! 16kWh! A lifetime ago.

Amen to that

If this is an Aspark Owl in Munich then I’m the car-cricket permanent title holder across all the galaxies

Now THAT is what I call a back-to-school promotion. UAE only. Can't find those T&Cs but I bet they're good.

Okay that’s enough precipitation now

Very succinct WSJ summary of the staggering migration shock that successive Tory governments inflicted on Britain as they tried to mitigate and hide the economic consequences of the Brexit disaster

How are the CEOs of Ford, BYD, Lamborghini, Polestar, and more planning to survive the hellscape that is the current automotive world? We asked them. www.wired.com/story/the-gl...

Somehow, a mate has managed to rent a Polestar 1 from Hertz in San Diego.

Envious of London rain. Just too far out

Sigh, another call to Octopus EV to discover another month added to the predicted delivery date of our Renault Scenic. Was going to be June. Now November! Too many entities in the process to know who to blame. Octopus? Brayleys (supplying dealer)? Renault? Take control car companies!