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!

‘Not an assembly line, more an assembly tree’ - from today’s presentation. Ford’s version of Tesla’s Unboxed, which Tesla reckons it will use to made the Cybercab (odds-on Ford going first)

The Electric Car Grant definitely has its thumb on the scales for Nissan if the Japan-made Ariya EV qualifies for the 2nd tier £1500. Carbon intensity of battery and vehicle assembly location is meant to be a big factor, using IEA's 2022 figures, but this is what the IEA has to say about Japan

Well done Andy for calling out this bollox from the Telegraph. Also subs, you've spelled Cyberster wrong.

Interesting thread.

All the car spot points are belong to me. Aston Martin Cygnet about to have no problem finding a parking space in Trouville

What are these prototypes then fellow sleuths? German plates, different models, rolling through a seaside town in north western Spain like they’re on holiday

Another tombstone in the hydrogen propulsion graveyard

I mean well done to the SMMT for lobbying to get this but really, will it be worth it for the backlash? Not sure it will. So many areas naysayers can attack from. And the ‘lag’ on EV sales targets isn’t really a lag because of all the flexibilities.

Kids entertainment in a Chongqing shopping mall - wash the strange supercar over and over. Pic from my mother in law, currently holidaying there

Oof on.ft.com/4llP1P2 Nissan bets on its hybrid technology to spark its revival (gift link)

Hulk third! Did I see it was the first Sauber podium since 2012? Gutting for Piastri - a nonsense penalty that takes shine off the Lando win after a classic race

Tell me your company has no Brits without telling me

Stronger EV sales in June in the UK seem to have come at the expense of hybrids. Odd given the ever increasing number of new hybrid models on offer from Renault, Nissan, MG etc. Overall up on the year but worrying signal to Toyota ahead? (SMMT figs)

Chinese makers with low brand recognition: just say you’re thinking of building a plant.

Woah. Heat activated speed bumps

Our local cab company AA Taxis has ‘human safety monitors’ too.

Woah. These guys are SUPER cross at the fuel suppliers for raising prices on hydrogen that wasn’t even green. Now switching to electric only taxis