“Registrations” here means how many cars were officially registered in that month. It’s a way to measure which models are selling, based on paperwork rather than showroom sales.
The Kia Sportage is a compact SUV model. In this segment, it’s mentioned because its monthly registration count jumps compared with the models just below it.
The “5 E-Tech Electric” is a small electric hatchback. It’s a car you drive like a normal city car, but it runs on electricity. The podcast just mentions it as something the host has seen in the real world.
Honda Motor Europe is Honda’s organization for Europe. The host is saying Rebecca Adamson is moving into a Europe-wide role related to how Honda connects with customers.
Consolidating production onto one line means moving manufacturing so fewer assembly lines are used, typically to improve efficiency. The hosts argue it’s because running two lines that aren’t fully utilized is wasteful.
This means the Sunderland factory is building far fewer cars than it did in 2019. The hosts are using the percentage drop to show how big the slowdown is.
A flexible production line is a factory that can build different kinds of cars without starting from scratch each time. In this case, it can handle EVs, regular gas cars, and hybrid cars.
They talk about Nissan’s factory in Sunderland and how it can build different types of cars. Then they connect that to what new electric models might be coming.
An internal combustion engine is the traditional type of engine that burns fuel (like gasoline or diesel) to make the car move. They’re comparing it to electric cars and hybrid cars.
Here, “architecture” means the basic design layout of the car—how the main parts are arranged. If different cars share a similar layout, the factory can build them more easily.
The Nissan Leaf is an electric car (it runs on a battery, not gasoline). They’re talking about a newer version—called the third generation—that Nissan plans to build in the UK.
Porsche is a car brand known for sports cars. Here, they’re talking about Porsche shutting down some smaller companies to reduce costs and focus on what it does best.
“Core business” just means the main part of the company—what it does best. The point here is that Porsche should focus on its most important money-making activities.
Margin improvement means making more money on each sale. Instead of trying to sell more cars no matter what, the strategy is to make each sale more profitable.
The Porsche 911 is Porsche’s famous sports car. It’s known for its classic shape and driving feel, and “special editions” usually mean a limited-run version with extra unique features.
Bugatti Rimac is a company tied to ultra-fast cars and electric supercars. The hosts are saying Porsche/VW is selling its ownership stake there, which is a big business decision.
“Car IT” is the team that handles the software and digital systems in modern cars. The segment says they’re reorganizing that team into research and development, which can change how quickly features get built and updated.
Geely is the company that the hosts say will take over part of a Ford factory. They plan to use it to build a new small crossover. It’s an example of how car companies can move production to different countries.
The Ford Fiesta is a well-known small Ford car. When they say “fiesta-sized,” they mean the new crossover is meant to be about the same general size—easy to drive in cities and not huge.
They mention the “Cougar” as the car currently being made at the Valencia factory. The point is that the factory has an existing production line, and the plan is to use capacity for something new.
Annual capacity is the maximum number of vehicles a factory is set up to produce in a year. When the hosts cite Valencia’s annual capacity of 300,000 units, they’re talking about how much production volume is available for new models.
Rivian is the EV maker being backed by big investors. The show says Volkswagen’s money is released in stages as Rivian hits specific milestones, and they’re collaborating on a new VW-branded EV.
Amazon is referenced as the prior #2 shareholder behind Rivian. The point is about ownership stakes shifting between major tech/auto investors, which can influence strategy and funding priorities.
“B shares” are a special type of stock. Here, the show says the deal used that stock structure so more money would only be released after certain progress milestones were reached.
“Milestones” are checkpoints—specific goals the company has to reach. The show says the investment was released in stages depending on whether Rivian hit those goals.
EDV refers to electric delivery vans used to transport packages. The episode mentions them as examples of electric vans that are already being used in delivery work. They’re designed for repeated daily routes and carrying cargo.
The Rivian R3 is a future Rivian electric SUV that the hosts say was shown off earlier. They’re speculating it could be part of a Europe expansion plan.
The Tesla Model 3 is an electric car that runs on batteries instead of gasoline. The podcast mentions it because there are plans for a new version called “R3” that was shown. It’s part of how Tesla is expanding its electric lineup.
The Kodiaq is a mid-size SUV. The podcast mentions it because it’s similar in size and purpose to other family SUVs. It’s included as one of the options people might consider.
The Toyota RAV4 is a compact SUV meant for everyday driving. The podcast mentions it because it’s a common choice that people compare against other similar SUVs. It’s part of the same “size and purpose” group.
The Kia Sorento is a mid-size SUV meant for families and everyday driving. The podcast mentions it because it’s in the same general category as other similar SUVs. That helps explain which vehicles are being compared to each other.
The Peugeot 5008 is a family SUV with extra seating space. The podcast groups it with other similar SUVs that people compare when shopping for a practical car. It also notes it may not sell as strongly as some bigger-volume models.
The Nissan X-Trail is a Nissan SUV that’s been around for a while. The hosts say it was sold in North America with a different badge name, and they’re talking about how the model has changed over time.
A full hybrid uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. The key point is that it can often move using electricity alone, not just assist the gas engine.
The podcast mentions a car called “7,” but the snippet doesn’t clearly say which exact model it is. From what’s said, it sounds like a large SUV. If you share the full name (brand/model), I can explain it properly.
Car
Lexus TZ
Lexus TZ is a rumored/future Lexus model being talked about as a big, luxury family-style electric car. The hosts say it would use similar EV technology to other Lexus models like the RZ.
The podcast mentions a car called “TX,” but the snippet doesn’t clearly explain what it is. It sounds like the host is comparing model names in a lineup. If you provide the full model name, I can describe the car more clearly.
Captain’s chairs are separate seats with space between them, not one big bench. They’re often used to make the middle row feel more comfortable and easier to get into.
The Lexus RZ is mentioned because the hosts think the Lexus TZ will use similar electric drivetrain technology. So it’s a clue about how the TZ might drive and what EV components it could share.
The Lexus ES saloon is mentioned as another model that could share drivetrain technology with the Lexus TZ. It’s basically a hint about what Lexus might reuse in its future EVs.
This is the big battery in the EV. “96 kilowatt-hours” tells you how much energy it can store, which affects how far the car can go. It’s a lithium-ion battery, the type most EVs use.
That “150 kilowatt” number is how fast the car can take electricity from a fast charger. Faster charging usually means less time plugged in, though it can slow down as the battery gets fuller.
A “top up” is a partial charging session rather than charging from empty to full. The 10% to 80% window is often used in EV marketing because charging is typically quicker in the middle of the battery’s range and slows near 100%. So it’s a practical measure of how long a useful stop might take.
A “battery electric” car runs on electricity from a battery. Since it doesn’t need the same engine layout as a gas car, the interior can be designed with a lower floor. That can help make the back seats easier to use for adults.
This is an electric version of the Toyota Highlander, a family SUV. The hosts are saying it’s coming to North America and that its EV design could make the third row more usable. They compare it to a Lexus variant that’s meant to be more upscale.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big SUV built to handle rough roads and off-road driving. It’s known for being tough and long-lasting. The podcast mentions it because some luxury SUVs are similar in size and purpose.
The Lexus LX is a large luxury SUV. It’s similar in purpose to the Land Cruiser-style SUV, but with a luxury focus. The podcast mentions it because it’s slightly longer than the comparison vehicle.
The Lexus LM is a luxury minivan. The podcast describes it as a very high-end people mover with a focus on comfort. It’s mentioned because it’s not widely available, and the host talks about where it’s sold.
The Morgan Super Sport 400 is a Morgan sports car that uses a BMW engine. It’s a turbocharged straight-six, and the discussion is about how much power it makes.
The BMW B58 is a specific BMW engine design (a turbocharged six-cylinder). The hosts are saying the Morgan Super Sport 400 uses this engine to make about 400 horsepower.
This is the car’s automatic gear system. “8-speed” means it has more gear ratios to choose from, which can make the ride smoother and help the engine work efficiently. “ZF” is the company that makes that gearbox.
This is a device in the rear axle that helps both rear wheels work together. If one wheel starts spinning on slippery ground, it limits how much torque that wheel gets so the other wheel can keep pushing the car forward.
BMW’s 1 Series is a small BMW model. Here it’s mentioned because the original interior control design looked like something from a BMW, and people didn’t like that fit with the Morgan.
The drive selector is the lever or control you use to pick what the car should do, like drive or reverse. The host is saying they changed it and it now looks more like it belongs in the car.
The Fiat Uno is a compact car Fiat made for everyday driving. Saying “from 1983” points to the early version, which is part of why the Uno became a common, recognizable city car.
It means making a car small on the outside, but keeping it tall inside so people have more space to sit comfortably. The hosts say the Fiat Uno helped set that trend.
Car
Fiat Strada Bianca
The Fiat Strada Bianca is a Fiat model/trim the hosts mention from their personal story. They say it rusted badly within about two years, which is why they call it “not a good one.”
The Ford Model T is an old, very important car from the early days of mass-produced automobiles. It’s brought up because it represents a major moment in car history. The podcast uses it as a comparison point for how car designs and purposes evolve.
The Ford F-150 is a large pickup truck. It’s made to carry things and tow trailers, not just to drive around town. The podcast brings it up as a vehicle with a long history of practical, work-oriented use.
The Renault 5 E-Tech Electric is a small electric hatchback. It uses a battery and electric motor instead of gasoline. The podcast mentions it because it connects to the older Renault 5 story and design.
LIVE
Welcome to the Motoring Podcast, a weekly discussion of Motoring News.
This is episode 685 on Tuesday, the 12th of May, 2026.
Hello, I'm Alan.
Hello, I'm Andrew.
And this week, you'll hear how some companies are hoping smaller is better.
In new car news, you will see how one brand is going large and in points of interest,
you'll learn how your vote can actually make a difference for good.
But first, we have some follow-up.
And hitting for a record third week on the trot, it is the financial conduct authority
back with another banger.
This is not good news because last week, we talked about how three car company or three
finance companies, two of which were associated with car companies, have appealed against
the FCA's ruling and decision on how they are going to allocate compensation.
The week before that, we were talking about consumer group that has appealed for the way
that the FCA had decided to allocate compensation.
And as a consequence, the FCA last week has said, well, this is a problem.
First of all, we don't know when these appeals are going to be heard.
That's bad because this stuff's all supposed to be getting going in November.
Secondly, they have said that there is now a real threat that the compensation scheme
will just be canned.
And if that is the case, then what the hell's the point of the financial conduct authority?
Well, that is a massive thing, actually.
But what it will mean is that individuals will have to pursue their compensation claims
individually with the company, which if one was cynical, might be the whole reason
behind the companies putting in the appeal anyway, just to delay and cause confusion
and possibly get this thing canned, which then they know that the vast majority of people
won't bother to chase the car companies or the finance companies, sorry, I keep calling
them car companies, the finance companies themselves, because it's too much hassle, too difficult.
Even though there is a freeway in which to do it, don't forget we have had links in the
past, money saving expert has got a good form, but it kind of looks a bit horrible, doesn't
it?
It does.
And the thing is, though, I've got two claims in this, full disclosure, et cetera, et cetera.
I've got two claims in this because I did it by one of the law firms just for just curiosity.
I know they'll take a fair old slice, but on the other hand, I thought, there's no effort
to me.
I will apply if any fit the bill, then so be it.
That's great.
I'll get some money back.
But the thing is, the amount of effort and emails and letters and marketing and all these
things that they've put out there, they're the ones who are out of pocket in this.
Yeah, these big law firms aiming to get you your money back, they're the ones who are
going to actually suffer more than us consumers, really.
And as a result of that, I think they will be trying to push the FCA to actually do
something about it.
But on the other hand, you look at some of these companies that have come up and are
appealing it, and you think, you know what, I don't really like the way you're trying
to do business here.
I don't think I'm going to be going to you to buy a car in the future.
Because it does leave a bad taste.
They have been told that they were breaking the law.
They've told them doing it wrong, and now they're trying to weasel out of it.
And personally, I don't like that.
Or it appears they are trying to weasel out of it.
That is the feeling one gets from their actions.
Because again, we must remember we have no idea what they are appealing against, because
they have refused to declare that.
And the FCA hasn't declared what it is that they're appealing.
We knew what the consumer group was doing, because they made it clear when they spoke
to the press.
It could be now that this is a really big could be it could be a genuine real issue
with how this has been handled, which means that how the FCA have come to their
conclusions is not correct.
There is a possibility in some reality somewhere that that is the case.
And that may be what they're appealing against.
But like you say, kind of doesn't feel or smell like that kind of feels and smells
like just trying to avoid the compensation that they after breaking the law, again,
we have to remind everyone they broke the law that they should be paying back to people
they have put in a I've taken advantage of financially.
Exactly.
Shall we move on to happier stuff?
Well, yes, why not?
It's near the beginning of the month.
It is.
The SMMT new car registration figures for April came out on the day we were recording
last week, we were both very busy as we tend to be because we're fools.
And I'll give you otherwise, Andrew.
You're hearing nothing from me.
No, exactly.
We're going to have enough time to sort of read through stuff and actually sort of
process the numbers properly.
Hence, you had to wait until today.
Sorry.
Overall headline figures.
The new car market rose by 24% in April, as opposed to April last year,
as the market recovers from last year's negative tax change impact.
The two millionth electric car was registered.
Frankly, who cares?
It's an arbitrary number, really.
But there was a robust 26.2% market share during low volume month.
April, by the way, normally not as good as March because April doesn't have a year.
March has a new registration number.
April does not.
Yep.
As a result of the very strong April, the outlook for the rest of 2026 has been upgraded
to 2.093 million registrations overall.
However, the zero electric vehicle share has been revised down to 26.8%
after underperforming Q1 demand overall.
Q1 was not great.
Q2 has started.
Really very well indeed.
It appears.
Yes.
149,247 new cars were registered last month.
As I said, that's a 24% increase over April 2025.
The percentage of petrol cars made up 42.6% of the market
and rose 8.2% above last year.
Diesel now make up 4.2% of the market.
And compared to April last year, the total number was down 1%.
Hybrid electric vehicles make up 13.2% of the market.
And compared to April last year, the number sold is up 18.8%.
Battery electric vehicles, a small drumroll please.
26.2% of the market.
There were 39,084 registered last month.
And that number is up 59.1% compared to last year, April last year.
All those percentage market shares are just for April year on year.
Yes, my wording has been very precise.
Yes, because there's lots of people seem to get confused with that.
Yes, very much so.
Last but not least across plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, 20,597 of them registered.
That is up 46.4% on the number registered in April 2025.
And that makes 13.8% market share in April 2026.
Just a quickly given indication of what it's looking like for the year.
Up to now, battery electric vehicles are sitting at 23.1%.
Hybrids, 14.5%.
Febs, 13%.
Petrol at 44.5%.
And diesel at 4.8%.
Remember with battery electric or zero emission vehicles,
we are aiming much higher this year.
However, as one article that's been doing the rounds made clear,
there are ways and means that companies can actually make sure that they hit their targets
because there's various assistance that's written into the legislation, including
you can sell a lot of vehicles that are not zero emission.
And that contributes to your zero emission vehicle mandate, which is special.
And seemingly, that's really, really acceptable now, whereas not so long ago,
we remember very much how plug-in electric hybrids were the devil's work and are greenwashing.
Yes, yes, lots of manufacturers who are now selling and making a big deal about plug-in
hybrids previously were very much down on that.
Similarly, people who worked for similarly charging companies
and the like were very much the same.
Who bought what?
Sorry, who registered what?
How dare I make that mistake after all this time.
So, private registrations made up 37.6% market share, fleet made up 60,
60.6% market share, and business made up 1.8% market share.
As I said, April 2026 was the most registered at April since April 2019.
Yeah, shall I take us to the spreadsheet of doom that is in very doom this month?
No, because we haven't done the top models yet.
Oh, sorry, yes, I do apologize.
They have hidden them at the bottom of the page this month,
because they don't always put everything up in the same order, folks.
Number 10, the Jaikoo 7, 2,099 registrations.
Number 9, the MGHS, 2,146, very close numbers, up until number 3.
Number 2 is where there's a big gap.
So, number 9, MGHS, number 8, the Volkswagen T1,
number 7, the Vauxhall Corsa, number 6, the Amoda 5.
Number 5, the Mini Cooper, number 4, the Volkswagen Golf.
This is just like old times, isn't it?
Yes.
And number 3, the Nissan Qashqai with 2,846.
That's fewer than 700 more registrations over the course of a month than the Jaikoo 7.
There is a bit of a step up to 3,645 registrations for the Kia Sportage,
number 2, and at the top of the leaderboard,
number 1 is the Ford Puma with 4,211 registration.
Even then, such is the spread of the number of models on the market these days,
that the numbers are very small in the top 10, that the spread of them is very slow indeed.
Yep.
Let's now go to the spreadsheet to do.
Okay, like I just said, it's not very doomy,
but where it is doomy, it is pretty grim.
So, I'll go all the way down to D.
The DS is down 59%.
And the DS is an almost accurate description of how many were registered, yes.
GWM is down 58%, INEOS is down 18%.
Maxis is down 100%.
Now, what that means in 2025, they registered a whole single vehicle.
In 2026, can you guess?
That's right, they registered zero.
It's not they registered a single vehicle, it's that they registered a single car.
Yes, car.
Because they register a lot of vans.
Yes, that's right.
Yep, you're quite right to point that out.
This is cars, we're not talking about vans.
Mazda is down 27%.
Nissan is down 17%.
Seat is down 57%.
Subaru is down 43% and other imports is down 22%.
Take a deep breath, Alan.
Have you had a drink before you start this one?
Yes, I've just had a drink.
And after over 10 years, I'm now wondering why we never actually just
change the number of decimal points, get the spreadsheet to change the number of decimal points
in that percentage change column, rather than us having to do the mental gymnastics
every time.
It's more fun.
Well, it is, yes.
It keeps us on our toes.
A bath, up 52%, alpine, up 554.4%, 373 alpine badge cars registered.
I saw one of the A1, whatever the Renault 5 thingy is.
Oh, right.
I saw one in the lovely in blue, but someone locals got one.
I saw an A110 the other week.
Oh, yeah.
In fact, I saw two in the same day.
Yeah.
Meanwhile, I'm back at the spreadsheet.
BYD up 101.5%, Chevrolet up 200%.
That's a whopping 12 vehicles, as opposed to four last year.
Again, these must be personal imports, or people bringing in some urbans, of course.
No, isn't the Corvette.
Yeah, or a Corvette.
With Arnold Clark now.
Oh, possibly.
Yeah.
There's like three dealers.
There's London, Manchester, and Glasgow, I think.
That's right.
It's Clive Sutton to bring them in.
That's it.
I couldn't remember who it was.
Yeah.
Clive Sutton, and then there's three dealers.
Yes.
Citroen up 167%, Cooper up 53%, Fiat up 145%, Ford up 17.5%, Genesis up 73%, Jaiku up 268.2%.
KGM up 29.2%, LeapMotor up 437%, Lotus up 45.5%, Maserati up 166.7%, Mercedes up 30.1%,
MG up 84.9%, Mini up 90%.
Omoza up 259.9%.
I can see about the corner of my eye and he's making me smirk.
Polestar up 25.3%, Porsche up 27.4%.
Skywell, four vehicles registered, compared to two in the same period last year, up 100%.
Smart up 124.3%, Suzuki up 30.2%, Tesla up 62.3%, 831 Tesla registered, by the way, which is...
I would have said that's much lower than it would be, but actually looking at year-to-date,
they're about the same number of registrations, slightly fewer than they were at this point last year.
Volkswagen up 23%, Volvo up 18%, X-Peng up, this month's MG Award.
Not sponsored MG Award.
Oh yes, the not sponsored MG Award, 877.8%, and other British 23.3%.
I was looking at you because I was wondering why you were doing the
point-what percentage for the first time ever.
For the first time ever, you just made that so much harder for yourself.
It was really tough.
I'm not even going to offer to do it again, because that would just be massacrism.
But there we are.
To round out my cause, his statement, as he always does, he has stated, and I'm quoting
just how significantly fiscal changes can influence the market.
2000000 electric car registrations is a considerable milestone to celebrate,
although natural demand is still well below the level demanded by the mandate.
That the mounting cost of compliance threatens to limit the consumer choice,
overall decarmonisation, and the sector's competitiveness, so the need for a rapid
review of the transition to aligned policy with market realities is unchanged.
Else Britain's attractiveness as a vehicle market manufacturing hub will be put at risk.
Shall we move on to Honda now?
Yeah, Honda, UK, motor, Honda Motor UK, this is.
Don't forget Honda's got quite a few divisions.
But the motoring side of it has got a new boss.
Michael Doyle has returned to Honda UK.
He is coming from Honda Motor Southern Africa, where he was a vice president.
He's got 30 years of working with Honda, so he knows the company inside and out.
He is going to be replacing Rebecca Adamson, who is now going to be
Honda Motor Europe's general manager of consumer engagement.
Honda cars, so far this year, down 15% pet to launch.
Yeah, I did laugh at the quote from Mr Doyle.
Honda UK has a clear vision for its future.
Does it?
Well, there we go then.
That's nice to know.
That's reassuring for me anyway.
All right, do you want to take us all the way up to Sunderland?
Yeah, up in Sunderland, for me, Nissan is playing with the factory essentially.
They are going to consolidate the production in Sunderland onto one line.
They can't have two production lines running, neither of which is particularly well utilized.
In fact, the output from the factory is down about 50%.
Yes, on 2019 figures.
Just over 50% compared to 2019.
There's some space.
The Nissan production lines in Sunderland are noted for being quite flexible.
So on one line, you can make electric vehicles.
You can make vehicles, internal combustion engines.
You can make hybrids.
You can make vehicles of different size, but vaguely similar architecture.
And low with the cash guide, you can the third generation electric leaf.
That's what they're going to do.
I would say the New Duke is also going to be made in Sunderland.
It's assumed that that's going to be on the same line as the leaf, I think.
That would make sense.
That means that Sunderland has an entire extra line.
Now, either they're expecting really, really high demand for the new leaf and the New Duke,
or, hey, we've got this really flexible production line, folks.
Many people who want to make vehicles in and around Europe might want to use that line
and basically suddenly sit down.
And we could do with the rent.
Yeah, basically.
Everything in Nissan comes down to how much it costs per car.
Absolutely everything does.
And so I can absolutely believe that.
Yeah, there's an article from Electric Drive linked in the show notes.
It's really interesting once you get beyond the Sunderland stuff, which is interesting to hear
how they're going to do this.
It's even more interesting once you get beyond the Sunderland stuff is what Andrew really means.
But it goes on to discuss Nissan's plans for Europe and sort of to make itself this
thrusting and dynamic company once again, instead of limping along like it has been for a few years
now, as they were busy fighting themselves and fighting Renault.
They've suddenly realized they need to make cars again.
Do read that.
It is fascinating what they're proposing to do.
Yeah, it's a pity that.
Portion though.
Yes, sticking with consolidation and reducing things.
Porsche are going to close three subsidiaries and that will involve 500 around 500 jobs also.
This is all part of their cutting cost that they need to do desperately following some
pretty grim couple of years from a financial results point of view with China and the US
markets being particularly hard on them.
The three units they're going to shut down are Cell Force, which is the battery technology
developer, Porsche eBike Performance, which make the Electric Drive systems for eBikes,
and Ketech, a producer of software for data communications.
Yeah, I'm sure I could have flogged them off to someone else or at least flog off other papers.
Yeah, this means that listening to the quotes from Michael Lyters, the CEO, that Porsche must
refocus on its core business.
This is an indispensable foundation for a successful strategic alignment.
My worry is that Lyters was at McLaren as well.
Yes.
Well known for its financial stability.
And he's also saying that they're going to pursue a strategy centered on margin
improvement and profitability rather than chasing sales figures.
Look out for a constant stream of ultra-special edition Porsche 911s.
Yeah.
That's what that screams to me.
It's like, oh, we'll have a GT2A or whatever coming through from there.
So we'll see what happens.
But this is on top of them selling their Bugatti Rimac shares and staking that.
And they also announced that they were shutting down the car IT division or
amalgamating it into research and development operations,
which pretty much means it's going.
This is not a good time for Porsche, who of course is part of the VW Group,
who is really not having a good time.
It's like wheels of doom within here.
Did some Volkswagen promising to cut even more costs and cut even more costs.
Do you think what you're going to sell?
Little cardboard cutout of a car at some point.
And I have to say that I've been noticing, particularly from American outlets,
really quite snidey comments about manufacturers who've gone big for EVs,
who are now struggling, and they're going, oh, they've failed on the EV bet.
And you go, well, the bloke you elected, whether you directly voted for him or not,
but the bloke you elected and is your president has caused most of these problems
for most of these companies, I would be a little bit more humble in this.
18 months ago, it wasn't an EV bet.
It was an EV certainty.
It wasn't even a certainty.
You had to do it.
Yeah, you had to do it.
And again, well, it just comes down to just discussions as well,
as much as the American outlets only really think of America.
Sorry, folks, but you do.
Equally, the car industry has made a lot of mistakes and a lot of problems for themselves,
but that does not help.
No, no, exactly.
That's not us saying, oh, the car industry is wonderful and they make all these wonderful
decisions and everyone else changes stuff.
We don't do that because we're grown-ups.
If you've listened to us, we really don't.
We really don't, but you've got to play fair sometimes.
Yeah, absolutely.
One American car company that is in trouble, and it could be argued that part of that is
it's rather strange strategies about products anyway, is Ford.
As we're getting out of that challenge, Ford has agreed to sell part of its plant
and Valencia in Spain to Geely so that Geely can build a new small,
fiesta-sized crossover.
Yay.
Yeah, exactly.
Right at the minute, Valencia is only building the Cougar and it has an annual capacity of
300,000 units.
They might as well use some of that.
Yes.
Don't forget that the Ford numbers for passenger cars, it's not great these days,
neither is the range.
I mean, get the number of vehicles they sell and what they're actually trying to sell.
Worth remembering, Ford, right at the minute, is much more of a small commercial vehicle
outfit than a car manufacturing outfit and the small commercial vehicles tend to be built in
Turkey, not Spain.
But all the Chinese companies are looking for factories and looking for factory space in
Europe and why wouldn't they buy up a chunk of an existing one where there's space and
infrastructure and all that kind of stuff, rather than trying to build something brand
new in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, and we said last week how attractive Spain is.
Exactly.
Makes sense for both sides on this.
Absolutely, really does.
I'm going to round out the first part of the show with news that Volkswagen has become
Rivian's top shareholder as Amazon slips into second.
In the last couple of years, VW Group has grown their stake from 8.6% to 15.9%.
If you remember, they agreed to invest money in Rivian and part of the come back for that was
B shares and there are certain milestones that had to be hit for them to then release
further parts of the total $5.8 billion.
Up to now, Rivian have received $3 billion of that.
So they have hit the milestones they needed to hit, apparently, and they are working with
VW Group on the VW ID everyone, the small four-door hatchback, which will be the first
joint venture that's coming out of there.
There have been rumors of, shall we say, clashes between Rivian and VW, but particularly about
what Rivian are geared up and happy to work on, because I've read at least one report about
VW wanting to help out with hybrid software for hybrid and stuff.
I know, like, no, we're just electric.
You do realize that, no internal combustion engines here.
Don't you have experience of it?
No.
Which makes sense.
Rivian, if you aren't aware, sell an electric pickup truck and a large, quite a large electric SUV
based off the pickup truck in North America.
They also build vans, because, of course, Amazon being one of the shareholders.
You've seen many electric Rivian, gray Rivian vans with Amazon logos on it,
on them, and also others now, because they sell them outside of Amazon too.
And last but not least, they started production of the R2, the smaller electric SUV, just last
month. And they are expected to start delivering them to actual real paying customers in the next
few weeks. Rivian has actually achieved quite a lot, but it's achieved it all in North America.
I believe there's an R3 model that is planned and has been unveiled and shown about a year ago.
And if they were coming to Europe, then they would be bringing the R2 and the R3.
Okay.
That leads us into guilt minute.
Unusual guilt minute.
Again, one day I'll actually script it properly, but it's just to remind you that on the 4th of July,
we will be asserting our independence from North America with another Q&A session.
We did one the other week.
Thank you for the lovely comments from so many of you.
And so we thought, well, let's do another one where we have a bit more of an idea of what we're doing
and how to do it.
But of course, to do that, we need you guys to tell us what you want us to talk about.
Send us questions, send us thoughts, send us things that we might want to challenge us.
Preferably not anything that's going to give Andrew an excuse to talk about JLR for 20 minutes.
No, I think I've got that one out my system now.
That's good. That's a relief.
That's a relief.
There's plenty more out there I can go into, though. Don't worry.
A mix.
A mix is going to be...
Yes, a mix.
And don't forget, if you're in the livestream, you can ask questions there,
and we will try to incorporate them as we go along.
Again, we're new to the whole livestreamy thing.
So we're having to learn this as we go a little bit.
So do bear with us somewhat, which you all did lovely last time.
We were also a little bit more confident this time last time,
which is why we're actually publicising it more than a week and a half in advance.
Yes, do start thinking about those and get them through to us at some point,
any of the ways that you can get in touch with us.
Patrons can send it via Patreon,
or you can get in touch with us via any of the ways that we list at the end of the show.
In the meantime, don't forget you can help us by following for free from a podcast player,
receive every show that I release to my liking rating show,
whatever way your podcast supplier lets you.
Anything done, all of that.
Thank you so very much.
And the last thing you can do is to recommend us to your friends or colleagues.
Thank you, everyone that does.
That means the only one thing is New New Car News.
And Alan, here's one that we sort of skipped over because we were too busy trying to work out what
the other model that was announced at the same time from Nissan was all about.
Yes, well, kind of hiding in the angular shadow of the new Nissan Duke was the new Nissan X-Trip.
It is moving away a little bit from the slightly fat cash guy look and has,
I said a little bit, from a fat cash guy look.
It now looks like a cash guy in a, what's the area, the electric one, I've had a baby.
It is a bit chunkier.
It is a bit pointier and it has a honeycomb grill with some lights behind it.
This is a model which is actually sold around most of the world.
It is quite an important model for Nissan.
It is essentially their competitor to, say, the RAV4 as well as the Skoda Kodiak,
Kia Sorento Peugeot 5008 in Europe.
Yeah, it's just not a massive seller in the UK.
I think the first generation X-Trail was, but subsequent updates to the looks
didn't really seem to catch the, because the cash guy was out.
The cash guy was the same but cheaper.
Yeah, it did everything that people wanted pretty much.
The X-Trail over the years has been sold in North America, for example, as in the San Rogue,
as the same thing with a different badge.
It's expected to be a full hybrid as opposed to just a little bit of the sort of mild hybrids
which are sold at the minute.
And of course there is also the possibility if something is being sold as a full hybrid,
then it could well be, have a bigger battery pack shoved underneath and sold as an EV as well.
Yeah, again, this is another article that after the talking about the vehicle,
but it goes into detail about Nissan's plans for the future, which I'm finding fascinating
because I think they're on a tightrope.
I really do.
Oh, here we go.
He's on his GLR talking.
But no, I agree with you.
I think that Nissan is in a very dangerous place with a lot of other manufacturers circling.
Because I mean, this is the same kind of size as the JQ7.
I think this is the largest brand that's in very real danger of either being bought up
or ceasing to be.
I would say so, yes.
I'm going to move us on and I'm going to take us to the Lexus TZ.
Now, I'm just going to describe a few things before my colleague takes his run up
and points out a few irregularities to the facts that are stated, should we say.
This is going to be a large luxury six-seater, which Autocar says here in the article is
to take on the likes of the Volvo EX90.
OK, however, there's going to be six-seat.
There's going to be the captain's chairs type play out.
It's going to be electric.
It's going to be using the same powertrain stuff that's in the Lexus RZ and the ES saloon.
Therefore, you can probably get 330 mile range as a maximum in perfect conditions,
all things being equal.
It's got a 96 kilowatt hour lithium ion battery.
It can charge at speeds of up to 150 kilowatt, allowing 10 to 80% top up in 35 minutes.
OK, still feels there a little behind on the tech, really does.
However, it's going to be a Lexus, so it's going to be a very pleasant place to sit.
It's going to be obviously well screwed in.
But they're saying also, thanks to it being a battery electric, which does sound odd,
actually, when you go through this, that the floor can be lower.
So the back row, the final third row, is actually good for adults as well,
because the seats can sit lower.
Whereas in the past, particularly if it was a hybrid or something,
then there really is kids only zone.
Yeah, absolutely.
Some of those specs sound familiar.
And there's been covered in the UK as well.
There is, of course, a Toyota Highlander EV as well,
which coming out certainly in North America.
And you'll never guess what.
This is the fancy Lexus version of that.
Hence, if you want the seven seats, then you probably end up with a Highlander instead of a Lexus.
This, however, I'm going to be my full pedantry hat on.
Ladies and gentlemen, can I tell you to charge your glasses because this is about Lexus?
Well, no, to be honest, the fact is that this is the largest Lexus yet.
And I was like, no, it isn't.
Off I went on my high horse.
Cheers, everyone.
And my first thought was that, well, there is a model in North America called the Lexus TX,
which, of course, is the Highlander, but the Petron hybrid version re-bodied.
And it is indeed six centimetres longer than this is.
So I was right.
Not only that, but also so is the Lexus LX, which is the big land cruiser.
It also is three centimetres longer.
But and it's not even the largest Lexus that is sold in Europe and the UK because the Lexus,
I've lost it, though, the Lexus LM, which is the minivan one,
super luxury minivan one, is indeed three centimetres longer.
You know, it's 5,130 millimetres.
I don't know who's rating the press bomb that people are getting it from.
But come on, people, at least try to be accurate.
If I can do that and I'm a normal person.
Aren't you with them in the next week or the week after?
So you can point it out to those people.
In the past, I would have done, but I don't know the current team as well.
And I don't want to be banished from the event that I'm going to with them in.
I'm sure they wouldn't do that anyway.
They would suffer me this once and say, never him again.
It's kind of interesting.
I think there's going to be a resurgence in big SUVs from brands
who have shied away from them for many years, purely because of people in the UK
wouldn't buy petrol ones and then basically all the tax came in.
And as soon as people are allowed to do electric ones, they're like,
hey, we'll have those some of them.
Well, they're aiming at directors and that sort of level.
And their families.
Who we all know do so much better with the more expensive vehicles and through the
business in kind and the salary sacrifice.
Benefits in kind, yeah.
Benefit in kind, even I always get that wrong.
Benefit in kind and the salary sacrifice and all that sort of stuff.
It is tailored to be more advantageous to those who are on a higher tax bracket.
Yeah, why not?
Exactly, I can see how that works.
Last but not least of the new new cars, the Morgan Super Sport 400.
This is the one that Andrew put in to make him happy.
This is...
I did.
It is, yes.
Quite.
This is latest Morgan.
It has the twin-turbo straight 6-engine, a BMW twin-turbo straight 6-engine.
It has a mere 335 horsepower.
No, that was the original Super Sport.
Oh, that was the previous one.
Oh, pardon me, that's BS and this is now the 400.
This is why this is better.
I can work out how many this one puts out.
Yeah, 402 horsepower, pardon me, from the BMW B58 engine.
It goes to the rear wheels via an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission, not 62,
down from a whopping 3.8 seconds to a mere 3.6 seconds.
And the top speed increases to 180 miles an hour from 166 miles an hour, although good luck.
Yeah, I don't want to experience either of those, actually.
Other than that, it looks awesome.
Yeah.
And I'm sure it is an absolute and total hoot to drive.
Although a limited slip rear differential, it is a £2,425 option, it seems.
Yeah.
But other than that, just really cool.
One of the big things they've done as well on the interior is they've changed the drive selector.
It was the BMW 1, but people have kicked off.
Obviously, there was the press saying, oh, that's a bit odd in a Morgan.
And the customers, apparently, their feedback was not as positive as I think the company
were hoping.
So they've actually had to stump up and develop their own handle there.
And it looks so much more in keeping, to be fair.
It really does look lovely.
Yeah, because you wouldn't want to get it mistaken for an Ineos Grenadier or anything, would you?
No.
No.
Very cool.
I like this a lot.
Have a little look.
If you follow the link in the show notes to the UFO article about it,
which has some many nice pictures as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
OK, that's a point of interest then.
And we're going to have a lunchtime watch this year.
And it's an educational one for those outside of the US.
Long-time listeners know that my colleague has been expressing his displeasure at the unfortunate
fact that he's had to interact with car dealers in America.
And he has regaled us with the stories of Woe and how awful they are and how it is a dreadful
experience for anyone who is a customer.
And the game, because it does feel like a game, is weighted totally in the dealers' favor.
Things like the price you see is never the price, et cetera, et cetera.
Well, he's found a video, and it is from Wendover Productions, and it is titled
How Car Dealership Scam America.
We can now all know exactly the nonsense he's gone through and why he gets so angry
about this part of the industry.
And I should be clear, by the way, it's not just the consumers being scammed.
It's also not being scammed, but it's not also the consumers who are at a loss in this.
It's the car manufacturers as well.
It's worth saying here that the dealers hold so much sway that actually it's influencing
the car manufacturers.
It wasn't, for example, the car manufacturers who wanted the withdrawal of EVs and the support
and all of that kind of stuff in America.
It was the dealers because they feared that they weren't going to get more money down the line
because there's less maintenance involved, et cetera, cetera.
They don't want to have to learn to sell a new type of engine.
They don't want to have to retool to be able to support a new kind of motor power
because that's expensive and it cuts into their profit margins.
So the video is really good.
It talks a little bit from a consumer point of view.
It also talks about it from the manufacturer point of view.
And why the manufacturer can't just say, no, actually, we're going to set up our own dealership
network, you lot can clear off.
And it's because in many states, the dealers are protected by law.
Well, VW are having a legal fight over scouts.
Exactly.
And actually, it goes into that and it mentions that in the video.
It packs, as ever with a window of video, packs an awful lot into your 18 minutes.
Worth it.
Have a watch.
Have a watch at some of the other stuff.
There's loads of stuff which isn't car related.
But it's a very interesting, it's an interesting little video and I saw it taught.
I must, this helps vent.
Thank you, Sam, from Wendover.
This helps.
It just explains better than me getting annoyed about it,
which I did again this evening on social media because it's,
because we just don't understand how different all of this stuff is
in America compared to Europe.
Yeah.
Thank you for reducing his blood pressure.
It's going to take more than that this evening, I tell you.
List of the week then.
Yay!
It's a biggie.
It's a biggie.
There are 51 slides in this and it's called Great People's Cars,
the Motors that Got the World Moving.
Join us for a look at the classes cars that help bring mobility to the world.
They can do it in that voice if you want or you could just be normal.
Yes.
Thank you AutoCarth, by the way.
Yes, thank you AutoCarth.
Andrew, of the 51 slides available to us, which means 50 cars,
please, which one have you chosen?
It's going to be really bad if we've picked the same one.
I am, however, going to fly the flag for, there was many I could pick here,
many from personal ownership, many from the impact they had,
but I am wishing to fly the flag for a car that was cracking,
but is not remembered that much, I don't think, when such lists happen.
And I'm asking everyone to turn to slide 42 in your packs.
Oh, good lord.
And it is the Fiat Uno from 1983.
Okay, I know what a Fiat Uno looks like.
There you go, got it.
There was, I'm going to read the bit from the underneath the picture says,
with more than 9 million sold, the Uno proved to be a worthy successor
to the ancient 127 car of the year in 1984.
The Uno set a trend for cars with a small footprint but a high roof line.
And yet another reminder that when it comes to small cars, Fiat knows its stuff.
I think this had a bigger impact than people remember or realize.
It's a Giuseppe Giuseppe style as well.
Yeah, looked great.
Yeah.
And that's before you talk about the turbo.
It did.
It's like the T-Pose, it's in the same thing,
but it moved, it actually moved on the class quite significantly.
And just because it wasn't necessarily a massive seller here in the UK,
doesn't mean that it wasn't in other parts of the world.
There are still Uno-derived vehicles being sold new in South America.
I once tried to get friends of my parents to buy an Uno and what they did
and said they bought a Strada.
Okay.
Yeah, Strada Bianca, which showed the rust marks in about two years.
Yeah, it wasn't a good one.
How about you then, Alan?
So I'm at the other end of the list.
Oh, good God.
No, scroll using the bar at the bottom.
It goes round in the circle is all you need to know because I'm on number two.
For goodness sake.
Slide two.
Number one, I didn't realize what was coming up.
When I'm opening all of these stories, sometimes I forget what I've read.
And when it comes to opening them, I start at the end, everyone,
and then go the other way.
So I'd already read this, chosen the Ford Model T,
and was about to make comments on selling cars in America.
And of course, this was the one that really sold America and how it came about
and how it is essentially an agricultural vehicle.
It bears far more resemblance to the Ford F-150 has far more heritage
built into the Model T than it does into cars than cars have in the Model T.
But I've decided I've warped an awful lot about the American car market tonight,
so I'm not going to bother.
But yes, Model T, it just influenced so much.
I mean, thankfully the pedal layout didn't, and the way it drives weren't influenced.
But it got America moving, it's got the many parts of the world moving,
and then that led to cars and trucks and things that go really being sold.
Just the manufacturing area, so much influence in the Model T.
You probably know all about it, but there you go.
Yep, from its influence, yep, great choice, excellent choice.
Right, I'm going to take us on to the end, finally.
And this is, a chap has, well, you've all heard of the LEGO Ideas,
which is where somebody creates a model that they think should be built by the company.
They put something together and then they put it into the LEGO Ideas website,
and it gets voted up by us, the public.
You know, we can use our votes for good as well, you know.
It's a pressure.
And we can choose things.
Now, there's a British engineer called Dave Collins who has recreated the Renault 5 Turbo 3E,
and it looks amazing, to be fair.
And as he points out though, it's an angular car,
so it does make it much easier to build a LEGO model out of.
So he has picked a good car.
They took him around 100 hours to create, it's apparently 1200 pieces.
It now needs to get to 10,000 supporters on the Ideas site to get in with a chance
of becoming an official LEGO set.
At the time of recording, right now, it sits at 8,199 supporters.
There will be two links in the show notes.
One is for a top gear article talking about this.
The second is to the page on the LEGO Ideas website for the Renault 5 Turbo 3E,
in which you can support the idea.
Now, to support it, you must register an account with LEGO.
And it's got 762 days left to get to 10,000 supporters.
It was only put on on the 15th of April, and he's already at 8,199.
Renault UK are backing this themselves.
They think it's a great thing.
I think it is, because you can open the doors, he's done the interior as well.
It looks brilliant.
And I am always in awe of someone who can create something very, very realistic
from a set of bricks, random pieces, and then bring it together.
They've got the vision to be able to do this.
I think it's amazing.
What's really good about these things, by the way, is that they're not...
When people make them from the Ideas, they can't go out and make
these special bricks just for this particular model.
They have to use existing ones.
And that's one of the things that I find is tricky about some of the
new LEGO models, is the custom pieces, which there are for just one model.
And I always feel that that's a bit of a cheetah, to be perfectly honest.
I'm trying to make myself...
I used to have a LEGO account, but I don't know what's happened.
But do click the link in the show notes.
Do support it, because it's brilliant.
Just support the fact that somebody's that creative,
and they've bothered themselves to do this.
And then hopefully, one day, we can all go out and buy one of these.
Yes, absolutely.
Right, I've supported it.
There we go.
Live.
That is now 8,200.
8,211.
Actually registered.
No, 8,212.
Now, I've just...
Just...
Just vote.
There we go.
Just 7...
1,788 votes away for it actually being considered.
Anyway, enough of my messing around.
That's us for the week.
Again, please don't forget about the 4th of July,
and the question and answer independence day that we've got here.
There's the most amazing rainbow outside.
I'm sorry, it's just distracted.
It really is bright.
There you go.
That's a picture of which Pistons and Prides is coming up at some point
at the National Motor Museum.
I got an email about that the other day.
Not National Motor Museum.
The World Coventry.
British Motor Museum.
Yeah, it's British Motor Museum.
Anyway, folks, don't forget that now and next week,
you can give us any feedback.
Share your thoughts with the show at motringpodcast.com on Blue Sky,
at motringpodcast.com on Instagram, Facebook,
and on the contact page of motringpodcast.com,
the hub of all our activities.
Remember, you can support us financially via Patreon,
and please leave a review and rating on Apple Podcasts,
YouTube, or however your podcast app lets you do such a thing.
Andrew, what's the best way to get in touch with you?
Best way to get in touch with me is if you search for Crackman Screen on Blue Sky,
or I am under my full name on LinkedIn.
And Alan, if people want to get in touch with you personally,
what is the best way for them to do that?
The best way to get in touch with me personally is probably Blue Sky,
where I am at agpbradley.bsky.social.
That's B-R-E-D-L-E-Y,
because I was distracted taking pictures of this rainbow,
which I will subsequently share on social media.
We'll be back very soon.
Until then, I've been Alan Bradley.
I've been Andrew Clears.
And Safe Motoring.
Wow.
About this episode
A regulatory and market-heavy news show: the hosts revisit the FCA’s appeals over a car-related compensation scheme, warning it could be “canned” and leave people pursuing claims directly. They then pivot to UK registration figures—April’s “rose by 24%,” EVs hitting “two millionth” milestone, and revised 2026 outlook. The powertrain mix, brand swings, and EV policy/mandate debate lead into wider automaker news, from Nissan’s Sunderland plans to Porsche and Ford restructuring, before a “car of the week” history pick and a LEGO Ideas Renault 5 Turbo 3E project.
The Financial Conduct Authority has warned that there will be a delay of unknown time frame and even the potential for the finance mis-selling scheme to be cancelled, thanks to the appeals lodged. For more information on this, click this Autocar article link here.
APRIL 2026 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES
April 2026 had the most registrations, since 2019. All except diesel market share went up, with BEV being the most impressive and ending up with an April market share of 26.2% meaning it is at 23.1% for the year so far. Once again Fleet is doing a lot of heavy lifting, although Private rose taking the year to date up to 40.1%. You can find out more, by clicking this SMMT article link here.
HONDA AUTOMOTIVE UK GETS A NEW BOSS
Michael Doyle replaces Rebecca Adamson, who moves to head up Customer Engagement for Honda Motor Europe. Doyle is coming from Honda Motor Southern Africa, where he was Vice President. Click this MotorTrader article link here, for more.
NISSAN TO MERGE SUNDERLAND PRODUCTION LINES
Nissan is consolidating production lines into one over the next year, at their Sunderland facility. This will apparently not lead to any job losses at the site. Production numbers in 2025 was nearly half that of 2019. For more on this story, click this link to read an electrive article.
PORSCHE COST CUTTING BEGINS
Porsche has announced it will close three subsidiary companies with 500 jobs going as a consequence. Cellforce Group, battery tech; Porsche eBike, electric drives for bicycles; and Cetitec GmbH, software for data communications are to be shut down. The company will now “refocus on its core business”. If you want to read more, click this Yahoo!Finance article link here.
FORD SELLING PART OF SPANISH PLANT TO GEELY
Ford is looking to sell part of their Valencia plant to Geely, which currently only makes the Kuga. This would be Geely’s first European production based. To find out more, click this Autocar article link here.
VW IS RIVIAN’S LARGEST SHAREHOLDER
The Volkswagen Group has upped its stake in Rivian from 8.6% to 15.9%, making it the largest single investor in the company. This moves Amazon to second. Rivian has been hitting the milestones the original deal required, which has meant they have received $3 billion from the German company since the announcement of the investment. You can read more, by clicking this TechCrunch article link here.
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 PODCASTNEW NEW CAR NEWS -Nissan X-Trail
Nissan revealed their new X-Trail, a few weeks back. The company is aiming at the likes of the Skoda Kodiaq, Kia Sorento and Peugeot 5008 with this vehicle. No technical specifications have been revealed. Click this Autocar article link to see more.
Lexus TZ
Lexus has released images of the TZ, an electric six seat SUV aimed at the Volvo EX90. The vehicle is based on the RZ platform and will have an 96kWh battery enabling a range of up to 330 miles in perfect conditions. The TZ is coming to the UK in 2027 but there are no details as to the price or final specifications. Click this Autocar article link, for more.
Morgan Supersport 400
Morgan has revealed the Supersport 400 which takes the Supersport and makes its more. The retuned B58 twin-turbo straight-six engine will produce 402bhp, bringing down the 0-62 to 3.6 seconds which is 0.2 seconds quicker than the normal version. On the road price starts at £138,883.00. Click this EVO article link here to read more.
LUNCHTIME WATCH: HOW CAR DEALERSHIPS SCAM AMERICA
Longtime listeners will have heard Alan bemoan how awful American car dealerships and the business model are. He has explained how the price is never the price you first see. But to show how really bad it is we are recommending a Wendover Productions video explaining just how dreadful they are, click this YouTube link to see more.
LIST OF THE WEEK: GREAT PEOPLE’S CARS
Autocar have a large slideshow dedicated the cars that helped bring mobility to the world. Do you agree with the choices made? What would you pick? Click this link here to see what options you have to select from.
AND FINALLY: TIME TO ASK THE DANES TO GO FRENCH
A British Engineer, Dave Collins, has created a Lego copy of the Renault 5 Turbo 3E and submitted it to Lego to be considered for making into a model the company sells. Submitted on the 15 April this has already received 8,199 votes (at the time of recording). Click this Top Gear article to read more.
