DAILY: Euro EV Sales Updates, U.S. Car Makers Maintain Discounts and Dacia Upgrade Spring EV | 07 Oct 2025

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Welcome back to the podcast. Today, Euro EV sales updates, US car makers maintain discounts and Dacia upgrade the spring EV.

Plus, stay tuned. Later in the show, I'll tell you which EV startup is fully embracing LiDAR.

And no, it's not Tesla doing a U-turn.

On EV News China, today we're talking about the new MG4, the Zika 001.

And Xiaomi's Su7 going for a drive without its owner.

Join me later for a bonus show looking at the new Model 3 and Model Y standard editions.

Fewer features, but at a lot less cost. Are you tempted?

We'll run through the specs of all the changes happening there.

It'll be live tonight for patrons and all patron exclusives go into the free feed after seven days.

If you want the content first, it's one of the member benefits you get on there.

Sorry for being missing for a couple of days as you can hear. I lost my voice. I've got two young kids.

It's about the time when stuff comes home from school and nursery.

And boy, did it ever. So kind of wipe me out over the weekend and the first couple of days of the working week, which is frustrating.

But I still managed to write the shows. Couldn't record them.

But that's in my back catalog. So you'll see them coming up in your feed.

I'm really sorry that it comes a couple of days later, but you didn't want to hear me reading out stuff being super sick.

Right. Let's start with UK EV registrations. This is big news.

UK EV registrations up by a third in September to seventy two thousand seven hundred and seventy nine according to the trade body here.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders fully electric and hybrid models comprised over half of new registrations last month in September.

Seventy one point four percent of those were bought by businesses for fleets.

So over fifty percent electrified. But really, we want to have a look at the electric zero emission stuff, don't we?

Well, private purchases of fully electric cars have been increasing over the last year. Zero emission vehicles are now twenty two point one percent of new cars registered so far in twenty twenty five.

So September was a great month. But the year to date figure as we plot our way through twenty twenty five.

Well, that is twenty two point one percent. We have a mandate here.

We're pretty much on target for there to be a surplus of credits generated in the industry as well, which is, you know, which is incredible.

There's pros and cons of regulation. But at the moment it's working here.

The car makers would like more flexibility. They'd like to make more money.

And not everybody is a fan of it.

Transport and energy dot com wrote today the news on registrations from new automotive means that B.E.V.s were twenty three point two percent of the new car market and four thousand all electric vans.

That's the second highest figure recorded to date.

And a one hundred and eleven new electric HGVs.

That's heavy goods vehicles in September.

It comes as combustion vehicles decline with diesel registrations collapsing by a third compared to last September at four percent of the market the weakest September in twenty five years.

It comes as separate statistics from the SMMT said that more than half of all new vehicles registered during the seventy five plate month were electrified.

The government says over twenty thousand people have now benefited from the new E.V. grants which cover eligible new models from brands like Ford, Vauxhall and Citroën up to thirty seven thousand pounds.

R.P. Limit more environmentally efficient models receive larger discounts.

Thirty six models have been approved for the lower level of fifteen hundred pounds.

OK, let's move on and Tesla posted a nine second teaser on X showing the vehicles headlights in the dark and ending the clip with ten seven October seven.

The teaser pushed Tesla shares two percent higher in pre-market trading as investors and analysts speculated that they'll be unveiling the more affordable model why which we now know is the standard range model why standard range model three.

Tesla said back in June it's completed the first builds and plans to begin sales in Q four with gradual production ramping up that stripped down model why is going to cost twenty percent less to produce according to experts.

The company faces pressure from a lineup which is slightly aging now after years without a new mass market model relying on iterations incremental updates from the model three and model why the Cybertruck is their only new venture.

And that has massively underperformed Tesla's been offering discounts on inventory on Cybertruck launched a new effectively standard range discounted version of that and it lasted barely six months they wiped it from the design studio.

The event for today is a key chance to renew some buyer interest amid the rising competition.

The lower cost model why could broaden EV adoption and investors will watch whether it can reinvigorate demand and preserve Tesla share of the US market.

There's several things that a standard range model three model why will do and we'll run them through them on the bonus show later for patrons and they go free into the feed anyway after seven days for everyone else.

And we'll run through some of the options that I can see initially I'm no expert but certainly as well as the obvious which is there are now cheaper Teslas to buy standard range three and why it's what features have they deemed to remove.

And also what does it do to things like the perception when you go buy a Tesla.

So what's going to be the difference between the base price and the little jump up because pricing is very very interesting thing in in cars.

So OK so the model three so that could be a thirty five thousand dollar model three.

It won't be quite that cheap to begin with but you know what what will Tesla do with interest rates will it be in China is not percent.

And so what will they do with interest rates with leasing payments will there be leasing payments they don't do those on new models haven't done it on the new performance model why for instance when will they start and what's going to be the jump to get.

So now they get to call the other cars the premium cars.

So the new ones are standard but if it's only a couple of thousand dollars more to the premium one which is the existing base model then will you make the jump.

You think it's a couple of thousand dollars not a monthly payment it's not too much and I get all the extra stuff.

So they're playing around with things like pricing and you know the perception of value they did it with Cybertruck didn't work.

No one bought the stripped down one because it was to strip down and they got rid of it.

So we'll talk about all those things later on the bonus show European plug in vehicle registrations.

Let's get into the Euro data which is really interesting European plug in registrations in August.

So it takes a little while to mop up all the numbers.

We're not talking about last month in September yet across Europe two hundred and forty six thousand plug in vehicles.

So what does that mean well year over year for the same month it's up thirty six percent the wider passenger vehicle market was flat battery electric vehicles.

Twenty seven percent up year over year pure BEVs to one hundred and sixty three thousand of the two hundred and forty six thousand plug in hybrid making up the rest of course.

BEVs reached a twenty one percent percent share of the European auto market in August second only to August twenty twenty three a four percent rise versus August twenty twenty three year to date.

BEVs share is eighteen percent so across Europe it's a little lower than maybe we have here but eighteen percent year to date BEVs share.

I think it's incredible now that might still be below what some of the forecasts were by twenty twenty five back post lockdowns.

There were some forecasts around that you know the Europe would be around thirty percent share by twenty twenty five and I know we've got a couple of months of the year to go but we're not going to get to thirty percent.

And so because of some of those expert predictions the carmaker predictions the forecasts from the industry not being met there is some adjustment to do and then obviously negative headlines from people who don't understand such things that you know you and I understand.

Which is well the carmakers are pulling back on EVs with the predictions post lockdown were almost heady they were they were frothy.

Let's face it thirty percent pure BEVs share of the European market this year.

Well you know we are moving at a I still think a breakneck pace and August model standings were led by model Y.

Which will be a huge relief to Tesla followed by the Scott L Rock and the Tesla Model 3 Model 3 up fifteen percent in August August results reinforce EV momentum in Europe and support the case for continued investment in charging infrastructure and electrifying fleets.

We can strip things down to country level and then we get September data France recorded a hundred and forty thousand new cars in September which is flat but plug-in vehicles were twenty nine percent of the French market last month in September which is twenty two percent.

And six percent plug-in hybrid so a big preference to BEVs over plug-ins in France year to date plug-in share is twenty four percent in France the same point in twenty twenty four it was about the same BEV volume that was edging higher plug-in hybrids are falling in France after BEVs lag in the first half of the year Q3 improved model results again led in September by Tesla's Model Y.

It's largest monthly volume in two years after prior months showed roughly a one third year on your decline followed by the Renault five in France and the Renault scenic.

Audi's sales this time in the United States were up they were rising from five and a half thousand units in Q3 last year to eighteen thousand units in Q3 this year EVs were forty percent of Audi's US S business which is huge.

There are some caveats to this obviously because it was the end of the federal tax credit.

So there were some interesting things happening with stock being bought we know that Ford and GM's finance arms were buying up stock from dealers who bought it from the car makers now the finance arms are buying it off the dealers.

And so interesting movement of you know volumes and things like that but within the Audi brand in the United States the Q6 e-tron outsold its combustion version the Q5 which is kind of huge news actually quarterly model totals were a six sport back e-tron three and a half thousand Q4 e-tron including the sport back three and a half thousand about the same.

And the Q6 e-tron including the sport back ten and a half thousand or so so really big.

Some Q8 are still being sold but in smaller numbers in the e-tron GT still selling under a thousand but still selling the A6 sport back e-tron three times the sales of the conventional A6 and slightly more than the A5 signaling consumer preference for EVs at least in September in the United States.

Oh and Cadillac and BMW and Dacia news coming up stick around back in a moment.

All right welcome back to the podcast.

Since 2013 for both Q3 and year to date numbers Cadillac is surging and it's all thanks to electric vehicles partly driven by the expiration of course of the EV tax credit two in five new Cadillac buyers now go all electric.

Year over year Q3 EV deliveries were up 154% and up 88% year to date for Cadillac model breakdown what's selling well Lyric is number one for Cadillac.

Optic then Vistic and with subsidies expiring Q4 will test whether Cadillac can sustain EV momentum but the mix of newer models indicates growing EV uptake.

BMW and Stellantis are both matching the seven and a half thousand dollar federal EV tax credit after it expired a week ago to avoid immediate price increases for buyers.

The Trump administration has announced plans to end the credit before its expiration and EV sales were sharply up in the run up.

Stellantis will mirror the EPA program across its EV and plug-in models applying only to dealer inventory though customers must take delivery by the 3rd of November and the offer may end at any time.

Eligible models include the Alfa Romeo Tenale Chrysler Pacifica Dodge Charger Daytona Dodge Hornet RT the Wrangler 4xE the Grand Cherokee 4xE in the Wagon RS.

BMW on their part though is offering the same seven and a half thousand dollars off MSRP on the fully electric models and five thousand dollars off the 750E plug-in hybrid.

No credit though for the 550E and the X5 XDrive.

Rebates apply to vehicles financed through BMW financial services not leases again by November 1st.

Dacia has revised the Spring city car with stronger motors and a lithium-ion phosphate battery to improve everyday driving.

The refreshed Dacia Spring is important because for many it's the cheapest car they can buy.

Now there's Citroen Amis and things, they're quad recycles.

Dacia produced about 12,000 pounds here at the moment. The Spring for not much more money you can get the Leapmotor T03 which is always my advice because the Dacia Spring in its cheapest form really is.

It's cheap, affordable, motoring but it's not, you don't get a huge amount for your money. It's not a great value play compared to the Leapmotor which is a thousand pounds more but you get a lot more.

Now Dacia revising the Spring to offer a front mounted motor of either 69hp or 99hp.

So entry level expression trim and the top spec extreme trim both getting new motors and both of those are even the base model a lot bigger than the previous biggest motor.

The earlier powered Springs would do 62 miles an hour in 19.1 seconds and good luck if you were trying to overtake anything.

It really did struggle on motorways. It was the slowest accelerating car in the UK.

Dacia says the new setup delivers 20% more power and torque from 50 to 75 with the Spring 70 covering the midrange 50 to 70 in 10 seconds and the Spring 100 as they're calling it which is the 99hp but we'll call it 100 in 7 seconds.

So much more usable car up at speed. The battery actually gets smaller but only by a tiny amount and the chemistry moves to LFP and it's actually more efficient.

So this is the first Renault Group model to use the new LFP Pack. It's 24.3kWh which is small.

Dacia says it cuts costs though, extends cycle life and improves thermal safety.

WLTP range actually stays the same so WLTP stays at 140 miles. That's enough for many people's commute.

You know what, that's enough for many people's working week.

Maybe this is a second car but maybe if you need safe reliable transport, maybe as a single person or as a couple, even a small family.

Then, and you don't do a huge amount of miles, you know I say this all the time, it's all about use case.

Why would you buy a big SUV that is expensive?

I need to buy to ensure to run to park in small English parking spaces.

If you need cheap reliable transport and then three or four times a year maybe you go on a holiday or a road trip.

Why wouldn't you just hire a big car?

You know, so many people want a car in their driveway for every eventuality and I'm really sympathetic to those.

It's probably part of me that exactly the same by the way.

But why would you not just have a car and some e-bikes that suit your daily life?

I guess people want the freedom perhaps that they can wake up one morning and up sticks and do a thousand miles.

I don't know but the spring would really at 140 miles cover so many people's working week.

40 kilowatt is the DC peak charging speed. That's still up from 30.

Pricing is going to say they say RRP £15,000 but look that's the base price and that's the RRP as well.

I think if you go on to car wow right now, Dacia Spring current offers £12,832.

27 kilowatt hour pack that's the old expression 65 trim with the 48 kilowatt motor so not necessarily a great choice for loads of people.

Cheap motoring and I've seen it actually cheaper than that before.

Leap motor again RRP is £16,000 but it only has one trim but it's 70 kilowatt motor, 37 kilowatt hour battery pack

and offers quite a lot more value than the Dacia Spring and a bit more value as well than the Dolphin Surf as well from BYD.

That's 65 kilowatt motor, 30 kilowatt hour battery pack, a little bit more efficient.

These are small cars. They should be super efficient but none of them are crazy efficient for some reason.

Just the technology they're using and again that's maybe a couple of thousand more.

The Leap motor 14,000 last time I checked again wait till the end of the month or the year you might get some better offers on that

and then a couple of thousand more four cars like I say the BYD Dolphin Surf, the Hyundai Insta.

They all sit around 17,000 Citroën EC3 sitting around 17,000.

Then it's a little jump to go up to something like the Renault 5 eTec at 20, you know that next level of car up.

Well on Dacia for making the spring even better that actually makes it if they're keeping the price a much, much more compelling option,

much less of an obvious choice for me to recommend just go for the Leap motor at that end of the market.

I think that deserves a very, very good look now.

Scania next in the news unveiling a high-floor battery electric coach platform at the Busworld Europe event in Brussels

targeting urban and intercity duties.

The show included a right-hand drive, Kitano body demonstrator and an Irizar i3 electric on a Scania chassis.

The architecture supports fully electric high-floor vehicles, retains all the luggage volume nearly equivalent to a conventional coach

and has a range of body types. Scania says the platform uses proven components from the e-machine.

They call it through to the batteries and the charging interface.

Performance figures include peak power of 330 kilowatts, a battery of 534 kilowatt hours and a range of up to 600 kilometers.

This will charge at 325 kilowatts DC fast charging.

Scania is launching the platform alongside their electric ecosystem for smart charging, managing peak energy costs, preserving battery health and things like that.

Kia has begun production of the PV5, an electric light commercial van built on its skateboard-style EGMP-S platform rather than a combustion-derived retrofit.

And there's different body styles, cargo, passenger, wheelchair, accessible camper and crew van.

The front-mounted electric motor is 120 kilowatts, the base battery is 51, the big battery is 71 kilowatt hours.

The larger pack, 258 miles.

DC fast charging 150 kilowatts, so 10 to 18, a half hour stop, that's about right.

AC charging at 22 kilowatts.

Front-mounted charging socket means all the rear access and the rear cargo area is untouched.

And so you can put different layouts, cargo layouts up to 5.2 cubic meters.

That fits a couple of Euro pallets, by the way.

The passenger model will initially seat five, but obviously it's going to be a big vehicle, so seats folded down, loads of space.

It's going to run Android Automotive, which is really good news.

12.9 inch display and links to Kia's fleet management system as well if you need it.

Kia warranties the vehicle for seven years or 100,000 miles and the battery and motor for eight years or 100,000 miles.

Mass production of the passenger and long cargo versions underway at their plant in Korea.

Moving on, Universal EV Chargers now offers flat rate DC charging in Illinois.

Interesting is $15 per session with no hidden fees, which replaces time-based rates.

Drivers plug-in using either CCS or NACS scan the charger's QR code and start charging.

Now, most EVs can reach 80% in 30 minutes, and each session is a flat rate cost of $15, regardless of duration.

So you wouldn't want to, you know, walk away and someone hit stop on the screen.

Not that anyone would do that, but even then, you'd want to make sure that you get your full charge.

No membership is required in Illinois.

You need the Universal EV app, which provides maps, receipts and a statewide view.

And an interactive map of Illinois locations available.

$15 per charge model certainly removes uncertainty.

And certainly drivers then have confidence that, well, I know that I'm going to go fill up my car for $15.

So if my car is pretty empty and I'm going to sit on it till full, and if you're paying a flat fee,

I'm guessing you're going to sit on it till you're full, which isn't ideal for DC charging.

You know, but 98, 99% is most cars are just dribbling into the battery.

But, you know, maybe if you're putting these charges in shopping centers or places where you do leave your car,

and maybe it's part of a parking charge.

So maybe it's $10 to park and $15 to charge.

You could wrap that all into the price of your day out or something.

Interesting. It's not really a model I think a lot about, but flat rate charging.

And finally, which EV startup is embracing LiDAR?

Well, that would be Rivian.

Adding LiDAR sensors to their next-gen vehicles and shifting their self-driving hardware approach to LiDAR.

A job advert went out recently for Rivian's team, the one responsible for mapping and sensor calibration.

And they want software roles to build algorithms to calibrate the current sensor suite along with LiDAR.

That's cameras and radar all working together alongside LiDAR.

Now, LiDAR is a light-based sensing technology for high-resolution 3D perception it can see at night.

It aligns with CEO RJ Scaring's remarks in August during the Q2 earnings call

about the company's long-term autonomy strategy.

Some, such as the Chinese, I think it's X-Pung.

Maybe it's Xiaomi. It's one of the X's. I think it's X-Pung.

I'm moving to Vision Only. They're moving away from a complete sensor suite.

Tesla is most famously Vision Only.

Others say that the technology is out there.

And what used to cost thousands of dollars in LiDAR sensors, it now costs tens of dollars.

The price crash from ten years ago to now on a LiDAR sensor.

There's different types of LiDAR. There's different resolutions of sensor and whatnot.

It's not just reflecting the decrease in battery costs, which has also been pretty precipitous, let's face it.

But you can add LiDAR for not a huge amount of money.

And Rivian will be doing that. They haven't given us details.

It probably won't be in the R2 vehicles. Maybe. Maybe not.

Because those vehicles are on the road right now.

But you would think perhaps R3, R4, R5, that it's going to be their route to autonomy.

And that's your podcast for today.

Thanks to our premium partners, Porsche of the Village in Cincinnati, Audi of Cincinnati East,

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Have a good and cinema. And remember, there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.

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DAILY: Euro EV Sales Updates, U.S. Car Makers Maintain Discounts and Dacia Upgrade Spring EV | 07 Oct 2025

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