DAILY: Scout Clear Dealer Hurdle, Diesel Cars Scrapped and MG4 Urban | 18 Jan 2026

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For limited time only, prices and participation may vary.

Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California

and for delivery.

Forget the pressure to overhaul your life.

The new year doesn't need a new you.

It needs you, grounded, supported and ready to grow.

Grow therapy helps you make meaningful change

at your pace and on your time.

Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th,

grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you,

not the other way around.

They connect you with thousands of independent,

licensed therapists across the US,

offering both virtual and in-person sessions,

nights and weekends.

You can search by what matters,

like insurance, specialty, identity or availability

to get started in as little as two days.

And if something comes up,

you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost.

There are no subscriptions and no long-term commitments.

You just pay per session.

Grow helps you find therapy on your time.

Whatever challenges you're facing,

grow therapy is here to help.

Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans,

including Medicaid in some states.

Sessions average about $21 with insurance

and some pay as little as $0, depending on their plan.

Visit growtherapy.com slash get started today to get started.

That's growtherapy.com slash get started,

growtherapy.com slash get started.

Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

New year, same extra value meals at McDonald's.

Now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg,

plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5.

For limited time only, prices and participation may vary.

Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska,

and California and for delivery.

Welcome back to EV News Daily.

Today, Scout clears some dealer hurdles,

diesel cars being scrapped, and the MG4 Urban.

Plus, stay tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you which other EVs

the head of Volvo thinks will be doing the most

to drive electric adoption.

No EV News China today as it's the weekend.

Our spin-off podcast looking at China happens weekdays.

And join me later for a bonus show,

actually the first in a brand new format.

I'll try out EV opinions.

I've been trying to editorialize a little less recently

and focus on the news instead.

However, our latest sponsor, Nathan Gore Brown

from Test EV, suggested one time a week

when I could just do an opinion piece.

And then if people come in just to hear the news

and not what somebody thinks and the host thinks,

they can just not listen to that one.

But as a way of scratching that itch,

I love that idea.

So tonight, it's our first EV opinion.

Why Europe's small car category is a great idea.

Purely my thoughts, purely my chitchat, my ramble,

my opinion, feel free to disagree or just don't listen.

There won't be a lot of hard news in the episode tonight.

On Patreon, it'll be live tonight for patrons

and all patron exclusives go into the free feed

after seven days.

So nothing really topical or breaking news.

So if you are listening to the free feed

and don't want to support my work on Patreon, that's fine.

I know everyone's skin to the minute,

but you will get all the content just seven days behind.

You can have a look at patreon.com slash EV news daily.

Let's kick off Scout can now legally sell

its vehicles in California,

approval in California with its exacting regulators

and outsize influence on vehicle standards.

Marks a concrete step in Scouts push for a national footprint.

The firm has also obtained permits in several other states,

laying the legal groundwork before it talks up volume

or scale in the car trade.

This often takes longer and costs more than the engineering.

Sometimes the new licenses and permits show that Scout is doing

the work that underpins its sales plan,

state by state approvals, alignment with local rules

and the paperwork that binds them for an entrant

without a legacy deal in that work or historic regulatory ties.

Each state sign off shows that its compliance machinery

is starting to work, but not so fast.

There's one thing getting permission from California

license to sell your vehicles and permits being provided by other states.

The dealer lobby in the US is incredibly strong, very powerful,

and their intent on seeing Scouts legally as a VW offshoot

rather than its own entity.

And therefore they want a cut of every scout sold

through their own dealership for courts.

So lots of approvals, lots of paperwork

and the whole dealership issue has still got to be addressed

through the courts as well. But baby steps.

OK, let's move on.

Diesel cars are heading for the scrap heap as EVs surge.

Diesel's run on Britain's roads is fortunately ending.

Registered diesel cars have dropped to 9.9 million down 21 percent

from a peak on our roads of 12.4 million.

Electric vehicles still trail with 1.7 million registrations,

but a report by New Automotive reckons that by 2030,

what with the rate that the diesels are being taken off the road as they age,

EVs will potentially outnumber diesels.

Sometime 2030, it's a date for your diary.

It's in the calendar now.

I'll come back and check and I can't wait to see what the results are.

At 6.98 million electric cars is the forecast sometime then.

Versus five million diesels.

So if you remember old school diesels, they have been around a long time,

but they got better really quickly.

So I remember getting into watching car shows when I was getting into cars.

So I was born 78.

So I suppose early teens, maybe late 80s, early 90s,

I started to really get, you know, cars on my bedroom wall, as it were.

I was I was more cars than music growing up.

And so watching things like early top gear before they rebooted

top gear when when top gear was a car review show.

You remember seeing they'd review the latest diesel

and it was still a tractor and it still chugged along and spat out black smoke.

And they tried to talk about the benefits of diesel and a bit of torque and stuff like that.

But during the nineties and noughties, there was such a push with diesel technology.

And then, of course, regulations because government, our government

got completely obsessed with CO2, which diesel can be pretty good.

I mean, not great for everything else, but CO2 can be lower.

So they offered ridiculously low tax rates on diesel.

Everybody bought one because we were told, oh, they're cleaner, clean diesel.

There's an oxymoron.

I felt like a moron.

I bought plenty of diesels back in the day.

Well, this shift matters, not for symbolism, but for scale.

Last year, electric car sales were up 24 percent in the UK to 473,000 units.

Funnily enough, 24 percent, same number of all new car registrations,

and 33 percent when you include cars with a plug on the side of them.

Our government's mandate, zero emission vehicle mandates,

called different things, we'll call it that, will push harder, though,

with sales targets of 28 percent by the end of the year, 33 percent by 2027.

We were there in December, by the way, the market is already moving in that direction.

Diesel, by contrast, I'm so happy to say, is in retreat.

Only 103,000 new diesel sold last year.

That's 15 percent year on year fall.

It's just precipitous now.

The 2015 emissions cheating scandal turned a slow decline into a rush for the exit

as policy and consumer tastes really shifted.

The diesel fleet is aging and heading for the scrap yard

while EVs are getting younger and more numerous, narrowing the gap each year.

That's not to say that if you don't look after a diesel car, regular oil changes

and there's still going to be loads to go wrong on our diesel golf.

Well, it took how many two diesel injectors?

They're like 700 quid a time.

Oh, my gosh, just so many oily bits.

Oh, we spent so much money on combustion cars over the years.

Oh, I hate to think EVs.

What have EVs cost me?

Nothing was appreciation is what they've cost me because I bought them expensive

and they always get go down.

But hopefully we're over that hump of really bad depreciation now.

But have they gone wrong?

No, touch wood.

I've been lucky, maybe.

But still, most cars in the UK still are on petrol, which is 58 percent of the car park.

Hybrids are 6 percent diesel is feeling the squeeze.

London could become the first diesel free city by 2030 driven by tight emissions rules.

Petrol stations there may stop selling diesel by the end of the decade.

We're four years away.

It's 2026.

We're in now and we're talking about petrol stations in London in our in our capital city.

Just taking out the diesel pumps.

What's the point?

No one's buying any.

You can't drive your diesels into London.

So why are we doing it?

There will be some around.

But that's that's called range anxiety, my friend.

When you're driving a diesel car like a hydrogen car now and you can't fill it up.

Now, that's range anxiety.

I don't want to ever feel that.

So the transition is being sold not as a moral or a green crusade,

but upgrading your life.

A technological upgrade, an economic upgrade on current trends by 2030.

Britain will have more than one electric car for every diesel still on the road.

Now, let's talk about some more reaction to Friday's news of Canada

waving those 100 percent tariffs on Chinese imports going way, way down to 6.1 percent.

Tesla and Geely's Volvo Polestar and Lotus

do look like they're going to be some of the early winners.

Ottawa will now allow 49,000 Chinese EVs in a year at 6.1 percent tariff

rather than 100 percent in exchange for some economic benefits

trading with China on canola and seafood and farm things.

The change aims to draw long term investment as well from Chinese car makers.

Tesla fits the bill.

It imported more than forty four thousand

EVs into Canada in twenty twenty three.

That's the last full year before the 100 percent tariffs.

Now, why did Canada go for forty nine thousand Chinese Bill TVs?

Well, that was the number in twenty twenty three that it imported.

So obviously, not all of those cars were from Giga Shanghai,

if any of them were from Canada.

They're from Berlin these days for for various reasons.

But Volvo and Polestar, both controlled by Geely,

they can move fast according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Analysis from Joanna Chen, Transport Canada is going to certify

new Chinese EVs within eight weeks.

So Volvo's Polestar's that are made in China

will be able to pretty quickly find an audience.

The deal caps a buoyant month for China's auto industry

after the European Commission also eased its path by removing the harshest tariffs.

We're talking about price flaws here, which now that we don't have to focus on

if Chinese cars are going to be sold here at a loss and subsidized back at home

by Chinese funding, actually a price flaw means that Chinese cars

can focus on quality above everything else.

And yeah, boy, are they if you haven't heard

that we have a spin off show called EV News China.

Polestar has already pivoted towards the US made Polestar three

and the Polestar four built in South Korea after the US and Canadian tariffs.

BYD has no real Canadian sales to fall back on,

but stands to gain as well from the mass market.

Now we're going to talk a bit more about Chinese EVs in Australia

and Ford's in-house EV platform in a moment back in a sec.

Forget the pressure to overhaul your life.

The New Year doesn't need a new you.

It needs you grounded, supported and ready to grow.

Grow Therapy helps you make meaningful change at your pace and on your time.

Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th,

Grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around.

They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists

across the US, offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends.

You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty,

identity or availability to get started in as little as two days.

And if something comes up, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost.

There are no subscriptions and no long term commitments.

You just pay per session.

Grow helps you find therapy on your time.

Whatever challenges you're facing, Grow Therapy is here to help.

Grow accepts over a hundred insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states.

Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan.

Visit growtherapy.com slash get started today to get started.

That's growtherapy.com slash get started.

Growtherapy.com slash get started.

Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

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For limited time only, prices and participation may vary.

Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California and for delivery.

All right, welcome back to the podcast.

Now, Chinese built cars top almost every safety chart in Australia.

In Ancap's 2025 ratings, they led six of seven vehicle classes.

The old trope that made in China means flimsy and crappy.

Well, it no longer does.

And that's the thing.

I'm trying to present the news on our spin-off show, EV News China, and also on here as well.

In the most straight forward way, straight ahead way that I can, just presenting the facts.

Sometimes as I see them as well.

And I still got a comment last Friday, which is you are promoting communism.

You're promoting suppression of workers.

And I'm not doing any of that.

What, where was the phone that you just typed your insult to me made?

Where are your clothes made?

And if the answer to that is I'm using an American made mobile phone wearing

an American cotton t-shirt and American jeans with then absolutely.

I respect that.

And this is that's not the place for this podcast to head down.

I'm just presenting the technology as it is.

And now we see in Australia, the safest cars you can drive a Chinese cars.

Well, scale and momentum now sit with China.

Every Ancap category winner by the Hilux is an EV from China.

Chinese vehicles made up 18 percent of new car sales in Australia last year.

Ancap bases its scores on four pillars, adult occupant protection,

child occupant protection, vulnerable road user and safety assistance.

Drawing on recent recent crash and safety tests and on Euro and cap data as well.

Their highlight last year was the Tesla Model Y.

The shark six plug-in hybrids slash the rev.

It's a complicated powertrain track the Toyota Hilux so closely in its own class.

Now, Ford next in the news and Ford's first in-house electric only platform

will debut on a midsize pickup built in Kentucky in twenty twenty seven

Europe, where compact EVs are selling very well, will have to wait.

The universal electric vehicle architecture can underpin models below midsize.

Ford of Europe president Jim Baumbic said on paper that suits Europe's

compact car market in practice, it would demand a very significant undertaking

in terms of engineering and capital intensity.

The caution marks a shift for Ford.

Earlier, EVs were pushing into Europe using Volkswagen's MEB platform.

They haven't delivered the profits the firm hoped for.

The Explorer and Capri electric cars assembled in Cologne and sharing

hardware with the ID foreign Audi Q4 E-tron have underwhelmed in the sales charts.

Ford has now turned to Renault as their plan be from twenty twenty eight.

The French car maker will take over building two electric cars for Ford

on its AMPR or AMPA or a small EV platform.

They say it's the right answer for us at Ford in a first round of EV

investments that force both the company and the industry to rethink capital

deployment using Renault's hardware cuts Ford's upfront spending and trims risk.

They haven't ruled out bringing the you EV platform to Europe.

Just not right now.

MG four has been updated in China.

The car we've got rear wheel drive, fabulous chassis.

The car reviewers absolutely love that MG four Euro end cap may have revealed

that we're going to get the new one, though.

And the new MG four is not like the old MG four.

The new MG four is a complete reworking.

It's much softer in terms of its looks for a start.

Looks entirely different.

The chassis is entirely different.

It's made to be a more value budget car in China.

I don't know if we necessarily want it,

but it looks like it's coming.

MG have insisted.

No, no, we'll just update the existing MG four.

It's a much better drivers car suits European tastes.

And it's, you know, it's a great car selling really well.

But the test results list the MG four urban,

which strongly suggests that we'll get the second generation MG four.

After all, despite their insistence that we won't, why would they be crash testing it?

If so, MG looks to split its compact EV lineup.

The MG four urban could still be sold alongside the existing MG four

or they could both get maybe some restyling.

OK, not after the crash testing, admittedly.

But while the refreshed MG four moves more upmarket, maybe with larger batteries,

there are some, you know, high performance versions of the MG four, the X power,

the big battery one as well.

I rate those cars so highly.

Everything that I've seen from the Chinese new MG four,

it's not a driver's car in any way,

but it has been updated with their current styling with a 43 kilowatt hour LFP pack.

That's small, 272 miles at CLTC cycle.

It's got a front wheel drive, a smaller motor,

and it does, yes, use the current styling that we see on the MG six SUV internally.

So that styling will probably be updated,

but we'll wait and see what they bring.

MG UK and MG Europe are different beasts,

and so maybe different cars go different places.

Ram have been talking about their range extender arriving last but first.

Stellantis showed up at the Detroit Auto Show with the Ram 1500 Rev,

an extended range pickup truck that will be built the second half of this year.

They insist as a 2027 model year.

It was first unveiled in 2023.

Then it was called the Ram Charger and the EV was the Ram Rev.

They've ditched the EV version.

They've changed the naming and they've slipped in timing,

but they've clipped one claim all along.

This will be the first e-rev pickup by an American car maker.

The aim is simple, keep the electric drive characteristics,

but dump the range anxiety.

The Ram 1500 Rev with an electric chassis, two electric drive motors,

647 horsepower, 92 kilowatt hour battery pack,

and the engine never drives the wheels.

So pure EV mode, 145 miles if you plug it in every night.

With a full charge and a full tank, they say 690 miles.

You've got to get 700 guys. Come on. Come on.

You've got to push it. 700 is the big number.

Do what you can. Make the fuel tank bigger.

It's going to be psychological if you say 700.

The 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 is a generator never driving the wheels,

topping up the battery to keep the performance steady when the pack runs low.

The truck, I think the one on show uses a CCS-1 charging port.

No chance. That'll be next by the time it comes out, won't it? Won't it?

Won't it, Ram?

You're not going to ship a CCS car, are you?

With a twenty seven twenty seven model year, you're not.

Are you? Hmm.

Stellantis is an interesting beast,

and they make interesting choices

once to match traditional truck metrics.

Now, Unigrid has begun international shipments of its sodium iron batteries,

becoming the first firm outside China to export sodium iron cells

at commercial scale for storage.

The move matters far less for the volume than for the method.

Instead of pouring money into new gigafactories,

Unigrid uses what they say, a foundry subscription model

outsourcing production to existing plants that lets its scale without capital spending.

Its chief exec points to this as proof

that advanced battery technologies can reach the market without the usual bill.

Regulation no longer blocks the way.

Unigrid's sodium iron cells have got all the

certification they need, clearing them for commercialization and global shipping.

With that in hand, the company started to deliver offtake agreements

that depend on predictable supply rather than lab promises.

They show that sodium iron, long seen as promising,

is now ready for prime time.

And finally, Volvo will launch its new EX-60 on January 21st with three days away from it.

But they say that it'll be made at its Tushlander plant in Sweden

in the first half of the year, that it'll be on the new XPA3 platform,

which they're saying is a Volvo platform, which is important

because they're owned, of course, by Geely, and America has

some restrictions on technology, not just the 100% import tariffs,

but some restrictions on Chinese technology.

So Volvo at pains to say, oh, no, this is a Volvo platform.

Those chips, those computers, we control those.

We're Swedish, yeah.

And so, you know, so I'm joking, but I'm not joking at the same time.

This is a very delicate issue.

And also the cars on the shared platforms like SPA2

and some of the stuff like the Zika platform

that was used for the Polestar hasn't been entirely problem free

because you're using essentially a Chinese platform

with all of the software in the ADAS and then you're putting in a Polestar.

But either way, they say we're ready for prime time and it'll all be Swedish.

Trust us. And then it's going to have a range of 505 miles on WLTP.

Now, how can Samuelson is Volvo's old boss and he's now the new boss?

He came back in April 2025 to try and fix some of the sales issues.

And I think some of the obviously bigger issues that Volvo were having.

He's cast the EX60 as part of a trilogy

that's coming out of Europe right now that is going to push EV adoption.

And he specifically called out the new BMW Neue Klasse IX3.

Obviously, there's more vehicles coming on that.

There's the new three series that will go further because it's more aero.

But either way, he called out the IX3 and he called out the Mercedes GLC.

These are all vehicles that he didn't mention the Mercedes Benz CLA,

but that's almost 500 miles.

These are a cluster of launches that move buyers towards buying an EV

because when you have 500 miles WLTP over 400 EPA,

then you're no longer worried about range and charging.

The EX60 will be priced to match some plug-in hybrids in the sector.

But Samuelson says should yield good margins,

giving Volvo more room to scale the car, strong EX60 volumes matter.

Volvo cars sold 710 vehicles, 710 a bit more, 710,000 vehicles last year.

But that was 13 percent down on the previous year,

which is why he returned in April last year after a previous spell

as a very successful chief exec.

Now he has to prove that big range in a midsize is the formula.

And that's your podcast for today.

Thanks to our premium partners, National Car Charging on the US Mainland

and Aloha Charge in Hawaii and Test EV, Avalos Trusted Partner

for independent EV battery health testing in Australia and New Zealand.

Have a good one.

See you tomorrow.

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

Forget the pressure to overhaul your life.

The New Year doesn't need a new you.

It needs you, grounded, supported and ready to grow.

Grow Therapy helps you make meaningful change at your pace and on your time.

Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th,

Grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around.

They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists

across the US, offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends.

You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity or availability

to get started in as little as two days.

And if something comes up, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost.

There are no subscriptions and no long term commitments.

You just pay per session.

Grow helps you find therapy on your time.

Whatever challenges you're facing, Grow Therapy is here to help.

Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states.

Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0,

depending on their plan.

Visit growtherapy.com slash get started today to get started.

That's growtherapy.com slash get started.

Growtherapy.com slash get started.

Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

New Year, same extra value meals at McDonald's.

Now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5.

For limited time only, prices and participation may vary.

Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California and for delivery.

Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI.

They are already deployed one.

It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping.

Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks,

it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love.

It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing and estimate trading value.

Advanced, intuitive and deployed.

That's how they stack.

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DAILY: Scout Clear Dealer Hurdle, Diesel Cars Scrapped and MG4 Urban | 18 Jan 2026

About this episode

MG4 Urban

EVs

Volvo

electric vehicles

diesels

diesel technology

CO2

electric car

zero emission vehicle mandates

Golf

diesel injectors

petrol

range anxiety

electric vehicle (EV)

Lotus

Giga Shanghai

Polestar

tariffs

Toyota Hilux

Tesla Model

electric vehicle architecture

Ford Capri

Ford Explorer

Audi Q4 E-tron

MG 4

LFP pack

CLTC cycle

Dodge Ram

Ram 1500 Rev

pure EV mode

Pentastar V6

Bmw Neue

BMW Neue Klasse

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