Hair shirt - 10 February 2026
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Car
MG HS
The MG HS is a type of SUV made by MG, a car brand. It's designed to be stylish and practical, which means it's good for everyday use and has a lot of space inside.
Car
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car that many people use for everyday driving. It's known for being reliable and fun to drive.
Car
Volkswagen Tiguan
The Volkswagen Tiguan is a small SUV that has more room inside for passengers and luggage. It's a good choice for families or anyone needing extra space.
Car
Nissan Juke
The Nissan Juke is a small SUV that stands out because of its unusual shape. It's popular among younger drivers who want something different.
Car
Vauxhall Corsa
The Vauxhall Corsa is a small car that is easy to park and great for city driving. It's known for being fuel-efficient and affordable.
Car
Nissan Qashqai
The Nissan Qashqai is a small SUV that is great for city driving. It has a comfortable interior and is popular for its good fuel economy.
Car
Ford Puma
The Ford Puma is a small SUV that looks sporty and is easy to drive around town. It has modern features and is good on gas.
Car
Kia Sportage
The Kia Sportage is a small SUV that is known for being a good value. It's safe and has a modern look, making it a popular choice for families.
Brand
Honda
Honda is a car company from Japan that makes popular vehicles like the Civic and Accord.
Brand
Jaguar
Jaguar is a luxury car brand from the UK that makes high-end vehicles like the F-Type and XE.
Brand
Lotus
Lotus is a car company from the UK that makes lightweight sports cars that are very fast and fun to drive.
Brand
Tesla
Tesla is a company that makes electric cars. They are known for being very advanced and for having features like self-driving capabilities.
Brand
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo is a car brand from Italy that makes stylish and sporty cars. They have a long history in racing and are known for their unique designs.
Brand
Alpine
Alpine is a French car brand that makes fun and fast sports cars. They are known for being light and great to drive, especially on winding roads.
Brand
Audi
Audi is a car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars, known for their quality and technology.
Brand
BYD
BYD is a car company from China that makes electric cars and batteries, and it's growing quickly.
Brand
Citroen
Citroen is a French car brand that makes cars known for their comfort and unique designs.
Brand
Polestar
Polestar is a car brand from Sweden that makes electric cars, focusing on performance and sustainability.
Company
Stellantis
Stellantis is a big car company that makes many different brands of vehicles. It was created when two companies joined together: Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group.
Car
Dodge Ram
The Dodge Ram is a big truck that can carry heavy loads and is great for work or towing things like trailers. It's popular because it's strong and can handle tough jobs.
Brand
Fiat
Fiat is a car brand from Italy that makes small and city-friendly cars. They are part of a larger group that includes other brands like Peugeot and Citroën.
Brand
Citroën
Citroën is a car brand from France that is known for making unique and innovative cars. They offer a range of vehicles for families and city driving.
Car
Jeep Cherokee
The Jeep Cherokee is a small SUV that can handle rough roads and off-road adventures. It's popular because it looks tough and can be used for both everyday driving and outdoor activities.
Brand
Opel
Opel is a car brand from Germany that makes different types of vehicles. It's part of a larger group of car companies now.
Company
General Motors
General Motors is a big American car company that used to own Opel and Vauxhall. They make many different car brands and models.
Company
LG Energy Solution
LG Energy Solution is a company that makes batteries, especially for electric cars. They help car manufacturers by providing the batteries needed to power these vehicles.
Term
automotive cells (ACC)
Automotive cells are batteries made specifically for cars, especially electric ones. They help the car run and determine how far it can go before needing to be charged.
Car
Toyota Highlander
The Toyota Highlander is a type of car called an SUV, which is bigger than a regular car and can hold more people and stuff. It's popular because it's safe, comfortable, and good for families who need extra space.
Concept
EV charging infrastructure
EV charging infrastructure is the system of charging stations where electric cars can recharge their batteries. It's important because it helps more people feel comfortable using electric vehicles.
Car
Mazda 121
The Mazda 121 is a small car that is easy to drive and park, making it great for city life. It's known for being cheap to run and is a good option if you want something simple and reliable.
Car
Kia Stonic
The Kia Stonic is a small SUV that looks stylish and is easy to drive. It's a good choice if you want a car that can handle everyday errands while still being fun to drive.
Car
Ferrari Luce
The Ferrari Luce is Ferrari's first electric car, marking a new direction for the brand. It has a special interior designed by Johnny Ive, who is famous for designing Apple products.
Car
Peugeot 205
The Peugeot 205 CTI is a small, fun car that you can drive with the top down. It's loved by many because it's light and easy to handle, making it enjoyable to drive.
Car
Bmw M1
The BMW M1 is a famous sports car made by BMW in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It has a unique design and is known for being fast and powerful, with a special engine that helps it perform well.
LIVE
Welcome to the Motoring Podcast, your weekly discussion of Motoring News.
This is episode 670 on Tuesday, the 10th of February, 2026.
Hello, I'm Alan.
Hello, I'm Andrew.
And this week you'll hear us ponder if it's finally time to re-evaluate one mandate.
In new car news, you'll hear us ask why, at least twice.
And in points of interest, you will read about photographing your car.
And this week we have no follow-up, and it is near the start of the month, Alan.
It is.
That can only mean one thing, can it not?
Yes, it means it's time for the new car registration figures for last month.
Woo, I hear you all cry.
Headline figure.
Year on year, so compared to January 2025, the new car market rose 3.4% move.
It rose to 144,127 units.
The volume of battery electric cars rose this year compared to last year, but market
share is down.
And overall, the outlook anticipates the market to grow 1.4% in 2026, which is basically
a rounding error.
And the EV share, however, is expected to rise to 28.5%.
I'm sure we'll come back to that shortly.
As far as fueling and stuff, the number of just petrol and mild hybrids went down 1.9%
of market share to 68,757.
Now, for diesel, it was down 8.8% to 7,862.
Hybrids were up 4.8% year on year to 19,297.
Battery electric vehicles, the second largest segment nowadays, were 29,654 vehicles, that's
up 0.1%.
And a plug-in hybrid, 18,557, that's up 47.3% compared to last year.
Overall market share, 47.7% for petrol, 5.5% for diesel, 13.4% for hybrids, 20.6% for battery
electric vehicles, and 12.9% for plug-in hybrids.
The numbers this time make it the most card January since 2024, about the same number,
isn't it?
Yeah, it's very close.
Hard to tell on the graph, it's very, very close, and if it's not 2024, then it's 2020.
Yeah.
Because we're scientific about these things.
Do you want to just do a quick rundown of who registered or what they were registered
against, like private fleet business?
Private registrations are up 4.5%, making that 36.4% market share.
We're up 1.6%, making it 61.2% market share and business, were up 46.5% to 2.4% market
share compared to last year.
Yeah.
Fleet is still the biggie.
Yeah.
It's critical.
It is so important.
It's lobsides the whole market and the industry.
Yeah.
And that's why, you know, the biggest fleets, like motability and stuff, are so important.
Yes.
Some of the reasons we talk about that kind of thing.
The top models list, let's run through these numbers very low.
Really, you know, there's so much segmentation in the market these days.
So many models on offer that you don't actually have to register a huge number of vehicles
every day to get onto this.
Number 10, the MGHS 2035.
Number nine, Volkswagen Golf 2072.
Number eight, Volkswagen Tiguan 2425.
Just ahead of that is the Nissan Juke 2517.
Number six is the BYD CLU, which is 2550.
Number five, Vauxhall Corsa 2992.
Number four, the Nissan Qashqai 2995.
Number three, the Ford Puma.
Finally, a bit of a gap in there because everything else has been developed by under
a thousand vehicles across the month so far.
Ford Puma 3715.
Another jump to number two, the Jai Ku 74059.
And ahead of that, at number one, the Kia Sportage 4675.
Yep.
Not a lot in most of that, and then the sort of top three really quite far ahead.
Well, I'll take us onto the spreadsheet of doom then, and I will run through the doom.
It's not a lot of doom, really.
I get the longer list this month.
So I have to go all the way down to the letter D to get the first doomy that meets our criteria.
And that is, dash is down at 16.5%, DS is down 81%.
So 19, 919 registered.
Wow.
Fiat is down 82%.
Now, that is quite a drop because in 2025, they registered 1,428.
And then this year, they registered 257.
That must be an availability thing.
What do they have to sell?
500, I suppose.
500, but isn't the Grandi Pandi out now?
Because they've got the 500 to 600.
I didn't think it was quite out yet.
I can't remember when it's coming out.
In what, or in January?
No.
GWM is down 85%.
Honda is down 46%.
Jaguar, surprising, no one is down 99.23%,
although they've still registered six cars somehow.
Yes.
We must have found them sitting in the back.
Oh, we thought these ones were in for warranty work.
No, no, they've not been sold yet, registered, yeah.
Jeep is down 38%.
Lotus is down 85%.
Now, that is a lot in terms of the pure numbers,
because in 25, that was 292.
In 26, it was only 43,
but that's an awful lot in terms of money as well.
Maxis is down 100% because they've registered no cars.
Plenty of vans though, so don't get.
Yeah, although the van market was suppressed in January,
should we say.
Nissan was down 17%.
Peugeot are down 19%.
Seat down 33%.
And Tesla is down 51%.
Oh, dear.
On the up, however, a bath up 16% to 22 vehicles this year,
so whopping three more than last year.
Alfa Mail is up 206%, Alpine is up 1600%,
and therefore win the non-sponsored MG award.
We're very deliberate with the wording.
Yes, we just wanted to be clear,
watch out for posts from other people coming up soon.
Apparently, we're influencers.
Audi 17%, BYD up 149%,
Citroen up 97%.
That's where all the DS buyers are obviously.
Cooper up 21%, if you want a really aggressively driven car.
Inios up 136%.
Jaiku up, and if it wasn't for Alpine,
they would be getting the award.
569.89%, to give you to the two decimal places.
KGM up 46%, Maserati up 15%,
Amoda up 211%, Polestar up 43%, Skywell up 500%.
Well, I think that backs it up when you look at the numbers.
Well, yes, OK, so it's gone from one to six.
All right, that's...
So I think the hoot is justified in this instance.
Yes, I think it is actually, it is.
Soon at the bottom, we'll have other British and other Chinese.
Yeah, just me.
As opposed to just other imports.
Smart up 34%, Subaru up 48%,
and other British up 23.45%.
Other imports, by the way, down 2.36%.
My cause, as ever,
rounds out the article that is linked in the show notes from SMMT
by saying Britain's new car market is building back momentum
after a challenging start to the decade.
It is also decarbonising more rapidly than ever.
And despite a January dip in EV market share,
the signs point to growth by the end of the year.
The pace of the transition, however, may be slowing
and is certainly behind mandated targets.
With sales of new pure petrol and diesel cars
planned to end in less than four years,
there needs to be a comprehensive review of the transition now
to ensure ambition can match reality.
Now, I asked the question before the show of Alan.
I said, is it time that we start listening to this?
Because SMMT have been saying this for a while now.
And we've brushed it off as they're looking for more financial help.
I just don't think they're going to manage the numbers.
I think the meetup numbers don't match reality.
And the thing is that really the government numbers
are made up numbers and they're harsher than ever.
It's like, we're going to have a bigger hair shirt than you are.
It's going to be itchier and scratchier
because we're not part of Europe anymore.
And that's basically what has been done here.
I made some comment about that's been British politics
for the last 10 years.
And we also said we weren't going to go into a great long political round
and that we would fail and I have done.
But the assumptions that the government made and subsequent governments
with the help of civil servants have not borne out to be the actual reality.
Yeah.
And no one is sitting there going, maybe lads, we all just need to take a breath
and readjust again back to what reality is,
which was sort of along the lines of a little bit less than pre-2019.
Yeah, I agree.
Will it happen though?
Who knows?
Yeah.
Anyway, I'm going to move us on to Stellantis.
Oh, not a good week for Stellantis last week.
They announced on Friday to the shock of the stock market.
It has to be said that they were going to have to write down
or they had written down 22.2 billion euros
by the fact that they were changing their EV strategy.
No, sorry, yes.
But by changing their EV strategy, that means not having an EV as the strategy,
particularly in North America.
Let's just be clear about this.
A lot of it whilst Stellantis are not always doing awesome everywhere,
North America has been the real problem.
Yes.
For a long time now, but since before it was Stellantis.
It feels like it's institutionalized problems, very much so.
Yeah, I mean, it's aiming for their target market and stuff.
I mean, even when I was over there, the joke was that you could get just about any finance
to buy a Dodge muscle car or a Ram pickup.
It didn't matter how bad your credit score was,
they'd finance you because they were desperate and that was three years ago.
It does feel like there is a lack of strategy.
There is a lack of focus.
There is a lack...
Well, there's a lack of focus across the group in which brands should we actually have,
should we continue with and what is their purpose?
I mean, DS, there's the example, six units.
Well, Maserati, DS, you go to America.
Maserati was up, but you do see more of that kind of thing in the US.
But whether or not they're profitable is a different matter.
It still feels like no one's going, this is what we want Maserati to do and it's called X.
It just feels like there's no strategies behind each of the brands.
It's just quick and pump out cars and sell them.
I think you can almost do it for Peugeot Fiat, the cause, Peugeot Fiat Citroen and possibly Jeep.
Jeep in Europe.
Okay, let me be careful about that because some of the various Cherokees and stuff in the US
so all blur into one and seem to be mostly on rental fleets and driven by border control agents.
But you say that, but Peugeot Fiat and Citroen, if you just lump in DS in there as well,
they're fighting each other.
I know different countries have preferences.
That was going to be my bet.
And then of course, there's Opel and Vauxhall and who knows what pair of them have been doing.
I mean, that's even says General Motors days.
Because if you just look at Britain, they're fairly spread across those brands.
What people go for.
So you are fighting for a smaller market and you're fighting for the same customer.
Yeah.
That the Chinese are now coming into.
I was going to say that the Chinese are now coming in and especially in the sort of
Vauxhall Opel space are starting to decimate.
I mean, people buy the other three that we listed because they're interesting.
And again, there's nothing wrong with the actual products from Vauxhall and Opel.
The problem is the badge and what people think of that badge.
What it has historically had.
Yes, what it's historically meant.
Anyway, the announcement of that was much higher than the market.
The market was expecting there to be a write down, but they were not expecting 22.2 billion euros.
That caused the markets to react emotionally, I feel, and not in a positive way.
Alan showed a screen grab of the share price last week.
And if you can imagine the white cliffs of Dover and at the top is Friday before the announcement,
then the announcement happened.
So there is that verticality and then there is the sea at the bottom.
Yes.
It is horrific.
They've bounced back slightly from that very low position.
Yeah.
It's more than the market was expecting.
I'm hoping now that this means that they are going to come out with a strategy that
is not just cut prices, cut costs, screw suppliers, which was the last,
not the last chat, but the chat before.
Yes, it hasn't been working so well for them.
So fingers crossed they don't decide to continue with it.
Yeah.
But just to get all the rest of the bad news out about Stellantis, one big hit,
they had a joint partnership with LG Energy Solution in Canada for a company called Nextstar Energy,
which are large battery factories based in Canada.
And the whole thing was this was all going to tie in with obviously Stellantis America
building cars in Canada, building cars in America.
And they're being locally sourced batteries that they can access quickly.
They've got a control of the supply chain, all the sort of stuff we talk about you need to have,
you should be having.
And it also gives you some supply chain security.
What has happened though is Stellantis has agreed to sell their 49% equity stake
to LG Energy Solutions.
So they've walked away from that.
And they agreed that for about $100.
I've read somewhere else that I don't think is in this article.
That's an ouch.
Yeah.
This is all part of that $22 billion.
It's all part of that $20 billion.
You see that this kind of thing happens because of all the tariffs and stuff.
Yeah, they're built on the wrong side of a river.
That is literally what's happened here.
Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan are almost contiguous.
They could throw snowballs at each other, couldn't they?
Almost.
There is actually the world's only drive-through underground border crossing
is between Windsor and Detroit, if I'm right.
I almost took a wrong turning and ended up in Canada when I was in Detroit.
No, literally.
They really are that close.
And this is literally the fact it was built on one side of the river, not the other.
Just mad.
Yep.
Well, further to battery factories that scientists are involved in,
they were backing automotive cells or ACC, as they're more commonly known,
in building battery factories in Europe.
Now, the two large factories that were penciled in for Italy and Germany have been on pause,
and they have now actually stated that these are going to be cancelled,
so they won't be built.
So that is two more electric battery factories that Europe thought they were going to have,
which would give them, again, supply chain security, would give them locally sourced
batteries, all the positives of having your supply chain so close to your factories,
all that sort of stuff now out the window.
Yeah.
And it puts even more reliance or continues the reliance on Chinese manufactured or
maybe South Korean.
And this is a thing.
People have forgotten the lessons of COVID.
It's amazing how quickly people and organizations have gone,
yeah, but actually we can save loads of money if we do it this way again.
Anyway, should we move back to the UK and news that should really surprise no one,
and no one should be shocked at this?
Yeah, it's not a financial statement.
Really, and it's JLR this time, and they have posted a considerable loss over the last three
months, near 40% loss in the last three months.
Not a big surprise.
I don't think anyone is too shocked by that at all.
Or if you are shocked by it, then you've really not been paying attention to too much.
A lot of 2025, the entire company was crippled.
The fact that they have much revenue at all these days is really quite impressive.
In the three months to December 2025, they reported a £310 million loss.
Revenues fell 39% to £4.5 billion for the quarter, and £16 billion to date was a fall of 24%.
They could still post, do my maths now, 61% of the revenue.
Only to lose a quarter when you lost half the year.
That's really quite good actually.
That's truly very impressive.
Yeah, truly.
And this is from us who routinely put the boots into that company, but that is very impressive.
That is really well done.
It's testament to the efforts of somebody, and in fact, probably quite a lot of people,
to be honest.
The cost of the tack alone to the company, the cost that they have managed to attribute
has risen by an additional £64 million.
It now stands at £260 million.
IT security is really important people.
Yeah, go change your passwords.
Obviously, there's no Jaguar brand anymore, despite six units being registered in January there.
But yeah, downturns in the Chinese economy, massive cyber attack, all sorts of things.
Losing an entire actually significant brand, despite what everybody might say.
And the tariffs.
I'm sorry, the list is so long, I've forgotten what most of the list is now.
But yes, and all the restructuring and all of that kind of stuff.
It's not great, but they're big enough and robust enough to weather it.
And it's easy to see where the issues came from and hopefully to fix them.
Wow, I mean, they're being fixed, aren't they really?
Well, their MD, it is an ex finance chief.
They have at this very turbulent time for them, should we say,
they have got someone who's got a lot of focus on the purse strings
and watching the finance side of things, which is probably a very good thing.
Yes.
Yeah, I mean, I think we'll talk about that a little bit more shortly.
Well, let's move on to the next article then, because it is about Toyota,
who have decided that after so long with just one CEO,
they want to now play musical chairs a lot more regular than they have done.
It does seem so, yeah.
Kujisato, who has been the CEO for the last three years or so,
is going to take on a role on the board of directors.
As a result, the current chief financial officer, Kenta Khan,
will take over his position and that will happen on the 1st of April, 2026.
This seems quite strange, because Sato-san is moving on far more quickly than I think would have been expected.
I mean, he's 56 and he's going to take over the new role of the vice chairman and chief industrial officer,
which we couldn't quite work this one out if this was a kind of sideways or whatever.
But then we can't work out any reason why he might be being sideways or whatever,
because the company's share price has more than doubled during his tenure.
The Toyota's raised its profit forecast for the fiscal year ending 31st of March to 3.57 trillion yen,
or 19.6 billion euros, or about, what's that? That's four-fifths of a Stellantis loss.
But on top of that, they've got a roadmap for models across their brands, especially electric-wise.
They've brought out a bunch of new models, which have been well-received.
Some are so well-received, we can't actually, I mean, good luck trying to get them in the UK.
But then they unveiled the new... I actually didn't have seen it today, but they knew electric
Highlander and things, which I think should be a good seller in the US and may mean that the
Highlander comes back to Europe, fingers crossed. There's lots happening there. There's lots of
interesting stuff coming on a really sound business foundation.
This is a surprise because Toyota don't typically do shock moves like this.
It's not that much of a shock move in that they're giving three months notice, but yeah.
No, but I mean, to change him after three years, when nothing obviously is going wrong,
it's not like he's had a scandal. It's not like he's done anything wrong. It's not like they've
brought out three products and they've absolutely bombed because of, I don't know,
software and battery issues, say. Yeah. You know, there's not a that going on.
Not that we've noticed yet. And it will be interesting to see if there is a change in
tactics when the new chap comes in from the 1st of April.
Going back to the Jaguar story, before we started recording, Andrew and I were saying how
important it was that companies with dynamic changing, maybe slightly interesting product,
that their CEO and the people at the top were really quite stable and
sensible and getting it on a stable footing. And that's exactly what we're talking about with
JLR just there. And we were also saying that, well, you know, actually, Toyota has the firm
underpinnings of trust and quality and all these things have kind of got that stuff down pat.
What they need to make their products more interesting to the world is someone who's
dynamic and interesting and all these kinds of things. And we were slightly worried that maybe a
57 year old chief financial officer taking over at the top of Toyota might
not necessarily be able to deliver from that point of view.
Yes. And we are purely going off stereotypes on this, by the way. We have no idea.
We are absolutely stereotyping the socks out of this. All we know, he could go drifting every
weekend and have his own thing and paragliding on a Wednesday afternoon or something. We just
don't know. But that's why I say it's going to be interesting to see how what happens when he
takes over. Is it more of the same or is there a shift? Right, I'm going to move us on to
bit of sad news, actually. And we've talked about this company a few times in the past years.
And it's Ox delivers they make or have made the flat pack, low cost, sort of small lorry truck
vehicle that was specifically aimed at developing world countries where the
terrain and the affordability were not complementary to more expensive high tech vehicles.
They are run by a company called Ox delivers. And they announced last week that unless they got
an immediate injection of cash to the tune of about £150,000 plus then taking on the cost
moving forward, they were going to go into receivership as of the 5th of February. Now,
I ate today, I searched high and low across that their internet to find out if they had
actually gone into receivership or insolvency. And I could not find any more details to say
that they had. There was lots of articles saying they're in danger, but none that did.
If we remember, the ox truck was originally designed by Gordon Murray.
So I really hope it's somebody does come in and helps them. Me too. But it doesn't look good.
No. Anyway, on which cheery note, last story before guilt minute, and this is that EZO,
EZO has begun its rollout of EV chargers in the north of Scotland. EZO is the commercial partner
really, who's taking over the charge place Scotland network. And the 177 of those will
be migrating to the EZO platform across or certainly to start with across four different
councils. Charge place Scotland was, it was a great idea. You put in loads of 50 kilowatt
charging units around Scotland. You don't make them, but you make them relatively easy to access
for the time. And you, you make them free. And then all of a sudden you end up with EVs in all
sorts of, in all sorts of places. And you basically the whole chicken and egg car infrastructure thing,
then people could go, hang on a minute, I know where there's rapid charging infrastructure.
That means that I'm more like to buy an electric vehicle and have a charger at home. And then
I know that I can go boost up my charge if I need to. Or if I don't have a charger at home.
Trouble is, of course, they put them all in, did all that a decade ago, and there's not been much
evolution since because it was in and it was there. And as long as it just kind of worked,
then that was what mattered. This is that move on to the next stage, which probably should have
happened three or four years ago, because things have become less and less reliable over that time.
And of course, nowadays, there is a lot of competition up here to start with there wasn't
because they were trying to compete with free, but as different charging networks
innovated in their own special ways, be they just Tesla, be they faster speeds, all of these kind
of things, then there is now more competition. But there are certain places where charge place
is still the only viable supply. Think about a la pool, think about the very north coast,
if you want some some sort of examples there. The network is still going to be free to use.
And the EZO app, which you'll now need to use to actually activate the free charges,
will also give you live updates on status and all of these availability and all of these kind of
good thing. This is actually a good thing. And I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next,
because I know that some of the charge place Scotland charges around here that we use to
charge in Britain are looking a little bit sorry for themselves these days.
I was going to say maybe we should try it again and see how things are going.
I'm not for trying it again. Because my feeling is it's a piece of cake now.
There will not be the 20 hour days and whatever it was that we did the last time,
where we start off at seven in the morning, it was not quite 20 hours,
we start off before seven in the morning and not get to bed until after midnight.
Yes, there were a few long days.
There were a few, yes. I never really recommend going from Inverness to Glasgow via Wic Thurzo.
I recommend it thoroughly, as long as you have a local driver.
Trum, Nadrocki, Fort William, trying to get the flippin' Italian camper vans off the road.
Oh dear, would have put Colin McCrae to shame.
Those were the days.
Anyway, that is the end of the first part of the show.
Yes.
What does that mean, Alan?
That means it's guilt minute, Andrew, the quick break in the show where we ask for a
tad of financial support to keep the lights on and the hosting running.
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Yes.
And so that means it's New New Car News and Alan, I'm confused by this next story.
You very much are confused, aren't you?
The next story is Cheery International is to launch a new...
Oh, this just gets me.
I'm sorry.
So Cheery International is, if you thought that wasn't bad enough for me,
was to launch a new brand called Lepers or Lipas in the UK.
And that's going to join its existing brand of Cheery, Jaiku and Amoda.
This Lepers L4, which seems to be another random name or number.
Oh, the L4 and the L6 crossovers, which will come with combinations of combustion,
plug-in, hybrid and battery electric power trains,
is exactly the same platform as the Amoda 5, the Jaiku 5, the Jaiku 7.
It seems that what is happening here is that, sure, we want that car,
but if it's a Jaiku, it's a bit square looking.
If it's an Amoda, it's not quite curvy enough for me.
As a result, I'll choose the Lepers.
And I don't know, it's just...
Oh, it feels a bit Sri Lankan to see we're fighting each other for the same market.
It really does.
And I'm just...
I just don't get it.
I just don't understand why you wouldn't try to bring one brand
and make that your solid offering.
I don't get why you're doing it a little bit.
Sorry, tell me.
No, no, you're quite right.
The problem is that instead of establishing any of these with a unique identity,
we're getting new upon new upon new.
We're sitting there a little bit, rabbit in the headlight,
or the British consumer is going,
oh, it's another Chinese, oh, it's another Chinese.
And it's almost like it's too much now.
It's far too much because nobody's establishing what they are,
who they're for, why they do it, anything like this.
They're all...
And it's just...
Why do I buy this and not a BYD or a Skywell or a LeapMotor?
At least if I go for a LeapMotor,
I'm buying it from a Vauxhall dealership, essentially, or a Fiat dealership.
Yeah, but are they going to be here in six months?
You know, there's that many coming now.
You look at the UK.
I mean, we just did the SMT figures earlier on.
That spreadsheet is going to get really quite big soon.
And you look at all those and you go,
the market cannot sustain all these brands.
We are going to lose brands.
And I expect them to be some of the established Western brands.
But I expect some of the Chinese ones to just go away again.
And then you look at KGM and Maxis and you think,
how are you supposed to compete because nobody really knows about you?
Not really, I'll say that's the thing.
You see, I can understand it.
I get it with the BYDs.
I get it with LeapMotor, because there's enough of a base and a background there.
The BYD, there's big dealer groups.
All big dealer groups, whereas these are just scattered around.
And I know that they're just going to pummel in volume and pile them high, flog them cheap.
Yeah, but does the...
Okay, okay, they have infrastructure, but does the customer know?
BYD, does the customer know LeapMotor?
Let alone?
LeapMotor, no.
I mean, to reinforce your point, though, at this moment, let alone, cheery, let alone...
Well, okay, a bit more a motor and a bit more JQ, because people see them out and about, possibly.
I had to look up cheery cars that are selling under their own brand,
because I'd forgotten that they were doing that.
And then when you look at them, you go, well, this is just an SUV.
I don't know.
I just don't...
I mean, there's not much about this.
It's probably going to be cheap.
Yeah, I don't understand what the point is.
No.
Again, and we've talked about this with some established brands,
tell me the story.
What's the reasoning?
Give me something to work with.
Well, that's it.
And at the minute, it's just they're there.
And I feel that the cheery offerings are that.
They're just...
Here's a kiss and commodity cars for you.
You know, whereas I feel that some of the other offerings,
and I'm going back to the BYD one again, some of the other offerings,
there is a company behind it.
And I felt that for a long, long time.
And even Geely, there's a company behind it.
I don't understand why Geely is offering their own brands of car, to be honest.
I would have thought that Polestar, Volvo, et cetera, Lotus, et cetera, were enough.
LVC, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Would have been enough for them, but it seems not.
And so that's where people understand where those others sit, really,
but not necessarily where some of the more randomized brands are.
And there's more coming this year.
And there is more coming from different manufacturers.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I saw Skywell earlier on, all sorts of other stuff.
There's going to be something we talk about next week, just anyway.
Anyway, going on to established companies who did come across to the UK, not that long ago.
With a rebadged Mazda 121, let's not say that here.
Yeah.
And that is Kia.
They have updated their very popular Nero.
It's now going to reflect the design language of the Opposites United
that is adorning their electric and internal combustion engine vehicles.
Smartens it up.
It brings it in line with the rest of the range outside and inside, obviously,
the dashboard and interior.
If you've seen any of the latest models from Kia, you'll just go, oh, yeah,
obviously that's Kia.
When you look at the layout, it just matches everything else.
Brings that.
I think that's the last model in the range to be brought up today in that,
because they did the Stonic a little while ago, a couple of months ago or a month or so ago.
Details and pricing, they are going to announce in March,
but we can apparently expect that it will still have powertrain options of hybrid,
plug-in hybrid and electric, as they seem to be very popular amongst people,
including taxi drivers.
I know it's a lot of taxi drivers down my way, do you like a Nero?
Anyway, do you want to take us on to, well...
This is a good one, because this one has divided us.
The first time I saw this, I had to double check it was on April 1st for starters.
The Ferrari Luce, Ferrari's debut EV.
They have revealed the name and they have revealed the Johnny Ive designed interior.
Well, dashboard, yeah, and steering wheel.
And it seems that buttons are the new luxury in a world where everything goes into a touchscreen.
There's a lot of renders and a couple of models.
Yeah.
Photographs of a couple of models seem to have been shown.
And as a result, it's kind of hard to tell what stuff really looks like
and how it's going to really feel.
Yes, I want to make it clear before I get going in a minute.
I want to make it clear that I acknowledge that we are looking at something completely out of
context. We need to see it in the car. And ideally, we need to see it in person,
because some of these renders imply stuff that, according to these specifications, is not true.
Basically, what he's trying to say is some of them look really, really plasticky.
And if Logitech sold something like that, then he would feel that he was being ripped off.
So when you then look at some of the photos and some of the anodized aluminium and stuff,
you think, actually, that's probably really nice to hold.
And that probably really just a nice thing to look at as well.
I'm trying to fin to basically beat down the whole argument before he's even got started.
I'm probably failing.
But then what's really nice is that there is a mixture of analog gauges, digital screens,
both for the binocle in front of the driver, which I think is kind of cool behind a steering
wheel with anodized aluminium spokes. And it's still got little manietos and all sorts of little
switches in the steering wheel, as is the Ferrari way. So it's not a million miles off
modern Ferraris. There's quite a lot of the style of the spokes of the wheel and everything
very much hark back to the classics, but with more modern materials. So instead of polished
stainless, it's anodized aluminium. Of course, it's anodized aluminium. It's Johnny Hive.
There's that area, then they've shared some pictures and some renders,
but also some photos of centre consoles with switches and a tiny little stubby nubbin for
being able to to select your gear. And I've just realised on photograph, the bit that sticks up
with the Ferrari badge on with its dancing donkey is the key. That's the key, isn't it?
The key sits on the middle bit. That's how you activate it all.
Okay, whatever. Yeah. And the other thing they've shown off that people have been talking about
is the centre screen, which is mostly screen with some switches at the bottom for temperature in
these kind of things, some toggle switch type activations. And then it's got this kind of
aluminium bar that sticks out that does make it look like a hostess trolley, but that you're meant
to be able to rest your wrist on when you're using the screen so that your hand's not...
How small is your hand if you're resting your wrist on that?
That looks like it's a grab rail to then pull it to face you,
because nothing screams Ferrari more than a grab rail to move an iPad.
That clock bit that's also in that screen, this is the last bit I want to talk about.
Which I like the fact there's a clock there.
I like the fact it's a clock. Some of my favourite cars have had
separate and interesting clocks. What they haven't had is a brawn alarm clock built in.
I really hope there's some kind of licensing agreement here because otherwise somebody's
going to be in trouble. Just the shape of the arms of the hands of the clock and stuff are just
they're just very brawn and all of the markings. But it seems that actually that's it in the
background there. That is actually a screen as well. So the clock can then turn into a compass,
can turn into all sorts of other fun and interesting things. I think there's a couple of
buttons I see poking at the top. There's also probably works as a lap timer and all sorts
of things like that as well. I think it's interesting. I think it's different. I really
want to see it in real life before I give a final thought. I think some bits might be a bit of a
fiddle, but I'm interested to see how it looks with context.
Yeah, I'd love to be able to see it in situ because as a result, one has to hold back
on one's positive and negatives. However, there's a couple of things from the overall design for me.
One of them is I am so reminded of the Apple CarPlay Plus or whatever the thing is asked in
Martin have agreed to. No, I'm looking at all this and I'm going, what of that is Ferrari apart
from you've got some coloured dials that's the same and you've put a Ferrari badge in there?
No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm not that you get away with that. The layout of them,
the bezel, the actual instrument binnacle and all that stuff. I swear to everything iPad does
nothing for me. But it doesn't look real. That's what I'm saying. It looks like the
Apple CarPlay one, which is here's a pastiche of what one could look like.
Yes, but it is real. That's the difference. It's a physical thing, but we've got to see it in real
life. I would love to see one because then I would hope I would be happy to be very wrong.
But the images I've seen so far, and I know looking on LinkedIn, there's a ton of people who've
gone very gooey for all this. Oh, of course, I don't see it. I cannot see it at all, I have to say.
I am actually, as I go through this, I'm basically ignoring any of the ones with
the black background because they're the renderings and mostly going from the
ones which are clearly in a room.
In the next week, I'm going to try and watch some of the videos so that that would probably
help me because I'll see an actual person prodding at things.
Ferrari chairman John Elkin described it as timeless.
Oh, for God's sake. Let's move on to points of interest.
Because something slightly better.
This is much better.
This is our lunchtime read, and he's thanks to Haggerty, and he's also thanks to
often a contributor to our various bits of points of interest, and that's anti-ingram.
He has written an article that is titled Photography, How to Photograph Your Car,
and it's tying in two things here. So this is why we felt we wanted to include it.
One of them is the Festival of the Unexceptional tickets are on sale. Have you booked yours?
I know I can't make it again. However, if you do wish to submit your car or actually take
photographs of your car at all, Anthony does this fantastic article here, has written this
fantastic article that explains some of the basics of taking a photograph and showing
your car off the best it can be. But particularly if you do wish to submit it to Festival of the
Unexceptional. It's for the Concorde d'Ordinaire, so it's for the Concorde bit. You don't have
to have submitted pictures to turn up, even if you have an tedious car. Just sorry, just worth
making that very clear. No, no, no. Yes, absolutely. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. No, you're
quite right to step in there. But yeah, it's a great article, great examples on how to take the
photographs and stuff. And Anthony does take a fantastic shot, to be fair to him. His photos
are really excellent. But yeah, do click the link in the show notes. One, because there's a link to
buying your tickets. But two, also to read this fantastic article.
It's also worth saying that Finn Andrews' Peugeot 205 Open that is featured in the article,
and was the subject of this kind of stuff, is also absolutely glorious as well.
Yes. Very much in love with it, I believe. Oh, good.
List of the week then. List of the week this week comes from AutoCar. It's by Richard Dredge.
And it's the finest mid-engine marvels. And I suppose it's well over 60 years since the first
mid-engine road car was made, so let's celebrate the best. And there are many of them, there's 68
slides here, so we can do at least one each. Yes, we can. Andrew. Well, once I discounted two that
I don't believe belong on this list, it brings it down to just a mere 66 slides for me to look at.
I am asking, ladies and gentlemen, to turn to slide nine in their pack.
And the Tomaso Pantera from 1971. I just think it looks fabulous. And particularly the picture
they've got here, because it's in racing spec. Yes. Or liveries, sorry, not spec. I love the fact that
they decided, yes, if you're going to do wheel arches, go big or go home. So they went big.
It's a mad, mad car, particularly from 1971, but it still looks awesome.
The original was far more dainty than that. It was one of these cars.
But it's still a good look. I think it's Gandini. Someone will correct me. I think it's a Gandini
design here. Yeah, very cool. Little Marcell Pantera. It just sounds, it's got a wonderful
supercar name as well. Yeah, absolutely. To be honest, I could have picked a good 60 of these,
and I would be very happy with them. Okay, Alan, because we're allowed more than, you know,
it could be both of us this week. I think it can easily be both of us without giving away the
entire list. I'm going to go to slide 18 in your slide, in your handout, everyone. Okay.
Which is the BMW M1. Oh, yes. Which is, is it really a Lamborghini? Maybe a Lamborghini. Who
knows? But Lamborghini would definitely contract it to build them and how many they made of those,
and how well they did it was a matter of debate, I believe. But yes, this one is
Jujaro as opposed to Gandini. Yeah, 3.4 litre straight 6, 277 brake horsepower,
and they built 456 of them. They are absolutely amazing looking things.
It must have been such a shock to the world when BMW came out with that.
Have I ever told my BMW M1 story? It's actually handed down to me by my father.
He worked in Saudi in the early 1980s. So someone had bought one of these.
Someone very senior in the bank, he worked in and bought one to add to his collection because
it was that kind of time in Saudi Arabia. And so there was no real minimum age driving age.
He sent one of his sons off to collect it from the airport because it had been flown in, of course,
to collect it from the airport. So he went off to collect it from the airport, then drove it
all the way back from the airport home in second gear because he'd only ever driven
automatics before and didn't know how to drive a manual. Oh, God.
As a result, the engine was absolutely shredded. And basically the next journey for the M1 was
to go back to the airport, back on the plane, back to Munich and to be completely redone
mechanically and for that to not happen again. Yeah, I don't know. That probably says far more
about Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s than it does about BMW M1. That's definitely the way I
read it anyway. I think they're fantastic looking things. So many, so many great vehicles in this
list. I'm almost curious which ones you don't think should be there.
I've just closed the thing down, but if you keep going, it's towards the end, there's an alpha.
I forgot everybody could see what I was going to talk about just there.
And the one you've just gone past three, four slides ago, the Panther and the Alpha, I don't
agree with those. The Panther Solar. They did actually make some of them.
Doesn't mean it was great.
Yeah, the Ford Sierra-Codsworth drivetrain.
Wasn't it? Someone will tell me otherwise, I'm sure. Yeah, I remember an auto car going all
gooey over it, but then look at it these days and what car has given out their car of the year to
something which hasn't actually been driven on, driven on roads in the UK yet, sir.
Yes.
Dear me.
Anyway, that takes us on to the end, finally. And this week, we are going to recommend a
video from Auto Shenanigans. And basically, he wanted to relive some of his youth, which was
watching a lot of rallying, particularly Colin McRae. And this is the time that he was in the
focus. And it was the rally of Great Britain. And there were four drivers in contention
for the championship when it came to the last race, which is utterly amazing. It doesn't happen
these days in WRC, unfortunately. Very rare. They might get two, but not four. And he actually
walks the section of the rally that was in Wales. And I won't spoil it in case you can't
know what actually happened. But he talks a lot about Colin McRae's driving style and how that
was exciting, both the ups and the downs on that sort of thing. But it's brilliant to look at the
rally stages now and sort of go crikey. They were going how fast through there?
Yeah. I mean, there's little snippets and stuff of them doing like 80 miles an hour through
some of these bends. Is that us? Is that us for the week?
I think it is. Yeah.
Probably should be given how long we've been talking.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, we'll be back next week, as always. Thank you very much for your support, etc.
And don't forget that between now and next week, you can give us any feedback.
Share your thoughts on the show at motringpodcast.com on Blue Sky.
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rating on Apple Podcasts on YouTube or hope every other 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 my name on LinkedIn,
because I'm not on anything else at the moment.
Alan, what is the best way for people to get in touch with you, particularly to tell you
the drive trains, etc. that you've mentioned throughout the show?
How can they do that personally?
You can do that. It's best via Blue Sky.
Or at a.j.p.bradly.s.b.r.a.d.ly.b.sky.social.
We'll be back very soon.
Until then, I've been Alan Bradley.
I've been Andrew Clews.
And safe motoring.
About this episode
A deep dive into the latest new car registration figures reveals a mixed bag for the automotive market as it begins to recover from previous downturns. The episode discusses the year-on-year growth of 3.4% in new car registrations, the rise of battery electric vehicles, and the challenges faced by various manufacturers, including Stellantis, which announced a significant write-down due to a shift in their EV strategy. The hosts also explore the implications of these trends on the future of the automotive industry and the need for a reevaluation of current mandates.
Original notes
JANUARY 2026 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES
New car registrations rose 3.4% compared to January 2025. In what is typically a slow month, BEVs rose in total numbers but lost market share compared to a year ago. The industry is not confident it will meet the mandate target of 33% for 2026, when it comes to zero emission vehicles. The calls for the Government to re-evaluate the ZEV mandate grow in volume and validity. Click this article link, from SMMT, to read more.
STELLANTIS WRITES-DOWN €22 BILLIONOn Friday, last week, Stellantis shocked the markets by announcing that they had written down €22 billion in a pivot from their EV focus. They have made the move as buyer interest is less than previous assumptions stated. You can read more, by clicking this Yahoo! Finance article link here.
Also announced was the news that the company are selling their 49% stake in NextStar Energy to LG Energy Solution. NextStar Energy was a joint venture between the two companies where Canada’s first large battery factory was to be built. If you want to find out more, click this Yahoo! Finance article link here.
Automotive Cells (ACC), which is backed by Stellantis, has stated that the planned battery factories in Italy and Germany will no longer be built. They have been on pause for some time. Click this Yahoo! Finance article link here, to read more.
JLR 2025 Q4 RESULTS ANNOUNCEDThere is little shock that JLR announced a loss for the final three months of 2025, thanks to the fallout from the cyber attack. The company suffered a £310 million loss, with revenues down 39%. The cost of the attack has risen to £260 million. If you wish to learn more, click this EVO article link here.
TOYOTA GETS A NEW CEOToyota announced that they have appointed Kenta Kon, currently the Chief Financial Officer, as the new CEO from 1 April 2026. Koji Sato, who has only been in the role for three years, will move to the role of Vice-Chairman and Chief Industrial Officer. Details are yet to be made clear as to why this change is happening. To read more, click this electrive article link here.
OX DELIVERS IN RISK OF LIQUIDATIONOx Delivers is the company that makes the OX, a low-cost flat pack electric truck, stated that they will go into liquidation on 5 February 2026 unless urgent investment can be found. There is no news on whether this has actually happened or not. A franchise, OX Rwanda, will continue to operate. Click this Autocar article link for more.
EZO CHARGERS ROLLING OUT TO NORTHERN SCOTLANDEZO has started their project of doubling the charging infrastructure of north and north-east Scotland. Initial steps are converting 177 ChargePlace Scotland chargers to the EZO network. These are the first steps of a 20 year contract, awarded via the Scottish Government’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund. To read more on this story,
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