Hosting your own car show, new Porsche boss, Polestar v Volvo

Hello, welcome to the AutoCard podcast, my week in cars with Pry here, Steve Cropley,

the other side of the desk way over there.

Hello, Steven.

Hello, mate.

How's it going?

Yeah, it's all right.

That's all right.

I think there's going to be a delay.

We're either side of the boardroom table at the British Motor Museum.

I feel so far away.

I think I'm going to see you before I hear you.

Indeed.

It's jolly luxurious though, isn't it?

It's nice, mate.

It's really nice in here.

I like this very much.

Listen, we're here because we've just been recording a podcast which will be out on or around AutoCard's

130th anniversary at the start of November.

Commend it to you.

That's, yeah, the real anniversary is the 2nd of November, right?

Yes, yes.

And I think the thing we made is going to come out on the 5th.

Yes, either the 1st or the 5th.

I think Wednesday the 5th, I think it will be out.

We're still deciding, are we?

I think so.

I think the 5th.

Yeah.

Well, we can see how we go.

It'll be a nice surprise.

Yes, it'll be a nice surprise.

What else have we got coming up?

What else are there coming up?

There are videos.

There are other podcasts coming soon as well.

Interviews and so on and so forth.

Who do we speak to?

Oh, just last Saturday has gone the interview we did with Malcolm Wilson of M-Sport, which

you can find on this channel.

Yeah, it was good fun, wasn't it?

Really good.

Yeah, really good.

And then this afternoon, I'm going back, staying tonight and then tomorrow morning, we will

be heading to the M-Sport facility to do a bit of Britain's best driver's car action,

which will be good fun.

Yeah, I'll be a day behind you.

It's a while since...

I'm really busting to have a go on the new circuit.

I mean, a controlled go in my case.

A controlled go, of course.

But I mean, we're going to have some high-toned cars there, aren't we?

Yeah, good lineup this year.

Yeah, really good lineup this year.

So anyway, that's coming in the next few weeks as well.

Listener, you can write to us in the meantime, autocarthaymarket.com.

And I tend to start this podcast with a small advert.

Let's start with a letter, which is from Simon Gerrard, who says, having decided to make

our first foray into EV motoring, I duly did my research on home charges and encouraged

by your positive feedback, I opted for Anderson EV.

I'm pleased to report the whole process from initial inquiry through to installation was

excellent.

And my wife and I couldn't be happier with our personally specced A2 charger, which blends

in nicely on the side of our house.

Simon, thanks for this.

You're nailing every single aspect that I am obliged to put in the advert at the start

of every pod.

Not only are we new to EVs, we've also never leased a car before.

And I was rather taken by a two-year deal for a Ford Puma E with trust for direct total

cost for the two years on 5,000 miles a year.

Total is under 5,000 pounds, which is less than appreciation we'd suffer if we'd actually

bought the car.

Thanks very much, Simon Gerrard.

Very kind for you to say.

Very interesting, isn't it?

I think Mark Tishor found this, didn't he?

He did some keen deal on a Fiesta just before they ended.

And he's finished up in rather good financial condition because of that.

Yeah.

You can learn more, listen at Anderson-EV.com.

They are British designed and built.

They come with a seven-year warranty.

And as Simon says, they're very good.

Yeah.

Very good process.

Also, interestingly, he talks about the A2 version.

The one that I've got, which I never constantly bang on about, still having five years of warranty

left or something, is an A1, which is slightly bigger.

So the A2 is more compact, still has all the same advantages.

But you know, that much smaller, it's just more modern product.

Yeah.

Dominic Waters writes AutoCar at Haymarket.com.

This is the normal letter.

The podcast has begun.

Over the next hour or there about, Steve and I are going to be talking our respective

AutoCar columns and more besides, including this letter from Dominic, which says, Steve,

I'm glad you have your Alpine A110 back.

I have recently replaced a Ferrari FF with a Renault 5 and an Alpine A110, a switch I'm

extremely happy with.

You mentioned getting David Puka Life 110 to apply his specialized geometry settings

to your car.

I paid him a visit this week and have the sports road setting applied.

Like you, I was a little nervous about spoiling what I already had.

But just as he assured you, there is now a noticeable improvement in straight line stability

and corner turning without any negative effect at all on the car's already delicious balance

and ride comfort.

Here's a photo of David working his magic.

He also applied his engine remap, highly recommended.

As you can see, David has his A290 there, investigating how he can lessen the car's

torque steer.

Something he's less than impressed by.

Actually, if you look at some of David's social media posts recently, he's like, I

can't believe this car's just too stiff.

And also, I think on the A290, as with the A110, there's toe out the standard on the

front suspension, which is, I think, unusual.

But anyway, so thanks Dominic for your note.

I'm glad it sounds like a good swap.

I'm pleased it's working out for you.

I found David interesting reassuring all the things that you want from somebody who's

going to, and I just don't want to change the ride rates of my car, but if you can sharpen

it, great.

Yeah.

Really pleased with my car.

And it's back.

Yeah.

And you're happy.

Lovely, yeah.

Really nice repair job.

And he's a sweet car.

We were out and around the weekend.

It's one of these cars that suits both sides of the, but the people in both seats.

Yeah, that's good news.

On the Renault theme then, you've been driving a Renault 4 as well, have you recently?

Yeah, I borrowed one to go to an event in, at Jilx's Garage Cafe, a place in Kyneton,

just off the Fosway, there's a gathering held by Richard Bremner.

And he just invited all his mates to bring whatever they had.

And I rather unadventurously brought what I had at the time as a loner, which was a Renault

4.

Interesting car.

Big bodied car compared with the 5.

More frontal area, less range, quite supple.

Enjoyable car, but less, I don't know, less panache really.

Good practical car, good for people with dogs and all that, but we don't have any.

Is it a 5 underneath?

Yes.

And is there, now hang on a minute.

I think I know this from actually seeing David Pooke's media posts.

There's a, they are both, they share stuff with other Renaults in the suspension department

as well.

Yes, I believe so.

Yeah.

And is it bigger frontal area, is it a bigger car all round?

Because I, you'll have to, historically, I remember the 5 came after the 4 and did a

similar thing, but this, how does it, how does it, how does it sit in the range?

If you go to a Renault showroom, what does the salesperson say to you about the 5 or

the 4?

I don't think there's a huge amount of difference in price.

It's just that their function is quite different when you see one parked next to the other.

The 5 is just a sporty little super mini or car that aims to be a super mini.

It's still fairly tall car that surprises you when you park it next to a petrol super

mini, but the Renault 4 is just a bigger body car, taller, more rear overhang, much more

carrying capacity, better accessible rear seats, not madly bigger in the back, but bigger.

Just a more practical car, you know, if one of the criticisms that we've heard about the

Renault 5, people look in the back and say, hmm, not much room.

The Renault 4 is the antidote to that.

It's better.

Gotcha.

And is it?

It's still the same platform and the same dashboard and the same powertrain and all the

rest.

So the same, when you say same dashboard, same dashboard design or is it a bit more or less

Very similar.

Very, very similar.

Oh, really?

Interesting.

The only difference that I could find, what was memorable, was that the engine braking

is more adjustable on the Renault 4, I think there's, just don't remember, it's gone out

of my head already, but on the Renault 5, there's one setting for extra engine braking.

Right.

On the Renault 5, there are several, but they're very closely related, except for

exterior styling and carrying capacity.

Could it be a car that replaces something like the Duster in your life?

Just about.

But the problem in my life is that the Duster now is probably worth 10 grand at the most.

It's perfect.

It's done 30,000 miles, it does 60mpg, which is not the same as an Audi A2, but it's still

all right.

And it's pretty good.

It's got four-wheel drive, I lend it to my sons or anyone else that needs a car.

It's starting to fulfil that lovely role that the Berlingo used to where somebody needs

a car, you give them the Duster.

And I've always liked that idea of having a backyard car that, and the fact of the matter

is you can still get in it and drive to Edinburgh and back, no problem.

It's perfectly worthy motor, but it just does everything.

And I think I'd be reluctant to quit it, and furthermore, the Mrs wouldn't really countenance

the idea either, because there's a few other things.

We haven't got another diesel, and I think it's not fashionable to want a diesel, but

the fact is they drive in a particular way, and it's the only manual gearbox car we've

got.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah.

So, I don't think I'd sell it, but I think the Renault 5 could be a pretty good replacement

for our Cooper S.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I mean, so would a battery mini, but I'm well impressed with the Renaults at the moment.

You know, I don't want to wrap it on about nothing but Renaults, but they are doing a

good job.

Yeah.

Yeah, they are.

And it's not easy for European manufacturers, a lot of them are fine, but they just seem

to be.

And doing the thing which is, I know we've banged on a notice before, I have particularly,

they do that thing that a lot of new manufacturer names don't do, which is remind the customer

that they've been doing it for a long time, and they're good at it, and that this is an

appealing design, and look, we're quite good at this stuff.

When there is a, you know, there are a market full of brand new names and brand new designs

that people don't know anything about, but very attractively priced.

It's pretty handy, I think, for a long established manufacturer to go, yeah, but do you remember?

Do you remember when you were growing up, you had one of these and loved it?

Well, we still make those.

Yes.

That is.

And that's powerful.

Yeah.

Really powerful.

Yeah, I think so.

Tell me about the Jux's GarageCaf car show.

Yeah, I was, well, it was sort of the idea of Richard Bremner.

Contributor to all kinds of magazines, but including HMS AutoCaf.

Yeah.

Bright bloke, you know, excellent company.

He knows all about everything.

Anyway, he just thought he and some of his mates keep a bunch of cars in something they

call the chicken shed.

It's a, it is a former chicken shed and there's about, I don't know, three or four owners

and I don't know, a dozen cars in there.

And he, a couple of years ago, he held up and a bit of a gathering there.

We all stood around and talked about cars and things we'd like to own and don't and

all that.

And then he did another one at his house and this was the third one, chicken shed three.

And it was at Jux's, which is a former roots, family roots dealership in Kinten, just off

the Fosway that's been converted into a calf because selling Hillman's became less than

profitable.

Yeah.

And the family, the same family, I think the granddad or the great granddad started this

business as a car dealership.

Now it's a calf.

It attracts all kinds of people.

So you get, you know, weekend gatherings of MG owners or bike owners or anyone you like.

Anyway, they reserved a backyard backyard for us and there was a big sign saying Richard's

car show, Richard's car club.

Sorry.

Excellent.

And there were people there, you know, there are various designers that Richard knows.

One of them, Richard Woolley showed up in his Lamborghini Huracan, which not bad way

to arrive.

Another one, well-known Jeremy Townsend, well-known bloke from the Stellantis fold turned up in

his absolutely immaculate Citroen 2CV, a car that his kids love.

They don't care about anything else he brings home and he's got a hell of a variety.

Interesting.

They just want to go out in the Citroen.

Yeah.

John Simister, well-known, another hack, turned up in a 1960 Singer Gazelle, which was a great

car, you know, Hillman dressed up.

I had a Renault 4 and I suppose there were, I don't know, 15 or 20 other people.

And Richard was going to bring his Austin 1100 hydroelastic first, you know, pioneering

hydroelastic car, but with fluid suspension, remember?

But unfortunately, one side of the fluid decided to evaporate itself on the road.

So he came in a mini, in a modern way.

Yeah, OK.

But it was one of those things where and the reason for banging on about it is just Richard

demonstrated again that it's possible to have your own car show.

Just ring up your mates, find a venue.

Everybody has a great time.

We were there for two hours, all at a burger and went home and feeling good.

Yeah, it was great.

So do you think there could be a Cropley car show next year?

Well, interestingly, on the way, halfway back down the Fosway, the Mrs.

was saying, let's do this, let's get, you know, we haven't got the space that

Julsers has, but we might be able to find somewhere.

But I like the idea of it and there, you know, we've all got various

modeling mates with cars that they're itching to exercise or sort of set out

on a journey and break down.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I'm thinking if I did the advantage of if I did one at mine, the advantage

is I don't have the space, but my neighbor does in a field.

But also I wouldn't I wouldn't actually have to take my cars anywhere,

which would be a real advantage because most of them don't work anyway.

So that would be particularly helpful.

It's just for walking around.

Yeah, actually, that field out near your place, brilliant spot on.

Yeah, just after you use that.

Yeah, I think so.

I just have to ask them and they'd be, I think they'd be accommodating enough.

They don't do much with it.

So I can't see why not.

Yeah, that could work.

It's a nice idea.

Coincide it with the local beer festival next year and make a bit of a weekend of it.

Yeah, I think what's going on at Portia?

Well, I was just having a rattle about the the extraordinary

change that's gone on in my life.

Portia has usually been Portia dealer network without being rude to them

as has been a collection of order takers, you know, people who

when you when you arrive and you want to buy a Porsche, they sort of say,

oh, I'm sorry, sir, you know, the delivery date is nine months hence.

And you can't afford that model.

Why don't you have one of these?

You know, that sort of thing.

And life's changed for them a lot.

They are in trouble in China.

They're hampered by tariffs in America.

The EV difficulty is, you know, runs across the world.

So their commitment to EVs has had to be curtailed and at vast cost.

They've got to have had a CEO who was also trying to run Volkswagen,

which strikes me as, you know, like trying to run Europe and Asia at the same time.

Yeah.

And so they've they, you know, they've in by in bother and

and Oliver Blumer, the guy that's been the boss,

has gone back to just running VW.

They've hired or they're about to hire, as this is written,

the bloke called Michael Lighters, who very interestingly was

the boss of McLaren until recently is and he was terminated.

You remember that he because McLaren became

the two companies came to meet this four seven engineering company,

joined McLaren Automotive and the boss of four seven, Nick Collins,

became the overall boss, which left Lighters without a job.

And we thought that meant Lighters was

are, you know, out of the limelight.

But it seems that that's Porsche

reckon that he is the man for the job.

And that's a much bigger job than running McLaren.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, must be.

So so to recap, there's a few things to talk about here.

Lighters worked at Ferrari before McLaren.

He did, I believe so, yeah.

And then also, let's tell me about the four seven McLaren thing.

Tell me what four seven is.

And also, are they owned effectively by the same fund

that owned McLaren? I believe so.

Yeah, which is, yeah.

It was it was four seven was was assembled

a bit out of the limelight, but a but a but a big group of,

you know, some hundreds of engineers in the UK.

Yep. And sort of Leamington Minimons.

Yeah, assemble a lot of JLR people, basically.

Yeah. In fact, lots of talent from all sorts of places,

but JLR, as you say, Nick Collins

had been here and there himself.

He was at JLR, I think. But before that, he was at Ford.

I remember we were going to do a story with him about the

the new Ford Fiesta, except a few new Ford Fiesta didn't actually get

built. But

the idea apparently was always to

put McLaren on a new footing, because as as we know,

everybody but Ferrari is having trouble making money out of supercars.

And I think the idea is to broaden McLaren's offering,

you know, to have some, I don't know, SUVs or, you know,

maybe, I don't know whether they do a saloon or not, but they but

broaden the offering and use this engineering group to do it.

Gotcha. Because the engineering group as much as as you say,

it was doing things very much in the background, but it always

only saw bits of it on LinkedIn as it was trying to attract,

trying to recruit staff, basically, and engineers.

And it was we are working on a car that will arrive

at some point in the next what would have been two to three years, I suppose.

Is it likely that those will arrive with a McLaren badge rather than a four

seven? Oh, I think so. Yeah.

I think one is the other now, I believe.

And and, you know, Nick Collins speaks for McLaren now.

And so it's exciting time.

But big, big threat, you know, Middle Eastern money, so a lot of it.

But not everything financed by Middle Eastern investors

turns out to be profitable. No.

And and it's going to be interesting to see how they how they progress

over the next few years and where the market's coming from.

I'm a bit scared of the lack of demand for these for these higher value cars.

Not that it's my job to be scared, but you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I get it.

Well, I mean, you know, we don't report to the industry,

but we like to see bits of it doing well. Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah, because they, you know, they there's no doubt they can produce

fantastic machines with so we want them to go right on doing it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

It would be interesting to see what I.

Would be really interesting to see is a fly on the wall in the

boardroom as they are planning a model line up. Yeah.

Love to see that.

And the the design is another interesting thing, isn't it?

Because we're used to I mean, if you look at Aston Martin design, it's been done.

It's it follows a pretty good secret sequence that goes right back to the DB

four, if you like, DB two, you can sort of read along the line.

So when the DBX SUV came out, it was not a total surprise.

But I don't have in my head a

a view of what a McLaren SUV would be like. No.

So and and by the way, McLaren have changed chief designers a few times along the way,

haven't they? Yeah.

You know, from the Frank Stephenson, 12 seed days. Yeah.

So what's it going to be like?

Because it's going to be fascinating.

It is because I wonder whether that design language that they have

because every car they've made is mid-engine and carbon fiber and two seater.

Yeah. Well, how that how that face translates to

something else, if it does at all. Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

And no, they'd wedded to because they were McLaren was wedded to carbon fiber structures,

which if you're doing a four slash five seater is

unusual. Yes, very, very.

And they're wedded to the engine in the middle, because that's the best place to put it,

which again, would be unusual.

So, I mean, I'd love to see what's going on, mate.

I'd love to see what's going on.

When you look at the Porsche model, Porsche business model,

you know, the 911 and Boxster and came in very much in the minority.

And it's the saloons and SUVs that have even now are sustaining the company.

So what does that mean for McLaren?

Where are they going to make these cars?

And as you say, the construction, there's a lot to think about, isn't there?

How much, isn't there? Yeah, where are they going to make it?

And what are they going to be made of?

Yeah. And I suppose that's perhaps that's what it's about.

What 47 has been reflecting on these last few years, it's just been formed.

It'd be nice to download Nick Collins, wouldn't it?

It really would.

I've had a few dealings with very nice bloke, but it doesn't say much.

Yeah, yes. He was an award winner at some point, wasn't he?

Yeah, most recently, I think a few years ago.

I remember talking to him, then also traffic, classic tractor enthusiast.

Is he? Oh, I didn't know that.

Yeah, which I got, oh, mate, I've just got,

I have no need for a classic tractor whatsoever.

But I keep, and they're surprisingly affordable.

Well, where you are is probably, I could imagine you sort of driving around the field

and having a big grin on your face.

Yeah, I could ask the parish council if they really need somebody to mow the local pathways,

the footpaths and stuff like that.

And then I'd have a purpose for getting one.

What would you buy?

I don't know, something Fordson or Ferguson, yeah, something like that.

One of those probably what, 30s or 50s, gray, small, you know, the sort.

I just think they're beautifully designed because there's nothing on them

that doesn't need to be on them.

So they look like a, and the proportions are just right.

Perfect.

Yeah.

I love that.

The thing about tractors is that there's this huge monster casting,

which where the engine runs into the gearbox casing, runs into the diff, doesn't it?

And you are just an incidental something perched on top of this mighty casting, aren't you?

But it just, they're just a rightness to the way that so many of them look,

which I really, really adore.

I'm really like that.

There was a fabulous thing that I got into a bit of a leather event years ago,

because I had a mate with classic tractors.

And the object of his desire, he never owned one, was a thing called a field marshall,

which was a one cylinder diesel tractor that used to,

and I think you had to start it with a shotgun shell or something.

Oh, I love those.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Large single cylinder two stroke diesel engine.

And yes, do you sort of screw in the shotgun shell and then get a whack with a hammer?

Yeah, yeah.

And that goes boom, boom, boom, boom.

And they were, and it kind of, when it's idling,

it rocks back and forth on the front and rear wheels.

Yeah, yeah.

Have you come across a German tractor called a Lans Bulldog?

No.

Oh, mate, I've got to share some stuff with you.

What's it like?

It's again, it's got an enormous, it's got an enormous,

quite an enormous flywheel on the side on a lot of them.

Exposed?

Yeah, but then they make this single cylinder two stroke thing again,

but they tend to have a lot of derivatives thereof.

And some of them, you see them driving down the road at quite a rate of knots.

And you think, these look great.

And I'm quite like, what am I going to do with it?

I would never do it.

But I just have a bit of a soft spot for them.

People around the country who were in the same position,

what am I going to do with it?

But I just love it.

What am I going to do with this?

I remember driving, this friend of mine had a few tractors.

And I remember driving one of them to a show one time

because he was busy with another one.

You drove it on the hands rattle.

And I found, maximum speed was something like eight miles an hour.

And I found that if you got hold of the hands rattle

and pulled it out and held it out, you could get 8.2 miles an hour.

And it was so, it was such a complete pain in the back.

So I was doing eight miles an hour for 20 miles.

Oh, yeah.

That, I've made the mistake of taking my kids with me.

And there was quite a lot of complaining went on.

I can believe that thing.

I can believe that.

What was I going to say?

Sorry.

No, I've just lost my thread.

Were you talking about the German?

Oh, no, I was going to say, I think they're relatively affordable.

One, because there's a few around.

I think like a really nice classic tractor

can cost you a couple of thousand pounds,

which I know is not an income.

I know that's still a couple of thousand pounds.

But it's not 60 grand, is it?

It's not 60 grand.

But then it's, and I think,

when people talk sometimes about like historic fighter planes

and things like that and they say the price is off them

and it's hundreds of thousands rather than many millions.

And somebody once said, yeah, but it's because they're really hard to use.

They're really hard to look after.

They're really hard to use.

And what are you going to do with it?

So actually, the market for them is really small.

There's only a limited number of people who are interested.

So that's why they're not,

and I think probably the same with classic tractors,

because you probably need to live in the sticks

and have a barn and have somewhere to do with it,

something, you know, somewhere to use it

and something to do with it.

Because what are you going to do if you live in a,

I don't know, a terraced house in the city?

What are you going to keep it?

What are you going to do with it?

You can be a bother, yeah.

Yeah, whereas actually you might have a classic,

you know, a new classic, I don't know,

hot hatchback or something.

Well, remember having a conversation with a bloke in Scotland

about the market in traction engines?

And there were, you know,

there are three, he owned a fantastic traction engine,

but there are only another three people in Europe that bonded well.

And so it wasn't, he had to get the price right.

That's probably the way.

Yeah, let's take a very short break,

which basically entails me telling you about Anderson EV,

makers and suppliers, designers of excellent home electric car charges,

Anderson-EV.com.

And there is still time if you approach them directly and say,

I listened to the My Week in Cars podcast,

can I have some money off my order?

They'll give you 50 pounds off till the end of this month.

Fantastic, isn't it?

Yeah, good people, aren't they?

What else is there?

There are some AutoCar Christmas early bird special offers

we should tell people about.

Go to themagazineshop.com forward slash AutoCar.

Access to the entire 130-year AutoCar archive.

130 years.

Tom See of Surrey writes to us to say,

I like Rob Halloway's confirmation about the Mini's beer can exhaust tip story

on the last podcast.

That's Frank Stephenson, wasn't it?

Yeah.

And it reminded me of a similar tale.

I was once out for a few drinks

with someone closely linked to the Nissan Design Studio in Paddington,

where the Duke was conceived.

Although ironically not entirely sober at the time,

they stated unequivocally that the so-called wine rack front bumper

on the original Duke was indeed designed with that in mind.

It was allegedly the result of a prank

where a few people in the design studio

wondered how much more distinctive the design could be

and proposed adding a design feature

such that it could physically hold several bottles of wine.

I was told they fully expected the eye-catching addition

to be red-penned by the top brass,

but it was radically accepted just as part of the design

and went all the way to production.

I would love to find out if that story is true.

So would we, Tom.

Well, maybe someone will tell us.

Maybe someone will tell us.

Maybe somebody who is close or has been close

to the Nissan Design Studio will let us know.

On my way home down the Fosway,

I'm going to see if I can spot a Mark I Duke

coming the other way and see whether I can see the wine rack.

Yeah, so they've got the driving lights

at sort of a top-then-nose

next to the bonnet closings, aren't they?

But then there's those big gaping round holes

with lights in at the bottom.

Yeah, I thought so.

Dunno.

Yeah.

Maybe they're just holes, aren't they?

Maybe they're just holes.

I sort of think so.

It reminds you of the journalist competition, isn't it?

But where I worked on a newspaper once,

and you'd have competition with people

to write some story about the financial performance

of a company and use the word, I don't know,

ravishing in the middle of it or something like that,

or anti-disestablishment areas.

Yes, I had a chat with a friend

who was writing some business-to-business copy

the other day, and they were not looking forward

to writing something.

I said, well, why don't you try?

I won't say what it is.

Why don't you try putting some of the lyrics

to a certain song, which is not unrelated

to the subject, that might make it a bit

more pleasurable to write?

Did it happen?

I haven't seen the finished result yet,

but I hope so.

I'm hoping so.

I like it.

You spotted some Saabs the other day, did you?

Yeah, I was just rattling on about how,

in fact, you and I were talking about

how nice it is to see Saabs,

because you fit ones in day-to-day use

are getting a bit rare.

And then a gentleman whose name escapes me

wrote to us about the Valmet Museum.

Oh, yeah, did he write to me as well?

He did.

You pick up the story, mate,

and I'll find his name.

Well, Valmet is a company in Finland

that made cars according to contract.

So, you know, it made lots of Saabs.

I think it also made...

Did it make the Lotus Elise chassis,

or am I imagining that?

Not sure about that.

But it did make Opels, I think, Calibras.

Oh, really?

And one or two other things.

Yeah.

Oh, Evolvos and things.

And it's in a place called Usykau-Punki in Finland.

Exceptional pronunciation, I think.

Yeah, well, I had a few goes at it.

Anyway, this gentleman has friends in Finland,

and he and his missus were visiting them, I think,

and they, lo and behold, they found Valmet.

Oh, okay.

It's got all these Saabs in it,

96 to 9,000, he says.

So, from, I guess, from the 50s to the war,

2010s, anyway, to all the 2010s.

And he says it's a great place to go,

you know, really welcoming, quite...

Not busy, just all the things that are nice

about a museum full of Saabs.

Oh, they made the Porsche Pockster.

Oh, that's it.

That's it.

Alistair Duncan.

Thank you, Alistair.

Yeah, well done, Alistair.

Sorry to forget your name.

He very kindly says,

great way to spend an hour,

bit like listening to your podcast.

I'm good luck with that.

That's the kind of letter we like.

Thanks for that.

So, are you going to...

We don't go often, do we, to that part of the world?

But we should do.

Well, it was interesting.

I did the Google whatnot

and found that it was 1200 miles or something.

So, I was wondering whether that was a bit far

for a long weekend.

But Alistair says that you can...

If you go to Sweden,

which is a fair bit more accessible,

you can take a nice,

luxurious ferry across the waterway to Finland.

And it's quite doable.

He had no trouble with it at all and enjoyed it.

I think it would be fun.

I've got a few things up there that I'd like to do.

I want to drive with the missus across the Orison Bridge,

the one that goes between Denmark and Sweden.

Yeah, extremely long bridge.

And it comes out of a tunnel on an island

and then turns into a bridge.

And it was the bridge that was featured

in a Swedish detective, I think, TV series called The Bridge.

And it started off with some ship running into it or something.

Anyway, but it's a lovely bridge.

I went there once before and drove over it a few times.

But as inevitably in our lives,

it was all about the photo session.

I was going to say it was for a feature, wasn't it?

Yeah.

What was that in?

I can't recall.

It was something I did with the late lamented

Stan Papio, the photographer.

He became excited about the bridge

because it was such a visual feature.

Yeah, well, Stan's a...

He loves architecture and forecast.

Yeah, yes, I really like Stan.

But I fancy that and one of two other things.

There's a big bridge through the middle of France

that somebody was showing me pictures of the other day.

It's a very long bridge.

Oh, really?

Forgot what the hell it is.

But I want to ride it across my motorbike.

In fact, one of my sons on his Yamaha did do the other day.

Oh, really?

And he said not to be missed.

So...

Is it not the Milau Violet?

Maybe.

I'm just searching big bridge France.

To see what it says.

Oh, we're so brilliant at...

Oh, yeah, complete in 2004.

So I suppose it could be.

That could be the one.

Yeah, it could be the one, couldn't it?

I may have been over that.

No, I'll have a look on the map.

One of my highlights was riding across the Golden Gate Bridge

on a Harley-Davidson.

Oh, mate, that was...

I'm very happy about that.

When people say, what did you do with your job?

Yeah.

I'm going to say, well, one day...

What was the Harley?

Remind me, was there a road king or something?

It was one of the big baggers.

It was a...

Biggie?

Yeah, it was, I think, 385 kilos or something like that.

And I was a bit concerned about that when I was thinking,

what shall I get?

And they went, well, why don't you try one of these?

And I thought, oh, crikey, that's large.

But it was okay.

Yeah, fine, because the seating position's quite low.

And so your feet get on the ground flat really easily.

And once it's rolling, actually, the...

Any kind of weight to it just sort of disappears.

I think the center of gravity is really pretty low

and it just, yeah, it just rolled away.

Lovely torquey thing.

Very ordinarily, yeah.

It was really...

I think...

I really enjoyed it.

And I know some people have, you know,

say they're not the world's most sophisticated machines,

but I really liked it.

I really liked it.

But Harleys are like EVs.

They get criticized by people who haven't quite an experienced one.

Yeah.

I think Harleys are...

They're sure that, you know, it's not a due catty, is it?

But it's a lovely, stable thing.

Well, as I say, there's one for sale in my neighborhood at the moment

and I kind of fence around swapping my Honda 750.

What sort of...

It's quite an old one.

So it's just called a Harley soft tail.

It goes back into...

They got into a bit of a succession of engine expansions.

This is...

But for many years, Harleys had a traditional engine size and style of 1340 CCs.

And this is a 1340, late 90s.

But it's only ever done 6,000 miles.

It's in perfect condition.

Wow.

And I keep looking at it, you know, thinking, oh, God,

well, it goes back to you and your tractor.

Do I need this?

No.

Yeah.

This was a...

I had a street glide.

Oh, right.

Well, that's a good one.

That must have been about 1,600.

Gragi, no, you're asking.

Well, it was bigger than 1340.

Yeah, it's a big...

I mean, it's a big machine, but two big boxes on the back to put stuff in.

Because I'd gone out for...

I'd gone out for another job and then stayed, but I managed to fit everything.

They offered you, didn't they?

Am I right?

Yeah, they have one of ours.

They have one of ours.

Yes, it is 1,868 CCs with six-speed, six-speed gearbox.

18...

So that's 1.9 liters.

Makes 93 horsepower.

But yeah, I was going and I thought, right, I need to hire one.

Where should I hire one from?

And they wrote and said, look, you should borrow one of ours

and you can pick it up from Eagle Rider, which is a chain of bike hire shops

which has a relationship with Harley.

So...

How long were you on it?

Four, three or four days, I think.

I'm so plenty long enough to know it.

Yeah, I picked it up from San Francisco.

I rode it down to Los Angeles to drive a Gunther Works Porsche 911 and a...

There's a BMW done by two brothers, which looked like a Z8 Coupe.

Works are actually a Z4 underneath, but had a V8 in it.

And their name escapes me just at the moment,

but that will come back to me in a second

because I'll look it up next time I'm talking to you.

But that was great.

After the Harley experience, did you find yourself thinking

I could do with one of these or was it...

Yeah, a bit.

I mean, the thing is that it does it suit the sort of riding I do in the UK.

Not really, not a 375 kilo.

No.

Harley, but I do.

But I would like some big V-Twin Thumper.

Yeah, the V-Twin is a bit like the V8.

It's just got a certain special character to me.

Yeah.

I've had one or two V-Twins, Ducati's.

Pretty good.

Yeah, I had a Ducati and miss it a lot.

Yeah, what was it?

748.

748, yeah, which I think is a proper one.

Yeah, a proper one.

Yeah, really enjoyed that.

It was much better than I was.

But yeah, and I think people used to say that the 748,

which was the sibling model of the 916,

and they used to say that 7...

A bit like the Peugeot 205 GTI,

those used to say, oh yeah, the 748's the better,

the 1.6 compared to the 1.9.

It's a bit sweeter.

It's a bit revier.

It's a bit less powerful.

Didn't bother me.

Plenty of power for me.

Lovely.

I think.

All right, I mean, it goes back a million years,

but I had a 900 SS, which was, well, it was better to talk

about the known, to be honest,

because it didn't have an electric start.

So you were at extreme risk of being chucked over the handlebars

because it would kick back or do your ankle.

It was, you had to kind of take a deep breath, hold your nose,

make sure that your foot was exactly correctly positioned

on the kickstarter or it would...

Really?

...dangerous.

Oh, good grief.

Oh, well, maybe not one of those.

Maybe I don't fancy one of those after all.

Well, you know, it was one of these testosterone specials,

which was why I was completely unsuited to it.

It's 20 years of AutoCard Japan, is it?

Yeah.

Well, there's a nice lady that translates my column into Japanese

called Keoru, and she rang me up the other day...

Oh, sorry.

She sent me a note the other day saying,

guess what?

It's 20 years.

I didn't know that.

She sent a picture of the original issue,

which where I was rattling on about Mazur MX-5s

and also about the death of the journalist, LJK Setwright,

who I worked with for a good few years.

And she was just saying, isn't that a long time?

And it is.

So I just...

You forget.

Time passes.

We have too much fun in this job.

The only problem with it is that you bolt through your life

because you're so busy gathering new experiences,

but I'm not complaining.

Yeah, quite right.

A minute ago, when we were talking,

Porsche, you said that they were not doing amazing things

in China at the moment.

What's going on?

What's the problem?

Yeah, what's the problem?

Because they're not alone, my understanding.

No, I think it's just that the Japanese...

Sorry, the Chinese are concentrating more and more on local marks.

And I think the Chinese authorities are not making it

particularly easy for importers anymore,

especially people who don't have a manufacturing facility there.

So it's just a harder job.

And when you chuck that in with less demand for EVs

and difficulties in America, big market, of course,

for Porsches in America, they just...

It all combines to make life very hard for Porsche.

Yeah.

Oh, and the decision to make the Makan,

you know, the mid-sized SUV, A and EV,

turned into another bit of a clunker of a decision.

Now they're busily putting petrol and diesel,

or petrol engines into the Makan to have a model out in 2027.

Okay.

I do...

So my column this week, I've talked a bit about Polestar.

Yeah.

Because there's a new Volvo ES90, which is a big electric Volvo Saloon.

And it's quite quick, and it's quite good looking,

and it's electric, and it's 80 grand-ish, or thereabouts, you know.

And I thought, well, hang on a minute.

Well, that sounds a bit like a Polestar to me.

But then you look at the Polestar range,

and there are models around it that are not exactly competitive with it,

but are pretty close.

There's a lot of models, and I'm thinking,

have you got two slightly gappy ranges here?

I'm not sure Polestar's are selling amazingly.

No.

Well, I like the cars, by the way.

Me too, yeah.

I like the cars.

And I was starting to think, what do they do?

How are they different?

And if they are not flying out of showrooms,

what does Polestar do?

Because they are a separate, effectively,

a separate company from Volvo, which,

even though they're kind of both the same sort of thing,

Swedish-designed, Chinese-owned, and made, and so on and so forth.

But could they just have been...

The too long didn't read of my column is,

couldn't they just have been Volvo?

Would that have been easier?

Because we all know what a Volvo is.

There are very few people who are not buying Volvos

because they don't like the image,

but instead they've launched an entirely new company,

which nobody has heard of.

People don't think about brands in their lives very often.

Volkswagen launched the ID range,

and people have gone, whatever.

But that's going to become the ID polo.

So the IDs will just become model names

that we've known for a long time, I think.

Mercedes launched EQ.

We all know what Mercedes is.

We don't know what an EQ is.

So they've just kind of been that often.

The cars will just become Mercedes models.

Yeah, and everything's going to be electric anyway,

so the distinctions.

And the irony is that the Polestar 2 was a Volvo.

It started life as a Volvo concept car.

I remember going to Sweden to view this car,

and there were two versions of it,

but this was the Saloon version.

And the designer, Volvo design chief at the time,

was Thomas Ingenlath, who subsequently

was the bloke of Polestar.

It seemed like a good idea at the time to me,

but I think I'm a bit like you.

I still see Polestar designers separate.

I admire the cars when they come down the road,

because they do have this beautiful, clean,

sort of slightly angular, but lovely proportions and all that.

But whether there's a role for...

I found myself looking at Volvos and finding the same

design cues and so on.

So it's hard, isn't it?

Yeah, and it's not like...

I know Polestar's are, I sense, a bit more dynamic

and a bit more...

Because they describe one of them as like a GT,

exclusive GT car.

Maybe it's the five.

I find their naming system a bit.

I find their naming system irritating.

They're confusing.

They've gone around the block.

Yeah, but it's not like people don't like

slightly more dynamic Volvos.

There have been a number of them in the past

that have been good to drive.

And I just wonder if you were launching a bunch of

£18,000, £90,000 electric cars

and they were not necessarily massively in demand.

If you still had XC60s you were selling as well,

that would be okay and you take up the slack a bit

with something else.

But I don't know, I just...

Do you know what I think might be the work here is that

Thomas Ingenleith departed, didn't he?

Because Polestar aligned himself to the whole.

He lived Polestar, didn't he, in the end.

And his unique persona and his energy and all the rest of it

seemed to make Polestar different at the time.

But now he's not there.

It's somehow...

Polestar, if it's to survive, it seems to me that it's one company

that needs a really, really prominent and strident leader.

And maybe that would be the way to bring it out again.

But I love stories of car company leaders.

I just, you know, it's William Lyons Perfect.

And I can't help thinking that the departure of Ingenleith

makes life harder for Polestar.

They may not think that, but I do.

The ownership structure has changed a bit, hasn't it?

Yes, yes.

Recently, and I can't remember what it is now, but there was...

And it all makes no sense to me because it always seems to me

that actually it's the same parent company.

It's the same...

Do you know what I mean?

You're moving money from one bit of a big company to another,

but it always strikes me it's in the same big company.

So I can never...

But oh, well, this is now the leadership is now owned by so and so,

and this is now...

And I just think...

But it's the same...

But to us, it's just paperwork, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think they've got a problem to deal with, for sure.

And I would love to see somebody stand up on a soapbox and say,

here is the difference between Volvo and Polestar.

And this is how it'll all move in the future.

Because, I mean, they've got rather excellent CEO at the moment,

whose name escapes me, used to Michael Lochella.

That's him.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He was in charge of Volvo, of Opel.

Yeah.

And I think he had some other stop on the way.

But anyway, he didn't do an okay job of Opel

after it changed ownership to Stellantis, remember?

And he came into Polestar with a lot of bullish talk,

but about changing the dealership model and selling in more places.

The demand is the demand.

Yeah.

And if you want to sell in more places and the dealership model and stuff like that,

they've already got a brand that's been going for however long Volvo has been going.

Because it's 1920 something, is it?

Or maybe longer?

And all those big in America, isn't it?

Yeah.

You've already got that structure.

There's nothing in those cars that you would be put off from them,

I don't think, if they had a Volvo on the nose.

But you've already got this entire structure through which,

and everybody knows what a Volvo is.

And do they really know or give monkeys what a Polestar is?

Because who can?

This electrification era has really had lots of unexpected outcomes, hasn't it?

The threat to supercars,

the fact that supercar manufacturers need to move into SUVs,

this business of two marks, two Swedish marks, apparently Swedish marks being

a bit too close to one another.

There's all these things that have happened.

The combination of COVID and electrification.

Chacked everything up in the air.

I wonder what difference the success,

certainly in terms of sales, if not finances,

but sometimes finances that Tesla has had on other boardrooms

when they think about launching electric car ranges.

Do they think, actually, it turns out people can get excited about a brand new brand

that is doing new things with electric cars.

So let's create our own version of Tesla.

Whereas other companies like Stellantis have gone,

well, we know actually there are electric Stellantis new sub brands and stuff.

But primarily they've gone, well, let's sell a Peugeot 208,

we'll sell it with a petrol, we'll sell it with a hybrid,

we'll sell it with a diesel and we'll sell it with a battery.

And it will just be a Peugeot 208.

Because actually all that the electric thing is,

is just another way to make it go down the road.

And that's not a terrible idea, I don't think.

No, it turns out not to be.

We've swung both ways, haven't we?

There's been the people who said, well, of course,

an EV needs to be a completely new structure,

because then you don't have all the brackets and runs and bits of extraneous stuff

in your catch-all model.

But the catch-all model has turned out to be a bit of a better idea.

Yeah, Skoda seems to be doing it quite well.

I know VW Group is having a bit of a few issues here and there,

but I think Skoda, well, there's some stories coming out on Skoda,

because Skoda is 130 years of this year, just like HMS Orchka.

HMS us, yeah.

So we're going to be doing some stories on Skoda's history,

which I have been doing recently.

But anyway, the short of it is they're making a million cars a year

and they're making an 8.5% profit,

which I think they're not a budget brand, but they're a value brand.

They're a mass market value brand.

I don't know who else is doing that in that sector.

I think that's amazing.

Yeah, that must be the...

The cars are good, obviously,

but it must be the kind of brand people want at the moment.

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

But also, if you go to the small car production line,

you get...

They have different models with battery-electric vehicles

and combusted vehicles,

but the small car platform that underpins them,

they just run down the same line

and they can just shift the balance of production as they like.

So I think they're doing 20-something percent EV battery-electric vehicles

at the moment overall.

But if demand goes up or down a bit, that's okay.

Because they're all rolling down the same line and that's all right.

Impressive.

You can't help thinking that the rise of...

You were talking about Tesla showing that an EV brand can be popular.

You can't help thinking that the people in the established motor industry

who have always believed and still believe

that it's damn difficult to get where they are

without 50 or 100 years of history

have taken that all a bit lightly.

If Tesla can do it, we must be able to do it with our heritage.

But Tesla are just different, aren't they?

Every time I see a row of superchargers,

I realize how different they are.

Yeah.

Thanks for your one ball, Tesla.

I wonder how important the supercharger network was to the success

and they've always felt like a tech company.

And I don't know if car enthusiasts and Tesla enthusiasts

are typically the same thing, whether that matters.

But I realize I'm a contradiction myself because in my column I write,

look, what some people need to realize is what marketers say often,

which is people don't care about brands.

They don't think about it.

They've got other things to think about.

So therefore, if you've got a strong brand that you have spent 100 years

telling people you're the ultimate driving machine,

just keep doing it.

Don't mess around because people know.

But I'm aware that Tesla started making cars in 2008 and 2009 with a Roadster

and there were only a handful of those.

Model S started up in 2012 and now everybody knows what they are.

So I'm a slight contradiction.

Elon's such a dominant.

But I must say I find myself, I always think about my residual view of Honda.

Honda make all kinds of cars.

But I still relate my view of Honda to the lovely little motorcycles they made

to win the Isle of Man in six-cylinder 250s and whatever they were.

And I think of them as the world's greatest makers of internal combustion.

It's amazing how far this stuff travels with you if you're an enthusiast anyway.

But Tesla, to me, the key to Tesla is the Supercharger network.

The cars are okay.

And they're pretty good now.

Yeah, pretty good.

Yeah, I drove the Model Y Performance the other day and it was pretty good.

And it had an actual...

Works nice too, doesn't it?

Now with a light bar across the front.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, very much so.

Yeah, because for a time they sort of looked a bit strange having not a grille.

It's just a sort of bulbous thing.

Yeah, but yeah, no good.

That pretty much brings us to the end of this week's pot, mate.

Unless there's any other business that they say in important meetings, I believe.

I'm going to get to the AOB.

You're just a bit of an Anderson sign-off.

Anderson EV.

Anderson EV, makers of...

Anderson dash EV.com.

Anderson dash EV.com, makers and designers and installers.

Yes, our correspondent earlier said that Andy from Anderson turned up in an MG5.

To install his charger.

I believe that's the company cast.

Oh, is it?

Yeah.

Yeah, quite a lot.

Yes, they're over.

Yes, UK designed and made.

And seven year warranty.

£50 off if you mentioned the My Week In Cast podcast,

but you've only got till the end of October to do so.

Steve, thanks mate.

See you later.

See you next week.

Hosting your own car show, new Porsche boss, Polestar v Volvo

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