The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the UK regulator that oversees financial services, including consumer credit and car finance. When the FCA issues guidance or decisions like this, it can directly affect how lenders and brokers handle complaints and compensation.
A redress scheme is basically a way for people to get compensation if they were treated unfairly. Here, it’s about car finance deals being sold in a way that may not have been properly explained or fair.
Finance misselling means someone may have been sold a car finance deal that wasn’t explained properly or wasn’t right for them. If regulators find it was unfair, customers can sometimes claim compensation.
0% finance means you don’t pay interest on the amount you borrow for the car. The point here is that if you’re not paying interest, the FCA thinks there may be less harm to compensate.
JLR means Jaguar Land Rover. It’s the company that makes Jaguar and Land Rover cars. They’re talking about a leadership change and what it might mean for future cars.
A paywall is a website barrier that blocks articles unless you pay or subscribe. It’s common for car news sites that want to get paid for their reporting.
Supply chains are the routes and steps that get parts and materials to car factories. If they get disrupted, cars and parts can become harder to get or more expensive.
The electric van transition means more delivery and service vans are switching to electric power. It’s not just about the van itself—charging and costs matter too.
Charging infrastructure just means the places where you can plug in an electric car. In this segment, they’re talking about adding more chargers along major roads so EVs can travel more easily.
General Motors is being used as an example of a company adjusting its EV plans. If certain EV models aren’t selling, they may cut back production of related versions too.
The Volkswagen Group is the company that owns multiple car brands. If the group is involved in a recall, it can impact more than one brand or type of car.
A preventative recall is done to stop a problem before it causes harm. In this case, they found the risk during testing, not because something bad already happened to people.
Bring a Trailer is a website where car enthusiasts buy and sell cars online. It’s especially known for interesting or rare cars, and people often use it because the listings and audience are very car-focused.
Online car auctions let sellers list vehicles digitally and buyers bid remotely, often with standardized listing formats and photo/video requirements. The hosts are discussing how auction platforms differentiate themselves through branding, photography, and listing quality rather than just the auction mechanics.
Good photos matter a lot in online car selling. They help buyers feel more confident about what the car really looks like, and these days most sites offer some level of photo support.
Bonhams is a well-known auction company. They also auction collectible items, including cars, and they may help with how the car is presented to attract buyers.
Instead of charging a flat amount, some auction sites take a percentage of what the car sells for. That percentage can also be capped, so the fee doesn’t keep growing forever.
Seller fees are the costs the auction website charges you when you sell a car. They can be a fixed listing fee, a percentage of the sale price, or both.
If a company makes lots of the same parts, each one costs less. That’s why one model can be cheaper—because it shares engineering and manufacturing with other cars.
The Easter Jeep Safari is a yearly Jeep off-road event held in Moab, Utah. People bring special builds and new gear made for trails and desert driving.
A restomod is an older car that’s been refreshed with newer tech. It tries to keep the classic style, but make it drive and live with like a modern car.
Sealed-beam headlights are an older type of headlight design where the bulb is built into the whole headlight unit. They’re common on classic cars and help keep the original look.
A roll cage is a reinforced structure—usually metal—that helps protect occupants during rollovers or hard off-road impacts. In off-road builds and concepts, it also signals that the vehicle is intended to handle rough terrain and higher stresses than a stock SUV.
Electrification means using electricity to help drive the car—like a hybrid or a fully electric vehicle. The point here is that these cars don’t use any electric system at all.
“500 mile range” refers to long-distance EV battery capability, often marketed as a key selling point. The speaker argues that such extreme range is unnecessary for many drivers and increases cost and complexity without improving everyday use.
A petrol tank is where the fuel is stored. If a company advertises a bigger tank, they’re basically saying you can drive farther before you need to stop for fuel.
A circular economy is about using resources again and again instead of throwing things away. In cars, that can mean designing parts so they can be reused, repaired, or recycled more easily.
The London Motor Show is a major UK auto event where manufacturers and concept-car builders display new vehicles and prototypes. Mentioning it helps listeners place the discussion in a specific time period and context for automotive design trends.
Pop-up lights are headlights that hide in the car’s body and pop up when you turn them on. They were common on older sports cars and look very “classic futuristic.”
LIVE
Welcome to the Motoring Podcast, a weekly discussion of Motoring News. This is episode
677 on Tuesday, 31st March, 2026. Hello, I'm Alan.
Hello, I'm Andrew. And this week you'll hear us talk about how bad two companies are feeling.
In new car news, you will wonder if small and light is the future for cars. And in
points of interest, you will learn just how dirty one road is. But first, we have some
follow-up. And the big news this week so far is that the Financial Conduct Authority has
finally decided to explain the details of the redress compensation scheme for the finance
misselling of four car buyers. It's not really finally. This is the date they said they would do
it. The lending side of this came back with lots of... That's not very fair. Of course they did.
Most of it, well, yeah, obviously, most of it, the FCA has chosen to ignore and has sided with
the consumer. However, there are two bits that they have changed. The first is that they are
going to actually increase what they expect to be the average payment. It was going to be 775
pounds-ish. It's now thought to be around 829 pounds. However, they have cut the number of
people eligible to claim from 14.2 million down to 12.1 million. Two reasons. One is they are
saying that if somebody was on a 0% finance contract, they don't really have a claim to say
they weren't fairly treated. I can see that. Yes, I think I can see the fairness in that
decision. The finance is not costing you anything at all. Therefore, you're not being hard done by
if you're not paying anything. Yeah. But the other one they've said is that if the contract was
exclusive between the car dealer and the car manufacturer, then there is no redress for the
customer because of course car dealers and car manufacturers never had any of these deals like
car dealers and finance companies did. No, no, no, no, no, no. Anyway, people are going to get paid
back for the car dealers and the finance industry breaking the law, which is what this is all about,
by the way, and everyone going, oh, the poor industry, the poor industry, don't break the law.
It's very easy. The other one, by the way, is they've cut out deals on which the commission was
low as well. So they've also removed those. If it was below £120 for the 1st of April 2014,
or below £150 after the 1st vehicle. Yeah, there's a good auto car article linked in the show notes
that goes on to further explain how they're having to split it up depending on dates because of
the likelihood of dealers actually having historical records still in place
because the claims go back all the way to 6th of April 2007.
Yeah, I've got claims in for two of them, neither of which was 0%, and I keep getting emails from
the lawyers telling me that I've to say that I'm represented by bot, but bot for me is something
ridiculous and a terrible double entendre. Anyway, do you want to take us into the new news?
Yes, well, the new news is that it is the 31st of March and today somebody was packing up his
multicoloured books and taking them with him and going off to set up his consultancy. And as a result,
there have been news announcements over the last little while about new appointments at JLR.
And one of the key ones that's come through is Balaji Rajan has been appointed the Group Chief
Strategy Officer at JLR. Insert, oh, they have a strategy, do they? Joke here. Because certainly
in my industry outside of doing motoring podcasts, that's kind of what I have to say.
He is an executive of Tata Motors, and he has been for a little while, and he's moving from
India to the UK. And the strategy seems to be to support closer coordination between JLR and Indian
Tata operations. Tata operations in India, Tata Motors in India do not have a very good reputation,
at least they didn't have the last time I was in India and speaking about them for quality or
whatever. So there's a radio strategic alignment, huh? But I don't see that that's going to do wonders,
perhaps for the quality, not necessarily perceived quality, but the quality beneath and behind
Jaguar and Land Rover. It depends on which way these flow, doesn't it? Well, it does, yes. But
they're looking to focus more on platform sharing, architectural alignment across segments, looking
into closer alignment of electrification and software development strategies. Oh, goodness.
And to leverage Indian engineering cost structures to support global programs. Now,
the readable version of this story is on AutoCarIndia.com. So the Indian aspect may be
being emphasised a little bit more for the domestic audience. Yes. The other version is
from standard AutoCar AutoCar businesses, seemingly impossible to get to today.
It's behind a payway. It's part of their paywall bit of the AutoCar business,
not the free bit. And that is not something we subscribe to one due to the cost, which we don't
object to because good journalism should be paid for. But two, we could never link to it and pass
it on to you, the listener, because you can't open it. We do that quite a few things, actually.
Yeah. Don't forget to subscribe to our Patreon, everyone. That's why we have to point out that
stuff costs money. I don't think anything's going to happen immediately, but I think we'll
see stuff over time. The plus side of this could well be better and more consistent development
of Land Rover and Jaguar products in the future, because what seems to have happened over the
last few years is that stuff has been created, launched, and then left. Who remembers the
Villar, everyone? Yeah. Every now and again, I remember the Villar exists.
Or even created, developed, and then canned at the last second.
Well, yes, there has been a small history of that, but I'm not sure.
Maybe, actually, just thinking this through slightly, maybe the tie-in and collaboration
between JLR and Cheery will have a more knock-on effect. I could see that happening more.
Yes.
Through to the Tata Group.
That's a good argument, yes.
Watch that. Whenever there's any news on that, obviously, we will update you.
I'm going to move us on. I'm sticking with JLR, but JLR is now halting some of its production
due to a supplier parts issue, according to the Business Matters article that we have linked in
the show notes. The award-winning purchasing department have managed to find a snag where
a supplier is not able to supply the parts they need. We don't know what the parts are,
we don't know what the issue is, or we know that there is an impact, because as we have
seen previously, JLR are very good at not saying anything when there is a problem.
Yes. The other thing about this, by the way, supply chains.
Did we learn nothing from COVID and the Ever Given and all of these things where everyone
was like, oh no, we need to bring our supply chains closer to home?
Did they not learn anything from listening to us?
Spend many, many shows explaining basic 101 purchasing strategies. Clearly not, and this is
not just the currency, because I'm seeing it not just in JLR, I'm seeing it across France.
It's everywhere again.
It's in all industries. Everyone seems to have lost their mind and completely blanked out the
last five years and just pretend it hasn't happened, and they're carrying on with bad practice.
And I have limited sympathy now.
It's actually quite hard to buy anti-back hand gel and face masks for going on planes these days.
Marvelous. Well done, everyone.
Just a quick reminder there.
Yeah.
Next up though, good stuff. The electric van transition is going on here in the UK.
The UK government is driving the electric van transition with £1 billion worth of grants.
Now, this isn't all going on vehicle. Let's not. A fair chunk of it will do.
There's two schemes, isn't there, that they're splitting this between?
Yes. It's split between zero emissions truck and van grants, which are the bits for when you buy stuff,
and also the depot charging scheme. They're trying to tackle this in two different directions,
one by helping to soften the upfront cost of electric commercial vehicles,
and the other one by making access to charging much easier.
Yeah. Both of those are massive, massive issues.
Yeah, yeah. So, it's not just when it says depot charging scheme, it's not just
for companies in depots. It's also businesses and public authorities can also save up to
up to a million pounds each, really, or 70% cost when they're installing charging infrastructure
for vans, coaches, and EHGVs as well. Expect it with grants a bit like that. I noticed it's
happening already with good service, but expect to start to see things on charging infrastructure
up here along more motorways, motorway service stations and that kind of thing, because you
can bet the service station providers will be hopping on the bandwagon.
Yeah, there has been in the past month or so quite a few of these articles
out that just haven't made it into the show because those shows have been packed.
But yeah, there is an increasing number of charging points being put around the basically
the trunk roads to trunk network of the UK or of England, certainly. I presume Scotland is doing
something similar. Who can tell? As long as it's different from what England's doing,
then the government will be fooled for it. This is good news. And to be fair to the government
at this point, and you know, if you've listened to the show, we are happy to put the boot into
anyone and everyone, especially the government. But to be fair, putting a billion quid up
for this is a good thing if you're trying to make it happen.
And this doesn't seem to be money that has been promised three or four times before we've seen
that happen as well. So this is this is pretty good. This was all kind of announced a certain
amount of this was was announced before the sort of US and Israel decided to start causing chaos
for no particularly good reason. Yeah. We're talking a feeling sad, Alan. I'm going to move
us on now to Sony and Honda. I feel as sick as how bad these puns have been, to be honest.
I just I cannot stop all day. I've been doing this.
Sony and Honda have killed off their joint venture. That was the Afila car brand
that got announced back in 2025. Or was it January? Oh, January 2025. Sorry, I'm checking
a top year. Well, it was announced before then. Oh, sorry. Yes, it was. That was when you could
preorder. That's when you could yes, see the vehicles and preorder in California.
Because this was going to be an American only thing. Although they did discuss that it might come
elsewhere. And it just felt like it was off from the very start. To be honest, the cars are not
good looking. The technical specifications were massively underwhelming. And the price was eye
watering. But the whole Honda zero thing was like that. They just look the whole I don't know.
This and Honda's zero range. They just never felt right from the start. I'm sorry, I never got a
vibe of okay, there's a chance this could be a success from it. I couldn't work out who they
were trying to sell that to. Well, that was part of it. I mean, that's always my things like who's
the audience for this vehicle? Because if you aren't going to Honda for luxury at the same price as
Lucid or something like that, are you? No, no, well, I think that's where this was meant to be.
But the Lucid is a proper premium product. Honda is making Nissan look like strategic wizards at
the minute. I wouldn't go that far. There was an article on auto news that tried to claim
that Nissan had won by the when Honda walked away because of the calling this off. I was like,
that's a very bold claim. Have you seen where Nissan is right now?
Nissan? Yeah, Nissan's cancelling. It is a close wrong thing at the moment for Nissan whether
they continue, whether they can survive, let alone thrive. But just to go back to something
that Alan said before when he mentioned the zero series, of course, once the zero series was
cancelled, this was always likely because they were going to share the platform and a lot of
the technologies. See also Porsche Bentley Lamborghini. Yes, exactly that. The fact that so many
brands are interconnected now where they're sharing platforms to try and reduce costs
comes with a lot of risk if one of the dominoes falls. Exactly, exactly. I think that's a great
point to make. It's easy to see it within Volkswagen, but I think that over wider
trenches of the industry will start to see that. General Motors really, I think we mentioned them,
we mentioned them before anyway, before we started recording. And their electric vehicles,
you know, they've got the challenge that because some models aren't selling very well,
some variants of chassis aren't selling very well, then they then have to dial back production of all.
Yeah. Do you want to take us to Germany? Recall news, everyone. The Volkswagen Group has to
report several models based on the MEB platform. The MEB platform underpins the ID384, ID5, IDBuzz,
Cargo models, as well as the Coupre-Borne. They're going to be recalling about 74,579
of them. That's what I said about just before giving a very specific number.
Well, if you include the Coupre-Borne, it comes up to about 94,013 or something.
Pardon me. It's an additional 19,452, approximately, Coupre-Borne's two. The issue that they're being
recalled for involves potentially faulty battery models. It is vehicles built between the 7th
of February, 2022 and the 23rd of August, 2024, some of the earlier versions of some of those
models and some of the later ones, some of the others. Volkswagen wants to recall it. They're
going to install a software update which will inspect the high voltage battery modules and
any that are found to DPA from specifications will be replaced. Again, recalling big chunks of
battery. I don't know how many are actually affected, but they'll have a better idea after
the software update. They're saying that the non-compliant batteries can lead to reduced
driving range and trigger a yellow warning light. Plus, also, there is the risk of fire.
And it's interesting to see the word fire as opposed to thermal event for a change.
It is. That's true. That might just be electric drive, bring that one through.
And just to be clear, there has been no reports of anyone being injured or there being a fire,
by the way, so we just need to make that crystal. Yes, yes, yes. This is completely
preventative and has been found through general testing. Now, this has not been found because
there's been an incident out in the real world. All the same, got one of those models that I
listed very quickly earlier on, then do have a little word with the service department in your
dealer and find out if it falls within those boundaries and stuff. Yep. I'm now going to
take us back to Blighty. And news is coming to us that bring a trailer is coming across from the
US to start auctions to the UK collector market over here. And I have heard of bring a trailer,
but I have not looked into them in any way because, one, it was America, two, I'm not in the market
for a car. So I had very limited interest in it. However, when I read through this
Motrin Research article, I'm wondering what this brings that we don't already have from multiple
outlets. No, the thing about bring a trailer is that it's synonymous across the internet for
online car auctions and online car auctions of unusual things, really. And it was one of the
first, it was established in 2007, again, in the US and before any of the sort of what we
now think of as UK competitors. So very strong brand, very well known brand. But other than that,
I can't see what they're going to bring that, frankly, three, four, five other groups don't
already provide here in the UK. Five, 10 years ago, offering to take professional photographs
helped write the description in a way that will sell and that sort of thing would have been
innovative. But it seems to me almost everybody does that now. Or at least offers it anyway.
Yes, there's a car in classic, does it? I want to sit collecting cars. Piston heads,
does it? Piston heads, does it? Because we know people who do that for them. And the one that
by Bonham's, or by the big auction house, does it as well. We know people will write for them as
well. There's a whole bunch in the UK that provide this same, this same service. I think they're
trying to muscle in just by having such a well known brand. And, you know, right at the minute,
they're going in at a costing cost from 79 pounds to list your car, if you want, on demand
photography, it's 239 pounds. And then on top of that, it's 5% final sale price,
up to 5,000 pounds for the sale. But, you know, right at the minute, seller fees are all being
waived. And it's basically half price for the photography option. They're trying to
muscle in Elba their way in there on the back of William and Brown.
Obviously wishing them the best. Yes. We're just being curious as to what they offer
different. We're not trying to talk it down in any way. Wishing them the best. Obviously,
very successful in America, because if we've heard about them over here, then, I mean,
you're different, Alan, because you were out there. But for the rest of us, if we've heard
about them over here, then they're doing something right. Yeah, they have a generally
decent reputation. It seems all of that, however, brings us to Gilmini. That's the quick break in
the show where we asked for a tad of financial support. Keep the lights on, the hosting running.
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Thank you everyone that does. Very much appreciated. It really is.
That means it must be New New Car News, Alan. It is, and it's a very Andrew friendly first
New New Car. The Decia Striker. It's a new estate. When I say estate, you're thinking it's not
quite, it's more sort of super outback slash sco.octavia scout slash any of those Lyft,
Audi all road type estate in it. It's sort of estate shape, but jacked up quite a bit.
But it's going to start at less than £22,000. It's going to offer petrol and hybrid power trains
within that price bracket. It's mechanically identical to the Bigster SUV. So it is the
sporty Bigster at the top of the Decia lineup. And yeah, it's like a sleeker bigster as this
ought to go. Article points out. You'll be able to get it with a 1.2 liter three cylinder petrol
engine that's paired with a rear-managed electric motor for a combined 152 horsepower,
and they'll be mild and full hybrid options that range from 138 horsepower up to 153 horsepower.
Some markets will get an LPG version, unlikely to reach the UK. We don't really do LPG here.
But other than that, it's going to share a lot with the Bigster. So if the Bigster is a bit too
big for you, go for the Striker. It's a lot more straight. I think it's decent looking. I mean,
what I'm reminded of is there's one photograph that's taken under, not studio lighting, but in a
car launch lighting. So it's not the greatest to see things. And then there's a bunch of heavily
rendered images. As we said last week, you must take these with a pinch of salt,
although I am feeling much more positive about this design than I was the cars we were discussing
last week. Yeah, this actually isn't... These ones aren't too bad. Many of them are photographed
outside without too much obvious touching up. But yeah, no, they look like they've been
photographed somewhere nice and sunny. Yeah, details are quite scant at the moment,
technical-wise, pricing-wise as well. But equally, we don't know what the interior is, but it's fair
to say it's probably going to be as much as identical to the Bigster as likely because
remember economies of scale and remember that DateShare have to do things in a certain way
to offer the cars at the price points they do. Yes. I like the look of it. Me too.
Okay, what's next, Andrew? Well, it's Easter. And before travel-geddon this weekend,
and then we can all gaze fondly across the pond to where Jeep have fettled with some of their
models to then go off for a safari into the desert, which we talk about every year.
Yeah, Easter Jeep safari at Moab. Yeah. Great, love it. This is effectively a
stealth extra list of the week for you. Do click on the car scoops link in the show notes because
you'll get to see several pictures of each of the models and there is a video at the bottom
that's embedded in the article. Okay, Alan, from what is on offer here, have you got one that you
would personally like to pilot more than any of the others? Yes. Okay, would you like to share
that with everybody? Oh, all right then. The XJ pioneer concept. So it is a Resto mod, okay,
and it's a Resto mod. It's a Resto mod of the XJ Cherokee, specifically a three door one.
Very cool. And an early three door one. So you get the chrome grille. You get the sealed beam
headlamps and all of that kind of stuff. I know that similar ones were sold in France,
but never in the UK, not the original three door body style. I just think it's really cool.
It is. It looks lightly modded. It really isn't lightly modded.
Well, there's a two inch suspension left, rock rails, 17 inch wheels, 33 inch altering tires,
and the inside is very 1980s. And one of the things I really like about this
is that in the interior photo, there's a Rubik's cube on the parcel shelf a bit.
But there's also a little tag there, which is says sweet mom. And the picture on it is from
is the mother from the Goonies, which of course is my era. And that's kind of how I first saw
the Jeep Cherokee, sort of that gray and gold Cherokee limited across the beach at the start,
which gets shot up and stuff. And at the end. Yeah, no, I think that's really cool.
I also love the bead seating. Well, yes, they've really gone to town.
Beed seating over cloth seats with a nice check and a very, very tan colored interior. But I
I really like it. I've just always liked that. Any others, Andrew?
Yes, for me, it's the Jeep Wrangler Laredo concept, which is you're going to choose this one. It's
I love the fact what they've done is a five door Wrangler. They've got no side on from the roof.
So there's no side windows, but there is the doors. You can see that there's obviously a
roll cage in there. And then they've got this fold back. I was going to say canvas, it won't be
canvas or whatever the material. Yeah, but material rather than metal roof. So you can have the open
air experience. But for me, what really hits home is the interior trim, isn't it?
The interior trim because my parents have original artwork will have original rugs
in their house that they have brought back from America when we lived there,
that are incredibly similar to this. And this is brought back tons of memories.
Yeah, just I think it's fabulous. I love that they they play around with all these.
I mean, they've even this year, they've even had a go at the Wagoneer commander.
Yeah, there's not much they could do with that. But they've had a play and to be fair,
it looked like it was doing fairly decent off roady stuff in the pictures.
There's one hugely overloaded one that a trail meter off road recovery have recovered twice
because they welded up all some bits because it really heavily loaded on really tough terrain
and something got knocked and broken. And then they welded it up and said,
you should really go get this fixed. And they didn't go get it fixed. So they've had to go out
and fix it again in a different video. But so they're really quite key.
I do like the decal on the side of that, actually, to be fair, because it's the top of
the graph. Yeah, it's really nice, really nice bit of work worth mentioning.
None of these have any form of electrification. They are all in the current North American
Stellantis mold, either 3.6 liter V sixes, or Emmys. Definitely all yeah, no, 3.6 V six,
3.6 V six, yeah, lots of 3.6 V sixes. Oh, there we go. 6.4 liter Hemmy on one of them.
At least one. There we go. Yes, the whole Stellantis North America,
not doing anything electrified. It's coming through in that, but they are still very cool
concept. Yep. Talking of cool things, though, Alan. Yes. The Mikamino heard of it. Well,
you will do soon. What is it? It's not a concept. It's an idea. And it's a project that's going on
to basically build a small car specifically for Europe, really. It's small. It's electric.
It's two seats, is it? I've lost track of that. I think it's two seats. And it is a proper small
car, including safety features as well, including all the safety features. Now, the thing is not
a quadrocycle. It is not a quadrocycle. It is a small, safe, proper car, but a very small one.
And the idea is that, of course, with that size and everything else, and then you get something
which is also cheaper at the same time. So the idea is that it is a rear-wheel drive car,
three seats, not two. And it's about the same length, the same height and same width as a
smart roadster, about 3.3 meters long. Have two battery options, 20 kilowatt-hour unit,
which would do about 120 miles on a charge or a 10 kilowatt-hour pack capable of 65 miles
on a charge. And given that most people in cities drive around 22 miles per day on average,
then you've got what? You've got three or four days, or you've got a week's worth of charge.
The idea is that the whole car weighs only about 500 kilos as well. The design, the styling,
all that stuff, then that comes under the drawer of a friend of the shoe and all around really nice
going near car. Whereas... Who has a stunning photo in this EV-powered exclusive article that you
must read? It really is. It's pure near. Hello, Mr. March. And also, the owner of the company,
chapter of Robin Hall, whose background is very much in suspension and handling and
engineering development from that point of view. He was one of the people behind the handling of the
first new Mini, first BMW Mini, which is well-known as being a fantastic little skateboard.
And that promises to transfer across very, very successfully to the media. I think this is really
cool. I really want to see this. I want to drive one. Yeah, absolutely. I want to try one. It is
very much my kind of thing. I hope it comes to fruition. I hope they get backing if that's what
they're after. Or if not, then major car companies pick up on the idea and work with them to develop
their own versions of something similar, particularly as the European Commission is looking at creating
a sort of special subclass that's protected for EVs, small EVs, but that are cars. I mean,
this would just absolutely nail that brief. And the price point they're looking at.
And in an interesting way, there isn't a yogurt pot as well. It's a proper thing.
They're saying, I mean, it makes it clear in this article that you'll have the same
sort of safety equipment and protection as you would in a Renault 5.
I mean, my only disappointment with the design is that the windows don't reflect
some of the other vehicles that Nia's done, and they don't follow you around the room. I mean,
he's designed them properly for the consumer, which is, you know, how dare he?
You can actually see out of them, Nia. Yes. They're not nearly thick enough, Nia.
No, but do click the link in the show notes. Have a look at this. It's a fascinating idea.
I love the philosophy behind it. Like I said, I hope it comes to fruition.
I hope that we get models out on the road. And like Alan, I'd love to give one a spin.
The car industry has to start educating people on, look, you don't actually drive that much.
You do not need something that can do 500 mile range.
Blooming difficult to do that.
Because that's enormous. It's not helping anyone and it costs a fortune.
But I go to Scegne once every six months. I need to be able to drive that.
We've got to flip that marketing from what it has been for years.
The size of the petrol tank. People are selling cars based on the size of the petrol tank.
Moving on then, points of interest. First up, of course,
lunchtime read. And Andrew, you chose this one from Driven to Right.
Yes, it's been a while since we've recommended Driven to Right.
No, nothing wrong with what Driven to Right have done at all.
But this one really, well, felt like it hit home to me somewhat.
I know I have been particularly guilty of saying that a lot of modern cars and how
the vast majority of people who are buying them approach them like they're an appliance.
They're a white good. They just need it to do a job.
There's no emotional attachment. Okay, if it's got a particular badge, that's a tick.
Can they afford it? That's a tick. And outside that, no, they're not really thinking.
That's not the case from car manufacturers. They aren't creating cars thinking they're an appliance.
Except for once when someone thought, hang on, what if we do?
And this is the story of the Fiat EcoBasic back from 1999 and how some designers and engineers
approached this and brought the idea to Fiat. They weren't specifically from the car industry,
but they brought the idea of this to Fiat, which resulted with the VSS concept.
And I think it's fascinating. I think it's a fascinating view into somebody outside the car
industry looking at what they perceive with the problems and what solutions they could provide
for them. And I think some of it is sort of translating and is, I think we will be going
back with the circular economy going back to that sort of thinking a lot.
Yes. I remember where I've seen the EcoBasic now.
Okay. Where did you see the EcoBasic?
Because it was 1999. Then it was when I was, so I was at uni and it was just about the time that
we were doing my course. There was one project that every year group went through and there was
always one and it was a vehicle. It was an automotive project or some form of vehicle.
It didn't have to be automotive. I saw it at the London Motor Show that year.
Yeah. Okay.
That's where it was. I was trying to rack my brain. Since we were chatting before the show,
I'm trying to rack my brains when I saw it and that will absolutely land on it. It must have been
on the Fiat stand at the London Motor Show that year. And I took a whole load of pictures
kind of lost to posterity now because they were like physical, so I have no idea where they are.
They'll be in the box somewhere. And it's really cool and really different. So,
when this comes out and you're doing a product design course, then this is something that's
interesting. This is something that's different. I mean, it's a challenging wee thing to look at.
Some of the comments down below, people go, oh, this is terrible looking. It wasn't about the looks.
Absolutely wasn't about the looks. It was about the practicality.
Well, it says it in one of the things here. It says styling is non-styling on the EcoBasic.
That's one of the marketing things.
Yeah, exactly that. This was really interesting. And that's why I had looked into it in so much
detail. Completely forgot that it came out when I was doing an automated product.
Yeah. Very cool. Go have a read, please. Yeah.
Please have a read. It's so good. Also, have a little bit of a look at the 1981 Fiat VSS prototype.
And think what that probably reminds you of. And it's not a Fiat.
Yeah. All right. Do you want to take us on to the list of the week?
List of the week this week comes from Top Gear. And it's been written by Tom Ford. And it is
part of the best ever concept cars kind of group of lists. And it's the 20 greatest wedges. Now,
we need to move off some of the super car type lists because there's quite a lot of familiar
wedges in here. And I had to double check that we hadn't included this before, which we definitely
haven't. There are 20 awesomely cool cars. I have chosen mine. Andrew, what is yours?
I will ask the ladies and gentlemen to scroll down to number 17 in your pack for the Citroen
Korean. Yes. Now, this is wedged, but not in the same style as you would expect.
It's not a wedge. It's a pyramid. Frankly, it's like driving around in one of the pyramids from
Louvre. But I love the seating arrangements. I love how brown it is. The glass is brown.
The body panels are brown. The interior is brown. The wheel trims are brown.
The brownest thing ever. But I love how much what it reminds me of is 80s sci-fi. This is the
future of our transportation. It's that sort of vibe about it. Oh, it is. And it's a 1980 concept
as well. But this is so, I mean, it could not be more 1980s French. You can bet. I'll bet
when they showed this off. Well, if there were any press pictures at the time, they involved ladies
and they were dressed in metallic brown cat suits and they were posing on it as if they're looking
off across Mars or something. I would love money. Money that that's how they did it because that's
1980s French stuff. Yeah. I think it's fantastic. I think it looks amazing. I love everything about
it. Okay, then. All right, enough of me before I just keep going. It's fantastic forever. Yes.
What have you chosen? Where do we need to scroll to? Only one. Are you only going to scroll to
number 18, which is the Insomnia Dome Zero P2? Oh, the wiper.
Yeah, the one word hub not with Ian Seabrook of people having palpitations over that.
There is massive pantograph involved in those in that wiper. I have a toy one of these. That's why
I have a soft spot for it with pop up lights. The dome zero concept originally was unveiled in 1978
at Geneva Motor Show. But it then went on. Yeah, they went on and was developed a bit more.
Some were even made. It's got 2.8 liter, 145 horsepower Nissan straight six sounds like it
probably came straight from the to whatever to ZX. It should have weighed under a ton. Wow.
You're going to basically draw that what you can't see here are the rear windows
on the buttresses which curve round and ends the gap in the middle and then like a contact,
but it's more glass. Those headlights look massive. I think they are. Well, I don't think that I think
from memory, they sort of they don't go all the way up. They just go on point.
Okay, that's huge amounts of metal they've cut out of the it looks amazing. It's so cool. It's
we know that a wedge in all four direct or four or five directions like the Citroen carrying was
that you chose, but it's pretty impressive. I'm getting stratos off the front window.
It's an awful lot of stratos off the front window. Yeah, it's very simple. I never thought it was
real. I just thought it was a meetup thing for that toy car which I've had for decades
until a couple of years ago when I wrote it's actually a real thing. Yeah, there's
there's 20 options we've given you to. There's some fabulous stuff in here. There's some of the
usual suspects as you would expect to do click the link in the show notes and have a little good
gander yourself and decide which you personally would prefer out of that lot.
By the way, the other 18 that were awesome too. So please don't say that because we didn't choose
them didn't mean we didn't want to know. Now I will take us on to the and finally
and listen to discretion at this and finally it's not there's no there's no no two words at all
auto shenanigans has a video out that is titled why are there so many adult stores on the a1
motorway question mark and this having had to travel on the a1 a lot recently I was struck
myself by not only the litter that is in the verges but also how every
seemingly 15 miles or so there is an adult store on one side of the carriageway or the other
for some reason. Yes, it's great. It's a really fun video and it is I'm not
sure I'd say it's watchable with all of the family but there are no naughty words.
There's a low double entendre but there's no naughty word
because you don't want to get demonetised on these things. Yeah, it's quite something.
But weren't you saying in this video sniff petrol has provided some music?
Yeah, there is Richard Porter who was working on mentioned on social media that he was working on
a song called basically called why are there so many adult stores on the a1 and and John
shenanigans have spotted this and you know them and said can we use some of it?
They went yeah of course because nice people are nice. You get John shenanigans and you get
Richard Porter as well. Oh well, double whammy. What more could you ask for? I don't know.
Well Alan, I think that's us kicking and screaming to the end of this week's news.
Yes, it absolutely is. Nothing specific to say really other than that we'll be back
same kind of time next week and if that's all the announcements then obviously don't forget
that we'll be back next week in between now and then you can give us any feedback and
share your thoughts on the show at motoringpodcast.com on Blue Sky at Motoring Podcast on Instagram
and Facebook and on the contact page of www.motoringpodcast.com the hub of all our activities.
Remember you can support us financially via Patreon and please leave a review and
YouTube or however your podcast app lets you do such a thing.
Andrew, what's the best way to get in touch with you? Smoke, mirrors, flying pigs?
No, probably the best way to get in touch with me is weed you bored at the moment.
However, I occasionally look at LinkedIn. I'm not on Blue Sky although if you wish to
follow me there, there may be a point in the future I look again at that place without being
deeply irritated by so much and Alan, because you're far more sociable than me,
what is the best way for people to get in touch with you?
The best way though to get in touch with me is Blue Sky where I'm at AJP Bradley,
that's be at edly.bsky.social. We'll be back very soon, but until then I've been Alan Bradley,
I've been Andrew Clews and Safe Motoring.
About this episode
Alan and Andrew kick off with FCA redress details for car finance misselling, noting higher average payouts but fewer eligible claimants (excluding many 0% deals and certain dealer-manufacturer exclusive setups). JLR news follows: a new Tata executive strategy chief, plus production pauses from supplier parts issues. UK grants aim to accelerate electric van charging and vehicle uptake. Sony/Honda’s EV joint venture is scrapped, while VW recalls MEB-platform EVs over battery module non-compliance. The UK collector scene gets a Bring a Trailer look, then new-car news covers the Dacia Striker. Later segments spotlight tiny European EV concepts, concept-car wedges, and a Moab/Jeep Safari-themed roundup.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed the details for the redress scheme, following finance mis-selling to car buyers. Less people will be eligible to claim, as somehow they have deemed that dealer direct to manufacturer finance was not liable to the same issues as was found to be open to abuse. However, the average payout will be higher than expected, at £829. For more on this, click the Autocar article link here.
JLR FIND A NEW STRATEGY CHIEF
Tata exec, Balaje Rajan, has become the chief strategy officer for JLR. This move indicates a tighter alignment with between the companies. We can expect more platform sharing plus electrification and software development being closer aligned. You can read more about this, by click the Autocar India article link here.
JLR HALTS PRODUCTION AT SOLIHULL
JLR has halted production at the Solihull plant, due to a problem with their supply chain, specifically one supplier. We do not know who the supplier is, nor what the part is. This pausing of production dovetails into a planned shutdown over the Easter period. Click this Business Maters article link here, to read more.
£1B FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO HELP E-LORRIES AND E-VANS
The UK Government rolled out two initiatives to help the transition to zero emission lorries and vans. First is the Zero Emissions Truck and Van Grant, with the second being the Depot Charging Scheme. The aim is to assist with two of the major blocks for companies switching, costs to buy and lack of infrastructure. For more details, click this EV Powered article link here.
AFEELA CANCELLED BY HONDA AND SONY
The joint-venture between Honda and Sony, called Afeela, has been cancelled following Honda’s decision to can their 0 Series EVs. This is no real surprise as the project was going to use a lot of the 0 Series technology and platform. If you wish to read more, click this Top Gear article link here.
VW TO RECALL NEARLY 100,000 EVS WORLD WIDE
The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has stated that the VW Group must recall 94,031 ID.3, ID.4, ID.5, ID.Buzz and ID.Buzz Cargo, plus Cupra Born vehicles, globally, built between 7 February 2022 and 23 August 2024. The vehicle batteries do not meet the agreed specification and might produce reduced driving range as well as there being a risk of fire. Click this electrive article link for more information.
BRING A TRAILER COMING TO THE UK
The US auction site, Bring a Trailer, is coming to the UK. Last year the company $1.7 billion in sales and now sees this as the right time to bring their way of doing things to the UK classics market. For more on this story, click this link to a Motoring Research article.
If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCASTNEW NEW CAR NEWS -Dacia Striker
Dacia has revealed what we are told is an estate, but it is not, its a crossover. Going up against the likes of the Skoda Octavia, it is aligned with the Bigster. Details are very thin on the ground, including what the interior looks like. Click this Autocar article to see more about this handsome looking car.
Jeep Easter Safari Concepts
That time of year has rolled around again where Jeep go off on an Easter Safari, in Moab Desert, with their tricked out cars. Always a treat to see what they have come up with, this year is no different. Click this Carscoops article to see more.
Mika Mino
The Miko Mino is designed with the core philosophy of small and light. A collaboration between friend of the show Nir Kahn and Robin Hall, they are pursuing this core axiom with lazer focus. To find out more about this idea, click here for an EV Powered exclusive article.
LUNCHTIME READ: THE AUTOMOBILE AS AN APPLIANCE
Driven to Write provide the article we are recommending you read whilst enjoying your lunch this week. Often it is said, on this show, how cars are becoming appliances to most, but what if that idea was the basis for a concept that was explored? Find out more, by clicking this link here.
LIST OF THE WEEK: THE 20 GREATEST WEDGES
We all like concept cars, but one way to make them much cooler is for one to be wedge shaped. Well, Top Gear are not content with that, how about 20 wedge shaped concept cars? Click this link to check out your options.
AND FINALLY: HOW DIRTY IS THE A1?
Listener’s discretion is needed with this week’s recommendation. Auto Shenanigins is asking the question many of us have wondered, why are there so many adult stores on the A1? Click this YouTube link to find out.
