This story is interesting in so much as it addresses an elephant in the room – namely how does the UK car industry expect to survive in a post-Brexit world? The CEO of the newly formed Stellantis Group (a $50B merger between FiatChrysler and Peugeot – owners of Vauxhall) announced that he has reservations about the viability of Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port factory which currently manufactures petrol and…
There’s some interesting bits in this Bloomberg article regarding Japan’s older drivers. After a high profile road accident last year involving an 89 year old former senior bureaucrat that resulted in the death of a mother and child, safety features have taken even greater importance amongst the Japanese car manufacturers. As an aside, it was also interesting to read that in the wake of the accident, roughly 350,000 drivers…
Chinese EV maker and NYSE-listed Nio announced to much fanfare the launch of its first battery powered saloon at the company's annual "Nio-Day" event in Chendou this past Saturday. The car is aimed squarely at Tesla's Model S and also hopes to eat some of Mercedes-Benz's S-class and BMW's 7-series lunch, too. The unimaginatively-named ET7 is set to be priced at £50k for the entry-level model with…
Just before Christmas Apple announced that they intend to make an electric vehicle with a target date of 2024. This isn't Apple's first foray into car building, having initially launched the idea back in 2014 before scrapping it and relaunching it again 2019. Also, Apple has shifted back and forth between focusing their efforts on building an EV versus focusing on just self-driving technologies. What makes the…
Over the last couple of weeks I've seen an uptick in articles highlighting the issues we face in the wake of the Government's recent announcement for the abolishment of new car sales of both petrol and diesels by 2030. The Guardian newspaper had this to say about the extraction of lithium - a key material used in EV batteries - while a Sunday Times article writes on…
This article from the Guardian highlights two separate owners of an identical VW Passat GTE who both experienced problems related to the hybrid systems. In both cases, VW refused to shoulder the cost of the very expensive repairs based on the fact that their respective 3 year warranty's had expired. In both cases the warranty had literally JUST expired, too. Ouch. Thankfully the Guardian was able to…
At last, Honda’s first all-electric city car – the Honda e – has arrived to our sunny shores. What’s it like, I hear you ask, and is it better than its direct competitor, the Mini Electric? Let’s find out! Firstly, style. The Honda e has a refreshing take on previous generations of small Honda’s. You’ll have to be of a certain age to remember the 1st generation…
Covid19 has undoubtedly wreaked havoc on new car sales year to date, and sales figures for this past September certainly reinforced that: just 328k new cars were registered here in the UK which was the worst September this century. This represents a -4.4% drop from last September while year to date, we’re down -33%. Ouch. The writing has been on the wall for a while - August…
An op ed was recently posted on the BBC website suggesting that Elon Musk's most important business would not be his car, Space X, public transport or tunneling companies but his somewhat more boring involvement in the advancement of battery technologies. Batteries - rechargeable or otherwise - have always had a love hate relationship with anything electrical. For older folk reading this, you will recall the days…
Barron's reports that Americans are getting back behind the wheel with a vengeance. Good news for all the manufacturers and dealers out there but also good news for parts companies, automotive insurers and rental car companies, too. Wall Street analysts are now in agreement that various sectors of the car industry offer good opportunities for investors to dip their toes. While Car Sleuth isn't in the business…