A rich and poor divide is splitting sales of electric cars. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has published new data highlighting the correlation between the affordability of electric cars and their market uptake. This ACEA analysis compares national data on the sales of electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECVs) with GDP per capita in the EU member states for the … [Read more...]
Newslines 8 March
The forthcoming Aston Martin DBX going into production in Wales later this year has been undergoing cold-weather testing in Sweden's arctic circle. Pirelli’s R&D Sottozero Centre at the Flurheden Proving Ground provides a range of extreme environments, from snowy roads to ice handling courses, allowing Aston Martin’s vehicle dynamics specialists – led by Aston Martin Chief Engineer Matt … [Read more...]
Newslines 21 January
Brits are badly prepared for a wintery blast, says Select Car Leasing. It asked 1,200 drivers how they planned to cope with predicted bad weather this month and found half did not know how to pull off, 40% don't carry winter essentials, just 7% use winter tyres and 700,000 new drivers will face snow for the first time. A 2.0 petrol-electric hybrid Mondeo Estate has been added to the Ford … [Read more...]
Tradelines 21 November
Two new diesel engines have been added to the Mercedes-Benz A-Class range: the A 200 d Sport £28,805 and the A 220 d AMG Line £30,005. The clean and efficient OM654q engines have been tested to new RDE-2 standards, making Mercedes-Benz among the first to offer RDE-2-compliant diesel engines in the UK and they will also feature in the new B-Class. Volkswagen is underlining its commitment to … [Read more...]
August registrations soar in face of new cars ban
New car registrations in Britain soared last month on the eve of an EU change in law which would ban models not meeting the tougher WLTP emissions test. Thousands of models across Europe were heavily discounted by dealers backed by car makers anxious to clear unsold stock of the NEDC tested models. This push and the fact some car makers are struggling to build cars which fully meet the WLTP … [Read more...]
Newslines 3 September
In a worrying result as children return to school this week, researchers polled 2,000 mums and dads and found 37 per cent have driven with someone else’s kid as a passenger despite not having a suitable child restraint for them. Fifty-seven per cent admit they don’t tend to lug a child car seat around on the off-chance they might need one for their little ones or for another parent's children … [Read more...]
Newslines 3 August
MPs will probe the state of local roads in England. The Transport Committee will look at funding and maintenance but it does not include local roads in Wales, paid for by local councils, and the RAC said the main issue was potholes and frequency of incidents. BMW will invest 1 billion euros for a new plant in Hungary. It plans 150,000 cars, which it’s not specified, each year, and supply … [Read more...]
Dealerships must charge up salesmen and services for EVs
Dealerships are being advised to create EV champions to take advantage of the growing demand of electric vehicles. According to Gain Solutions, who have been at the forefront in the development of electric vehicles, dealerships need to invest in specialist EV training for their sales and technical teams. While it will be difficult to bring the whole team up to speed, appointing a trained EV … [Read more...]
Newslines 24 March
Jaguar Land Rover will work with Blackberry on its next generation technical architecture. The communications company will assign a dedicated team of technicians for the project. Diesel hybrids are being developed by Mercedes with sports-car like response. It is looking at systems for future C and E-Class plug-in hybrids appearing later this year to cut CO2, improve torque and on-board … [Read more...]