He Might Just Explode - 11 January 2023

Motoring Podcast - News Show

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR DECEMBER AND ALL 2022

The SMMT has released the New Car Registration figures for December, which also gives the full picture of 2022 and it wasn’t great. As expected the overall numbers for the year were down, ending up 2% lower than last year. Main cause of this was supply, significantly through a lack of semi conductor chips.

One of the big positives, no pun intended, was that electric vehicles overtook diesel ending up at 16.55% of market share, according to Tristan Young writing for Broker News, which you can read here.

Congratulations to Nissan as the Qashqai ended up the most registered vehicle, with the Corsa just ahead of the Tesla Model Y. You can read more from the SMMT by clicking this link here.

NEW LONDON ZERO EMISSION RULES COME INTO FORCE

Newly registered private hire vehicles have to be zero emission capable, in London, as of 1 January 2022. They must emit no more than 50g/km of CO2 and be able to drive 10 miles without exhaust emissions or a maximum of 75g/km of CO2 emitted and no exhaust emissions for 20 miles. If the vehicle is a hybrid then the engine must be Euro6 compliant. To read more, click this article link from BusinessCar.

Quick note, TfL will launch a scrappage scheme from 30 January 2023, to help residents who will be affected by the expansion of the ULEZ in August. Interestingly, cargo bikes are being included as eligible for grants. Click this TransportXtra article link for more information.

GLOBAL TRAFFIC SCORECARD

INRIX, a traffic data analysis company, has produced a report on the most congested urban areas of the world. Utilising data collected they have calculated where the highest delays occur, stated a cost to these delays, shown how transportation trends have shifted and discussed the safety aspects. Click here to read more and you can download their full report by filling out the form at the bottom of that article.

BARCELONA IMPOSING PUBLIC SPACE TAX ON DELIVERY FIRMS

Barcelona City Council is introducing the first tax on delivery firms, as a step to help protect local businesses. Large e-commerce delivery companies, think Amazon, are being targeted as they are seen to have taken customers that would have selected a local option previously. On top of that, there is extra congestion and pollution. Click this CitiesToday article link to find out more.

Barcelona is one of the C40 Cities groups, which is a group of global cities who are collaborating and moving quicker than national governments are to address, what they see, as issues that need immediate action. Click here to learn more about that organisation.

QUALCOMM DEVELOPS A CHIP TO CONTROL TOO MUCH

At CES, last week, Qualcomm revealed their new chip that will be capable of controlling the ‘digital cockpit’, driver assistance tech and automated driving. All discussions about car hacking and security are clear that the infotainment should be kept physically separate from any safety critical aspects, yet here is Qualcomm putting it all in one place. To read more, click this article link from The Register.

CARS STOLEN IN SECONDS THANKS TO EASILY OBTAINED KIT

Criminals can spend around £1300 to buy certain equipment and then make off with tens of thousands of pounds worth of cars, in a matter of seconds. With the advent of extra technology, both mandated and for convenience, bugs and/or built in vulnerabilities to these systems allow criminals to fool a car by accessing the CAN bus. Once accessed they can then do stuff, such as switch the alarm off. Then they are free to take the car away. Click here to read more from The Times. For more context, click this Mastodon post from Ken Tindell. The only recommendation, from industry, to solve this is to buy one of those huge disklok encasements for your steering wheel.

AUTOMOTIVE ONLINE SECURITY EXPOSED

We have been promised a wonderful future thanks to our cars being connected and data from them being vital to a better and more prosperous future. Unfortunately, the security side of things seems to have been forgotten. Security researcher Sam Curry has found a huge amount of cars and services with massive vulnerabilities that allow access to our data and even to do things to cars remotely. Click here for the summary of the horrific mess, from The Daily Swig. To read the specifics of what Sam and his Team found click this link to his own article.

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NEW NEW CAR NEWS:

CES 2023 -

That time has rolled around again and it is CES in Las Vegas and our timelines. Plenty of noise from the show, we have two contrasting articles from Jalopnik regarding the show, guess which one Andrew is thinking is the more accurate?

To read Option 1 and some optimism, click here.

To read Option 2, click here.

Sony Honda Mobility Afeela -

Sony Honda Mobility revealed their EV saloon, the Afeela. The chaps struggle to get excited about something that looks like that. They are also still curious about the entire partnership, especially when the first car isn’t due until 2026.

BMW iVision Dee -

BMW unveiled their hints at future design and technology directions with the Dee, which apparently stands for “Digital Emotional Experience”. The car itself is a saloon EV, which is refreshing, as too is the clean look to the vehicle. Many got very excited about the colour changing exterior, the full width HUD and more. Click here to read EVO’s take on all this. To learn more about the HUD click this TopGear link here.

Peugeot Inception Concept -

We all got to see styling that will influence the direction Peugeot EVs will go in the future. Alan and Andrew were in agreement on how good the Inception looked, whilst the interior was pure concept car. Click here to read more from TopGear.

Volkswagen ID.7 -

The first saloon from VW’s ID range was sort of unveiled. Heavily disguised under a multicoloured QR-code pattern, we could still make out the overall shape of the car, including the very neutral design. Propertied to have a range of 350-ish miles, this will tick a lot of boxes, especially if you wish to see the heater controls in the dark. Click another TopGear link here, to find out more.

Chrysler Synthesis Cockpit Demonstrator -

Chrylser showed off their vision for EV interiors, which included lots of screens and a lack of buttons. Andrew asks a very important question about this and all the tech/concepts revealed. Click here for a, you guessed it, TopGear link to learn more.

LUNCHTIME READ: NASHVILLE BY AERO 8

Jim Magill writes about his time in Nashville with a Morgan Aero 8. In very cold conditions. Do click this link for a wonderful read and fab adventure from Jim.

LIST OF THE WEEK: 20 SUPERB SWEDISH CARS

The Motoring Research Team supply this week’s List of the Week, which has no wrong answers on it at all. Fabulous cars which proved to be incredibly difficult to pick one each from. Don’t forget to tell the chaps if you agree with their choices or what you would have. Click here to see the list.

AND FINALLY: SCARABEO - THE SECRET ALFA ROMEO PROJECT YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF

Matteo Licata has done it again and come up trumps with another brilliant video, this time on something you probably haven’t heard anything about. Click here to watch his short film educating us all.