Episode 150: Don't want to talk about my car - Sorry, Classic Car MOT rules, Toyota's future, Montreal cancel Formula E round, 2018 Predictions

Amazingly, the PR departments of the car industry appear to have consumed all the mince pies and sherry available at their Christmas parties, so we actually have quite a bit of news this week!

FOLLOW UP: SORRY THERE ARE TWO TESLA MODEL S SHOOTING BRAKES

We discovered, right after recording that there are in fact two Tesla Model S shooting brake designs out there! The one Alan was mentioning that the Fully Charged show visited, was in fact, a one-off commission being handled by Qwest, from Norfolk. To read more about that click the Autocar link here.

FOLLOW UP: MOT RULES FOR CLASSICS REVEALED

We have been quite vocal in our support of Great Escape’s campaign to amend the proposals from the Government, with regards to the new MOT rules for classic cars. The changes are pretty much what we expected and are not in favour of, however, there have been some tweaks to what is considered modified and that sort of thing. To read more click the Autoclassics article here.

FOLLOW UP: BATTERY EXEC LEAVES DYSON

The project, if it is, in fact, real, which is an electric car from Dyson, has hit a snag. The original announcement was clear that solid-state batteries are key to the success. Unfortunately, the solid-state battery executive has now left. To read more click the Autocar article here.

PUNTO GETS NO STARS FROM NCAP

For many of us the news that the Fiat Punto received the first ever no stars from Euro NCAP in testing, was surprising on two points. First, the Punto was still for sale. Secondly, how poorly the car did. To read more click the Motoring Research article here.

TOYOTA ANNOUNCES AN ELECTRIC FUTURE

Toyota announced a partnership with Panasonic, which will work towards the future models, levels of electrification and the sales targets. To read more about the partnership click the Autocar article here. To read more about the future model plans click the CAR Magazine article here.

HIGHWAYS ENGLAND MAP OUT THE FUTURE

Highways England has released a report on the what they see as the future developments to allow for connected and autonomous vehicles. 5G is a key component of this, which, considering so much of the UK doesn’t get 3G yet will be quite the infrastructure improvement. To read more click the Autocar article here.

MONTREAL CANCELS FORMULA E ROUND

Montreal has a new Mayor, who has removed the city from the Formula E calendar due to the cost and lack of obvious benefit for local residents. This is now in the hand of lawyers as exit strategies a will be negotiated, probably using the medium of lots of cash. To read more click the Jalopnik article here.

20MPH ZONES SEES INCREASE IN DEATHS AND SERIOUS INJURIES

Bath and North East Somerset Council have confirmed that the number of deaths and serious injuries has increased in the 20mph zones they’ve created, since 2011. The supposition is that pedestrians feel safer so take less care. The chaps are now curious if this is a nationwide rise or isolated. To read more click the Bath Chronicle article here - note there is an outplay vid on this page.

FRANTIC FRIDAY APPROACHING

There are warnings that this Friday, December 22nd, will be ‘Frantic Friday’ as we all dash to be somewhere else. To read more click the Motoring Research article here.

JOURNEY TO AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

There is an excellent article from Sciencemag.org that gives a great overview of autonomous vehicles and the challenges we face to bring them safely to our roads. To read more click the article link here.

REVIEW OF THE MOTORING PODCAST YEAR

The chaps run through, quickly you'll be pleased to hear, what 2017 held in store for them. Thank you to everyone who has listened, met up with, helped out the podcast with all the things they've been involved in. We really, really appreciate everything you've all done for us in 2017!

2017 AND 2018 PREDICTIONS

Andrew and Alan run through and score last year’s predictions. They then run through those predictions sent in by listeners - thank you all for playing along! Then they outline how they see 2018 will go.

ALAN NEGATIVE - There will be continued, double-digit-%age drop in new car registrations month-on-month until May 2018 after which drops will become single-figure or cease.
ALAN POSITIVE - There will be a significant improvement in hydrogen refuelling infrastructure which will make a LEJOG trip possible by a production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.
ALAN SILLY - Ferrari will actually quit F1.
ALAN WILDCARD - New Toyota Supra will be available with a GRMN version from launch.

ANDREW NEGATIVE - There will be a death as the result of an accident with an autonomous vehicle or a vehicle testing autonomous functionality.
ANDREW POSITIVE - Under new ownership, Lotus will announce two or three brand new models and that does not include special editions.
ANDREW SILLY - A startup will announce they’re developing an autonomous submersible car, cause flying cars are sooooo 2017.
ANDREW WILDCARD - A government-backed scrappage scheme is announced, on top of manufacturers.

Time will tell how accurate the chaps have been.

AND FINALLY - CITROËN SELLS SOME OF THEIR HISTORIC COLLECTION

Citroën has sold some of its historic collection, as they move to new premises, joining up with stablemates from the PSA group. To read what was sold for how much click the Top Gear article here. If you would like a more in-depth list of what was for sale click the Motoring Research article here.

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REAR VIEW PODCAST

Don't forget the new show from the team at Motoring Podcast, Rear View, where we talk to fascinating people from the motoring universe. To go listen to the episodes already released on iTunes click here.

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