Category Archives: Automotive industry

English councils urged to install pavement gullies for home charging of electric cars

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Scheme aims to stop cables trailing across pavements and encourage drivers to switch to electric vehicles

Local councils in England will be encouraged to install pavement gullies that link houses to the kerbside so that electric cars owners can charge their cars from home if they do not have a driveway.

The new government scheme hopes to stop cables trailing across pavements, as EV owners in built up areas where off-street parking is scarce, try to charge their cars. The Department for Transport has said it will put £25m towards “cross-pavement” charging – essentially a narrow cable channel with a cover on top.

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UK carmakers on track to meet EV sales target despite intense lobbying to lower quota

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Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in first half of 2025, only just below the effective 22% share needed to meet rules

Carmakers are on track to meet existing UK electric car sales targets despite having successfully lobbied the government to water them down.

Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in the first half of 2025, only marginally below the 22.06% share needed to meet existing rules once concessions are taken into account, according to an analysis by New AutoMotive, a thinktank.

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EU may as well be ‘province of China’ due to reliance on imports, says industrialist

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Stefan Scherer, boss of AMG Lithium, says Europe must become more self-sufficient in critical raw materials and new technologies

The EU may as well “apply to be a province of China” such is its inability to wean itself off that country’s supply of critical raw materials used in everything from electric vehicles to smartphones and wind turbines, a leading German industrialist has said.

As chief executive of AMG Lithium, the EU’s first factory to make the lithium hydroxide used in many car batteries, Stefan Scherer sits at the centre of what has been dubbed a new gold rush.

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Business secretary to meet Lotus chiefs amid doubts over future of operations

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Jonathan Reynolds to hold talks with carmaker after reports suggested its UK factory could close

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will hold talks with Lotus after the carmaker appeared to shelve plans to shut its UK operations.

After reports that Chinese owner Geely was planning to stop manufacturing at the Hethel plant in Norfolk, putting 1,300 jobs at risk, Lotus issued a statement saying it had “no plans” to close the factory.

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Jaguar Land Rover warns that Trump tariffs will hit profits

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Shares in parent company Tata Motors fall as JLR says it will reallocate vehicles to ‘accessible markets’

The British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has warned of a hit to profits from Donald Trump’s tariffs, after the company temporarily paused deliveries to the US.

The carmaker, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, halted shipments to America in April after the US president imposed a 25% duty on all foreign-made vehicles, before resuming them last month. The country accounts for more than a quarter of JLR’s sales.

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Volkswagen to make ‘massive’ investment in US in bid to avoid tariffs

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CEO of Europe’s largest industrial group says he has been in direct talks with Donald Trump’s administration

Volkswagen, Europe’s largest industrial group, has said it will make a “massive” investment in the US. The group, which includes Porsche, revealed it has been in direct talks with Donald Trump’s administration as it faces damaging tariffs.

Oliver Blume, who heads the group, said the talks were “constructive” and “fair”, in an interview that suggests the company, whose market capital is £44bn, is not willing to leave tariff negotiations to Brussels alone.

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Four former Volkswagen managers convicted of fraud in ‘dieselgate’ trial

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Braunschweig court gives two former executives prison sentences for roles in emissions test-cheating scandal

A German court has convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and given two of them prison sentences for their part in the “dieselgate” emissions test-cheating scandal that erupted almost a decade ago.

The former head of development Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to the news agency Bloomberg.

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About £1bn in car loan compensation at risk because data deleted, lawyers warn

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Lenders’ routine purging after six years means details of some car buyers due compensation may have been lost

Consumers are at risk of losing £1bn of compensation over inflated car loans because high street banks and specialist lenders deleted their data, claims lawyers have warned.

Borrowers, banks and the government are anxiously awaiting a ruling from the supreme court that could spark one of the biggest redress schemes since the £50bn payment protection insurance (PPI) saga.

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Weakening of UK EV sales rules ‘likely to result in significantly more carbon emissions’

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Analysis suggests there could be 500,000 additional plug-in hybrid electric cars on Britain’s roads by 2030

The UK government’s weakening of rules on electric car sales is likely to result in significantly more carbon emissions as sales of plug-in hybrids rise, according to analysis.

Relaxed rules could result in as many as 500,000 additional plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) on UK roads by 2030, according to modelling by T&E, a campaign group on transport and the environment. PHEVs combine a small battery with a polluting petrol engine and tend to be much more profitable than pure battery electric cars.

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Nissan open to making cars for Chinese partner in Sunderland, says CEO

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Ivan Espinosa says UK plant will not be hit by cost cuts as Japanese firm reveals seven factories to close

Nissan’s new chief executive has said the Japanese carmaker would be open to building cars for a Chinese partner at its factory in Sunderland after he confirmed it would not be closed in a round of deep cost cuts.

This week Nissan revealed plans to close seven factories and cut 20,000 jobs after sustaining heavy losses.

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Trump reveals plans to ease tariff impact on US carmakers

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US president will curb some duties on foreign parts in domestically manufactured cars, administration says

Donald Trump unveiled plans to water down his sweeping tariffs for US carmakers on Tuesday by curbing some duties on foreign cars and parts, granting a reprieve to an industry that warned his strategy would increase costs for American manufacturers by tens of billions of dollars.

Carmakers subject to a 25% tariff on imports will not be subject to other levies Trump has imposed, for example, on steel and aluminum. US automakers will also be allowed to apply for tariff relief on a proportion of the costs imposed for imported parts, although that relief will be phased out over the next two years.

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EVs to cost more under a Coalition government, after Dutton’s apparent backflip on popular tax break

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Polestar says Dutton’s move shows ‘a complete lack of understanding of the significant cost-of-living, climate and health benefits of EVs’

Electric vehicles would cost more under a Coalition government, after Peter Dutton confirmed he would scrap a popular tax break for EV drivers in an apparent backflip that has caused confusion and anger among clean car advocates.

The initiative, which was introduced by the Albanese government in 2022, has meant if a person buys an EV priced under $91,387 through a novated lease program via their employer (when a lease is paid off through pre-taxed salary deductions) they do not have to pay fringe benefits tax (FBT) – even if the car is only for personal use.

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UK manufacturers to cut jobs ‘within weeks unless ministers can strike trade deal’

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Bosses from automative, manufacturing and energy warned MPs about effect of Trump tariffs

Britain’s manufacturers will start cutting jobs “within weeks” unless the government can strike a deal to safeguard the UK economy from Donald Trump’s trade war, industry leaders have told MPs.

Senior executives from the UK’s automotive, manufacturing and energy sectors warned a committee of MPs to expect job losses this summer if the US moves ahead with a swathe of global trade tariffs set out by Trump earlier this month.

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Tesla stops taking orders in China for two models imported from US

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Carmaker removes ‘order now’ buttons for Model S saloon and Model X SUV on its Chinese website amid tariffs war

Tesla has stopped taking orders in China for two models it previously imported from the US, as companies scramble to adapt to prohibitive tariffs imposed in Donald Trump’s trade war.

The manufacturer, run by Trump’s close ally Elon Musk, removed “order now” buttons on its Chinese website for its Model S saloon and Model X sports utility vehicle.

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UK politics: Starmer sticks by manifesto pledge not to raise taxes amid tariff turmoil – as it happened

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Prime minister says ‘no one is pretending tariffs are good news’ during speech on car industry

In his Times article Keir Starmer describes the Trump tariffs as “the beginning of a new era”. He has been saying this at least since last Thursday, when he spoke about the tariffs at a Q&A with journalists at Labour’s local elections campaign launch. The speech this afternoon is being described as the PM’s most considered response so far to the global economic turmoil generated by the tariffs, but we have already heard quite a lot from Starmer on this topic already, in a Sunday Telegraph article yesterday and in No 10 briefings on the calls he had with world leaders about the situation over the weekend.

Is there a coherent strategy? On the basis of what he has said so far, there are at least five elements in the mix at the moment.

John Ryan is a local hero and we are truly humbled that he has publicly endorsed Reform UK ahead of May’s elections in Doncaster.

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Labour: changes to EV rules will have ‘negligible’ impact on UK emissions

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Transport secretary says overhaul in response to Trump tariffs supports car firms and climate goals

Labour’s changes to electric vehicle (EV) rules in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs will have a negligible impact on emissions, the transport secretary has said.

Keir Starmer has confirmed plans to boost manufacturers, including reinstating the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

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Government will step in to support key industries amid tariff turmoil, says Starmer

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Carmakers will be given more flexibility over targets on transitioning to electric vehicles

Keir Starmer has said the government will step in to support key British industries, as business grapples with the economic turmoil unleashed by Donald Trump’s global tariffs.

As the government attempts to counter the impact of the White House hitting the UK with a 10% base levy on exports to the US, the prime minister will promise to help shelter vulnerable sectors and will implement key parts of the industrial strategy months early.

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Jaguar Land Rover pause US shipments to assess impact of Trump’s tariffs

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Carmaker says action will allow it to consider how to mitigate cost of 25% tariff on imports

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will pause shipments of its UK-made cars to the US for a month as it considers how to mitigate the cost of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The 25% tariff imposed by the US on imported cars and light trucks took effect on 3 April.

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Thousands of Ford Kuga hybrid drivers ‘left in limbo’ after fire risk warnings

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Carmaker reportedly has yet to announce plan for repairs after telling motorists not to charge their cars

Thousands of drivers have reportedly been left in limbo after warnings that their car could catch fire due to a battery defect.

Ford issued an urgent recall of its Kuga plug-in hybrid car in early March, warning drivers not to charge the battery because of a risk it might short-circuit while on the road. The problem could cause a loss of power or a fire, according to the recall notice. Four weeks later, the manufacturer has yet to announce a timescale for repairs and owners report that it is failing to respond to their requests for an update.

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UK regulator fines 10 carmakers and two trade bodies over green ad collusion

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CMA found car firms chose not to compete when advertising what percentage of their vehicles could be recycled

Ten leading car manufacturers – plus two automotive trade bodies – have been fined more than £77m by a UK regulator after admitting breaking competition law in relation to advertising their green credentials.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation after a tipoff from Mercedes-Benz, which allowed the German marque to avoid financial penalties despite also being involved in the cartel.

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