Category Archives: Motoring

Hyundai facing legal action over car that can be stolen ‘effortlessly in seconds’

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Elliott Ingram was stunned at how a thief made off with his Ioniq 5 deploying a device to mimic the smart key – and says he should have been warned

The motor manufacturer Hyundai faces legal action over allegations it failed to warn its customers that one of its most popular models of electric cars could be stolen “effortlessly in seconds”. Elliott Ingram, an expert in digital security, was stunned when a CCTV camera installed at his home recorded a hooded thief stealing his Hyundai Ioniq 5 car in less than 20 seconds.

The thief is believed to have used a device, available online, to mimic the car’s electronic key. It is the latest in a spate of thefts involving the vehicle, and many owners now resort to a steering lock. Ingram’s car was later recovered by police, but he is terminating the lease and seeking compensation from the motor company. He says the South Korean car giant should have alerted customers to the security vulnerabilities.

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Coalition may rethink rules that push car markers to create cheaper EVs and hybrids for Australians

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Opposition says Labor’s national vehicle emission standard is ‘poorly designed’, despite data showing uptick in green vehicle sales

Australia’s love-hate relationship with fuel-guzzling utes and SUVs is now a looming election issue, after the Coalition indicated it may rethink Labor’s vehicle emission standard.

On Tuesday the shadow transport minister, Bridget McKenzie, called Labor’s vehicle emission standard “poorly designed” and said the Coalition will have “more to say” about it when the opposition releases its own transport policy before the election.

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Ministers may siphon off stalled £950m fund for motorway chargers

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Talks to take place with operators about the scheme, announced in 2020, which has failed to make any grants

Ministers are considering diverting money from a £950m scheme to install rapid chargers for electric cars on the UK’s motorways, announced five years ago, after it failed to make a single grant.

Much of the cash allocated to the rapid charging fund (RCF) could be redirected to investments in other charging schemes, or to support the transition to electric vehicles more broadly, although decisions have yet to be made, according to a person close to discussions in government.

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Tesla tells US government Trump trade war could ‘harm’ EV companies

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Letter from Elon Musk’s firm to US trade representative warns of ‘downstream impacts’ of tit-for-tat tariffs

Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also affect other automotive manufacturers in the US.

In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, Tesla said it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.

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‘Patchy and behind deadline’: MPs attack UK rollout of EV charging points

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Committee warns of serious injustice to disabled motorists and those reliant on public chargers

The rollout of electric vehicle chargers across Britain is “patchy”, behind deadline and ignores the needs of disabled drivers, the parliamentary spending watchdog has found.

A report published by the public accounts committee (PAC) warned that the charging points needed to give drivers confidence for the switch to EVs were still lacking, particularly on Britain’s biggest roads.

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‘Homegrown’ Swedish battery startup admits importing vital components

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Northvolt, which claims to run Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory, admits it depends on Chinese suppliers for cathode active material

The Swedish startup Northvolt has admitted that a vital component of its batteries is imported amid claims that the company, which claims to run Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory, depends on Chinese suppliers.

It comes as a documentary programme to be shown in Sweden on Wednesday by the national broadcaster SVT, exposes the company’s failure to build a truly homegrown battery after its attempts to produce its own cathode active material at its Northvolt Ett factory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, were unsuccessful.

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UK-wide parking app may be out of road after government funding withdrawn

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Five-year-old platform intended to make drivers’ lives easier will only be supported until the end of March

It was hailed as “the future of UK parking”, intended to remove one of the bugbears of modern life: the need to sign up to a plethora of different apps in order to park your car.

But a big question mark now hangs over the future of the National Parking Platform (NPP), a government-funded scheme designed to make drivers’ lives easier by letting them use one app of their choice to pay for all their parking.

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Using an e-scooter can add £1,000 to your car insurance quote

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Under-30s risk a huge hike in huge car insurance premiums later in life if handed the IN10 endorsement

Young people using private electric scooters on roads and pavements risk facing huge insurance premiums when they want to drive a car, says the comparison website MoneySuperMarket.

It emerged this week that almost 800 children aged 13 to 16 had been issued an IN10 endorsement – the code used by the police for “using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks” since the start of 2020. It stays on a person’s driving record for four years from the date of the offence.

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Protesters target Tesla showrooms in US over Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting

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Demonstrations across the US against tycoon’s ties to Trump highlight potential risks to firm’s reputation and sales

Protesters gathered outside Tesla dealerships across the US on Saturday in response to Elon Musk’s efforts to shred government spending under the president, Donald Trump.

Groups of demonstrators up to 100-strong gathered outside the electric carmaker’s showrooms in cities including New York, Seattle, Kansas City and across California. Organisers said the protests took place in dozens of locations.

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Farewell potholes? UK team invents self-healing road surface

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Researcher at Swansea University says tiny plant spores mixed into bitumen can extend surface lifespan by 30%

For all motorists, but perhaps the Ferrari-collecting rocker Rod Stewart in particular, it will be music to the ears: researchers have developed a road surface that heals when it cracks, preventing potholes without a need for human intervention.

The international team devised a self-healing bitumen that mends cracks as they form by fusing the asphalt back together. In laboratory tests, pieces of the material repaired small fractures within an hour of them first appearing.

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UK to introduce digital driving licences to ‘transform public services’

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The digital option will be made available through a government app, but will not be mandatory

The UK is to introduce digital driving licences this year as the government looks to use technology to “transform public services”.

The digital version of driving licences will be available in a virtual wallet in a government app, instead of being added to existing Google or Apple wallets. It could be accepted as a form of ID when voting, purchasing alcohol or boarding domestic flights.

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UK needs to ban full hybrid cars by 2030 or face net zero ‘catastrophe’, says motoring body

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Electric Vehicles UK says hybrids without a plug should be banned or else confidence in electric cars will be damaged

Britain needs to press ahead with a ban on the sale of new hybrid cars with no plug from 2030 or risk taking “a catastrophic misstep” on the road to net zero, ministers have been warned.

Cars such as the Toyota Prius, which charge a battery from an internal combustion engine, need to be excluded from the list of vehicles sold in the UK from 2030 or there will be a “profound” fall in confidence in the government’s commitment to electric motoring, according to the representative body Electric Vehicles UK (EVUK).

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Can flood of cheap new EVs coming to Europe save its carmakers?

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Analysts argue 2024 is minor blip and that lobbying for relaxation of rules could harm industry in long term

Affordable new electric family cars – particularly those that are EU-made – have been tough to come by in Europe for the past few years. There were no launches of homegrown electric models for less than €25,000 (£20,740) across the EU during 2022 and 2023, according to the campaign group Transport & Environment.

Yet in the past few months that has changed, with a rush of new cars ranging from the Fiat Grande Panda to the Citroën ë-C3, the Hyundai Inster to the latest Dacia Spring and the Renault 5. Suddenly, buyers have options.

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Cheaper loans on table to urge UK motorists to EVs, plus cuts in fines for firms

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Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says there is ‘no route to net zero’ that ignores concerns of businesses after wave of closures

• Jonathan Reynolds: If we delay the UK’s drive for electric vehicles, our rivals will overtake us

There is “no route to net zero” that ignores the real concerns of businesses, a cabinet minister has warned, as the government prepares to reduce financial penalties handed to carmakers not selling enough electric cars.

Ministers are also looking at how cheaper loans could be introduced to help people buy an electric vehicle (EV), after a wave of job losses and closures in which carmakers blamed the onerous fines they were facing.

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Claws are out as Jaguar heads down EV rebrand road

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A new electric model will be unveiled this week. Will it turn round the culture war embroiling the marque?

When German manufacturer BMW took over the Mini brand and launched the Mini Cooper in 2001, some people were outraged. Drivers with previous models even slapped on bumper stickers reading “this is a real Mini”. The BBC reported that executives insisted the car “is not a small BMW”.

The storm died down, and Mini has gone on to sell more cars each year (about 300,000) than ever before, many of them emblazoned with union jack tail-lights – whatever the ownership of the factory.

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Lloyds shareholders could take £1bn hit over car finance crisis

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Analysts forecast bank will have to halve £2bn buyback plan, as ex-boss of City regulator blames watchdog for crisis

Lloyds Banking Group could give almost £1bn less to shareholders this year as a result of the car finance crisis, analysts have said, as the City regulator’s former boss blamed the watchdog for the chaos.

The estimated size of a multibillion-pound compensation bill for motor lenders has grown after a shock court of appeal ruling last Friday, which said customers could not consent to motor loans that involved “secret commission” payments to brokers and car dealerships.

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Project to build German EV microchip factory put on hold

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US firm Wolfspeed and German car parts supplier ZF postpone plans over doubts about viability

A project to build a €3bn factory making microchips for electric vehicles once hailed as part of a “return of the industrial revolution” in Germany has been put on hold, as the crisis in the country’s hi-tech manufacturing industry deepens.

The US company Wolfspeed and the German car parts supplier ZF have postponed plans to build an EV chip factory, adding to problems caused by a delay to two large-scale factories belonging to the US chip giant Intel and possible factory closures being considered by Volkswagen.

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Monster pickup trucks accelerate into Europe as sales rise despite safety fears

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A Dodge Ram 1500 is bigger than a Panzer I tank and campaigners say heavy trucks are ‘lethal’ in collisions

The engines rev, the guitars thrum and a gruff narrator lays out why the vehicle occupying the driveway is more than just a machine. “A truck is a tool,” he says, “but a Ram – a Ram is life.”

So begins an advert for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy. It is growing in popularity in Europe, with the number of Rams arriving on the continent up 20% in 2023 from the year before, according to registration data from the European Environment Agency. Road safety and environmental campaigners in the UK and Europe are aghast as the latest, most extreme cases of North American car bloat – giant pickup trucks – are increasingly crossing the Atlantic.

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Airport parking: £100 fines in Bristol ‘could be unenforceable’

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Eagle-eyed reader and consumer solicitor say local bylaws are key to question of enforcement

Are private fines sent by Bristol airport’s contractor to motorists who pick up passengers outside its designated, paid-for, drop-off and pickup zone unenforceable?

It looks as though they may be, if an eagle-eyed Guardian reader and a leading consumer solicitor are correctly interpreting the bylaws that govern the airport.

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Chinese firms win record 11% EV share in Europe as buyers rush to beat tariffs

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State-owned SAIC, parent of the British brand MG, was responsible for biggest jump in sales in June

Chinese carmakers secured a record 11% of the European electric vehicle market in June, as buyers raced to beat EU tariffs on imported EVs that came into force this month.

The figures, which include the UK, show that about 23,000 battery electric vehicles were registered in June, up 72% on the previous month as consumers raced to beat the price hike in the EU.

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