Facetious and silly - 25 July 2023

TATA BATTERY FACTORY TO BE BUILT IN THE UK Tata, Jaguar Land Rover owners, have finally confirmed thanks to Government help their battery factory will be built in the UK and not Spain. Production is planned to start from 2026, with the aim being to produce 40GWh of batteries when fully operational. These will be sold to the mobility and energy industries. Click this Autocar article link for more. JLR CONFIRM ADRIAN MARDELL AS PERMANENT CEOAdrian Mardell stepped in to fill the void following the departure of Thierry Bolloré several months ago. This was only a temporary appointment, however, Tata has announced that he will take over the role on a permanent basis. You can find out more by clicking this Autocar Business link here. SUPERMARKET FUEL PROFITS MORE THAN DOUBLE The RAC continues to hound the supermarkets over their fuel pricing. They have established that since the start of the Ukrainian war, supermarket’s profit per litre of fuel has doubled as they have not passed savings onto us consumers. More can be read on this, by clicking the link to the Autocar article here. LOTUS TO CUTS JOBSLotus announced an already planned cull of approximately 200 jobs when releasing their financial results. The company is at pains to stress these were not the result of the increased losses of £145.1 million. A consultation is underway regarding the proposal. Click here to find out more, via an Autocar Business link. ALPINE GET A NEW CEOLaurent Rossi is being moved to a Renault Group position as Philippe Krief, ex-Ferrari engineering boss, takes over as CEO. No real explanation has been given for the change. More can be read on this by clicking this article link from Automotive News Europe. CHROME PLATING TO BE BANNEDChrome plating is set to be banned in Europe and the US, for new cars due to the dangers of the process and chemicals involved. This won’t actually make too much difference as very little actual chrome is used in today’s cars. Click this Autocar article link to read more. ANTI FRAUD SERVICE FOR USED CAR ADVERTS AVAILABLE Brego, a vehicle valuation company, has launched the Brego Advert Check to help second hand car buyers establish if an ad is potentially fraudulent. The price, compared to the market expectations, along with searching for the pictures used online and wording, are all utilised to evaluate the legitimacy of the advert. There is a case study in the article linked to from Autocar which you can read by clicking this link. CLEVER SPEED REGULATION IDEAS FROM FRANCEIn France they are trialling some clever ideas to get motorists to slow down that is not all about enforcement but changing behaviour. One idea is a speed detector synched to traffic lights, which is the vehicle is at or below the speed limit...