THIS WEEK

Unusually today, The Times is carrying a number of motoring headlines. And interesting reading they make too.

It is not a good time for Nissan, and the revelation today that Carlos Ghosn’s successor as Chief Executive has had to repay nearly £400,000 does not make good reading. You will recall that Mr Ghosn was charged with numerous financial crimes. Having his successor admit that he has overpaid himself looks careless at best.

As we speed, or rather limp, into the September car market, it seems scarcely credible that Tesla should have been number three in car sales last month. Or rather its Model 3 was appropriately the third bestselling model in the UK market in August. It beat the Ford Focus, the Mercedes A-class and the Vauxhall Corsa, only being outsold by the Fiesta and Golf. There may be some structural reasons for this, not least the withdrawal of the £2500 subsidy for plug-in hybrids, but nevertheless it is a staggering achievement. Especially when you compare it to diesel sales which are now making up only 27% of registrations – still, at least some of them are being sold.

Tesla also announced this week that it was moving into the insurance business. Elon Musk has complained for some time that premiums on Tesla’s are too high, and they reckon they can undercut the market by 20 to 30%. This is partly because of the way the car operates, providing enormous amounts of data back to the manufacturer on every single one of its drivers. If you can accurately assess the way an owner drives, you can accurately assess their risk on the road.

Interestingly, Warren Buffett commented on the move, as he owns one of the largest car insurers around, saying that “the chances of an automaker becoming a successful insurer are about as good as a car insurer becoming a successful automaker”. Interesting quote, but I would say that running an insurance company with pretty perfect data is a lot less complicated than making a successful car in today’s environment. Mr Musk has surprised us before, is he about to do so again?

Have a great weekend – time to snuggle down, light a fire and watch some cricket perhaps?
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Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
Malcolm Forbes (1919 – 1990)
Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.
Judy Garland (1922 – 1969), to her daughter, Liza Minelli
Make a decision, even if it’s wrong.
Jarvis Klem 
Love doesn’t sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread: remade all the time, made new.
Og Mandino (1923 – 1996)
THIS WEEK

I guess we all hate regulation, and the motor industry has had to suffer more than its fair share of it. But normally, often grudgingly, we get to grips with it and make sure that whatever body is looking after us, we comply with their requirements. Which makes a survey from Mannheim this week a little surprising and indeed shocking. Because the new Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test that come into force this weekend are designed to continue the work started with WLTP last year. Over 20% said that their understanding of the new regulations was poor, and about half that number did not know anything about it.

What is clear, however, is that these tests are going to come as a bit of a shock to many. Previously low emitting cars are now going to be potentially vilified, customers are going to have to face up to the fact that their gas guzzlers are also serious pollution emitters. Most questioned in the survey reckon that car supply will be impacted, much like the regulations did in the last quarter last year. Whether RDE or the current economic situation, and dare I say it, political situation, has the biggest effect we will probably never know. But it certainly doesn’t look an easy September to be heading into.

And certainly not with car production down another 10% in July. Another few months of this and we won’t have any cars to produce at all. Though there was a ray of light on the horizon, with news that South Korea and the UK had signed an agreement that would ensure they would continue to trade freely  even if the UK leaves the European Union at the end of October. Current trade between the two countries is worth nearly £15 billion, so it is significant, particularly for the motor industry. Manufacturers like Bentley were said to be delighted.

Have a great weekend, the cricket’s back next week if you can stand the excitement.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

My whole career can be summed up with ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ When you do not know better, you do not really worry about failing.
Jeff Foxworthy
Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.
Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937)
Art may make a suit of clothes: but nature must produce a man.
David Hume (1711 – 1776)
The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.
Martina Navratilova (1956 – )
THIS WEEK

On a completely different note to my normal newsletter, you have to ask sometimes what car manufacturers are up to. They have produced supremely complicated, sleek, efficient (especially if you believe all their tests) computers on wheels. And the ability for all of us just to walk up to the car press a button and gain entry is almost magical.

Except for months, if not years, there have been reports that these keyless fobs can be bypassed. And indeed a report in The Times today, based on research by Thatcham, suggests that well over half of current models are still vulnerable. Really? Isn’t it about time they started coming up with a solution?

Personally, I leave my keys in a metal box at night, as I know the system cannot be tricked that way. Thieves use a combination of devices to “extend” the range of your fob from inside the house so that the car thinks it is next to it. It is actually a pretty simple piece of technology in today’s terms. And it does strike me as complacent that almost no manufacturers have come up with a way round this problem.

I know cars can easily be driven away. My wife dropped me off the other week and it was only when she came to park the car that she realised she didn’t have the key fob. She could not turn it off without the key, so what could she if I was nowhere to be found? Luckily she spotted me, and all was well. The cars would appear to be very happy to drive off even if the key is out of range. Strange, 21st-century problem, but surely the motor manufacturers can do better?

Have a good weekend, better not take your umbrella out tomorrow, it may not last very long.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast, and only catastrophe is clearly visible.
Edward Teller (1908 – 2003)
The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.
Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989)
My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people’s.
Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), Lady Windermere’s Fan, 1892
To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
Jack Handey (1949 – )
THIS WEEK

It has not been a good week for the motor industry. Unless of course you are VW or PSA. Both of them recorded good profits this week, and show that presumably they are on the right side of the curve of innovation, cost-cutting and producing the right product at the right time.

Which contrasts with some other manufacturers. Read these headlines in the last couple of days “Ford profits drop sharply on global restructuring costs”, “Aston Martin shares tumble after slashing forecasts”, “Nissan to cut 12,500 thousand jobs as it seeks to revive business”, “Jaguar Land Rover swings back into red as sales fall”, “Renault hit by sluggishness in France and emerging markets”, “Daimler posts €1.6bn quarterly loss as auto industry slows”. Need I say more, need I explain more?

So why the difference? Well VW’s profit rise is put down to really strong performance in its Porsche division and sales of their larger SUVs – these have gone through the roof. So their product development is in line with customer expectations. And PSA has clearly benefited from their takeover of Opel, something that many in the industry were sceptical about. With new models and tighter cost controls they are clearly doing something right as the profits they announced this week are their highest ever reported. So in an increasingly crowded automotive marketplace there are some winners. But sadly, plenty more losers.

Have a great weekend, the Test Match may be over but there is still some amazing action to see in the Tour de France.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

The computer is a moron.
Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005)
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
Ernest Benn
In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)
If all the world’s a stage, I want to operate the trap door.
Paul Beatty
THIS WEEK

In case anyone thought that data breaches, even when carried out at a personal level, were viewed as trivial and of little consequence, a case today suggests otherwise. A motor industry worker has not only been jailed for 6 months but ordered to pay a massive £33,500, which may come as a shock to some. His crime? Taking data regarding customers body repairs and passing them on to a claims management company, presumably for an intro fee of some sort. If he fails to come up with the money then his sentence will be extended by 12 months. No laughing matter, but customers alerted the firm in question because of a significant increase in complaints about unsolicited claims management calls. So they looked and quickly found out why.

Tesla has suffered an embarrassing week in the States, with the press carrying details of alleged poor practice at their manufacturing centre in California. Faced with massive production targets last year, they apparently set up temporary production lines. 12 months later these are still rumoured to be in temporary tents, rather than under permanent cover. The report also suggests that production workers are buying electrical tape in Walmart and using it tape back on components that have fallen off or have split. This comes in the wake of the news that in a recent customer survey Tesla was 51st out of 51 manufacturers for reliability. Still, on the bright side, the only way is up.

Teresa May seems to have got her cheque-book out, and Jaguar has certainly benefited from a £500 million loan guarantee to persuade them to build electric vehicles in the UK. Of course, under EU rules state aid cannot be given, but loans can be guaranteed. One might wonder, cynically, whether there was any mechanism in the future, provided we were out of the EU of course, to write these loans off. I have no idea, and I’m sure many will tell me that is simply not possible.

Have a great weekend, I hope you enjoy golf, there’s plenty of it on the box.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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Dealing with network executives is like being nibbled to death by ducks.
Eric Sevareid
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)
The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.
William Gibson (1948 – )
Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
Paul Valery (1871 – 1945), Tel Quel 2 (1943)
THIS WEEK

In case you haven’t seen the reports this week, the new JD Power survey is out in the States and it makes interesting reading. To a certain extent turning on its head conceptions of reliability, engineering prowess and quality.

Way, way ahead of any of the other manufacturers come the Koreans, with Hyundai particularly being singled out for build quality, reliability and lack of problems. Ford and General Motors have also improved marvellously, and amongst the European manufacturers really only Mercedes and Fiat Chrysler come out with any great credit. Drivers of VW and BMW cars all reported more problems in 2019 than they did last year. Of the Japanese, Nissan and Toyota did well but Subaru and Mitsubishi were ranked pretty close to the bottom.

The insurance industry is putting pressure on manufacturers to sort out keyless technology, which is being targeted by criminals. The insurance body has rather demanded that manufacturers address these glaring holes in their security. And Thatcham research has recently rated most of the cars they have tested as poor. Otherwise reliable models from Volvo, Toyota and Mazda came in for particular criticism. As vehicle thefts are up 49% over the past four years this is something that manufacturers have to address.

Have a great weekend, not much rain for a change.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?
Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
Who begins too much accomplishes little.
German Proverb
An ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 – 1915)
Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.
Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997), in her Nobel lecture
THIS WEEK

The car market is a tough place at the moment. Falling sales, falling production and uncertainty over Brexit. Everything is piling up to put pressure on retailers. The City, however, was still shocked by Pendragon’s news this week. News that losses of £25 million had built up in Car Store and that the group expected an overall trading loss this year was certainly worse than the city had expected.
And their share price, which not so long ago was trading at 48p, plummeted by a fifth to just over 17p this week. Still, compared to historically low levels of just over 1.5p, these must seem like heady times. Those times, however, were exceptional, at the height of the 2008 crisis where news about a motor retailer wasn’t really news at all. With turnover of nearly £4.5 billion, Pendragon is a big operator. The departure earlier this year of Trevor Finn signalled something was amiss, the arrival of Mark Herbert will undoubtedly focus the group on financial return, reporting and fiscal prudence.

In the wake of the failed Fiat Chrysler and Renault merger, there are strong reports this week that the PSA group is poised to buy JLR from Tata. Such a move almost certainly makes sense, as there is a fantastic fit between the brands, and would relieve the Indian group of a significant loss maker. JLR’s fortunes have plummeted along with sales in China. And while Chinese volumes are down, their performance is significantly worse. It has also been reported that since acquiring Opel, including our own Vauxhall, PSA has performed exceptionally well. The addition of a genuine premium group would significantly enhance their standing, and give them access to markets they currently do not perform well in.

Talking about China, sales there have continued to fall, and early June figures suggest that this has accelerated ahead of changes to vehicle emissions regulations at the end of this month. Consumers and businesses, it seems, are waiting for new model variants to kick in. When you consider how big their market is, potential falls of 20% year on year are significant and all manufacturers are feeling the pinch.

Have a great weekend, we can tell from the weather that it is not long before Wimbledon starts.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 – 1973)
Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
Franklin P. Jones
Humility is no substitute for a good personality.
Fran Lebowitz (1950 – ), Metropolitan Life, 1978
One never knows what each day is going to bring. The important thing is to be open and ready for it.
Henry Moore (1898 – 1986)
THIS WEEK

Two big stories in the press this week, one shock. First of all, Ford announced the closure of it Bridgend plant, which was not a shock. The fact that it is to close in 2020 was a bit of a surprise, many thought it may run on a year more than that. Nevertheless, the company is having to dump jobs globally as it copes with automotive’s transition from an engineering to an electronics industry.

Just a week after having announced a potential merger, FCA and Renault did shock us all with a very public split. The blame game has started, with many blaming the French government for putting a spoke in the wheels. Analysts, however, reckon that FCA is still extremely well-placed to merge with somebody, their fit is particularly good, while Renault in particular will suffer badly. The Financial Times reported that the final straw was a French minister travelling to Japan to try and smooth over the rift in the Renault and Nissan relationship.

Finally this week, I would like to concentrate on what is potentially the automotive sector’s biggest problem. Analysts are predicting that the industry is facing massive fines next year. With the next round of WLTP regulations set to impact, and manufacturers having to reduce the CO2 emissions by substantial amounts, many predict they will fall woefully short of these targets. The EU in particular has the potential to levy massive fines if that is the case. With the Green lobby picking up pace and teeth, you can bet there will be an awful lot of lobbying over the coming 12 months. Let us hope as much energy is being put into development.

Have a great weekend, enjoy the rain!

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

This book fills a much-needed gap.
Moses Hadas (1900 – 1966)
An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn’t take his education too seriously.
Charles F. Kettering (1876 – 1958)
Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you’re scared to death.
Harold Wilson (1916 – 1995)
The saying “Getting there is half the fun” became obsolete with the advent of commercial airlines.
Henry J. Tillman
THIS WEEK

 I’m not sure whether it is me, or whether news reporting has got much better. But I certainly do not remember, in all of my time in the automotive industry, so many different investigations into car manufacturers. Yesterday it was announced that Porsche were under a new investigation into potential fraud. A number of people including their CEO, their FD and HR boss were all reported to be included in the probe. Der Spiegel, the German newspaper, reported that the issue was around “fraud against Porsche” relating to the “unjustified” and “disproportionately large” payments to a worker representative in terms of salary, bonuses and compensation.

But the big news of the week, however, is around Renault and Fiat Chrysler’s potential tie-up. The announcement has been greeted with enthusiasm in Italy it seems, but less so in France. And questions have been asked about Nissan, who are naturally holding Renault at arms length at this moment in time, in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn saga. Such a tie-up could mean that the French car maker could do without its Japanese partner, which prompts big question marks over the latter’s future survival and in an increasingly polarised manufacturing market.If it all of this was not bad enough for carmakers around the world, Pres Trump this week announced increased tariffs against Mexico. Most notably over car imports, causing a number of manufacturers share prices to fall around the world. Intriguingly, Tesla announced today that it is soon to start selling its Model3 in China, substantially undercutting imported vehicles because of local production. It is ironic when things like tariffs have potentially the opposite effect to the one you were setting out to create, this time moving production of Tesla from the US so they could remain competitive.

Finally, news that UK Automotive production fell disastrously in April to 50% of its previous levels. Admittedly some of this was down to some factories closing for two weeks. This was planned to allow them to adjust to our exit from the European Union, which never happened. Good planning, but had they been flat out, I am sure they would have found a way to reopen the factories. We’ve probably produced almost as many Conservative leader candidates as we have cars in the past few weeks.

Have a great weekend, I gather there’s a football match to watch tomorrow night if you’re at a loose end.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.
Elvis Presley (1935 – 1977)
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961)
A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not.
Henry Fielding (1707 – 1754)
THIS WEEK

Well you can’t say it’s been the best 7 days for the motor industry. Jaguar Land Rover posting a £3.6 billion loss for the year and announcing over 6,000 redundancies. A dramatic collapse in their market in China, falling 38%, has certainly not helped. Combine that with a general slowing of the motor industry in pretty well every other market in the world, and you have a recipe for a tough year.
Ford hardly brightened the tone. With managing director, Jim Hackett, announcing that 10% of its global workforce was to be cut. Which means about 7000, jobs going. It is difficult to see where Ford has lost its way, but I remember at the end of the 80s the company having market shares in excess of 20%. They were the standout performer by almost every benchmark, certainly the European market is much more challenging for them these days.

And talking about a halo slipping a little, Tesla’s previously buoyant investors are predicting that it could slump from its current share price of $196 to about $10 a share. It was only a few months ago that it was as high as $375 or so. The rumours are that pundits and institutional investors like Morgan Stanley, are beginning to back against the company’s shares, feeling that despite their technological edge, the company has at best an uncertain future.

Cheery stuff as we approach the end of May. Interpret that how you will.

THIS WEEK’S JOBS
Here are some jobs from the past ten days. Check these out and see if there is anything tempting. Click on the link to apply immediately through our site. The situation is changing the whole time and if any link refuses to work, it is probably because it has already been filled and removed. Check out all our jobs at on our Jobs Page

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Seeing ourselves as others would probably confirm our worst suspicions about them.
Franklin P. Jones
Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.
Evan Esar (1899 – 1995), Esar’s Comic Dictionary
Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness.
Cullen Hightower
Adventure is just bad planning.
Roald Amundsen (1872 – 1928)
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