Maxy pandy - 26 May 2026

FOLLOW UP: MOTABILITY PAUSES BLACK BOX USE

Motability has announced that it will be pausing the ‘Drive Smart’ scheme that included fitting a black box to cars owned by those under the age of 30 leasing a car from them. Unfortunately they are not cancelling it but will amend it and try again. This discriminates against disabled drivers rather than helping them be more independent and live as active a life as possible. Click this article link here, from Disability News Service, for more.

FOLLOW UP: THE TREASURY REJECTED MINISTERIAL CALL TO DROP PUBLIC CHARGING VAT RATE

The Treasury Department stood firm in the face of calls, by ministers, to drop the VAT rate for public EV chargers to 5%. HMRC is appealing the tax tribunal that agreed it should be cut due to their own criterial making it clear it should not be charged at 20%. To read more, click this article link from Europe Says.

GOVERNMENT EXTENDS FUEL DUTY CUT

Last week the Government announced that it will be extending the fuel duty cut to the end of the year, thanks to the idiocy in the Middle East. Whilst this sounds like it should help people, there are lots of evidence that shows those who need such help the most are disproportionately affected in times like these meaning they stop driving. For personal car usage this helps only the wealthy, however in the wider transportation ecosystem this will help to keep some costs down and not add to the impact the crisis is already having. For more on the news item, click this article link from Transport News.

STELLANTIS AND DONGFENG SIGN EUROPEAN DEAL

Stellantis and Dongfeng have signed another deal, this time for the Chinese firm to build their cars in European factories with spare capacity. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar article link here.

There is also a link to a Top Gear article here, that goes into detail about if Stellantis’s new plan is in fact new, that we think you might find interesting.

HAS KIA AND NISSAN FIXED THEIR VULNERABILITIES IN 2 YEARS

Two years ago, security researcher Neiko Rivera, found some shocking API vulnerabilities in Kia and Nissan apps that allows easy access to vehicles he did not own. He has now followed that up, to see if improvements have been made, some have but mostly not and there’s new ones that are easily exploited and should wake the industry up (especially if combined with last week’s story about the MyAudi app). Click this YouTube link to his talk explaining what he has done and found.

On Thursday 4 June at 20:00 BST, we will be going live with a Q&A on our YouTube channel. We need your help though, send us your automotive and motoring related question you would like to hear us answer. To send one in use our Contact Page, linked to here, and put “Q&A” in the Subject Line so it does not get lost in all the spam, or any other way you can send a question to us.

NEW NEW CAR NEWS -

Ferrari Luce

The internet erupted this week following Ferrari revealing their first EV, the Luce. Designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson, the finished product has caused quite the stir. The chaps discuss