Opinion Kilcrohane's view of the Automotive Industry and Global Economy. Part Deux.

[BMW4ever]

It’s impossible for me to determine the veracity of your opinions and claims but my, it does make for highly entertaining and interesting reading.

Update on JLR's - UK's - (real) situation:

'Wow, wow, wow. 11 o'clock news bulletin, today(June 9th) on BBC Radio 4 - blown the bloody doors off 'Boris''s and the UK establishment's parroted 24/7 by the BBC and co. 'Booming Britain', the 'Bouncing Back, G7-leading, post-Pandemic, UK economy', with 'huge pent-up demand', and everything in shortage. Look it up on iPlayer.

A nice lady, who I think is the owner of Roadchef services on the M5 at Worcester said:

'A delivery [of fuel] would last me seven to ten days [before the price took off in the last 3-6 months]. Now it lasts me two and a half to three weeks'

- Jesus. She let the cat out of the bag. How in the hell did the editor(s), at Broadcasting House, where R4 comes out of, let that pass? On a coke break? Some rebellious spirit somehow got into the BBC ranks, after all the weeding out they do of anyone who's not a toad, who will not lie on command?

She blew the bloody doors off. Well done, that good lady. She told the truth, which as Orwell(Eric Blair) said, in times of universal deceit - the UK since around the late 1990s - is a revolutionary act.

So, fuel demand/usage, has gone off a cliff, in UK, just as I predicted it would, months and months ago, and now has. It's more than halved - 8.5 to 19.25 days - minus 56%.

That, this, as I said, is what is freaking out the Tory Scum(MPs), and the whole UK 'Elite', not whether some fat, dwarf, POS lied - they all do - it's the whole point of their 'job'.

The Tory Scum got it in the neck over the 'Jubilee Weekend', when they were unfortunately out and about, with the hoi polloi, at street parties, fetes, etc. These deluded patriots took the opportunity to buttonhole the Tory Scum, with the reality of life, in 'Booming Britain', with 'record low unemployment and record vacancies' - that of basically medieval serfdom - without the perks - brewing your own beer and getting p!ssed.

They told the Tory Scum that their hovels are no longer rising 'in value' £100/day, or more, and no one wants to buy them, when they stick up said hovel for £500k-1m - amazingly - and now they have to fund their lives out of income - ~£600/week, from TWO full-time earners, after stoppages. This WILL NOT pay for the likes of £130/week to fuel their His&Hers 2 tonne each SUVs, and the now £150/week food bill, never mind the mortgage, kids stuff, the usual 3/4 holidays/year, etc, etc.

The Tory Scum are almost in pain, and no doubt some of the tattooed brigade, with vicious dogs on a lead - 'don't worry, he won't bite' - will have intimidated some of these poor Tory Scum, who are not used to dealing with the lower orders, at such close quarters, for so long - as cleaners, gardeners, builders etc, yes, when they can order them around.

The Tory Scum are not liking this one bit. They want to get back to enjoying their taxpayer ~£5,000/week gravy train, after 'expenses' are included, and regular jaunts to their other property in Tuscany, Provence, Algarve etc, not deal with feral scum - as they see ordinary Brit plebs.

Poor lambs. My heart bleeds. And poor old 'Boris', getting it in the neck in turn from the poor Tory Scum.

The 'UK Economy' has gone - as I said - not hyperbole. That huge fall in fuel consumption cannot be explained by the plebs doing 65 rather than 70-75 mph - as no doubt the govt and the newspaper rags will put it down to, explain it away as.

No, it's the collapse of the UK 'economy'. And that was from a level, in late 2021/early 2022, which was down already on 2017-early 2020.

The UK pleb is bust. The 'economy' which he supported - buying mindless sh!t, and trading up the 'Housing/Property Ladder' - has gone. The economy, the country of circa 1984-2021 UK, has gone.

Thank God. It was as fake as 'Boris', and 'JLR', and botox lips and plastic t*ts.

Time to get back to reality, the real world. Where talent and hard work counts, not airheads and printed money.

The faster this sh!t falls and collapses completely, the faster we start rebuilding, and clearing out all the garbage that has accrued in 40+ years - and detoxing, genuinely, the raddled and addled plebs' minds, 'brains', telling them how life is meant to be, and what things you will be judged on - not His&Her White SUVs, trout lips, fake tans and Instagram posts.'

 

[KiwiRob]

Update on JLR's - UK's - (real) situation:

'Wow, wow, wow. 11 o'clock news bulletin, today(June 9th) on BBC Radio 4 - blown the bloody doors off 'Boris''s and the UK establishment's parroted 24/7 by the BBC and co. 'Booming Britain', the 'Bouncing Back, G7-leading, post-Pandemic, UK economy', with 'huge pent-up demand', and everything in shortage. Look it up on iPlayer.

A nice lady, who I think is the owner of Roadchef services on the M5 at Worcester said:

'A delivery [of fuel] would last me seven to ten days [before the price took off in the last 3-6 months]. Now it lasts me two and a half to three weeks'

- Jesus. She let the cat out of the bag. How in the hell did the editor(s), at Broadcasting House, where R4 comes out of, let that pass? On a coke break? Some rebellious spirit somehow got into the BBC ranks, after all the weeding out they do of anyone who's not a toad, who will not lie on command?

She blew the bloody doors off. Well done, that good lady. She told the truth, which as Orwell(Eric Blair) said, in times of universal deceit - the UK since around the late 1990s - is a revolutionary act.

So, fuel demand/usage, has gone off a cliff, in UK, just as I predicted it would, months and months ago, and now has. It's more than halved - 8.5 to 19.25 days - minus 56%.

That, this, as I said, is what is freaking out the Tory Scum(MPs), and the whole UK 'Elite', not whether some fat, dwarf, POS lied - they all do - it's the whole point of their 'job'.

The Tory Scum got it in the neck over the 'Jubilee Weekend', when they were unfortunately out and about, with the hoi polloi, at street parties, fetes, etc. These deluded patriots took the opportunity to buttonhole the Tory Scum, with the reality of life, in 'Booming Britain', with 'record low unemployment and record vacancies' - that of basically medieval serfdom - without the perks - brewing your own beer and getting p!ssed.

They told the Tory Scum that their hovels are no longer rising 'in value' £100/day, or more, and no one wants to buy them, when they stick up said hovel for £500k-1m - amazingly - and now they have to fund their lives out of income - ~£600/week, from TWO full-time earners, after stoppages. This WILL NOT pay for the likes of £130/week to fuel their His&Hers 2 tonne each SUVs, and the now £150/week food bill, never mind the mortgage, kids stuff, the usual 3/4 holidays/year, etc, etc.

The Tory Scum are almost in pain, and no doubt some of the tattooed brigade, with vicious dogs on a lead - 'don't worry, he won't bite' - will have intimidated some of these poor Tory Scum, who are not used to dealing with the lower orders, at such close quarters, for so long - as cleaners, gardeners, builders etc, yes, when they can order them around.

The Tory Scum are not liking this one bit. They want to get back to enjoying their taxpayer ~£5,000/week gravy train, after 'expenses' are included, and regular jaunts to their other property in Tuscany, Provence, Algarve etc, not deal with feral scum - as they see ordinary Brit plebs.

Poor lambs. My heart bleeds. And poor old 'Boris', getting it in the neck in turn from the poor Tory Scum.

The 'UK Economy' has gone - as I said - not hyperbole. That huge fall in fuel consumption cannot be explained by the plebs doing 65 rather than 70-75 mph - as no doubt the govt and the newspaper rags will put it down to, explain it away as.

No, it's the collapse of the UK 'economy'. And that was from a level, in late 2021/early 2022, which was down already on 2017-early 2020.

The UK pleb is bust. The 'economy' which he supported - buying mindless sh!t, and trading up the 'Housing/Property Ladder' - has gone. The economy, the country of circa 1984-2021 UK, has gone.

Thank God. It was as fake as 'Boris', and 'JLR', and botox lips and plastic t*ts.

Time to get back to reality, the real world. Where talent and hard work counts, not airheads and printed money.

The faster this sh!t falls and collapses completely, the faster we start rebuilding, and clearing out all the garbage that has accrued in 40+ years - and detoxing, genuinely, the raddled and addled plebs' minds, 'brains', telling them how life is meant to be, and what things you will be judged on - not His&Her White SUVs, trout lips, fake tans and Instagram posts.'

What doors did she blow off, people aren't driving because they can't afford to fuel their cars, instead of driving 500m to the local shop they walk, instead of driving to there white collar job, they are working from home. It's the same all over Europe, you can't blame the Tories for this anymore than I can blame the Norwegian Labour Party for the increases in fuel prices in Norway.

Being as bitter as you are living with you must be a barrel of laughs.

 

[Matski]

A nice lady, who I think is the owner of Roadchef services on the M5 at Worcester said:

The quote...

Lisa Stevenson, who owns Tolladine service station near Worcester, told the BBC her prices per litre - at 197.9p for unleaded and 194.9p for diesel - reflected volatile wholesale prices driven by the Ukraine war.
She said customers were now buying less fuel because of the cost: "A delivery of fuel would previously have lasted me a week to 10 days, now its 2-3 weeks."

Petrol prices: Calls for more help as cost to fill a tank hits £100

Fuel prices continue to hit new records, increasing the pressure on household budgets.

www.bbc.co.uk

And the actual state of retail fuel sales over time...

What doors did she blow off, people aren't driving because they can't afford to fuel their cars, instead of driving 500m to the local shop they walk, instead of driving to there white collar job, they are working from home.

The UK is facing a cost of living crisis. People not being able to afford to use cars is at odds with all the rubbish we're hearing about what the government is delivering for the country, and how we're "leveling up".

It's the same all over Europe, you can't blame the Tories for this anymore than I can blame the Norwegian Labour Party for the increases in fuel prices in Norway.

Yeah, and both can be blamed as in both - in fact most - cases a significant chunk of the price is set by, and goes to the government.

Being as bitter as you are living with you must be a barrel of laughs.

Unnecessary.

I also note that despite liking the suggestion that the Range Rover Sport thread should be kept for discussion of the Range Rover Sport, you wanted to keep this discussion going in that thread. Makes sense .

 

[Centurion]

The UK is facing a cost of living crisis. People not being able to afford to use cars is at odds with all the rubbish we're hearing about what the government is delivering for the country, and how we're "leveling up".

You can say that again. Today my GF was fueling up this morning. Was aiming for a full yank but stopped when the meter hit £50. She has thee young children. Her recent energy bill was £150 this month and water bill £150. FYI her kids shower every other day.

Come autumn/winter, her energy bill will likely double. Hard times ahead for people and I will expect the days of people over-paying for cars to come to an end in Q3.

 

[Matski]

You can say that again. Today my GF was fueling up this morning. Was aiming for a full yank but stopped when the meter hit £50. She has thee young children. Her recent energy bill was £150 this month and water bill £150. FYI her kids shower every other day.

Come autumn/winter, her energy bill will likely double. Hard times ahead for people and I will expect the days of people over-paying for cars to come to an end in Q3.

It's going to bite a lot of people hard. My Dad (74) now lives alone in a big country cottage, I've always said his energy bills have been ludicrous - but it's an appalling house from an efficiency point of view. He's not far off £200 for electricity alone, he's dependent on his car too, no way his pension(s) can stand these kinds of increases.

During harder times, I've endured 5°C temperatures in my house to avoid using the heating... life gets pretty miserable pretty quickly. Is that Boris Johnson's fault. Perhaps not, but all the waffle and guff he's coming out with to try and save his ass is almost psychopathically disconnected from reality.

Personally, I've got the bike out again, the weather's nice enough, I don't really want to pay £2.00/lite for Super, and it's good to keep the miles off the car.

 

[Deleted member 57437]

It's going to bite a lot of people hard. My Dad (74) now lives alone in a big country cottage, I've always said his energy bills have been ludicrous - but it's an appalling house from an efficiency point of view. He's not far off £200 for electricity alone, he's dependent on his car too, no way his pension(s) can stand these kinds of increases.

Similar concerns here in Germany as well. Many elderly citizens find themselves quickly approaching the "official" poverty level.

During harder times, I've endured 5°C temperatures in my house to avoid using the heating... life gets pretty miserable pretty quickly. Is that Boris Johnson's fault. Perhaps not, but all the waffle and guff he's coming out with to try and save his ass is almost psychopathically disconnected from reality.

My wife and I have also become exceedingly conscientious about our utility usage and driving our automobile.

Personally, I've got the bike out again, the weather's nice enough, I don't really want to pay £2.00/lite for Super, and it's good to keep the miles off the car.

Yep-when something is within reasonable walking distance, we'll walk. As it is an additional element in helping us stay fit, it's not really a sacrifice at all.

I suspect that dissatisfaction with governments has become something common to most, if not all, European countries. Don't get me started on the presiding federal chancellor...or his direct predecessor. The former a source of excruciating embarrassment. The latter responsible for significant harm inflicted upon the country and its' society.

 

[KiwiRob]

The quote...

Lisa Stevenson, who owns Tolladine service station near Worcester, told the BBC her prices per litre - at 197.9p for unleaded and 194.9p for diesel - reflected volatile wholesale prices driven by the Ukraine war.
She said customers were now buying less fuel because of the cost: "A delivery of fuel would previously have lasted me a week to 10 days, now its 2-3 weeks."

Petrol prices: Calls for more help as cost to fill a tank hits £100

Fuel prices continue to hit new records, increasing the pressure on household budgets.

www.bbc.co.uk

And the actual state of retail fuel sales over time...

The UK is facing a cost of living crisis. People not being able to afford to use cars is at odds with all the rubbish we're hearing about what the government is delivering for the country, and how we're "leveling up".



Yeah, and both can be blamed as in both - in fact most - cases a significant chunk of the price is set by, and goes to the government.

Unnecessary.

I also note that despite liking the suggestion that the Range Rover Sport thread should be kept for discussion of the Range Rover Sport, you wanted to keep this discussion going in that thread. Makes sense .

Tariffs and VAT on fuel in the UK aren't even close to the worst offenders as per your graph, they are slightly above average. There is a cost of living crisis all over Europe, it's not just confined to the UK. Depending on the day of the week a litre of petrol in Norway ranges from £1.85 to £2.34. It won't be long before it breaks £2.50. Diesel is tracking a few pence under the price of petrol. Our weekly grocery shop for 2 adults and 3 kids has climbed from approx £200 to £250, luckily I don't live in the parts of Norway where electricity costs skyrocketed, I've heard of people paying upwards of £1000 before the govt kicked in the rebates in December and January. My worst bill this winter was £237.

 

[Centurion]

It's going to bite a lot of people hard. My Dad (74) now lives alone in a big country cottage, I've always said his energy bills have been ludicrous - but it's an appalling house from an efficiency point of view. He's not far off £200 for electricity alone, he's dependent on his car too, no way his pension(s) can stand these kinds of increases.

During harder times, I've endured 5°C temperatures in my house to avoid using the heating... life gets pretty miserable pretty quickly. Is that Boris Johnson's fault. Perhaps not, but all the waffle and guff he's coming out with to try and save his ass is almost psychopathically disconnected from reality.

Personally, I've got the bike out again, the weather's nice enough, I don't really want to pay £2.00/lite for Super, and it's good to keep the miles off the car.

Welcome back to Victorian Britain.

I wouldn't be surprised if some people beg to return to the office so that they don't incur high energy bills keeping their home toasty.

I expect Netflix's as supported tier to be extremely popular when it launches.

Diesel owned who use their care for short journey are screwed. The price at the pumps is nuts.

Hopefully the car market will return to pre-cocid times e.g 10-20% discount on pre-reg nearly new cars.

 

[Matski]

Tariffs and VAT on fuel in the UK aren't even close to the worst offenders as per your graph, they are slightly above average. There is a cost of living crisis all over Europe, it's not just confined to the UK.

Ergo, it's within governmental power to slash the price of fuel. Our government is making more from fuel sales than anyone else in the chain, if the fuel price is crippling the economy, why shouldn't we expect the government, who do **** all for their slice of the pie, to relieve the pressure? The same is true in a number of countries, evidently, but who else is the British motorist to rage at, but the British government?

I wouldn't be surprised if some people beg to return to the office so that they don't incur high energy bills keeping their home toasty.

Maybe the people that walk! Those that drive or have to take the train might be better off at home with an extra jumper on!

 

[Centurion]

Tariffs and VAT on fuel in the UK aren't even close to the worst offenders as per your graph, they are slightly above average. There is a cost of living crisis all over Europe, it's not just confined to the UK. Depending on the day of the week a litre of petrol in Norway ranges from £1.85 to £2.34. It won't be long before it breaks £2.50. Diesel is tracking a few pence under the price of petrol. Our weekly grocery shop for 2 adults and 3 kids has climbed from approx £200 to £250, luckily I don't live in the parts of Norway where electricity costs skyrocketed, I've heard of people paying upwards of £1000 before the govt kicked in the rebates in December and January. My worst bill this winter was £237.

Yeah. An ev is not the solution go high fuel costs and electricity prices will only climb as more people buy EVs.

Fuel costs have increased by 40% and significantly outpaced a salary raise of 1-4% of you were lucky to get one.

Depending on your circumstances, your monthly fuel, gas and electricity bills could, this coming winter, be up by a combined £200-300 compared with last year.

 

[Deleted member 57437]

Depending on your circumstances, your monthly fuel, gas and electricity bills could, this coming winter, be up by a combined £200-300 compared with last year.

Frankly, we'd consider ourselves quite lucky should our combined annual surcharge amount to no more than some 350-360 Euros.
We're actually anticipating double that, if not more.

 

[KiwiRob]

I look at those prices and cry, my A6 with 73 litre tank cost £160 ish to fill. With both vehicles we probably spend £400 per month on fuel, it would have been higher if I hadn't started working from home when I changed employer.

We've done as much as we can with our house, in the last few years we have replaced all our windows, we installed a heat pump and all out lighting is now LED. Last year we also replaced our fridge, washing machine and dryer, the newer models are all more efficient than the 16 year old models they replaced.

 

[BMW4ever]

update - BBC Radio 4, 'flagship' Today programme - about fifth item on bulletin - way less important to the BBC, which is funded by a 'licence' - don't pay it and get a hefty fine or jail time, and a criminal record - on British people, than some tussle in the US about who rigged the most votes, and a tussle between cousins one thousand+ miles away near the Black Sea, etc:

- 'poor people in the UK' - at least 50% of the population - are calling in sick, rather than go to work, because they can't afford the fuel, or the even more extortionate and ludicrous train and bus fares in UK, which means jobs like 'Care' - wiping old people's bottoms for ~£5/hr - have even fewer people doing them/willing to do them.

We are a dysfunctional country, that arguably is not even Third World. Some things work in the Third World.

The myth about JLR is that the rich drive them - the none too subtle association with the Royals, sponsorship of 3-day eventing, rugby union - the posh game - sailing, etc. The truth, since around the mid 1990s, is that Land Rover(/Range Rover) grew so much, compared to the 80s/early 90s, because of the working class buying them - or at least PCPing them, etc.

The stereotype of a white/black RR Sport parked on a paved over, tiny garden, in front of a very modest terraced house in the badlands of Greater London/Essex, is not a stereotype.

These people drove the boom in LR sales, over the last 25 years, not the country squire

These are the people now who are basically paupers. Their income was from two modest jobs, pulling in around £5-600/week net combined. The reason for the celeb-aping lifestyle, though, was hose price inflation, and the UK's famous 'property ladder'.

These were the people whose parents likely bought their council house in the 80s - Right to Buy(back again of course) - and their children moved out of east London to Essex, etc, and traded up, to where their property now, typically a 3-bed semi, or perhaps new-build 'Executive', link-'detached' rabbit hutch in nowheresville, around 30-50 miles from central London, is worth, supposedly, according to no vested interest Halifax/Nationwide/BBC regular report on rising house prices - almost every day - £1 million or more. The same property would have been around £50k in the mid 80s.

So, these people considered themselves quite rich, certainly quite comfortable, financially, even though their actual incomes were paltry.

That explained the RR Sport, and maybe an Evoque for 'SWMBO' - the missus - and the 3/4/5 holidays a year, and takeaways, or dinig out at least once a week, and weekend breaks, and treats for the kiddies, and everything else - exponential house prices in UK.

That's all gone - whatever the BBC/Halifax/Nationwide etc still tell you. ''Young' kids in their late 20s/30s, are NOT willing to pay £500k-1m+ for a horrible hovel, in a horrible, dangerous place, anymore - they haven't got the money/deposit anyway.

Rising interest rates - see the Fed today - means costlier mortgages anyway, and there are fewer of them, whatever BBC's MoneyBox programme says. Where 5-10 year ago, 'young' people scrimped and saved everything to get a deposit, to get 'on the property ladder', they now need to do the same to buy food, and pay utility bills, and run a car, or pay astronomical public transport fares, in UK.

They are startled rabbits, having not experienced any real recession in their lives. They are cutting spending furiously, in blind panic.

Without these people at the bottom of the Ladder, there is no sale for the fiftysomethings in Essex, in their '£1m+', Exec property.

It was a Ponzi, a pyramid scheme. Johnson has responded the only way he and his kind know - throw a bone to the plebs, with Right to Buy, just like Thatcher 40 years ago - spaffing public money, to keep his housebuilder donor and cronies afloat.

Won't work. The Ponzi is 40+ years old, and finished. UK's 'economy', which all rested on the house price thing, too.

That's why, I believe Bollore has dropped huge hints that he wants 'JLR' to be Bentley - not just Jaguar, as he has stated.

He knows there's no money in flogging £40-~60k SUVs in UK, and most of the rest of Europe - unless you're Toyota or WV, with huge economies of scale and purchasing power.

He wants 'JLR' to be Range Rover(top-end Defender too), and sell for £100-200k+. That means ~150k tops annual output.

That means the closure of Halewood, and Castle Bromwich of course - it already is largely - and I believe Bollore's desire to close Solihull - its quality is appalling, and you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - with all capacity in Nitra.

Selling Solihull could still bring in some money for housing development, but nowhere near - up to £2bn - would it would have fetched say 5 years ago. JLR's CEO 2010-2012, Carl-Peter Forster, wanted to close Solihull.

Johnson's govt, and the local, Solihull Tory MP, Julian Knight, will not allow that, though. It would be MG Rover 2005 on stilts.

 

[BMW4ever]

Ergo, it's within governmental power to slash the price of fuel.

- they can't. Why hasn't Sunak followed suit with what they did in Germany this week, and reduce tax on fuel properly, by around 15-20p/litre?

Because... , the £ would fall down a mine shaft. Yes, the BoE can print money - "Quantitative Easing" - and has, by the bucket load. But, canny buyers of UK debt know that ultimately there has to be hard cash, to support any serious currency. The take on fuel from VAT alone is, or rather was, around £30m/day, say £10bn/yr.

The obvious thing to do, with 300+ Tory MPs screaming to 'Do something!' to Spaffer and Squeaky Sunak, to save their seats, is to suspend VAT. But what dies that leave in real support for the £? The £ is a cigarette paper away from being the new peseta.

If you think inflation is bad now, prices out of control, just tell the markets that the £ is being printed, to temporarily alleviate hardship amongst the people. Welcome to Argentina.

We're stuck. Chickens have come home to roost. We were living as a first world economy, with next to no industry, or value-adding, genuine wealth creation. Our only trump cards were The City and Soft Power, Thieving oligarchs' money, under the pretext of war, when you invited them here in the first place, has ended global trust in The City/UK, as the default port of call for laundering money and evading taxes. Our Soft Power is in tatters, due to the antics of 'Der Clown' - play on 'The Crown'- and our 'elite' generally - who seem only concerned getting drunk and taking coke while people genuinely feared for their lives, or couldn't say goodbye to dying loved ones, etc.

They, the rest of the world. sense that something is rotten in UK , a culture eating itself.

But the big, immediate thing is that Squeaky and the Treasury know that they can't touch revenue - real money coming in.

 

[Deleted member 57437]

- they can't. Why hasn't Sunak followed suit with what they did in Germany this week, and reduce tax on fuel properly, by around 15-20p/litre?

German fuel providers were quick to boost prices following the tax reductions. Bastards.

 

[Matski]

- they can't. Why hasn't Sunak followed suit with what they did in Germany this week, and reduce tax on fuel properly, by around 15-20p/litre?

Because... , the £ would fall down a mine shaft. Yes, the BoE can print money - "Quantitative Easing" - and has, by the bucket load. But, canny buyers of UK debt know that ultimately there has to be hard cash, to support any serious currency. The take on fuel from VAT alone is, or rather was, around £30m/day, say £10bn/yr.

The obvious thing to do, with 300+ Tory MPs screaming to 'Do something!' to Spaffer and Squeaky Sunak, to save their seats, is to suspend VAT. But what dies that leave in real support for the £? The £ is a cigarette paper away from being the new peseta.

The government makes around 90p per litre and this equates to about £30Bn/year. A 20p reduction in Fuel duty would translate to a loss of about £7Bn/year to the government. Sounds like a lot but they're probably making £3Bn more now from the overinflated prices, then they were even a couple of years ago. Adjusting VAT across the board might be a risk, but £7Bn off fuel duty to free up spending elsewhere in the economy isn't going to tank sterling.

German fuel providers were quick to boost prices following the tax reductions. Bastards.

.. this is a better reason to not reduce fuel duty.

It was a Ponzi, a pyramid scheme. Johnson has responded the only way he and his kind know - throw a bone to the plebs, with Right to Buy, just like Thatcher 40 years ago - spaffing public money, to keep his housebuilder donor and cronies afloat.

It's a short-term vote winner for him... it will decimate social housing for generations to come though.

Some food for thought...

 

[klier]

Last year we also replaced our fridge, washing machine and dryer, the newer models are all more efficient than the 16 year old models they replaced.

Yet they are designed to completely break down in 10 years......

 

[Centurion]

German fuel providers were quick to boost prices following the tax reductions. Bastards.

Standard behaviour. Raise or keep the price the same to bolster margins.

 

[Deleted member 57437]

Standard behaviour. Raise or keep the price the same to bolster margins.

Topped the fueltank up earlier today. EURO 1,99 for E5 Super per liter. I believe that the recent peak was EURO 2,38 prior to the tax reduction. Following the reduction, we were down to EURO 1,91-which was just a few days ago. Regional differences can be quite large here in Germany and I believe that we fare relatively well here in the northwest.

 

[BMW4ever]

Hold the front page - real, honest to god, actual Jag/JLR news:

Contact Support

- telling us what we knew already - XE and XF are/were dead, and Castle Brom is/has been effectively closed - happened 3 or more years ago.

This should be, should have been, front page news, not just in the Business sections - from 2019 onwards.

When 2009-2019 XJ was kiboshed, and the 'eXJ' supposed successor binned, that was major news. As it meant Castle Brom was effectively over.

Don't forget, 'Castle Brom' is actually 'The Factory wot won WWII, and Saved Democracy' - Spitfire, wartime shadow factory, etc.

Closing it, was therefore sacrilege. Like taking the Crown Jewels down the pawn shop, or feeding poison to the ravens at the Tower.

But, it never made any news - yes, some lightweight stuff from Autocar and co. about '(fantastic)cars binned at the last minute', but NOTHING on the de facto end of Castle Brom - and 'Jaguar' - leaving just the hand-me-downs E-Pace(Evoque) and F-Pace(Velar), and the step-child that no one wants, I-Pace.

Bollore is either deliberately leaking, to his probably ex-Renault, ex-director level, mates, at this French consultancy, which of course will send the scribes at Autocar hopping mad, given that JLR uses Haymarket for its PR, but appears the last to know, or this French outfit, Inovev, is saying - the bleedin' obvious - what the anglo, UK and US, media won't, or dare not do - as they don't want P45s, and have to pull Jonny and Jemima out of boarding school, and send them to the local state, sink school, where they'd get beaten up, and maybe stabbed.

A disgrace. The lickspittle invertebrates of the UK media have wilfully ignored what's being going on - not going on - at Castle Brom, and Jag, since 2019 - the deliberate binning of Jag by Speth/Bollore and Tata, and the end of Castle Brom, without having to formally, publicly, announce it, so forgoing the wrath of the British people.

Make no mistake, this is MG Rover 2005, and the end of the a once key, and historical, production plant (Longbridge), being repeated, but due to this subterfuge, by JLR/Tata, and the wilful abdication of its duty, by the craven, lickspittle HM Press, there has been none of the PR disaster, and major political crisis, for the ruling party/regime.

Appalling, how far as a country we have fallen, and how low the morals and scruples of those who once did professional, independent jobs.