DAILY: Hyundai Kia Pull Back, MG Teases New Compact EV and AMG Shows Off Electric GT | 08 Mar 2026

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Welcome back to WeeVee News daily.

Today, Hyundai Kia Pullback, MGTZ's new compact DV

and AMG shows off electric GT.

Plus day tuned, later in the show,

I'll tell you which emissions record.

Britain just broke for the first time in 400 years.

No EV news China today.

A spin-off podcast.

That's back tomorrow morning.

First thing on Monday.

Hyundai Kia have started trimming back their EV ambitions

in the United States, blaming affordability pressure

and tariff uncertainty.

Hyundai will cut the South Korean Bill Anec V line.

Sorry, Anec VI line to a single version.

That's the Anec VI N, the proper fast one.

The high performance model with 641 horsepower

will arrive later this year.

It's coming as a 2026 model year.

Hyundai hasn't confirmed pricing,

but Anec VI N should cost more than the outgoing

Anec VI limited sticker price of 52.5.

The move ends the standard Anec VI in the US for now.

Hyundai priced it under $40,000,

but February sales were low.

Dealers have some stock that they can sell you.

Kia, sister company is also pausing.

There are United States sales indefinitely

delaying the GT versions of EV6 GT and EV9 GT.

US built EV6 GT line and EV9 GT nine.

That's a trim level, not an indication of performance.

That continues.

So those are made in West Point, Georgia, unaffected.

Kia had already pushed back the US launch of the EV4

from this year to sometime in the future.

Again, shifting market conditions and uncertainty over tariffs.

They say in the background,

because South Korean built cars are now facing 15%,

at least as of when we woke up this morning

and which way the wind was blowing.

And that could be a 25% tariff with new threats

from the White House to escalate levies.

And for now, US built cars carry on the imports

wait for an EV market at a tariff rate

that makes sense for them.

So there's many times before, I'm no economist,

but even my tiny simpleton brain can understand

that if you wanna do any sort of favor

for the car industry, you just need certainty.

And decisions are made for 10, 20, sometimes 30 years,

at least product cycles are very extensive.

And you can't be waking up in the morning

and seeing which countries annoyed the president.

And so it's no way to run,

I know I don't want a country, is it,

but there you go, it's not my business.

And no way to run a car company.

And so ultimately consumer suffer.

And so ultimately buyers of those brilliant EVs

are not gonna be found in the US for a while.

That's a real shame.

But it's an inevitability with the consistency required

by the automotive industry on things like policy

and anyway, we'll move on.

MG will unveil a car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

in July this year.

A small EV, we think it'll be called the MG2.

MG head of Europe, William Wang putting the production car

in 2027, MG2 would be four meters long

and a great urban car, although not the MG4 urban,

which is literally urban, not only in size

because it's smaller than the MG4, I'll be keeping up,

but the MG4 urban is literally called urban.

However, this car will be even smaller.

Now, MG4 urban starts at 23 and a half thousand pounds.

It's a really attractive price.

Yes, sure, that's based spec.

And the MG4 urban is not the MG4 entirely different platform

and driving experience, but incredibly good value.

And so, Renault 5, BYD, Dolphin, Surf,

upcoming Volvo, Volkswagen ID Polo and Cooper Reval, et cetera.

That kind of market, that 20 grand

or a little bit either way, market is so hot

over in Europe at the moment.

Under the skin, MG2 would be front-wheel drive platform

underneath the MG4.

MG4 urban has in its smallest guys a 42.8 kilowatt hour

battery pack.

They could also, if they wanted to, at a price,

offer the MG4's semi-solid state battery.

Now, there is one trim in China,

which has a semi-solid state battery on the road right now.

A gel-like electrolyte, very good for cold conditions,

although, unless you are perhaps in Scotland over here,

you're only going to get cold temperatures

for limited times of the year.

And so, MG, obviously owned by the Chinese, SAIC,

expanding their European lineup.

18 models in the next two years will launch

that MG4 urban is a really, really good value, by the way.

As for how it drives, if you're asking about

whether it's front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive,

whether the chassis dynamics are not as good

as the other original MG4, then, by the way,

this car's not for you.

If you're asking that question, this car's not for you.

If you're asking what the monthly payments are,

and if you like the fact that it's got loads

more rear legroom than the other MG4,

then this is the car for you.

Let's move on.

Mercedes AMG has revealed the production interior

of its four-door electric GT.

The Mercedes AMG GT has a full-unvail coming soon,

previously called the Double X when it was a prototype.

And so, we've seen it lapping for eight days,

a track called Nardo at 186 miles an hour.

AMG Mercedes pitched the runner's proof

of their new platform, AMG.EA,

and it's 1,360 horsepower-powered,

it's over 1,000 kilowatts anyway.

Inside, it's a big screen, to be honest with you.

And not just one big screen,

like a Mercedes Ben's hyper screen,

a single piece of glass across the entire front

with various screens behind it.

Oh no, this is just lots of screens

all at different angles.

Now, you've heard me say before,

I'm not convinced this current era that we're in

is going to age very well.

I don't think big screens are very classy,

very timeless, very high-end, to be honest with you.

It feels like too much of a gadget,

but they say this car will be aimed at a Chinese market,

which doesn't feel the same way that I do.

And so, there's a 10.2-inch driver display,

14-inch central multimedia touchscreen,

a 14-inch passenger screen,

in front of the passenger seat as well.

Yeah, it's just all screens inside this thing.

But also, I think some machined metal knobs

and buttons and rotary dials,

because this is going to be a high performance vehicle.

Should get a confirmed on-sale day,

or at least more details coming soon,

talking of high-end vehicles.

Ferrari has teased its upcoming luchet on video.

For the same time, not just stills anymore,

a brief nighttime glimpse of the front end

and the lighting signature.

The clip shows little, beyond a shadowy silhouette,

but the front lighting gives the first real-world hint

of the Ferrari design.

Ferrari plans to debut the luchet next month until then,

the teaser confirms the car exists,

and with holds pretty much everything else,

it will take the shape of a crossover,

slightly smaller than a pure sangue in size,

with a 116.5-inch wheelbase, four occupants in style

and comfort, the cabin will feature a fully redesigned interior

from former Apple Chief Designer, Johnny Ive,

described as a redesign that marks a significant departure

from Ferrari's traditional interior language.

Underneath, the luchet is on a bespoke platform,

developed fully in-house, incorporating a structural back

tree pack, they say, under the floor

and a range of 310 miles anticipated power

for electric motors, two-power axle, over 1,000 horsepower,

and 0-62 in 2.5 seconds.

Sorry, one more story then, we should take a break.

Ireland is expanding its zero-emission truck and bus

grants, the zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle grant scheme,

adding a second funding stream,

under the expanded program companies

can draw up to 500,000 euros, $543,000,

per year towards zero-emission truck and bus purchases.

The subsidy targets the price gap with these alternatives,

aiming to make buying decisions less about the upfront cost.

A parallel stream, the infrastructure scheme,

offering 300,000 euros, $326,000 in funding

for depot charging, logistics, and urban distribution

charging.

The widen scheme backs the vehicles and the plugs.

The next test sits outside the grant terms.

It's whether the take-up rate keeps pace

with the scale of the job, which is to electrify our road

transport.

In the UK, that's going very well.

Actually, the United Kingdom electric HDV market

hit a big mark last year.

The 1,000th electric heavy goods vehicle is now in our roads.

OK, it's 1,000.

We've got to start somewhere, though.

The data from the car lobby shows

EHDV registrations rising 171% last year on 2024.

The gap remains large, though, zero-emission trucks 1.4%

of the markets.

Grid serves electric freightway program.

Supplied 161 of the almost 600,000 electric HDVs

that gave the scheme more than a quarter

of all new electric truck registrations in the UK.

Electric freightway is partly funded by the Department

for Transport, Delivered in Partnership with Innovate UK

and Grid serve targeting to eliminate two of the barriers

really for fleet operators, vehicle access, and reliable

hop-out, high-powered charging infrastructure.

There are 21 zero-emission truck models

that are picked from over here.

Daff trucks, Volvo, Renault, Daimler, and more.

Grid serve has expanded its dedicated charging network

for heavy goods vehicles across depot hubs

and the road network on the A1M at Boldock

and Moto services on the M5 down in the southwest.

Not too far from me, the M5, that southwest area,

gets some great charging, by the way.

It's fantastic when you drive down in the southwest.

There's some really good motorway infrastructure now.

Anyway, we'll take a break, we'll come back

and we'll talk about our final trucking story today

and a bit of cilantro threats.

Find out why, stick around.

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All right, welcome back to the podcast.

M-A-N, truck and buses finished the first winter test

of their fully electric coach.

Never done a coach journey on fully electric.

And I can't wait for the day that I do.

They've been doing minus 30 degrees.

Chelsea is testing in the Arctic Circle

and on snow and icy terrain.

The team focus on the systems that typically harm EVs.

The high voltage battery getting very cold,

thermal management, powertrain, energy and interior heating.

For a battery electric coach, cold weather isn't just

about comfort, it's about whether it can do energy

management.

These M-A-N purebev trucks will do up to 650 kilometers,

from 320 kilowatt hour pack up to 480 kilowatt hour pack,

carrying 63 passengers in comfort,

and down to very cold temperatures as well.

They say luggage capacity, all that kind of stuff,

exactly the same as the diesel equivalents.

So no compromise there in going electric

if you are taking a coach journey.

Now, Stellantis are back with a familiar refrain,

threatening the United Kingdom,

because Stellantis have a lot of infrastructure here.

They do some car building, some van building,

and politicians hate the idea of job losses.

And so once again, Stellantis, who are not shy

of doing this as a tactic, by the way,

threatening to shrink its UK operations

unless the government backs down

and reforms the zero emission mandate.

The Stellantis Europe boss, Emmanuel Capelano,

said the rules forces car makers to bleed money

and hands the edge to the Chinese importers.

Stellantis sold over 200,000 cars here in the UK last year.

It's the second largest car maker by volume

behind VW Group and a fifth of Stellantis were electric here.

So they're doing all right.

The mandate pushes the market faster

than it typically wants to go.

That's why politicians get involved.

It sets a 32% EV share target this year.

And EVs made up 22% of the sales

in the first couple of months in 2026.

So a job to do a long way to go.

And government flexibilities,

things like credits for CO2 savings,

a raw part of the scheme.

It's going to be very difficult for some of the car makers

to hit it, but Stellantis of all of them

actually have strong brands over here

and some really good cars.

So it's always a little bit sad

to see them being a brand new EV

and saying, well, we can't do it.

But missing the target brings fines of 12,000 pounds,

$15,000 per car sold if they miss the targets

or often obviously doing deals with other car makers

to pool with them.

That's cheaper.

The lobby organization over here of car companies

reported average discounts of 11,000 pounds last year.

Which is a lot, isn't it,

to discount an EV, to get it off the lot.

But by the way, massive discounting

also on petrol and diesel cars,

just a bit more for EV.

So it sounds a huge amount.

And then you go, well, okay,

but there's still like 9,000, 8,000 pounds of discounting

on average for combustion cars.

So clearly, I have some sympathy.

It's probably not as bad as those that want to make

the headlines sound,

but it probably is a massive headache for,

I don't know, the CFOs and those whose job it is

to lobby politicians with things like this.

They've got the Citroen EC3,

Voxel Frontera Fit, Grande Panda.

They start from $18,000, $19,000, LFP PAC smart car platform.

They've got some great stock.

I just wish there'd be a bit more pro EV

rather than, you know,

butting up against the government,

which they've done plenty of times before

and even when they've reduced investment over here,

which Stellantis has done in the last couple of years,

erroneously reported by the media

as because of electric vehicles.

And well, no, they were always closing things

like their van facilities and moving investment

around nothing to do, EVs.

But I think Stellantis were quite happy

with that narrative to play out in the media.

Again, a lot of the newspapers,

who see massively falling circulations,

are querying on clicks online and wild headlines,

are more than happy to print anti-EV stuff

because it does any kind of bad news

that gets you blood boiling is more clickable than the truth.

And so, yeah, I'm not surprised,

but frustrating if nothing else,

Volkswagen is starting pre-series building

of the ID buzz autonomous vehicle, fully autonomous,

making it in Hanover.

It's the Buzz ID, ID stands for autonomous driving.

And so these are genuine Robotaxies and Robo Shuttles.

They'll be 500 made this year.

They've got all that massive sense of suite

on the roof like the Waymo vehicles,

with the radar, the LiDAR, the cameras and stuff like that.

But they'll be ID buzzes, which is really cool

because the vehicles look cool anyway

and a bit space AG.

And now they'll be fully autonomous.

I'm not sure where they'll be rolled out,

but these are level four vehicles,

like the Waymo ones, fully autonomous, that's cool.

Now, finally, UK greenhouse gas emissions

fell to 1.5% last year.

The lowest level since 1872,

but the records actually get bigger than that.

Cold demand sank to levels last seen in the year 1600.

And because not only are we a very old country,

but a country that likes things like rules

and queuing, keeping records,

I fully believe that stat.

I'm sure there's been somebody

since the year 1600,

keeping track of how much coal we burned.

Because that seems like a good British pastime.

I mean, you can't do somebody,

I think, because the weather's terrible.

So you might as well keep track of how much coal we're burning.

Gas demands slid to a 34 year low as well.

A warmer winter and higher gas prices,

doing some of the work.

The rest came from a power sector.

The kept pulling coal off of the system.

UK cold demand fell 56% last year.

That left coal use 97% below what we burned in just 2015.

And I know that the move to EV is incredibly quick

for car makers who work on long time scales

and sure it can feel overwhelming not to you and I

because we talk about this every single day.

But to people, the idea of not having

their petrol or diesel car seems absolutely unthinkable.

The never bevers are out there.

But we've cut our coal use 97% in this country in the last 10 years.

And it's 99.6% below the peak in 1956.

The closure of the UK's last coal-fired plant

did much of the work.

Oil moved a little bit less.

UK oil demand fell a percent last year.

Electrified vehicles chipped away at that.

There are now 3 million EVs on our roads.

Plugging hybrids and electric vans

make up 5% of the overall car park.

The UK added 700,000 plug-in vehicles last year,

saving 2 million tons of CO2.

The fleet now cuts more than 7 million tons of CO2

every single year.

And EV drivers save 700 pounds.

That's $800 per year per car in lower fueling costs.

And it's a lot more per van as well, by the way.

Hate pump sales, if you're interested,

I know it's not an EV technology,

but it's kind of EV adjacent.

And when I talk about solar and heat pumps,

the stuff, people are still pretty interested.

Hate pump sales were up 25% last year.

125,000 heat pumps installed.

But a heat pump stock total around 450,000 as a total.

Government wants 2.3 million.

I feel like, you know, it's a sample size of one,

but we're right in the middle of that dilemma.

So we have a gas boiler that is old, really old.

But it was a warm winter this year.

And I look back and we put it on some time in November.

I mean, we've got a new-ish house

that's really well-insulated, by the way.

70s house, but tons of extra insulation,

a new double glazing, not triple glazing,

but loads of loft insulation here,

way more than we have to.

And a cavity wall's been added.

It also got solar and solar thermal for our hot water.

I should get our EPC redone,

because the last 10 years we've really,

we've got a home battery here as well.

So our EPC is really at a date.

But we didn't turn it on till November.

And it's turned off now.

And maybe some days in the evening

or the morning can be a little bit chilly,

and we sort of just whack it on for half an hour.

But if we didn't have the kids, we'd wear a jumper.

And so we haven't used much gas at all.

So buying a heat pump, it's a struggle.

Because we've got other things we can spend our money on.

If the gas boiler dies, it becomes a more compelling argument.

But to take out a working technology,

we'd simply be doing it for the ideological reasons,

because we want to cut gas.

And we got rid of the gas hobbits and induction hobb here.

Now we did that when we did the kitchen last year.

So we've done stuff,

but we still don't do burn a bit of gas.

But that's a tough sell to my wife.

Let's get rid of a gas boiler that works perfectly well.

The next phase of transport here in the UK,

accounting for 30% of total UK emissions,

transport is less than half of all of our emissions.

It's roughly around a third.

And it remains the UK's largest single emitting sector.

Transport is the primary source of emissions cuts

through to 2040, as the EV transition accelerates.

And that's hopefully where I will be,

for as long as you let me be.

And you do that by supporting me on Patreon

and listening to the podcast and the odd ad and stuff.

If you listen to the free feed,

and we get to commentate on that move every day

for the last eight years,

and maybe even until 2040 in longer.

Who knows?

If there's a listener, I'll carry on doing it.

And that's your podcast for today.

Thanks to our premium partners,

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Have a good and sit-amara.

And remember, there's no such thing

as a self-charging hybrid.

Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing.

Victory Lane?

Yeah, it's even better with Chamba by my side.

Race to ChambaCasino.com.

Let's Chamba.

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Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing,

another checkered flag for the books.

Time to celebrate with Chamba.

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