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UK Government cuts car aid, EV grants at risk

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 30 June 2010 15:48 Britain's business secretary Vince Cable today fired a warning shot across the bows of the car industry, saying that subsidies would end and warning that the pledged £5000 subsidy off the first electric cars was in peril.'Our starting point is very clear,' he told delegates at an automotive summit arranged by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. 'We've moved on from the era of subsidies. We just have to be realistic about what's affordable.'Cable said the new coalition Conservative-Liberal Government had not yet decided whether or how to implement the new low-carbon vehicle subsidies promised under Labour, which had set aside £250m in initial funding.'It is still actively under consideration,' said Cable.

Tesla ‘drops’ entry-level Model S. But was it ever going to be available?

The 40kWh version of the Tesla Model S is being dropped by Tesla in the US, but we do wonder if Tesla ever had any intention of delivering it in the first place. Tesla’s big claim ahead of the arrival of the, very impressive, Model S – and a seemingly vital part of the US taxpayer funding Tesla to develop the Model S – was that they would deliver a car that cost under $50k, something the car industry thought impossible. But when the Model S was launched, Tesla did indeed have an entry-level model available with a 4okWh battery that was listed at $58,750 (taking it almost down to the $50k mark after the US taxpayer chipped in the EV bribe) so Elon Musk could, quite reasonably, claim Tesla had delivered.

Mercedes sacks U.S. boss Ernst Lieb

Mercedes boss Ernst Lieb let go In a surprising move, Mercedes has upset its apple cart in America by sacking its CEO, Ernst Lieb. It’s hard to work out why Leib has been given the heave-ho, especially considering Mercedes USA is riding high at the moment on the back of strong sales and well-received models in the U.S. Under Lieb’s leadership Mercedes has enjoyed sales up 10.4 per cent for this year, a performance that is outstripping the market as a whole.