Guest Blog

Thatcham is the name of a nasty little town in a nasty little county called Berkshire.

You've got to feel for ACEA, the mouthpiece of the European car industry. Its position on the forthcoming car CO2 regulation is beginning to sound as silly as Baghdad Bob's camera-work during the defence of Iraq in 2003.

Spare a thought for those really struggling in the wake of the economic downturn.

Global financial meltdown, job losses on production-lines and more tumbleweed than customers in car showrooms; with all the big news at the moment you could be forgiven for having missed the week's really important story.

Oh dear, have you seen pictures of Mini’s new SUV concept? Not exactly pretty is it. The thing’s going to debut at the Paris Motor Show in a few weeks time which would be bad enough if it was just a concept. But the car is going to make it all the way to production lines, possibly at BMW’s Spartanburg ...

After months of soaring energy costs and plummeting house prices, last week gave us another business horror story; the worst August new car market since 1966. According to trade body SMMT (which publishes the figures) and RMIF (which parrots them), the time has come for government action. Not a bad pitch when you think about it. Propping up failing banks ...

Welcome to The Insider. If this weekly blog sounds like a 1970s cop show, then be warned. Expect something closer to the Sweeney than the Professionals. Like Regan on a hangover, expect hard hitting views on the motor industry, top entertainment and – occasionally -behaviour that borders on the unacceptable. So put your knickers on, shut it and stop surfing ...