Cardiff’s War on Drivers: The Truth Behind the SUV Parking Charge

Cardiff has become the first UK city to charge extra for heavier cars – praised by some as climate progress, but seen by many as yet another salvo in the war on drivers

Cardiff Council has approved a policy that introduces higher parking permit charges for larger and heavier vehicles, starting with those over 2,400kg – and soon expanding to 2,000kg for non-electric cars. The Council claims the aim isn’t to punish, but to “gently encourage behaviour change,” arguing that bigger cars take up more space, cause more road wear, and are a greater danger to pedestrians.

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23/10/2025 1

Is the Chancellor About to Scrap the 40-Year Classic Car Exemption?

Are They Coming for Our Classics? – The Chancellor’s Bonkers Plan to Tax Heritage!

Rumour has it the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is preparing to scrap the 40-year tax exemption for classic cars – and if true, it could be one of the daftest economic moves in decades. Because make no mistake – if this goes ahead, you won’t just be taxing old motors. You’ll be taxing passion, history, and an £18-billion-a-year industry that already contributes around £3 billion in taxes annually to the Treasury.

That’s right. The same government that loves to preach about “protecting heritage” might soon be taxing it to death.

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11/10/2025 1

BrownCarGuy September 2025 Round-Up: Shocks, Scandals & Supercars

From Lotus fighting for survival to Porsche U-turns, JLR’s £1.5bn lifeline, culture wars, car shows, and even a roast of your ride – September 2025 was wild. Plus we got political!

September came at us fast and furious – a month of breaking news, motoring drama, cultural flashpoints, and a few laughs along the way. Lotus is clinging to life, Porsche is making (and unmaking) decisions, politicians are meddling, and I even roasted some of your cars just for fun. If you missed any of it, don’t worry – here’s the complete BrownCarGuy digest from September 2025.

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02/10/2025 0

£1.5bn Government Support for JLR Hack – But Could It Be an Inside Job?

A £1.5bn government rescue may keep Jaguar Land Rover afloat after a crippling cyberattack – but questions linger over a suspected IT weak link connecting JLR, M&S and the Co-op

It sounds like the plot of a cyber-thriller – but it’s happening in real life. Britain’s biggest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), has been brought to its knees by hackers, with production halted for weeks, suppliers on the brink, and billions in lost revenue. Now the UK government has stepped in with a £1.5 billion loan guarantee to keep JLR afloat and protect jobs.

But as the rescue unfolds, a more uncomfortable question is emerging: was this simply bad luck, or could there be a weak link inside JLR’s own technology backbone?

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28/09/2025 1

EV UPDATE: Porsche’s EV U-Turn

Car Makers Push Back on the All-Electric Future!

Just when you thought the future was set in stone – battery packs for everyone, petrol engines packed away in the museum – the car industry has thrown us a plot twist worthy of a Netflix series.

Porsche has just shocked enthusiasts by confirming the next-gen 718 Boxster and Cayman will not be EV-only after all. Yep, petrol power lives on, at least in the top trims. That’s right – just days after the brand was busy singing the EV gospel, the engineers are apparently sneaking a flat-six back into the engine bay like a cheeky kid hiding sweets before dinner.

And here’s me – I even made a video mourning the death of the 718 as we knew it. Wonder if Porsche were listening? (You’re welcome.)

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22/09/2025 1

JLR Hacked

Cyber Attack Shuts Down Jaguar Land Rover Production for three weeks!

Somewhere between a spy thriller and a Black Mirror episode, Britain’s biggest carmaker has been stopped in its tracks. Not by Covid, not by strikes, not by chip shortages – but by hackers. Yes, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has fallen victim to a cyberattack so severe it’s forced the company into a global shutdown.

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18/09/2025 0

These Car Brands Will Be Dead Within 12 Months

Your Favourite Car Brands Are on Death Row! I’ve got the numbers that say so.

Times are tough, and for the car industry, it’s frankly tougher than most. Since the rush to electrification gathered pace less than a decade ago, legacy carmakers have been stumbling through a fog of big losses, plant closures, new supply chains, and enormous investment.

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06/09/2025 2

New Ford Fiesta! Electric? Could it Really be Coming Back?

Just two years after killing off the UK’s favourite hatchback, Ford might be bringing the Fiesta back – but this time, it’s electric and probably a rebadged VW

Just two years after killing it off, Ford is bringing the Fiesta back from the dead. But before you start celebrating, hold your horses – this isn’t the fizzy, fun, chuckable little hatchback we all knew and loved. This time, it’s electric. Possibly German. You couldn’t make it up. In 2023, Ford proudly shut the door on the Fiesta after 47 glorious years and 22 million sales. It was Britain’s best-selling car for over a decade – an icon, a legend, a rite of passage. And then poof – gone. Why? Because Ford thought it would be more profitable to sell big, posh, high-riding EV crossovers instead.

Well… about that.

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27/07/2025 0

Japan Outsmarts Trump? New US–Japan Deal Shakes Up Global Car Industry

Massive new trade deal cuts tariffs for Japanese cars to 15%, leaves EU carmakers reeling at 35%, and accidentally supercharges JDM hybrid culture in the process

Well, no one saw this one coming, did they? In what may turn out to be one of the most significant moments in modern automotive geopolitics, Japan and the US have quietly signed a trade deal that slashes tariffs on Japanese car imports into America down to just 15% — and, wait for it, with no import quotas whatsoever. That’s right. The floodgates are open.

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24/07/2025 0

Killer Exploding Airbags!

Citroen Owners Issued URGENT ‘DO NOT DRIVE’ Order!

If you own a second-generation Citroën C3 (2009–2016) or a first-generation DS3 (2009–2019), stop everything. You might be sitting behind a steering wheel that could literally kill you. In June 2024, Citroën issued a Europe-wide “Do Not Drive” order for thousands of these models after a horrific fatal incident in France – where an airbag deployed during a minor crash and shot metal shrapnel into the driver’s face, killing her. That’s right – the very safety device designed to protect, became the instrument of death.

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19/07/2025 0