Daily Motor News – Friday 14 March 2025 

ILC ARTICLE

14th March 2025

ARC360 Conference 2025: shaping the future of vehicle repair

The ARC360 Conference 2025 is set to be one of the most influential industry gatherings of the year, bringing together leading insurers, repairers, vehicle manufacturers, and supply chain experts to explore the changing dynamics of the motor claims and vehicle repair sector.

Taking place on Thursday 22 May at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, this year’s conference will explore the theme: A new era – the changing dynamics of a sector. Full story

Update on the FCA’s enforcement transparency proposals

We have published a letter to the Treasury Select Committee, setting out significant improvement in the pace of our investigations as well as next steps on our approach to transparency of enforcement investigations. Given the lack of consensus, we will not take forward our proposal to shift from an exceptional circumstances test to a public interest test for announcing investigations into regulated firms. Full story

Whiplash reforms revisited

Mark Hemsted, Partner at Clyde and Co, has assessed the state ofwhiplash and low value road traffic injury claims four years since the reforms were introduced. He said, “The evidence here is of lower claims numbers since the reforms set against broadly consistent levels of traffic and reported accidents. It does not necessarily follow from this that the reforms have caused the fall in notified claims, even if that may be a plausible assumption.” Full story

Smart motorways stocktake Fourth year progress report: December 2024

The analysis of our smart motorway network over the past four years has helped us develop a detailed understanding of road safety, not just on smart motorways but across the whole strategic road network. Our latest analysis continues to show that overall, in terms of deaths or serious injuries, smart motorways remain our safest roads. This is in line with the findings of our Second year and Third year progress reports. Full story

Four-week failure for smart motorway tech meant to protect drivers on M62

Technology designed to keep drivers safe on smart motorways failed on several stretches of the strategic road network (SRN) last year, new official analysis has shown.

In one incident, National Highways revealed that its motorway incident detection automatic signalling (Midas) system suffered an outage on a section of motorway for 28 days. Full story

IAM RoadSmart’s reaction to National Highways Smart motorways stocktake fourth year progress report

IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy and Standards Nicholas Lyes said, “After the many billions of pounds that have been spent on smart motorways, the metrics do not show a safer network compared to what it replaced. Question marks remain over what to do with existing stretches and how the government proceeds with future capacity expansion.” Full story

Economic and Market Report: Global and EU auto industry – Full year 2024

ACEA’s Economic and Market Report has revealed thatglobal car sales reached 74.6 million units in 2024, marking a 2.5% increase compared to 2023, while EU’s car production fell by 6.2%, as industry confidence remained notably weaker than in other European manufacturing sectors. Full story

Green NCAP Announces Final LCA Awardees: The Greenest Cars of 2024

Today, Green NCAP reveals the final recipients of its Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Award. The award recognises vehicles that achieve the lowest environmental impact across their entire lifespan, from production and use to end-of-life. For the year 2024, five five-star-rated electric vehicles (EVs) have been awarded for their outstanding LCA performance: the BYD Dolphin, Hyundai KONA, Jeep Avenger, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, and Tesla Model 3. Full story

IIHS makes stronger protection for back seat passengers a must for 2025

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is requiring better protection for second-row occupants for the 2025 Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards, encouraging automakers to make advanced seat belt technology and other safety innovations the norm in the back seat. Full story

‘We’re not stopping here’ – UK hits 75,000 EV chargepoint milestone

The Government has announced that it has hit a major milestone for electric vehicle (EV) drivers in the UK – as there are now 75,000 chargepoints now available.

With £200 million in government investment, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced the deployment of public chargers at a current rate of one every 29 minutes. Full story

AFVs hit highest average sold price on EVPR record

The latest data from Dealer Auction’s EV Performance Review shows a steady and consistent performance from alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) in February 2025, with sold prices on the rise and several high-performing models, led by the hybrid Hyundai Tucson. Full story