Being around the car industry this year, I have smelt a strong undertone of change in the air – something much more pungent than ever before and it certainly isn’t combustion engine fumes!

Firstly, we had ‘Dieselgate’ which created the biggest fallout we have ever seen in the motor industry. It is alleged to have forced a certain manufacturer to abandon premier motorsports in 2017, such as the World Rally Championship and the World Endurance Championship, which includes the historic Le Mans race. The abandonment was allegedly due to having to pay $20 billion in fines and settlements of various lawsuits related to Dieselgate in the US.

Fumes have become toxic in more ways than one
There has been a mass buyback scheme for diesel powered cars and restrictions on their sale in the US – mass polluters were already not allowed to be registered in certain states. Upon the opening of the 2017 North American International Motor Show, several executives from a car manufacturer, which will remain nameless, were arrested by the FBI. More manufacturers have been announcing that – by certain dates – their range will feature a majority of electric powered vehicles. Car firms have also been moving their PR machines to focus on clean Motorsport such as Formula E – suddenly the fumes from petrol and diesel have become toxic in more ways than one.

The lid on the coffin is getting tighter
The UK government have announced that from 2040 sales of new petrol, diesel and potentially hybrid vehicles will be stopped. The lid on the coffin is getting tighter and the combustion engine has been sucked, squeezed, banged and now will blow its final breath.

To have true electric motoring means supermarkets, business parks and multi-storey car parks – to name a few – need fast chargers by every single parking space. House builders need to ensure every new build driveway has a car charging station and ideally solar panels on the roof. The humble garage/fuel station forecourt needs to diversify. The investment required is huge.

After the high of knowing that we can soon cross the Severn bridges for free, it’s been offset by knowing that, after 2040, we can no longer dream of walking into, let’s say, a Ferrari dealership and buying their brand new V6, V8, V10 or V12 supercar. We can still buy used or a classic, but with talk of taxes and tolls for combustion engined cars to use stretches of road and motorway (M4 and M32 have been mentioned) and pollution charges across many cities – the dream of open road motoring is becoming closed.

A piece of history
“...back to another time when the world was powered by the black fuel” a quote from the narrator’s opening monologue of the 1981 film Mad Max 2. I don’t think we will go as far as “the gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice”, but another line from the film series will sadly become true in our lifetime – “the last of the V8’s – a piece of history”.