The Western Group of Motoring Writers was formed in 1983 to provide a body which can not only represent the views of its members when communicating with others in the motor industry, but also perform the role of event organiser for motoring events, test drives and new model launches.
The Western Group of Motoring Writers boasts over 20 full and honorary members with interests that cover the full range of motoring journalism, including regional and national press, broadcast media, trade press, photography, video and specialist publications.
Group activities are held throughout the region on a regular basis. We constantly strive to raise professional standards and protect our members’ interests and liaise with motoring writers’ groups in other parts of the UK.
The highlight of our year is undoubtedly the WGMW’s annual invitation-only PR Driving Day held at Castle Combe race circuit in Wiltshire each summer, when we see a wide range of cars available to be test driven by representatives of the motor manufacturers’ press office teams.
- From the chair: April 2021
The recent Evergreen affair underlines just how much the motor industry is at the mercy of supply chains over which it has little control. The Suez Canal bottleneck will probably result in some shipments arriving three-to four-weeks late and for car manufacturers it comes after a series of major setbacks: WLTP caused vast delays largely because regulatory authorities could not process homologations quickly enough. At one point VW had 200,000 vehicles awaiting approval and […] - Electric Future?JLR figured large in the UK business pages last month with the announcement that from 2025 the company would build only EVs. The man delivering this news was JLR’s new CEO Thierry Bolloré, who until October 2019 was CEO at Renault, no stranger to electric cars. Also announced in February, but rather overlooked by the British press was Renault’s 2020 result, a breath-taking €8bn loss. While Peugeot under Carlos Tavares makes grand acquisitions left […]
- From the chair: March 2021There are a few weeds to be taken care of as the motor industry, energy providers, related suppliers and authorities take us down the green road towards 2030 and onwards. The haste and race to have low emission cars and other vehicles on our roads is tripping over some serious issues, notably cost, and not just for vehicles and infrastructure but the expense of losing jobs. Ford and JLR recently announced their electrification plans, […]
- Aston Martin St Athan plant will play a crucial role in the company’s recovery and future plans.The luxury car maker will almost double production at St Athan and its Garden, Warwickshire sites this year after working through stock it’s held and which has plagued them since its 2018 shares floatation. The British company plans to make 6,000 vehicles this year compared to 3,394 last year, according to a statement on Thursday. It’s last quarter revenue and adjusted earnings beat estimates thanks to extremely strong demand for the DBX SUV it […]
- Siemens back Welsh hydrogen carOne of the world’s leading technology companies has stepped in to boost plans to build hydrogen vehicles in Wales for global sale. Siemens UK has signed a memorandum of understanding with Riversimple, of Llandrindod Wells, to make their Rasa car and a local delivery van. The car is already being prepared for trials with 12 drivers living in Abergavenny and the Welsh company installed a hydrogen filling station for them to use free of […]
- From the chair: February 2021Journalists and PRs in the motoring world share their love of cars and that has been severely tested over the last 12 months. Jobs have gone, people have gone, plans shelved and events cancelled, including our own WGMW PR Driving Day 2020. Some journalists and PRs who have regularly jumped into and out of company cars, whether press fleet or come-with-job models have found the cars have gone along with work and […]
- BREXIT for beginnersBritain’s departure from the EU has prompted a flurry of information and advice from the Department for Transport, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and the DVLA on rule changes affecting Britons driving in Europe from January 1st 2021. Here we round up some important changes affecting British drivers and vehicles intending to use European roads in coming months, with links to more detailed information if required. The information below applies to private cars […]
- Women on the move in hard timesWomen On the Move Against Cancer’s (WOMAC) annual February party is a firm fixture in the automotive calendar and very well supported by the industry, but unfortunately February 2021 will be the first year in more than 40 years that WOMAC won’t be holding its annual party, due to the ongoing pandemic and restrictions. That said, the fundraising won’t stop, because cancer isn’t stopping for anyone or anything. WOMAC will continue its money raising […]
