From the chair: February 2021
Journalists 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...
From the chair January 2021
I think every member will be glad to see the back of 2020. It has destroyed many lives, businesses, overturned accepted social norms and events. It has also brought a lot of us closer together, removed veils and opened eyes to what is happening in front of them. As a...
From the Chair: 1 December 2020
After a truly different year, the Western Group of Motoring Writers broke new ground with its first on-line AGM. It didn’t go as well as we wanted but certainly most members who wanted to were able to join in and generally it ran as a Real World round-table...
From the chair: 1 November 2020
Well Lockdown 2.0, or if you live in Wales Lockdown 2.5, is underway and highlights how differently the Coronavirus is being tackled. Strictly speaking, only essential travel is being permitted whether you live in Wales, England or Scotland and it’s been...
From the chair: 1 October 2020
It has been a very strange summer. The national lockdown really hit journalists, PR departments and dealerships together with manufacturers in a way no one could have expected as we celebrated the arrival of 2020 in January. It was tough then with the global economy...
From the chair: 1 Sept 2020
The SMMT still hopes to run its 2020 driving day, eventually. Latest is a move to 1 October, when the Government permits larger gatherings for business and sporting events. The SMMT and Millbrook have been working on the familiar pattern for the day but it will be...
From the chair: August 2020
Whither the UK motor industry? SMMT car registration data shows that for January to June 2020, new car registrations were half the corresponding figure for the first half of 2019, and if June 2020 improved to 65% of the 2019 level, this is certainly the very best hope...
From the chair: July 2020
There’s a new normal shaping the motoring world and how journalists and PRs react to it and one another. Motor shows seem to be dying faster than the fashions of the human models used to adorn the stands as the traditional calendar is not just screwed up and thrown...
From the chair: June 2020
This week we should have been enjoying the famous Western Group PR Driving Day, but instead we are all suffering to various degrees from the lingering effects of the Coronavirus-19 pandemic. In just over two- months our motoring world has ground to standstill....
From the chair: May 2020
A few months ago, no-one could have accurately predicted the volcanic social upheaval now shaking itself through Britain, the rest of the world and our particular automotive industry. Vehicle production stopped, roads emptied, showrooms closed and motorsport become...
From the chair: April 2020
The annual Western Group of Motoring Writers PR Driving Day has been cancelled for 2020, writes Robin Roberts. This tough decision to cancel the event scheduled for 3 June 2020 has been taken only after a lot of heart-searching in light of the very latest...
From the Chair: March 2020
The motor industry has been dealing with exhaust waste since the 1970s but another issue is now rolling into view. The catalytic converter which largely took care of hydrocarbon emissions also obliged refineries to remove lead, a known toxin, from petrol. Used as an...
From the chair: February 2020
The quickening approach of pure battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles is providing a further challenge to PRs and agencies. We simply don’t have the infrastructure to support a big ev-car or van launch with most hotels running to just a couple of recharging points which...
From the chair: January 2020
The Christmas “post” always includes one piece of mail with a shorter life-span than a turkey – the annual SMMT yearbook for the coming 12 months. It is only a matter of hours or days before this hardy annual goes soft and become outdated. In fact it has been...
From the chair: December 2019
Concern about the diminishing levels of investment in UK car manufacturing has, together with other Brexit uncertainties, made 2019 a particularly introspective year. It is perhaps constructive then to look at France which has a car market of similar size to the UK’s....Powered by 
