1st Choice Spares

05/09/2026

Someone is getting an HR interview without tea & biscuits...

04/09/2026

Times are really changing before our eyes:
'Volkswagen said "a further fundamental adjustment of the global workforce capacity" was needed, saying this would include a reduction of around 50,000 positions worldwide – in addition to a 50,000-job reduction already under way.'

Volkswagen announced Thursday that it will cut another 50,000 jobs worldwide, marking the biggest restructuring in the company's 89-year history, as the German carmaker faces pressure from US tariffs,…

29/08/2026

28/08/2026

Informative article:
'Before a scrapped vehicle is shredded and sorted, “authorised treatment facilities” will now be required to strip out specific parts and components first, recovering materials for reuse or recycling, rather than letting them get lost in the shredder. Besides, the law introduces stricter quality requirements for materials such as steel recycled from end-of-life vehicles, supporting greater circularity and the decarbonisation of the steel and automotive industries. '

Europe has rewritten its vehicle rulebook. Roberta Arbinolo explores what the new EU regulation changes for vehicle recycling and circularity – and where significant gaps remain.

22/08/2026

Oops!

21/08/2026

Interesting read:
'This £130 million is not for drivers, and it is not really about driving; it is a modest, sensible, faintly anxious bet on Britain still being able to make the electric car at all. Read past the headline and you can see what the country is actually afraid of, and it is not that people will keep buying petrol. It is that when they finally switch, every important part of the car will have been made somewhere else.'

Britain's £130m for electric driving funds batteries, lithium and rare-earth-free motors, not chargers. A supply-chain bid to build EVs without China.

14/08/2026

Interesting observation:
'JCB boss Lord Bamford said that "as achievements go, this is right up there in terms of engineering". He added: "It's huge this can be done, to prove an internal combustion engine can be run sensibly on hydrogen with zero emissions, and at very little cost.'

Andy Green hits 406.320mph to claim his third land speed record with 1600bhp twin-engined hydrogen-combustion slipstreamer

08/08/2026

I won't do that again!

07/08/2026

'Skills England has proposed retiring the Metal Recycling General Operative apprenticeship for new starters because of what it describes as “very low starts”.

The government body is inviting stakeholders to comment on the proposal by 1 September 2026. It emphasised that retirement of the standard has “not yet been authorised”.'

Skills England is considering closing the Level 2 Metal Recycling General Operative apprenticeship to new starters because of low enrolment, but says no final decision has been made.