Monday newspaper round-up: Car manufacturers, Woodford, store closures

Britain’s biggest car manufacturers lobbied the government to delay a ban on petrol and diesel cars by warning that sales would plunge and jobs would be at risk from accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, the Guardian can reveal. The government announced in November that it would move forward a ban on the sale of pure internal combustion engine cars from 2040 to 2030, but said that it would allow the sale of hybrid vehicles until 2035, in a significant victory for the car industry. - Guardian

Spain could become one of the first countries in the world to trial the four-day working week after the government agreed to launch a modest pilot project for companies interested in the idea. Earlier this year, the small leftwing Spanish party Más País announced that the government had accepted its proposal to test out the idea. Talks have since been held, with the next meeting expected to take place in the coming weeks. - Guardian

Lawyers are preparing to bring a claim of more than £100m against the supervisor of Neil Woodford’s collapsed fund on behalf of 7,000 out-of-pocket investors. Law firm Leigh Day has served notice of its claim against Link Fund Solutions, alleging the fund administrator’s failure to properly monitor Mr Woodford led to the fund’s mismanagement. Those burned by the former star fund manager – once nicknamed Britain’s answer to Warren Buffett and the “Oracle of Oxford” – suffered an average loss of £15,000. - Telegraph

Britain’s largest independent chain of petrol stations is to spend £400 million on installing 3,000 fast electric chargers across its nationwide estate. In one of the biggest boosts to the government’s plans to build infrastructure for battery-powered cars, Motor Fuel Group (MFG), which operates 918 forecourts in the UK, plans to install chargers enabling drivers to add 100 miles of range in less than ten minutes. - The Times

A record number of shops closed last year as the pandemic put unprecedented pressure on businesses. More than 17,500 chain stores closed their doors, according to data from PWC and the Local Data Company. This was partially offset by 7,655 new openings, but there was a net fall in the number of shops of 9,877. - The Times