The interesting point here is that the "offending" article came from "The Independant" - a UK newspaper rated as if not the, certainly one of the, least car-oriented ones around!
Allow me to put it this way - if I want to read anything even vaguely car-related, The Independant would be my next to last choice (just before the Green Party's in-house magazine).
Therefore, anything they carry on the topic of cars should automatically be excluded from discussion by the august ranks of members here, who should know better.
Lurk, you are a stirrer.
However, on the grounds that this thread attracted people for whom words of more than two syllables are not just a mysterious concept, I forgive you.
Rick - with you on the Lucas thing.