Standard Operating Procedure?

I am not sure why anyone is surprised that a study, co-commissioned by Aston Martin, casting doubt on the utility of electric vehicles to counter climate change, was written by a Public Relations company (Clarendon Communications) registered to the wife of one of its directors (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/02/aston-martin-pr-firm-anti-electric-vehicle-study ). This is a time-honoured way in which rich businesses attempt to 'protect their interests' and to influence public opinion. It always looks better, if you can claim that 'independent' studies (even when carried out by your own 'glove puppet'), support what you prefer to do (to sell more tabacco, to extract more hydrocarbons and, now, to continue making more luxury petrol-driven cars). The report was commissioned soon after the UK PM called for a ban on the sale of new fossil fuel powered vehicles by 2030. Some of its 'conclusions', described as 'groundbreaking third-party research", were largely written by the commissioning bodies (they included Bosch, Honda and McLaren, as well as Aston Martin). They also involved some apparent twisting of findings by other groups. The only novel aspect of 'Astongate' is that it was so easy to detect.