- The British government has indicated it will rethink an EV mandate that automakers say is totally unworkable.
- Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told auto industry bigwigs he would consult them on changes.
- This week Stellantis said it will shutter the 119-year-old Vauxhall plant in Luton, having previously warned that the EV mandate could lead to closures.
Automakers have already responded to the underperforming EV market by modifying their electrification plans, and finally the UK government appears to be ready to make some changes of its own. Britain’s business secretary told auto industry execs last night that he would consult them on changes to an EV mandate that automakers claim is totally unworkable.
As part of the country’s stepped push to phase out combustion engines by 2030, UK lawmakers introduced tough EV sales quotas, demanding that 22 percent of cars and 10 percent of all vans sold this year be fully electric. Automakers have achieved that feat in only one month during 2024 because not enough buyers want electric cars, a situation not helped by the UK’s decision to phase out EV grants in 2022.
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Failure to meet the targets will land companies with huge fines of £15,000 ($19,000) for every car sold beyond the allowed ratio, so some have opted to artificially restrict the availability of combustion vehicles and spend money subsidizing electric cars by offering discounts. And things are only going to get tougher according to the current plan, with the EV quota rising to 28 percent for cars in 2025 and 80 percent in 2030.
“The transport secretary and I have heard you loud and clear on the need for support to make this transition a success,” Bloomberg reports Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds telling guests at a Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) dinner on Tuesday.
“We’ll be consulting with you on changes to the ZEV mandate and inviting your views on options for a better way forward,” he added, but claimed the new British government was determined to stick to the 2030 combustion ban plan in which hybrids would live on for five additional years.
Stellantis this week announced it is shutting down its 119-year-old Vauxhall plant at Luton, north of London, having previously warned that the EV mandate and post-Brexit tariffs on UK-EU trade could lead to plant closures. And last week Ford said it was axing 4,000 jobs in Europe, including 800 in the UK.
“This industry is facing a greater set of challenges today than at any point in the last 50 years,” Reynolds conceded at the SMMT bash.