In a statement, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “We do recognise the global challenges the industry is facing, which is why ministers have been getting around the table with key industry figures to discuss how we can ensure the transition delivers for them and the future of UK auto manufacturing.
“We’ll bring forward a consultation on our proposals in this space in due course, and how we implement the 2030 transition deadline, and ensure that voices and insights from the industry are heard every step of the way.”
All of this comes in the wake of several major automotive manufacturers cutting and threatening to cut jobs in the UK in order to save cash as they are forced to sell EVs at a loss in order to meet the government’s targets.
Vauxhall, for example, has recently closed its historic Luton manufacturing plant, citing slow EV sales and the ZEV mandate as its reasoning. This appears to mirror the rhetoric of Maria Grazia Davino, the boss of Stellantis (the owner of Vauxhall), who earlier this year cautioned the government that “if this market becomes hostile to us, we will enter an evaluation for producing elsewhere”.
Nissan, which also produces vehicles such as the top-selling Qashqai in the UK, recently called for “urgent action from the Government by the end of the year to avoid a potentially irreversible impact on the UK automotive sector”.
However, Professor of Business and Sustainability at Cardiff University and Director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research, Peter Wells, warned Auto Express that any softening of the ZEV mandate “may be politically expedient, but environmentally disastrous”.
“It cannot be emphasised enough that we really are on the brink of a catastrophic climate crisis in which the automotive industry has long been a big part of the problem, and must be part of the solution,” Wells continued. “It seems inevitable that the solution is fewer cars, smaller cars, less powerful cars, and always fully electric cars. There is a major opportunity for electric light commercial vehicles, and it is here that more government support could be justified.”
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